Understanding Breathwork

Your breath brings oxygen into your body so that you can live and thrive. When you are physically or emotionally stressed out, it affects your breathing. Breathwork helps to calm your stress and bring you back into balance. So, how does it work, and what are breathwork techniques? Listen up!!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ho ra, oh wow, Hello everyone. I am so glad
to be back here with you guys in the studio.
It's been a long time. Well, I won't feel very

(00:23):
long time, but it feels like it's been a very
long time. And as promised, we're going to get back
to talking about breath work and understanding it and what
it actually is. We're going to go back to that.
I was asked to this about a month ago and
I wanted to go ahead and finish up talking with
you about vibration and I have totally enjoyed talking to

(00:46):
you about that, So we're going to get started with
breath work. Unfortunately, the guest that was supposed to be
here today is not going to be able to be here,
and that's okay. She's promised that they both will be
here on the next broadcast, so they had some other
things to do. So we're looking forward to that. So
go ahead and hit the follow button and be here

(01:09):
with us, present with us here today and always we
always want you to join us here during the broadcast
when we're here in the studio. So so excited about
talking to you about breath works. We get really excited
around here in the studio. Talking about breath works because
we see the effect that it has on ourselves, but
also the effect that it has on the ones that

(01:32):
come in and participate in the breath work sessions. It's amazing.
We see the effect that it has all the ones
that participate, even on the online sessions, and we get
a lot of yahoos and a lot of yeays, and
so many victories that people get and just receive so

(01:52):
many things that they begin to make breath work a
part of their day to day. So, you know, we
all know that ours brings oxygen into our body so
that we can thrive. Right, It's what we do without
even thinking about it. We breathe without even thinking about it.

(02:12):
But we don't even realize. Some of us don't realize.
Many of us don't realize how important the breath is
more than just breathing it every single day because we
have to. That's how we live. But when we are
physically or emotionally stressed, it affects how we breathe and

(02:37):
bringing that under control and learning how to use your
breath in your day to day it can help you
calm yourself and it can help to calm those stressors
and bring balance to your body to your mind. And
so how does it all work? You know? How do

(02:57):
we use our breath to bring us calm and to
relieve our stress and to help us make better decisions.
So many people are asking me that when I'm saying,
your breath can cause you to make better decisions, Your
breath can cause you to handle situations better. It can.

(03:17):
I can't stress it enough. How five minutes of a day,
just stepping back and taking a pause, taking a deep
breath or some breaths can absolutely change how you react
or respond to a situation. It actually calls you not
to react. You know. We quickly react sometimes when we

(03:39):
are startled or face with a situation with a quickness.
You know. So understanding breath work is really important, and
it's really trendy right now, but it's so important that
you understand that just because it's trendy doesn't mean that
it doesn't work. It does work, And I'm glad that

(04:02):
it's trendy because it is something that if I could
give to everyone, you know, the explanation of knowing how
to apply it to their lives to make it work,
I would do just that. But I want to touch
as many lives as possible right here, right now. Breath
work is very trendy. You know, people have been practicing

(04:24):
breath works for many years, thousands, hundreds, thousands of years,
and it's something that people have used the exercise of
breath work, the practice of breath work to calm themselves,
you know, to cause their lives to be changed. And

(04:45):
the basic idea of breath work is to release toxin
from your body to relieve stress. And when you breathe
out and nourish your mind and body, breathing in, releasing
the toxes, releasing the stresses when you're breathing out, and

(05:06):
when you breathe in, nourishing your mind and nourishing your body.
Take a deep breath in right now where you are
and exhale just that one breath. It felt really good.

(05:28):
Right Research has shown that breathwork is promising. It's shown
the promising effects of breathworks, the potential of the health
benefit that it has. And some of those benefits are
like accolyzing your blood pH elevating your mood, and it

(05:48):
has an anti inflamatory effect. And I know that some
of you have been in my classes or been online
with me, or even been in a breath work session
with someone else and you know that these things have
happened for you, especially dealing with your mood or the
feeling of depression or the feeling of anxiety. It works.

