Blog Alert! (also known as a “silent podcast” 😜)
Are you a baseball fan at all? Have you ever watched your favourite player on your favourite team slide into home base, bottom of the ninth — heart thudding, holding your breath as you wait to hear the call?
That half-second before the ump gives the sign … it stretches out like forever.
Your body feels the call …
The relief. The release. That whole-body YES that washes over you when see the ump’s arms show that the runner is
SAFE.
It’s more than a sports moment.
It’s a nervous system moment.
It’s a life moment.
Whether you’ve played or enjoy watching sports or not, we’re all chasing that feeling in our own way — that deep, full-bodied sense of “I made it. I’m safe.”
But here’s the paradox: most of us have never actually landed there.
Not in our bodies.
Not in our breath.
Not in our systems.
We’ve built strength on top of bracing.
Tried to heal without ever creating safety first.
And when that’s the case… nothing holds.
First Base: You Can’t Start at Second
Let’s be real — we love a good shortcut.
The sexy part of healing or growth always shows up later: performance, productivity, the highlight reel. So we jump in halfway.
We train for strength before we’ve built stability.
We chase speed before teaching our bodies how to slow down.
We obsess over alignment, but forget to ask what our breath is doing.
And then we wonder why progress slips.
Why it feels like we’re being pulled back.
Why our bodies resist the very changes we’re trying to make.
Your body isn’t being difficult.
It’s protecting you.
Because without a felt sense of safety, your system keeps one foot on the brake.
Not to sabotage — but to survive.
Second Base: What Safety Actually Means
Let’s go deeper.
When I talk about safety, I don’t just mean emotional comfort.
I’m talking about mechanics.
About fascia, breath pressure, rib movement.
About how your diaphragm tension impacts your brain fog.
How digestion responds to your nervous system’s loop.
How your pelvis listens to where your breath gets stuck.
Your systems aren’t separate. They’re always in conversation.
If one’s stuck in panic, the rest adjust to match.
Safety doesn’t mean comfort.
It means capacity:
– Enough stability to not grip.
– Enough support to not override.
– Enough presence to stay connected, even in motion.
And the doorway to all that? Your breath.
Rounding Third: Breath Is Not a Bonus
Breath is the one tool that speaks every system’s language.
It’s diagnostic and therapeutic.
It shows you what’s stuck — and helps you unlock it.
But only if you’re willing to begin there.
Not slap it on as a quick fix.
Not use it to “calm down” so you can keep pushing.
But really, honestly — drop in.
Let breath take you back to the place your system is still waiting for you to notice:
Hey. We’re not safe yet. Not until now.
Heading for Home…..
I played a bit of softball growing up. I wasn’t the biggest hitter; didn’t come anywhere close to being a MVP — but I could run like hell.
Rounding third was the moment: legs burning, digging in, coach’s hand waving me in.
Then the slide.
The dust.
The pause.
And finally — the call.
SAFE.
There’s nothing like it. That electric knowing — not just that you made it, but that it counts. That you’re seen. That you’re home.
I didn’t realize how often I was still chasing that feeling.
How often my body didn’t feel safe.
How tight my breath stayed, even when I got “strong.”
I’d been sliding into goals, protocols, identities — but no one ever taught me how to come home to myself first.
Until I found real, functional breathwork.
The Real Beginning
You don’t need to earn the right to safety.
You need to start there.
This isn’t the warm-up.
This is the work.
So today — or whenever you’re ready:
Lie down.
One hand on your belly. One at your heart centre.
Breathe. Allow – don’t create – breath generated movement.
Let your body show you what it’s been holding.
Let your system finally slide home.
No pushing. No judgment. Just presence.
You deserve to feel that call in your bones:
SAFE.
Right here.
Right now.
At home.
Start where it holds.
Stay until it softens.
Breathe until it knows: you’re safe.
Chat more soon,
Barb
barbgoodwinwellness.com 