Breathe to relax

There are so many times when I tell Morgan something and have no idea whether she heard me. Sometimes I don't know if she fully understood what I said and sometimes I actually don't know if she was even listening. Ever since she has started school, I find that I am wondering about the former much more than the latter. We have such deep conversations at night that sometimes blow me away. Every night since school began, she seems to be on the verge of bursting with ideas, information, and questions when we lay down at night. She waits for the answers and even seems eager to hear stuff that she would have previously not seemed to give a crap about.
Two nights ago we were having our bedtime discussion and for some reason I don't remember, I began talking about breathing. I pointed out that she could help her body feel better in many situations. I asked her if she had ever felt her heart racing because she was scared, nervous, or mad. She said," yes," and I told her how she could slow her heart down and make her body feel better whenever that happened. We talked about breathing in and out through your nose and how that slows the heart rate and helps the body to calm. We talked about how breathing through your mouth does just the opposite and triggers the body's "flight or fight response." I told her that just focusing on your breath alone helps to calm you and helps you to remember and feel how perfect you are. We practiced breathing for awhile and watched our bellies rise and chests expand as air filled our bodies and watched how they fell as air left. She was ready for me to do the "relaxing thing" when we were finished with that. (Each night I begin with her toes and talk her through each body part thanking each part for what it did that day and feeling it get heavy before it falls asleep. This process = "the relaxing thing.") She fell asleep and I held her as I thought about how amazing she is.
Last night, Morgan brought up our previous discussion on her own. She let me know that she had tried the "breathing thing." She said her heart was beating fast when she was running and so she started breathing through her nose to help her heart slow down. She said she actually tried it when she was running and it worked. (Interestingly, I have gone running twice in the last several days and have purposely breathed through my nose the entire way and have found that it definitely does make a big difference.) I marveled at the fact that she was making this knowledge her own at the age of 5. Our conversation ended with the "relaxing thing" and she fell asleep as I thought about how amazing she is.