(06:12):
I know in my own life, I use breathworks in
so many different areas of my life that has helped me.
You know, it helps to calm me, It helps to
get my day started on the positive. Breath works may also,
you know, have a positive impact on the central nervous system,
which is really important, and that's important to understand that

(06:34):
when you feel stressed, your breath tends to become fast
and shallow. I know we all can identify it with that.
Then what this does is that limits the oxygen enter
into your bloodstream. So your brain actually tells your body
that there is something going on here, something is a threat,

(06:57):
and your body it goes into that in flight mode,
It goes into that. So it puts you over in
the pair of sympathetic side of your nervous system somewhere
that we don't want to stay. I understand that we're
all going to go there, but it's so important that
we all know that we can change the channel and

(07:19):
come back into that rest and digest that sympathetic side
of the nervous system. So when you take time to
slow down, take that purposeful pause, and on purpose breathe
deeply and slowly, like we just put that deep breath
in and deep breath out. You tell your brain that

(07:40):
it's okay. Whatever is going on, you can handle it,
and your brain communicates for the rest of your body
that it is safe, and it causes that mode of
relaxation to over take you. And yet that feeling of
calm it comes upon you and that fighting flight response decreases,
it goes down, and your body starts to function normally again.

(08:05):
So it takes you out of that stress for mode.
And so there's so many different types of breath work,
so many different techniques that you can use, and you
have to find the one that works for you, the
one that you need, the one that you need to
use on your day to day because we're all different,
we all face different things, and I'm just going to

(08:27):
name a few of those. We have holotrophic breath work
and this is best to get best to really have
some experience and this some guidance with this, the holotrophic
breath work, it's so important that you get guidance with
any technique to you know, visit a class if you're

(08:50):
not me or mean, an experience instructor or a coach
that can help you practice this technique. And the idea
with this technique is to achieve a continuous inhale and
exhale pattern with no pause in between. And this type
of breathing, it flows your body with oxygen and it
be lose yourselves. Now, that's wonderful. Then you have the

(09:15):
alternative nostril breathing and it starts with your right thermal
applying pressure to the right nostril. Then you breathe in
using only the left nostril and you hold your breath
that you switch sides and you release the right thumb
and use the right index finger to apply pressure to
the left nostril. As you exhale through the right nostril,

(09:38):
you pause, take another deep breath in, and then alternate again.
And this type of breathing technique helps encourage balance and
the mind and the body. Wonderful one to use on
a day to day. The basis then we have the
four seven eighth, the technique that adds accounting beats. As
you breathe in and out as a way to quiet

(10:02):
and focus your mind. I use this one a lot.
This is my favorite one. You breathe in for four beats,
you hold for seven beats, then you exhale out for
eight beats, and it's a longer exhale, that longer exhale.
It encourages you to completely empty your long and it's amazing.

(10:23):
When you do this actual breath work. There is such
a calm that comes over you. There's such such a
breath freshener. Especially if you're experiencing anxiety. You can do
this breath and it really does help tremendously. And then

(10:44):
you have that deep abdominal breathing. And I find that
a lot of my clients like this one. With this technique,
you use a long, deep breath. As you breathe, you
can visualize your breath feeling up your body and your
belly and chest should both expand when you exhale. I'm sorry,

(11:05):
when you inhale, and when you exhale, your chest relaxes
and your navel pulls back towards the spine. And then
this type of deep breathing, it is wonderful because it
helps your body. It tells your body Okay, relax, Just relax.
It's not as bad or big as you think it is.

