When your chest climbs and thoughts crowd.
When the spike hits, you don’t need a script — you need a handle. Two long exhales through the pendant slow the airflow, cue the vagus nerve, and tell the body to stand down. Chest drops. Vision steadies. You answer from composure, not from the first surge.
I go to the pendant before the spiral now — two slow breaths and I sound like myself again.
A. Beaumont