Hey guys.
Welcome to this week's update.
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust.
And in the middle of one of the most unimaginable human experiences in history,
He discovered something.
He said,
And I quote,
Between stimulus and response,
There is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
That one idea is changing how I think about everything I teach.
So here's what's happening to most of us most of the time.
Something happens and a mile.
.
.
A difficult conversation,
A deadline,
A comment from a colleague,
And we react.
I know I have.
Automatically,
Instantly,
Without thinking.
And the moment we react,
We've handed all of our power to the stimulus.
The situation is now in control,
Not us.
That's not a character flaw,
That's physiology.
When your nervous system is dysregulated,
When you're stressed,
Overloaded,
Running on empty,
That space Frenkel talked about,
It disappears.
The gap between what happens to you and how you respond closes completely.
And you're left wondering afterwards.
Why did I say that?
Why did I react to that?
Sound familiar?
Does to me.
This is where breathwork comes in,
And specifically,
Nasal breathing,
As we learn and practice.
When someone triggers you,
Your body goes into fight or flight.
Your breathing gets faster,
Shallower,
Moves up into your chest.
And that breathing pattern tells your nervous system,
We are not safe,
React now.
In all reality,
Unless it's a lion chasing you or a truck steaming towards you,
It's not a real fight or flight situation.
But when you breathe nasally,
Slow,
Controlled,
With an extended exhale,
You activate your vagus nerve.
You shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic mode.
Your heart rate drops,
Your cortisol drops,
Your thinking clears.
And that space,
The one Frankel described.
Starts to open back up.
You don't react,
You respond.
That's not a metaphor,
That's what's happening in your nervous system in real time.
24 years as a paramedic,
12 on the helicopter in a previous lifetime.
I had to make life or death decisions in seconds,
In environments most people will never experience.
What I learned is that people who performed best under that kind of pressure weren't the ones who reacted fastest.
They were the ones who could stay regulated enough to actually think.
And breath.
Oh no,
I didn't know it at the time.
Was always part of that.
Even if we didn't have the language for it back then.
What I teach now.
Is how to use your breath to keep that space open.
Before a difficult meeting.
During a stressful moment.
After something that catches you off guard.
Not deep dramatic breathing,
Not a 10 minute meditation.
Just slow nasal extended exhales.
That's enough to change what happens next.
Frankel found that space in the most extreme circumstances imaginable.
You can find it in the middle of a Tuesday.
The spice is there.
You just need the tools to access it.
Thanks for joining me again.
I'll see you next week.
