With every breath I take, I allow my mind to relax deeply

Breathing out is the part that does the work. An inhale is a small alarm — it lifts the heart rate slightly, every time, which is why a room full of anxious people is a room full of people taking short sips of air and never quite finishing.

Lengthen the way out and the body reads it as safety, and the mind, which is a good deal more suggestible than it likes to admit, follows the body's report. It is one of the few things about a state of mind that can be operated directly, from outside, without needing to believe anything first.