(11:27):
You're in control. Just relax, and I'll mention more and
more before we move on. And that is a breath
of fire one of my favorite as well. It's more
advanced technique and breath work. And there again, I would say,
if you're going to try this, when you deal with
a coach or with an instructor a few times before

(11:48):
you actually you know, go for it on your own.
Because when you're inhale, your abominal muscles are relaxed, and
when you exhale, you engage your core to help push
the air you know, out of the body. And this
bretain technique we take some practice. You may take some
time for you to really get this one, and once

(12:10):
you achieve it, once you get there and you understand
it and you're able to do it correctly, it helps
with a lot of sets of steadiness. So there again,
with this particular breath work, it takes time to really
get there where you need to be where you can
experience the effectiveness of it. So I would say do
it with an instructor or with a coach, and with

(12:33):
a group. It's good to do those. Now, what I
want to say further about breath works is about the effectiveness.
Breath work requires focus, so it can take time for
you to actually develop your ability to concentrate on the

(12:55):
technique and be able to sit there long enough to
get into the practice of bread work. I've had people
that tell me I just can't sit there. You know,
it's just, you know, I feel like I'm doing something
that's really not beneficial. But I say, give it a try,
give it a chance, and if you do, you'll never

(13:18):
want to give it up. You'll always want to practice it.
And if you're distracted during a breath work session by
noise or happenings around you, it won't be as effective.
So it takes time to be able to block out
all of that. Just like with meditation, you know, it
takes time to be able to be effectively using the

(13:43):
technique to get the benefits of it. So practice every day,
you know, get somewhere and practice every day. You know,
join in on the online classes, those sessions on Saturday
mornings or whenever you see that I'm going to have
a session, jump in on those sessions, and let's just practice.
And the more you practice and allow it to become

(14:04):
a part of your day to day. The more you
experience or benefits of breath work. So go ahead where
you are right now. I want you to just sit quietly.
Make sure that you're in a place where you won't
be interrupted or distracted, and you're able to concentrate, And
I want you to close your eyes, lower your gaze

(14:26):
and just allow your body to just sit quietly, allow
your mind to just experience the calmness that you may
be experiencing right now. I want you to take a
deep breath in and excel out. Deep breath in, excel out,

(15:00):
deep breath in and exhale. Now, allow yourself to just
bree normally, totally bringing your awareness to your breath. Notice
how the breath feels that it's coming into the body,

(15:21):
Notice how it feels as it's going out of the body.
Just to allow your awareness totally beyond your breath, that
you breathe in, breathe in the kind of day that
you want to have, and as you exhale, exhale out

(15:42):
everything that does not serve you, everything that does not
appeal to you, everything that's waited on you. Just release
it as you exhale, inhale, positivity, inhale, calmness, enjoy and
exhale in held deeply, hold that breath as you reach

(16:11):
the top, just hold that breath would count out five
four three two one XL strong they release, and everything
that does not serve you hold that breath out, hold
that breath out the count three. You're gonna take a

(16:35):
deep rescue inhale breath one two three inhale deeply, take
and enjoy and peace and calmness, and hold on to
it at the top. Don't let go of it. Hold
on to that and one two three XL strongly everything

(17:00):
that does not serve open your eyes. Don't you feel amazing?
I know you do. Care us with you for the
rest of the day into your tomorrow, and remember to
take those purposeful pauses. Just step back five minutes. We

(17:22):
are bombarding so much in our day to day with stressors,
out noises to situations that take us over into flight
and fight and flight. But let's use our breath to
change the channel and bring us back into the rest

(17:43):
and digests where we're in control, we're balanced. Take that
purpose pause, take five deep breaths to step back and
just take five deep breaths and allow that piece to
come you. When you inhale, you inhale peace and strength

(18:05):
and calmness and joy. And when you exhale, release those
things that does not serve you, release those plates. If
you'll do this, you will see that your breath can
help you to change your life, change your energy, change
your life. Your breath will change your energy if you

(18:31):
allow yourself to bring breath work into your life as
a daily practice. Until next time, guys, IT has a
wonderful you guys have a wonderful day. Shalom,