Breathing is something we do all day without thinking about it — but the way we breathe can dramatically change how we feel.
In this episode of Afterbath, Mat Creedon explores a simple conscious breathing technique used in meditation traditions for thousands of years, including the Buddhist practice of watching the breath.
You’ll learn a gentle breathing pattern using a four-count inhale and six-count exhale that helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the part of the body responsible for rest, recovery, and calm.
This practice can help when:
• anxiety begins to rise • your mind feels foggy • you’re tired but still need energy • you’re facing difficult decisions • life feels overwhelming
When the out-breath becomes longer than the in-breath, the body naturally begins to relax and the mind becomes clearer.
At the end of this episode you’ll also find a link to a guided breathing practice from the Sound Bath Choir series so you can follow along and try the technique yourself.
Sometimes the simplest reset available to us is also the most powerful.
The breath. To watch the full breathing technique on YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/6-xuYIMb-eo

Music Is Medicine is a podcast by Mat Creedon — a musician, sound practitioner, and multi-instrumentalist from Melbourne, Australia.
In each episode, Mat explores the deeper relationship between music, emotion, and the human nervous system. Through reflections on songwriting, sound meditation, creativity, and deep listening, the podcast looks at how music can help us process experience, release emotion, and reconnect with ourselves.
Drawing from years of musical practice, sound work, and teaching, these conversations invite listeners to explore a simple but powerful idea:
Music is not only something we listen to.
Sometimes, music is medicine.