Listen Instead of Reading
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4 Thoughts
1. Wim Hof’s 1-Minute Stress Relief (no hyperventilation needed)
“What I do for stress is one minute of humming and breathing. This always works for me. It taps into your parasympathetic nervous system—where the peace is inside—and calms down your hectic sympathetic nervous system.”
- Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method
It’s not all big breathing for Wim. He says to deal with stress, we can simply set a timer for one minute, breathe in deeply, and hum in any way we’d like during the exhalation. Repeat until the timer goes off. Easy and highly effective 👏
2. Moving from Self-Explanation to Self-Expression
In learning, self-explanation is a powerful tool. Explaining a topic in your own words makes you think deeply and discover what you really understand about it.
In breathing, self-expression is paramount. It’s less about words, and more about expressing concepts through you, in your unique way, to feel beyond the words.
So here’s to less explanation, and more expression, this week 🙏
3. Taste the Soup: Breathing as a Can-Opener for the Life Force
“So how do you access the Life Force? You need tools. Imagine a can of soup. If you want to know what the soup tastes like, reading the side of the can won't help; you need to actually taste it. Unless you have the hand strength of a superhero, this is impossible without a can opener.”
- Barry Michels and Phil Stutz, Coming Alive
Breathing exercises are like can openers for the life force all around us.
It’s fun to read the ingredients, but tasting the soup is even better 😊 🍲
4. The Most Valuable Resource to Our Species (plus a gratitude breathing meditation)
“Oxygen, in fact, is the most valuable resource to our species. … Consider the last time you thought to yourself while taking a breath, ‘This is great! I have an abundance of the most valuable resource known to our species, and I don't even have to work that hard to get it.’”*
- Drs Jason Selk and Ellen Reed, Relentless Solution Focus
Try using that phrase next time you start a breathing practice, or anytime you need a break from all the negative mental chatter: “I have an abundance of the most valuable resource known to our species, and I don’t even have to work that hard to get it.” <— 👏👏👏
1 Quote
“The breath is also our life force. No organ in the body can function without the supply of oxygen we get from the cycle of breathing in and breathing out.”
1 Answer
Category: Positive Feelings
Answer: Positive feelings (such as awe & gratitude) occur more frequently and easily when this is higher, providing a physiological reason why slow breathing helps us have more positive emotions.
…
(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
…
Question: What is respiratory sinus arrhythmia?
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”
P.S. I have a headache
Breathing for Diabetes Online Course ($99):
If you love learning about breathing, want to live a healthier life, or just want to support my work, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).
* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.
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Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.
