You may notice that things are a little different around here. My newsletter has had a little facelift and after some time away this edition is its comeback.

But don’t worry I’ll still be sharing my latest insights to help you live your best life as well as to help navigate health, life itself, and live consciously.

I’ll start by sharing a tool that has changed the way I practice breathwork for the better!

Before that, I want to remind you that our breath and how we breathe is vitally important for our overall health. While there is more of an emphasis on our breath and breathwork has become a global phenomenon mostly thanks to leading experts like Wim Hof, Niraj Naik, and many others I still have the feeling that when we think and talk about health we instantly think of sleep, movement, and nutrition and maybe for good reason too…

However, when we really think about it we can go days without sleep and water, weeks without food, and even longer without exercise or physical activity.

Yet, how long can we go without our breath?! Or, if I were to put it another way how long can we go without the need to breathe?

I hope you get my point! 😉

Our breath is the mirror of our health. It is the remote control for our mind, body, and spirit and through breath control, we can quickly learn to change our emotional and mental state which gives us the ability to control our inner world.

And, when we can control our inner world we have a better relationship with the outer world!

Furthermore, because our health is interconnected sleep, exercise/movement, and nutrition all have a huge impact on our breathing and vice versa.

For example, there have been many studies that have found the profound effects of mindful eating and that when we eat more mindfully, ideally by chewing our food between 20 to 30 times we breathe at a much slower rate, taking in less air and hyperventilating less which promotes digestion.

On the topic of hyperventilation, when we hyperventilate during exercise mostly via mouth breathing we fatigue quicker and cause more stress in the body. And, from my own experience when I started to become more conscious of this during my own workouts, especially long runs, and switched from mouth breathing to nose breathing I noticed how I could push myself further, didn’t feel fatigued, and overall felt that I had more control.

I could go on and on about the power of the breath, and why it’s the remote control to our health as mentioned earlier. And, rest assured if you’re interested in this topic I will continue to explore it further in future editions as well as on my podcast. We already have many episodes on this topic and I’m looking forward to what is to come.

The question is what does this mean for our health?! 🤔

It means that we can use the power of the breath to improve our health and breathwork practices are one of the main ways that we do this.

The challenge for many is that there are many different breathwork methodologies out there. And, this can cause people to become confused and overwhelmed with what to practice and where to start.

They question if one is better than another, what’s the difference between breath work and meditation, and when they do choose a methodology if they are doing it right!

I know this because it’s part of the journey I’ve been on…

I’ve practised many methodologies and been around the houses 😂

And, while there is so much more for me to explore I wouldn’t say that one breath work method is better than another. It all depends on what you are looking for and each method is a tool that we can use and add to our toolbox.

For example, some methods focus on cultivating energy whereas others help to relax us. Some help us to change our emotional and mental state and others are better for exercise and during movement.

I’ve found that each method has a purpose and a time to use it.

And, that’s why I love State, which is a new recent tool I’ve discovered that has a variety of breathwork methods available.

All methods are only between 3-5 minutes which is perfect for those who want to practice breathwork but are time-restricted.

I’ve been using the app, which is available on iOS and Android, for two weeks now and have found it to be extremely powerful in helping to change my state.