Why Breathwork Belongs In Your Wellness Routine

Hi,

I'm Susanna,

And in this short video,

I want to share with you some of my favorite breath practices in the hopes that I can inspire you to try one or two,

And maybe incorporate them into your daily wellness program,

Because I think breath work is unbelievably effective in helping us to just live in a way that feels balanced and centered.

So one of the forms of breath work that I trained in is something called the Wim Hof Method,

Where you breathe in and out rapidly,

For about 20 to 40 cycles,

Then do breath holds.

And what this particular form of breathwork is good for is energizing you in the morning,

Helping you to focus.

A lot of people report that it helps them with mental health issues to feel less depressed,

Less anxious.

So I really rate it.

And a number of my tracks,

Which are rhythmic breathing practices and the audios on Insight Time are dedicated to this with various breath holds.

But there are other really quick breathwork practices that you can sprinkle into your day.

For instance,

One that's very popular these days was made famous by the Navy Seals and it's the box breathing technique,

Which simply consists of breathing in for four seconds,

Holding for four seconds,

Out for four seconds,

And holding for four seconds,

And doing this several times,

Perhaps four or five times.

And what it does is it helps to really calm and center you.

Apparently the Navy SEALs use it before going into a mission in order to perform at their best.

Another form of breathwork that I just love is the 4-7-8 breath.

And this is great for winding you down before sleep.

So here you breathe in for four,

Hold for seven,

And out for eight.

And when you lengthen your out breath,

What you do is you send a signal to your body to activate the parasympathetic nervous system response,

Which is the rest and digest response,

Rather than the fight or flight response.

And again,

Just a few cycles of breathing this way can really shift your state and help you wind down.

I actually made these five-minute breath snacks for Insight Timer so people could try out these different techniques and didn't have the excuse of,

Oh,

I don't have time for breath work.

So I want to leave you with one more thought,

Which is if you can train yourself to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth,

You're going to be a lot less stressed and overwhelmed.

There's a brilliant American sprinter,

Sha'Carri Richardson,

Who sprints this way.

She does the 100 meter,

100 yard,

Whatever it is,

Dash,

Wins Olympic medals.

And if you watch her in slow motion,

Her lips are together and she's breathing with this calm look on her face,

Despite the speed she's going just through her nose.

One of the ways you can train yourself to do that,

And I'll finish here,

Is with some mouth tape.

And I actually use mouth tape at times while I'm sleeping to sleep better.

It's incredibly calm.

Calming to the body,

But if that sounds a bit weird,

I invite you to just put it on for 5-10 minutes and walk around the house and see how it feels.

So that's enough talking from me,

But this is what it looks like.