Looking for a little more zing in your day? Perhaps you are stressed and need to find your Zen? Breathwork can help you get exactly what you need. Unlock your potential with breathwork. This beginners guide to breathwork will put you on the right path.
When people think of how to improve their lives, they often think of the big things. Thing like changing careers, hitting the gym, going on a diet or going back to school. Simple things like the breath are often overlooked.
The truth is that the breath is the most connected tool we have to make dramatic changes to our life and our health. The breath is innately connected to our physiology. Conscious control of the breath can help you to truly master your mind and your body. Mastery of the breath can put you back in control of your life.
Are you looking to create more energy in your life or perhaps dial down anxiety or stress? There is a breath for that. Do you want to improve how you perform at the gym or on the track? There is a breath for that. Do you have trouble unwinding after a long day at work? There is a breath for that too.
This beginners guide to breathwork investigates different types of breathwork and how they can be used to create better. It also touches on some simple techniques that you can use to enhance your breathwork practice.
So take a deep breath and let’s dive into the benefits of conscious breathing and how you can use it to improve your life.
What is Breathwork?
Research has shown that the breath is an effective tool for improving our health and wellbeing. Conscious breathing can help us to change our emotional state, perform at a higher level, be more productive, live longer and evolve our consciousness. Andโฆbecause we all breathe, we all have access to these tools. Even as beginners we can be guided to breathe better and get the benefits of breathwork.
When doing breathwork, techniques can range from fast breathing (super-ventilation) and conscious connected (circular) breathing all the way down to super slow breathing and many combinations and variations in between. When we enter into conscious breathing, it is important to have an intention in mind for the breathwork.
Why do Breathwork?
There are a number of powerful reasons to practice conscious Breathing. Breathwork can be used to reduce stress and anxiety. To improve mood and sleep. For athletic performance. To release trauma. To improve overall health and to access higher states of consciousness.
Types of Breathwork
Relaxing Breathwork
Relaxing Breathwork is all about resetting the Autonomic Nervous system. It is easy to get caught up in stress of day to day life and not take the time to relax. A relaxing breathwork practice will wind your nervous system down. It can take you from Sympathetic (fight or flight) to Parasympathetic (rest and digest). When we practice relaxing breathwork, we are training our system to enter this state of relaxation. The more we do this, the more accessible it will be for us.
Relaxing breathwork is all about creating balance. As a guide, a great beginners breathwork practice for relaxing and balancing is:
Box Breathing
This technique is commonly used in the toga world to help Yogiโs to chillout. It is a simple breath pattern. Breath in for 4 seconds; hold for 4 seconds; breath out for 4 seconds; hold for 4 seconds;
Itโs a great way to just zen out whenever you need to. You can use box breathing as part of a formal practice or just when you start feeling a bit agitated.
This is a useful tool for those who want to meditate as it can help slow down the mind and take you into an alpha state.
Activating Breathwork
As the heading implies, activating breathwork is about creating more energy. Activating breathwork is a great way to create more energy, improve focus, clarity and concentration. Energising breathwork is also a key factor in breathwork processes like Wim Hoff Breathing, Breakthrough breathwork and hollotropic breathwork although these processes have several aspects to them. These techniques are commonly used to help people release trauma and negative emotions.
Activating breathwork is all about breathing faster than we naturally would in order to increase energy levels. As a guide there is a great beginners breathwork process below:
Triangle Breathing (hold at the top)
This is a simple activating type of breathwork. You can set a time that is suitable for you or step up the time as you go. And example is breathe in for 5 seconds; hold for 5 seconds; breathe out for 5 seconds; repeat.
The act of holding the breath at the top will help to energise you rather than relax you. This type of breath can be useful if you need to activate some energy for a task or if you are feeling a little rundown and need a pick me up.
Therapeutic Breathwork
Therapeutic breathwork is typically a process where we breathe less air than we normally would in order to change our natural breathing patterns. Reduced breathing practices like the Buteyko method or Breathe-less breathing help us to change the way our body breathes. With therapeutic breathwork we can retrain our baseline carbon dioxide tolerance which will reduce how often we need to breath. This will balance our autonomic nervous system which will lead to improved health.
It is an incredibly powerful tool for transforming your health and all by breathing less.
Breathe-Less
This is a conscious practice where you intentionally breath less than you normally would for a period of time. During this process you are not trying to starve your body of oxygen. You are just taking a little bit off the inhale and maybe extending the exhale a little. Trying to reduce the amount of breaths you take in a minute. The idea is to find the edges or your tolerance so that you can extend your carbon dioxide tolerance. Over time, the edge will become the new normal and your system will work better.
You can start with a practice of 5 x 1minutes per day and gradually build up. Over time you could aim for up to 3 x 10 minute blocks.
NOTE: This practice is one of many options in this area and is best done working with a professional. A breathing coach can assess you and provide the proper instruction and guidance to help you achieve results.
Breakthrough Breathwork
This is an extraordinary experience where you are guided through a combination of breathing techniques to achieve an emotional breakthrough. In a Breakthrough workshop, you use your breath to literally break through resistance and let go of emotional blocks and trauma. Breakthrough breathwork can be a truly liberating experience.
If you feel ready to let go of the emotional baggage holding you down, you can try Breakthrough Breathwork through Boundless Breath in Newcastle.
Tips for beginners Today
- Start with what you can manage โ a breathwork practice will take commitment. Do what you know you can do, and do it consistently.
- Set your intentions โ know what you want to get out of breathwork and out of each breathwork session. A goal help will keep you on track.
- Join a Class or Group. It can be useful joining a class or session to get a better understanding of techniques.
- Make a Commitment โ whatever it is 5 to 10 minutes a day maybe and lay down the foundations.
- Get a coach. A coach can help you to understand exactly how you are breathing and put in place realistic goals and a plan to help you achieve them.
If you are looking for a way to self-regulate, let go of stress, improve health, heal or release trauma, breathwork may be just the thing you need. There are plenty of free resources available online to help you get started or you could join me in a workshop or as a coaching client to help you achieve more.
For more information on Breathwork workshops and Breath coaching, click here or contact Brad Levey on 0481 761 300.
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