Making space for that intentional breath is one of the best parts of my day. It makes me feel centered, aware and present. And do it for you.
The art of the inhale/exhale will support you during some of your biggest milestone moments. Breathwork got me through the difficult times and will comfort you in times of grief and loss.
Discover how bringing intention to your breath technique can transform your life.
Wanting to dive into the everyday benefits of practicing an intentional breath technique, like stress and anxiety and even potentially weight loss. Keep scrolling for the best time to practice breathing, the different types of breath techniques, and beginner-friendly tips for making breathwork a part of your everyday wellness routine.
How does breathwork relieve stress?
When we are in stressful situations, our sympathetic nervous system is activated which induces our ‘fight or flight’ hormones. If we are unaware of our breath in these moments, our energy can very quickly become depleted. When we’re out of the situation, our hormone levels drop back down which can cause exhaustion. Over time, depleted energy can show up as lack of motivation, extreme fatigue, constant feelings of overwhelm, or even depression. The good news is that a consistent breathwork practice can create balance, peace, and space in the body to offset the energy deficiency.
Can breathwork improve sleep? And how about digestion?
Gentle breathwork can greatly support sleep and digestion through downshifting into our nervous system’s ‘rest and digest’ mode.
Are there different types of breath techniques?
There are many different types of breathing and different methodologies for teaching breathwork. The breathwork practices that we teach are effective for everyday situations such as grounding your energy at work and reducing anxiety, as well as more long-term practices that focus on cultivating resilience or strengthening intimacy.
How do different breath techniques affect our well-being?
One of the great things about breathwork is that you can start with a very simple practice for general nervous system regulation, or you can practice a specific practice for a certain outcome.
When is the best time of day to practice breathwork?
The best time to practice is the time of day that’s the easiest to schedule. If you have small children maybe you can practice before the kiddos wake up or with their them at the end of the day. Or you can practice before work or in the late afternoon. There is no perfect time of day or evening, rather, it’s the consistency of your practice that matters most.
For beginners, what’s the best way to start practicing breathwork?
Choose a simple practice to start but whatever you choose, practice for just a couple of minutes a day. People have the best success establishing a practice when they build their practices into something else that they’re already doing each day. This is called ‘habit stacking’ and it takes much less effort than trying to carve out time from an already-packed schedule. Try stacking your practice before or after you brush your teeth, exercise, work, or take the kids to school. You can use the timer setting on your iPhone to practice, or apps like Calm can be very helpful too.
The key is to make it simple for yourself in the beginning. We all have so much going on and we don’t want our practice to feel like one more thing on our to-do list. You can always lengthen the duration of your practice in the weeks ahead, hopefully after reading this, you’ll go give breathwork a try!
Messycafe 