This is the Missing Pillar in Your Health

‘Tis the season for New Year’s Resolutions which usually means “getting healthy” either by exercising more or eating less. But there are so many flaws with this concept which is why most people have ditched their resolutions by the second week!

Besides, the ways we try to implement change barely even move the needle and they’re not sustainable. The goals are too aggressive, not aggressive enough, or simply not the right goals! It’s very likely that cutting calories or exercising for 2 hours a day is not the answer. In fact, it may be doing more harm than good. I think we know this intuitively, but we try to push through the pain. 

There are several key pillars to health that we must implement into our daily routine: nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, detoxification, emotional wellbeing, quality sleep. All of these are essential and necessary. But there’s one pillar that’s missing from the equation. 

And most doctors whether they’re conventional, functional, integrative, or holistic don’t ever address this key pillar to health. 

I’m talking about your breath. If there’s one place to start, it’s with your breath. How easy is that? You don’t have to buy any tools, supplements, or equipment. You simply have to learn how to breath correctly because chances are you’re not.

Whether you’re wanting to lose weight, boost your immune system, improve your digestion, balance your hormones, reduce your stress, or sleep better at night, you MUST tune into your breath.

As noted in James Nestor’s bestselling book, Breath, “Yes, breathing in different patterns really can influence our body weight and overall health. Yes, how we breathe really does affect the size and function of our lungs. Yes, breathing allows us to hack into our own nervous system, control our immune response, and restore our health. Yes, changing how we breathe will help us live longer. 

No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are—none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly. That’s what these researchers discovered. The missing pillar in health is breath. It all starts there.”

In fact 90% of people are breathing incorrectly and this improper breathing is either causing or exacerbating an array of chronic conditions, disease, and imbalances in the body and mind.

The author goes on to say that research indicates that “many modern maladies—asthma, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, psoriasis, and more—could either be reduced or reversed simply by changing the way we inhale and exhale.”

In fact, the Framingham study, which was a 70 year study focused on heart disease gathered data on 5200 subjects and found that the greatest indicator of life span “wasn’t genetics, diet, or the amount of daily exercise, as many had suspected. It was lung capacity.” How you breath either promotes health and longevity or illness and imbalance.

Breathing properly even aids in weight loss! Do I have your attention now? We lose weight through our exhalation. “For every ten pounds of fat lost in our bodies, eight and a half pounds of it comes out through the lungs; most of it is carbon dioxide mixed with a bit of water vapor. The rest is sweated or urinated out. This is a fact that most doctors, nutritionists, and other medical professionals have historically gotten wrong. The lungs are the weight-regulating system of the body.”

So then, how do you fix your breath? Well you’ve likely been breathing wrong for decades, so it will take time, intentionality, and practice to create new breathing habits. But it can be done. 

My favorite way is through breathwork, and the right style of breathwork is key. One of the most important factors of healthy breathing is breathing in through the nose. Nostril breathing is critical! So find a breathwork practice that uses nostril breathing. The style of breathwork I teach does just that. 

Then you want to slow your breathing down. Try inhaling through your nose for 5-6 seconds and exhaling through your nose or mouth for 5-6 seconds. Do this for 2 minutes. See how you feel. 

Watch this video on the benefits of rhythmic breathing.

Check out all of my breathing videos on YouTube here.

Then join me for a breathwork class! My 1-hour online breathwork classes combine rhythmic breathing and periodic breath retention to help retrain you how to breath properly, boost overall health, and optimize oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the body. And we combine the breathing with great music, visualization, and affirmations. It's an experience unlike any other.

Check out my classes here: http://jenbroyles.eventbrite.com 

Or join my Sacred Breath Community and get access to all classes free with your membership. Try it free for 7 days: https://www.jenbroyles.com/sacred-breath