Tools for Nervous System Regulation with Ashley Roberts

In honor of Stress Awareness Month, we’re turning our attention inward - to the quiet, powerful rituals that help us reset, restore and reconnect.

While stress affects us all at some point and we can’t control it completely, your daily rituals, such as yoga, meditation and supplementation, are natural stress relief tools you can turn to for a calm, clear, grounded state of mind.

For Ancient + Brave, presenter, author and breathwork expert, Ashley Roberts, managing stress begins with the breath.

Known for her vibrant energy and grounded approach to wellbeing, Ashley, now a qualified breathwork coach, has cultivated a deeply personal breathwork practice that supports her through the demands of modern life while creating space for calm, clarity and balance.

Alongside her wellbeing journey, she has partnered with Ancient + Brave to curate The Mind-Body Ritual - a bundle designed to nourish both the mind and body, featuring Triple Magnesium+ and True Biome.⁺

In this conversation, we explore Ashley’s relationship with breathwork, her daily rituals for regulating stress, and how small, consistent practices can create meaningful shifts in how we feel.

Ashley’s breathwork journey

1. Breathwork has become a central part of your wellbeing routine - how did your journey with it begin, and what first drew you in?

ASHLEY: My journey began over 10 years ago now (which is crazy) when I went to Bali on a retreat - a very Eat, Pray, Love, kind of story - but I did this retreat to go and hear this certain person speak, and he announced that in between his commentary, we're going to be doing breathwork, yoga, and Kundalini. As I was there in Bali I thought, let's get the full experience. I just immediately felt a visceral reaction to doing these exercises and I felt like I walked away from that retreat, feeling the most peaceful, calm and most balanced version of myself in years. So I was hooked. What drew me in was the experience of finally feeling peace within. I wanted to experience this more and more, which is what started my journey and led me to where I'm at today.

2. For those curious about breathwork, what have you found most impactful about incorporating it into your own wellbeing routine?

ASHLEY: The most impactful thing for me is that most of us are walking around in fight or flight, and a regulated nervous system really is the goal of existing in a world where we're constantly overstimulated. There's so much going on in the news. And to have a practice and have tools that allow me to come back to a more balanced state of being is the most impactful thing. I feel like I come home when I work through my breath. I come back to who I truly am, and I'm able to find peace within myself, where sometimes the world can feel a bit overwhelming. So that is why I incorporate this into my well-being routine, because it's important for me to come back to a space where I feel like I recognise my true self, and I feel like our breath is our superpower, to get to that place.

Ashley on nervous system regulation

3. When life feels overwhelming or your nervous system is out of balance, what are the first signs you notice?

ASHLEY: I notice feeling anxious, feeling like my heart is quite heavy - like it’s full of stone. I feel some panic or a feeling of overwhelm and I can recognise when stress is flooding the cortisol levels within the body. And what's so beautiful about these breathwork exercises is that you can lower those cortisol levels and come back to a place of balance and of calm. It's an amazing tool to practice, as you don't want to respond in life from fight or flight. You want to respond from a place of rest and digest, which is the parasympathetic part of the nervous system. And with these breath exercises, you're able to activate that part of the nervous system and regulate it, and then have that pause before you respond.

Discover Ashley’s Ancient + Brave ritual

4. Alongside breathwork, what other rituals do you gravitate towards as part of your own self regulation?

ASHLEY: I love my routine. I've had issues sleeping most of my life, and my routine has really helped my body understand when it's time to calm down and be able to actually properly rest. And that routine looks like shutting off my phone an hour at least before bed, taking my supplements, like the ones in the beautiful Mind-Body Ritual I have curated with Ancient + Brave. I also usually like to run a bath, something nice and warm and just have a calm moment to myself. And then I read. Once I start reading, my body and brain are like, “okay, good night”, and I'm able to fall into a nice, restful sleep. So that's been huge for me, especially with suffering so much in the sleep department. 

5. You’ve been a long-time customer and advocate of Ancient + Brave. What is it about the brand - and your experience using it - that’s made such a difference for you?

ASHLEY: I just cannot say enough about Ancient + Brave and the women who have built this business. They don’t cut any corners in making sure you're getting the highest quality of supplements that you can take and put in your body. And the combination of that and consistency is a game-changer.

Triple Magnesium+ and True Biome, for me, have been a game-changer. And I know I'm not a scientist but I am so passionate about the tools that I use to help me feel more balanced. When I am consistent with my routine and using these kinds of supplements, I really start to notice a difference. We don't go to the gym and do one squat and think we’re going to change overnight, you've got to go in, you've got to show up, you've got to do the work. So by being consistent, showing up with tools that help balance and regulate my nervous system, and these beautiful supplements from Ancient + Brave, I feel like I’m showing up for myself.

Ashley’s go-to breath techniques for nervous system regulation

6. Can you guide us through a breathing technique you use to stay balanced and self regulated?

ASHLEY: There are so many that I love for different reasons. If we're speaking on a state of calmness, 4-7-8 is a very easy one to do. Where you breathe in through the nose long, slow and deeply for a count of four. Breathe in - 2-3-4 - then hold the breath - 2-3-4-5-6-7 - then you exhale long, slow and deeply for a count of eight - 2-3-4-5-6-7-8 - and repeat that a few times. Also physiological sigh is a good one, where you inhale through the nose, and then you take another sip at the top of that through the nose, and then extend with an exhale. Extending the exhale is what helps to activate the parasympathetic part of our nervous system, the rest and digest, the feelings of safety and calm. There are so many but if you do those, even for a few minutes or a few rounds, you're going to feel a calmer state of being alongside breathwork.

Closing thoughts 

A reset doesn’t have to be radical.

As Ashley reminds us, it can begin with something as simple as a breath, a pause, a moment of awareness, a return to self. When paired with intentional support for the body, these small acts become powerful anchors in our day.

This Stress Awareness Month, consider this your invitation to slow down, tune in, and create space for rituals that restore you, one breath at a time.