Learn all about the power of breathwork and why it is one of the most potent tools to combat stress and anxiety, with a plethora of health benefits, including nervous system regulation, endocrine system health, and emotional resilience.
Life is hard. Stress is rampant. And yet, for some reason, we seem hellbent on making shit way more complicated and stressful than needs be - despite the consequences to our overall health, happiness, and longevity.
Breathwork is a simple, ancient, proven, and highly effective practice anyone can introduce into their life for an abundance of health benefits — turn the decibels way down on anxiety, stress, fear, worry, etc., and crank them up on happiness, joy, freedom, compassion, love, gratitude, etc. What’s not to love?
If you're anything like me, you might be a little freaked out by pseudo-spirituality and be more than a little put off by some of the bullshit and inauthenticity spun by those who spend their lives preaching authenticity on Instagram?
Here's the good news: You can ignore it all. None of it matters. What matters is how you breathe. That is literally all breathwork concerns itself with.
The mind boggles at how much our breath can impact the quality of our lives - both positively and negatively. It's air, for crying out loud - inhale, exhale, your heart keeps beating, and geronimo — you live to fight another day. Yay! And we've been doing it since we exited the womb. Easy, right? How could one possibly do it wrong?
Well, we can. And do. Often with significant costs to our health.
But why? How?
Consider cause-and-effect: Anxiety and stress cause shallow breathing. In turn, shallow breathing causes anxiety. It's a vicious cycle. Similarly, stress can cause poor gut health, which, in turn, will cause more stress. Everything is connected - Bert & Ernie, Bonnie & Clyde, Breath & Vitality!
Considering we take roughly 22,000 breaths a day — the impact on your overall health is staggering when breathing incorrectly. So what happens when you train to breathe correctly?
Your entire endocrine system will begin to fire on all cylinders. Your nervous system will calm the fuck down. Finally. Every facet of your life will improve, and every problem you need to resolve will appear easier than before.
You get cause-and-effect, but now it's adaptive. It ripples down to improved digestion, gut health, posture, spinal health, sleep, and so much more that will positively impact your life.
So what's the big deal?
Ok, I honestly thought I just answered that question, but let's dive a little deeper: Our past experiences — stress, trauma, anxiety, childhood, texting, working hunched over a computer, etc. — affect our physiology and how we breathe, causing breathing patterns to become maladaptive.
Therefore, how we breathe impacts both our present and future health. And most of it is unconscious. I.e., it's running on autopilot, meaning you can't just decide to breathe better — you must practice consistently to correct your breathing over time.
Breathwork is essentially a tool to fast-track your journey to better health - emotional and physical. Once maladaptive breathing becomes adaptive, the overall impact on your health and well-being is staggering.
Types of breathwork
There are many different types of breathwork — both mind and body-based — all of which have their advantages. None of which I care to argue. An example of a mind-based practice would be when using a count. Inhale for five, hold for five, exhale for five, hold for five, repeat. You get it — you're using your mind to control your breath. This simple practice (box breathing) alone carries with it significant benefits. You can liken it to a mild form of weed - it’s entry-level. Now let’s dive into the good stuff.
My training primarily consists of Conscious Connected Breathwork (CCB) and Facilitated Breath Repatterning (FBR), so I'll focus on that. With CCB, you breathe in a specific rhythm that allows you to enter a slightly altered state where you no longer use your mind to control your breath - in essence, the body takes over.
Once the element of control is removed, a trained eye can see what's working and what's not and use both facilitation and verbal cues to help ensure your breath flows more easily through the three diaphragms: pelvic floor, ribcage, and throat.
Shit's about to get more technical than I'm comfortable with, but fuck it, we'll give it a go:
Basically, you rapidly alter the blood chemistry in the body to shift the blood flow in the brain, providing access to the brainstem, which connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord.
Consider the brainstem one of the homes for our subconscious and unconscious memories. It controls many of our behavioural reflexes. And often, due to life circumstances, we act not in the way we would like — as demonstrated by Will Smith at the Oscars!
Oooops!
Clients may laugh, cry, scream, whatever. It's all welcome. And encouraged. Memories may pop up, and blockages in the body may release. This is likely the completion of stress and trauma cycles as you begin to let go of what's not serving you — that which you've been conditioned to suppress your entire life.
Breathwork Helps With Both Prevention & Healing
Firstly, breathwork isn't only beneficial for trauma, stress, or anxiety; the benefits from regular practice are far-reaching for anyone looking to improve their overall health, wellbeing, and longevity - emphasis on "regular practice" because of, you know, our teeny-tiny patience problem.
This practice could be for everyone, but it isn't for everyone. While there are many studies documenting its benefits, it can certainly feel a little, well, WOO! So you have to be open to the experience. And understand that, more often than not, there's a process to get your desired results and a timeline that differs for everyone.
Some will go straight into it and have their mind blown. Some will refuse to go there. Others will take a few sessions to feel safe and comfortable enough to let go of their desire to control. Others will have zero patience accompanied by batshit expectations thanks to bullshit marketing and will be back on Google tomorrow.
If it’s not instant, I’m not interested!
Many struggle greatly with anxiety, burnout, sadness, loneliness, depression, etc. We read an abundance of self-help books, overwhelm ourselves with knowledge, and grow increasingly frustrated as nothing ever seems to change. It's all surface level. Nothing ever penetrates the subconscious because we are conditioned to have zero patience and give up before significant results can be attained.
Fortunately, after only one breathwork journey, it’s possible to feel a significant shift in your nervous system. Often, it’s a case of you’ve got to experience it yourself to believe it. It can be truly mind-altering — in a good way.
So, what short-term benefits do you stand to gain?
Delighted you asked. Here are a few ??'s to take you through them:
?? Less stress and anxiety
?? Improved digestion
?? Greater levels of acceptance and trust
?? Increased happiness
?? Improved cardiovascular health
?? Lower Resting Heart Rate
?? Increased Heart Rate Variability
?? Increased longevity
?? Greater perspective
?? Nervous system regulation
?? Emotional steadiness
?? Less overwhelm
?? Greater resilience
?? More positive emotion
?? Less negative emotion
?? More love and compassion (towards yourself and others - although challenging at times, to be fair!)
?? Less worry
?? Enhanced creativity
?? Less pain and inflammation
?? The completion of trauma and stress cycles
?? A felt sense of safety
And the long-term benefits?
All of the above. However, similar to the interest gained on an index fund, they compound over time.
Conclusion
Carl Yung once said, "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate."
Breathwork supports you in making the unconscious conscious and ultimately assists you in changing your life. Working with a practitioner helps accelerate the process.
Note: I don't think it's the be-all and end-all. We've got needs that need to be met in the real world. All of which demands us to make decisions and take action. Breathwork has incredible healing power and can help make it easier for anyone to meet those needs.
I also believe in talk therapy (ONLY if the therapist understands and specializes in your affliction. i.e., personally, I wouldn’t speak to a generalist about anxiety who’s never experienced anxiety) and coaching (same criteria) because speaking your problems out loud and having someone - who understands - listen, without judgment, while helping you arrive at a solution is extremely powerful. I like the one-two-punch combo!
However, if I were forced to choose, I would side with breathwork because of the access it provides to the subconscious. And that's where the change needs to occur — not to mention its impact on nervous system regulation, endocrine, and metabolic health. Although, again, I strongly believe a multi-discipline approach is best.
That said, in a world where everyone wants to cheat their way to better health, thus far, it's the best tool I've come across.