Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 922 is my conversation with Taylor Somerville, the founder of Symmetry, on the practical side of breathwork for stress and anxiety. Taylor is someone I have known since the XPT days, and he helps people, individually and inside companies, develop stress-management protocols built on the breath. In this one we get specific about the techniques themselves, how breathing controls the nervous system, and the simple practices you can use the next time stress or anxiety starts to take over.
Listen now: Megaphone · YouTube.
Taylor Somerville is the founder of Symmetry, a Memphis-based coaching company that helps people manage stress and anxiety using breathwork and nervous-system training. A longtime XPT coach who came up through the work pioneered by Laird Hamilton, he uses breath as the foundation of everything he teaches, alongside cold exposure, sauna, and deliberate discomfort.
Taylor teaches breathing practices designed to shift the body out of a stressed, anxious state and into calm and control. By slowing and controlling the breath, you directly influence the nervous system, lowering the stress response, and he layers these techniques into protocols people can use in the moment and as a daily practice.
Breath is a direct lever on the autonomic nervous system. Taylor explains that by consciously changing how you breathe, you can move yourself out of the fight-or-flight stress response and into a calmer, more controlled state, which is why breathing is the foundation of his approach to managing both stress and anxiety.
Yes. Through Symmetry, Taylor is brought into companies to help employees develop stress-management protocols, doing corporate work alongside his one-on-one and group coaching. He helps busy, high-achieving teams take back control of their time and energy using breath and nervous-system tools.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 922 with Taylor Somerville is available on Megaphone, Spotify, YouTube, and the Tom Rowland Podcast feed. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
I wanted to get Taylor into the specifics this time. We have talked about the big picture of stress before, but in this conversation I wanted the actual techniques, the breathing practices anyone can use when stress or anxiety starts to spike. Taylor has spent years refining this with individuals and inside companies, and breath is where it all starts for him. I wanted listeners to walk away with something they could use that same day.
Press play in the player above to hear it.
Taylor gets practical about the breathing practices he teaches and how they pull you out of a stressed or anxious state. He explains what to actually do when you feel it building. Hear the technique in the episode.
Taylor breaks down why breath is such a direct lever on the body's stress response, and why that makes it the foundation of everything he teaches. Listen to that section of the conversation.
Taylor is brought into companies to build stress-management protocols for employees. He explains what that work looks like and why teams need it. Press play in the YouTube player above.
Taylor explains why he starts every client with the breath before layering in cold, sauna, and discomfort, and why most people skip the simplest tool they already have. Worth hearing in full.
Listen to the full conversation: Megaphone · YouTube.
What I like about this conversation is how usable it is. Taylor does not just talk about stress in the abstract, he hands you the techniques to do something about it.
If stress or anxiety is something you deal with, this is the one to take notes on. Press play in the player above, or grab Episode 922 on Megaphone or Spotify.
Taylor Somerville · Symmetry · XPT · Laird Hamilton · Memphis · Tom Rowland (host)
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Taylor Somerville is the founder of Symmetry, a Memphis-based coaching company that teaches breathwork and nervous-system tools for managing stress and anxiety. A longtime XPT coach who trained in the work pioneered by Laird Hamilton, he builds his coaching on the breath, paired with cold exposure, sauna, and deliberate discomfort. He works with corporate clients developing stress-management protocols as well as individuals and groups.
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