The 3 Breath Techniques that got us through Hurricane Helene

On Sept 26th, 2024 I had no idea what was coming. I saw on a local Facebook group that the storm “could get rough” and to prepare for a day or two without power - something that is somewhat normal in an area where trees are abundant and can come down on power lines easily. I saved an extra pot of water and filled our water bottles. We made one last run to the store for a few snacks “just in case” and settled in for the night.

We watched a movie and I even put an oil mask in my hair as a little treat to unwind into the relaxing sound of rain hitting our metal roof. (Spoiler - the oil in the hair made for a gnarly start to what would become a week + until I showered. This is just another point that we had no idea what was coming 😅)

Later that evening we went to bed and I got what was probably the worst night of sleep of my entire night. The wind was HOWLING unlike anything I have ever heard before. The Airbnb we were staying in was perfectly tucked into the forest. What was once a beautiful countryside escape turned into a terrifying death trap as trees were crashing around us.

At some point in the middle of the night the power went out, which not a huge surprise, but meant we had no running water, no ability to charge phones, and no cell service. All night I was paralyzed with fear of being crushed by these massive trees that somehow just kept coming down. As the sun rose around 7am panic set in.

The place we were staying was across the street from the Cane River and up a mountain - we literally needed to use X-mode on our Subaru to get up the driveway, we were no where near the river. However, when we woke up at 7am it was still raining and we could see the river was continuing to rise and was only about 50ft from our house.

We have a video Alex took of the Cane at 7:43am and he shows where homes used to be and says, “I really hope all the houses over there are okay because I heard voices coming from this side. This is crazy.”

One of many landslides in the area.

We picked a tree line and decided if the water got that high, we needed to evacuate and get to higher ground. About 10 minutes later, it hit that tree. At this point in time, from when I checked the night before it was forecasted to rain for another 12 hours, we knew there was no way we could stay.

Alex, myself, and our 10 year old golden retriever set out for higher ground. Our car was trapped by dozens of down trees around us so that left us to scramble up the side of a muddy mountain in a hurricane. Mind you, there was no trail, this was not a paved path. We literally had to crawl on our hands and knees over and under down trees, lifting & carrying our dog when needed and making our own trail.

We scrambled and climbed for probably an hour before we reached what seemed to be the top of this particular mountain. The winds were still howling, trees were still crashing around us and we’ were trying to find a place to sit and wait out the rest of the 11 hours. We stopped to look at one spot but something tells us to keep going. We walk another 10 or so minutes and settle in below some Laurel trees in hopes they’ll shield us from the smaller sticks flying around.

We only had 3 things with us, my cell phone that didn’t have service, a flashlight, and a small emergency blanket. It started to hit me that we were going to there a while. I started to think, even once the rain stopped, where would we go? Surely the river would take our Airbnb with 11 hours more of rain. I had so many worries, so many questions.

Even with raincoats, Alex and I were completely soaked from head to toe and we barely fit underneath the emergency blanket. Sam, our dog, wouldn’t even come underneath the blanket but I could feel him shaking from the cold. The three of us kept doing what we could to stay warm, knowing we would be there for a while. This is where breathwork became honestly life saving.

We started practicing Breath of Fire, which increases heat in the body and helped us stay warm. This technique also reduces stress and increases focus, an important piece for navigating a situation like this.

When we got tired of doing Breath of Fire (which we did - that’s an intense one) we switched to humming. Humming activates our parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest nervous system. While I’m sure I was not in the parasympathetic fully, humming definitely brought me back to a more level headed space. It also boosts our immune system which I felt was important as I was shaking from the cold.

For hours, I sat on the top of a mountain, during a hurricane and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, there was nothing I could do to “fix it”, to make it better, to get myself out, I just had to surrender to the present moment. That meant accepting that there was not a damn thing I could do other than focus on my breath, and be grateful for my life.

We sat out in the rain for over 4 hours until it started to lighten up. Alex and I looked at each other in disbelief… there’s no way - this is supposed to go on all day, it’s probably just slowing down and will pick back up.

We decided to wait another 15 minutes until we moved. In that 15 minutes, our dog Sam finally laid down and fell asleep after being on high alert the whole time. We heard the birds chirping, and even saw a deer walk past us. Once we had these cues from the natural world returning to “normal”, we knew it was over. We got up and now had to find our way back down, with no path, just wandering aimlessly through the forest debris and mud on an incline.

Alex & Sam trying to find a way down after the storm with no trail or path. As you can imagine, since I pulled my phone out, this was the easiest spot to navigate 😬

On our way down we passed the first spot we almost stopped to sit, there was a massive tree that crushed the plants we were going to sit under. I still get goosebumps thinking about that.

Eventually we made our several hour hike back down and broke down sobbing when we saw our Airbnb had not been touched. The water line had come close, but never actually hit it.

Our neighbors on the other hand, were not so lucky. There were landslides right next to us, right below us, and one destroyed one of the closest homes to us. Below, the river had carried away houses, people, cars, animals, and who knows what else.

This is truly just the beginning of our Helene story - as it was for everyone. At this point we still didn’t realize the extent of the destruction, we didn’t know all of the roads in and out had been destroyed. We didn’t know we’d be hiking 6 miles into town, hitch hiking to Raleigh to get supplies and coming back, and sitting with our community as they prayed, grieved, and sobbed. We also didn’t know this would be the start of Blue River Breathwork - the first time Alex and I facilitated breathwork together.

Throughout the next few weeks Alex and I did dozens of rounds of Active Breathwork together to begin to process the experiences we had gone through - each one peeling back another layer, another fear. We began offering sessions to the community as a way to support the immense grief that was present in Western North Carolina.

“Where were you during Helene?” has become a phrase almost like “Where were you during 9/11?”. It’s a way to connect through one of the most intense experiences of our lives. As we’re approaching the one year anniversary of the rising rivers I still feel so much grief for the communities that have lost so much. I also feel so much hope, and so much love for those that have dedicated a day, a month, or a year to rebuilding this area. I am forever in awe and gratitude for the people of Burnsville & Western North Carolina. 💙

We still offer active breathwork sessions weekly. Sunday nights at 7pm EST online, tickets are pay what you can. We also host most Thursday nights at 7pm at Dragon Phoenix in Woodfin, tickets are $18.

If you’re wanting support from Hurricane Helene I encourage you to join an active breathwork session. If you’re looking for ways to lower everyday stress, anxiety and worry, check out our full Soothe Your Stress course that helps you build long term resilience to stress.

TLDR: 3 breathwork techniques that helped during Helene:

• Breath of Fire - warming, relieves stress

• Humming - calming, boosts immune system

• Active Breathwork - helps to process emotions, move energy through the body, reduces stress, anxiety and worry.