Breathing: Science & Practice Of Breathwork. Module 1, Breath Awareness

Breathing is one of the biggest pillars of health. How you breathe influences every system in your body. If you learn to control and train the breath, you will have control over your stress response, your immune system, your mood, your thoughts, your responses to other people, your sleep, your body posture, your body structure, your blood pressure, your athletic performance, and even your physical appearance. Sounds far-fetched? I promise you, by the end of this course, you will understand how all of these claims are backed-up by science, and you will know the techniques that will help you get the results you want. Have you ever done a breathwork practice and felt like it wasn’t working for you, or like you didn’t fully understand the purpose of the practice? Far too many breathwork techniques are taken as a general practice for everyone, while there are important differences between the wide variety of breathwork practices out there. Depending on what your needs and challenges are, you need to pick wisely where to start, because some breathwork practices can actually hurt rather than help you. “Breathing” is created to give you a scientific and exploratory overview of all the different types of breathing practices out there, and helps you to pick the one that is just right for you. This course will take you on a journey deep into your own breathing, in search of that beautiful bridge between your mind and body, and it will help you find peace, health, and energy in your life. This course is divided into 4 Modules, of which this is the first one. The first step in your breathing journey, is to become aware of the natural process of Breathing. In Module 1 of “Breathing”, you will learn everything you need to know about how breathing works in your body, and to set up the fundamentals of a conscious breathwork routine. Welcome to Module 1 of “Breathing”: How we breathe – Becoming aware of the natural cycle of Breath. SOURCE CREDITS: No idea is ever created in solitude. Creativity is collaboration. The creation process of this course has been heavily influenced by the ideas, methods, and studies of other researchers, writers, and practitioners. I will point out specific scientific sources per session of this course, but I would like to specifically mention the people who have influenced bigger parts of the course: James Nestor, journalist and author of “Breath”, inspired me to create this course as a general source of information and practice, Patrick McKeown, breathing expert and author of “The Oxygen Advantage” and “The Breathing Cure” has summarized a wealth of scientific literature about Breathing and developed a library of excellent breathing protocols, Andrew Huberman, neuroscientist and podcast host of the “Huberman Lab”, who has devoted several episodes to the process of breathing and explains the biology of the breathing cycle so elegantly, and the two breathwork experts who have been an amazing help in editing the final transcript of this course: Adam Devine, Anatomy expert and teacher in the field of Yoga, and Nick Heath, also known as “The Breathing Diabetic”, scientist and breathwork expert and teacher. I cannot express my gratitude enough to each and every scientist, writer, and author who has contributed to my own creative process through the sharing of their ideas, practices, time, and help. Follow up Modules of Breathing are: Module 2. Slow and Nasal Breathing Module 3. Fast Breathing and Breath Holds Module 4. Mixed Practices and Specific Tools