For a long time my pagan self and my working self lived in separate boxes. “Kim the employee” sat in one. The woman who practised magic, walked the hills and worked with the elements sat in the other. Then I trained in breathwork and the lines began to blur.
That’s because breathwork and magic have more in common than I expected. Both ask for intentional attention, and both live in the pause. In that odd in-between space at the end of 2025, just before the new year, I joined Rebecca Anuwen on her podcast, A Pinch of Magick, for a long, wandering chat about breath, rhythm and living magic in a noisy world. Here are five things from that conversation I’d love to share with you.
[Or listen to the Spotify episode here.]
Table of Contents
1. Magic is a relationship (and so is breath)
Rebecca said everything she does has a pinch of magic, and she believes we all have access to it, the same way we all have access to our breath. We take both for granted. We forget about them until something goes wrong. When we bring our attention to either one, we do it better.
After nearly thirty years on this path, my own relationship with magic feels like knowing someone for decades. You don’t need the getting-to-know-you questions any more. It’s reciprocal. I’ve moved away from particular deities towards earth energies and animism. I can feel it beneath my feet and in the trees, even the ones planted to make a shopping street look pretty. These days I rarely need a full ritual to call it in. I do take three breaths before I begin anything, though. Breath is the start of everything I do.
That doesn’t mean the foundations don’t matter. You wouldn’t expect a toddler to run a marathon. Rebecca compared it to cooking: at first you follow the recipe and weigh everything, and decades later you’re eyeballing it. We just need to have learned the rules before we bend them.
2. Breathwork and magic both live in the pause
Breathe in, pause, breathe out. Rebecca described it as walking a labyrinth. You stand at the threshold with a question, walk to the centre and pause. That pause is where the transformation happens. Then you walk back out, a little more informed, and integrate what you found. With each breath we take in what we need, pause, and release what we no longer need.
The same rhythm turns through the seasons and the moon, with a pause at each end of the waxing and waning. Rebecca credited the phrase “sacred pause” to Molly Remer, and I’m glad to pass that credit on.
Breathing is also one of the few things our bodies do automatically that we can steer on purpose. That makes it a good doorway. And as Rebecca pointed out, food comes with plenty of judgement and baggage. Breath comes with far less, and it’s always yours.
3. Thirty seconds is enough
You don’t need an hour on a cushion. Next time you’re waiting for the kettle, or in a queue of cars hoping someone leaves a parking space, you might try 30 seconds of simply noticing your breath. Perhaps you notice the air is cooler as it enters your nose than when it leaves. You might notice your belly moving. Many thoughts can fall away when you focus on something that simple.
It can feel a little vulnerable and a little strengthening at the same time. Modern life doesn’t give us many of these quiet thresholds, so we have to make them. If you’d like a longer practice to build on, I’ve written about a 5-minute reset for tech overwhelm.
4. Ask your own questions
When I started out, I was taught the traditional correspondences: north and earth, east and air, south and fire, west and water. I was also encouraged to mix them up. My first teachers came from a mixed Gardnerian-style Wiccan background, with a dash of Qabalah, and my high priestess told me there were no sacred cows. I was to call different elements at different points of the compass, breathe, meditate and ask, “Where am I feeling this in my body?“
I stayed with west for water in the end. Was that outside influence or my own feeling? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is that I live in Salisbury, where five rivers meet: the Avon, the Wylye, the Ebble, the Bourne and the Nadder. Water was the first element I connected with, and I went to sit by the different rivers to see what each one meant to me. With Stonehenge only a stone’s throw away, this landscape has plenty to say.
Rebecca made a point I loved. Many of us come to this path to escape dogma, and then step into a different kind of dogma “with shining crystals”. Know the values of the people you learn from. Teachers matter, and you can take what resonates without putting anyone on a pedestal. If you’d like more on this theme, I wrote about reclaiming words like “woo-woo” in my post on midlife overwhelm.
5. Find your rhythm (and be gentle with yourself)
Breath is powerful, and Rebecca was honest that it isn’t comfortable for everyone. If your body doesn’t feel like a safe place, sitting with your breath, as with meditation, can bring up a lot. If that’s familiar, perhaps start somewhere else. Rhythm can come from walking, knitting, cross stitch or colouring. I find that repetitive movement can bring a lovely zen state, much like breathwork. Rebecca calls knitting the ultimate knot magic, and I can see why.
Community matters too. Online circles let us create our own sanctuary at home, with our own incense and our own cuppa. In person, there’s a different depth, because we have to bring ourselves into the room with each other. I love both. Breathwork isn’t a cure-all and it never replaces therapy or medical care where you need it. Go at the pace that feels right for you.
If you’d like to bring breathwork and magic into your own life
If this stirred something, there are a few ways in:
- Take a sacred pause: a Sacred Pause session is one hour, one to one, to breathe, slow down and listen to what comes up. If you’d like to go further, there’s my Breathwork for Wellness programme too, and you can book a free suitability call to talk it through.
- Start with a free five days: my email course, Awaken Your Inner Magic, brings you one simple breathwork practice each morning, 10–15 minutes at most.
- If you’re near Salisbury: come along to a Breathwork Circle and feel the difference of being in a room together.
No pressure, just an open door. 💜
A big thank you to Rebecca for such a thoughtful conversation.
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify.
Where in your day do you already pause without noticing? I’d love to hear in the comments.