I got one of the best compliments the other day.
I was holding a group session at work — Yin Yoga. If you’ve never done Yin, it’s basically holding gentle poses for 2–3 minutes and breathing through the discomfort. Slow, quiet, calm.
A few years ago, you could not have paid me to slow down like that. I discovered Yin Yoga during one of the most stressful periods of my life, when I pushed past my limits and ended up with real physical consequences. I’ve already written about that chapter here, so I won’t open that door again today.
After the session, one of my patients came up to me and said: “I didn’t expect you to hold a class like this. You’re always so active, but here you were — calm.”
And he’s right. I am that person — the constantly-in-motion, brain-always-whirring, can-we-go-faster-please personality. Sometimes I wonder if it’s ADHD. But I don’t need a label to tell me who I am. I function, I know my tendencies, and I’ve built strategies around them.
Calmness wasn’t my default setting. I used to go from zero to one hundred in half a second. Irritable. Reactive. Quick to escalate.
And then I got my dog.
He’s a high-energy dog — a mirror with paws. If I was anxious, he was anxious. If I was confident, he was confident. If I was calm… finally, so was he. Energy in, energy out.
That was my first real experience with co-regulation — something we often talk about in therapy and parenting, but rarely apply to ourselves. It doesn’t just work with dogs. It works with children (this video shows it perfectly) and with patients too.
When someone is dysregulated — a reactive dog, a crying child, a frustrated patient — our instinct is to fix, correct, calm them down with words, or get triggered ourselves. I used to get frustrated and try to out-energy the situation. It never worked. Not one time.
Because their nervous system doesn’t learn safety from someone who is dysregulated. It learns safety from someone who is grounded.
Calm is leadership.
And the breath is the gateway. Deep breathing shifts our nervous system from “a predator is chasing me” to “I’m safe.” If you were breathing heavily 200,000 years ago, something genuinely was trying to eat you — and your brain remembers that.
So first: regulate yourself.
Then: lead the room — whether you’re on a yoga mat, working with your dog, or guiding a patient through pain.
Think about it: if you’re in an airplane and turbulence hits, who do you trust more? The flight attendant panicking and sprinting down the aisle, or the one giving calm, clear instructions?
Same with leaders. Same with parents. Same with physios.
As a physio, your calm becomes the anchor. Even if you’re not confident yet — calmness looks like confidence. And patients trust confidence, especially when they’re in pain, scared, or lost. Trust leads to follow-through. Follow-through leads to progress.
Calm isn’t a personality trait.
It’s a skill. And a skill can be learned.
Believe me, it changes everything.
🧪 Let’s Experiment
Calm is contagious — but it starts with you.
We often try to change situations or people before changing our internal state. This week, flip the sequence: regulate first, respond second.
🎯 Try This:
Pick one daily moment where you tend to get pulled into someone else’s energy — a rushed patient, a barking dog, a partner in a hurry, a colleague in stress mode, a crying child or even your own thoughts spiraling.
Then practice this micro-protocol:
- Pause — don’t react yet.
- Exhale longer than you inhale — 4 seconds in, 6–8 seconds out.
- Drop your shoulders + relax your jaw — signal “I’m safe.”
- Match their energy at first, then gently lower yours — like turning down the volume.
- Respond calmly and slowly — tone sets the tone.
Notice what changes — in you, and around you.
🧠 Final Thought:
Being calm isn’t passive. It’s leadership. You don’t need to control the room — just your nervous system. The rest tends to follow.
Keep it simple, stay curious, and keep learning—you’ve got this.
Take care,
Carina 🦊