Conquest of Mind

How to Not Get Upset, Robust Science, and the Great Synchrony


Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊



Reading Time: 1 min 42 sec

I hope the next 21’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.



4 THOUGHTS

1. The Great Synchrony Between Breath, Heart, and Brain

“We term this phenomenon the great 10 second synchrony between breath, heart and the brain.”

The Brain's Resonance with Breathing

This 2019 study found that slow breathing, particularly at 6 breaths a minute (a 10-second cycle), rapidly synchronizes breath, heart, and brain rhythms, providing insight into how slow breathing exercises may enhance mental and emotional well-being 👏

***

P.S. As always, if you want to nerd out on the full review, check out the Breath Learning Center. We now have reviews of 51 papers, 45 books, and 552 daily messages to help you live better as a mixed mindful artist (and we’re just getting started 😊). We currently have 86 active members…I’d love for you to join us.

2. Get the Best of the Mind: Now Enough Robust Science

“There is now enough robust science to show that mastering the simple movements needed to control the rate, depth and route by which you get air into your body can become a handy tool to steer thoughts and feelings in useful ways. Mastering this range of bodily movements can allow us to dial into the workings of the brain and the rest of the body, change the settings of both and get the very best out of the mind.

– Caroline Williams, Move

👏 👏 👏

3. Three Random Thoughts on Breathing

1. All life needs to move, and the lungs and airways are perfectly designed to optimize air motion in support of life.

2. A breath practice is a tool—but not a requirement—for a good life.

3. The most common mistake in breathing is using the nose, lungs, and diaphragm, but not the heart.

4. How to Not Get Upset when a Real Trial Comes

“Simply by maintaining a sense of humor and humility, we can teach the mind not to get upset even when a real trial comes.”

– Eknath Easwaran, Conquest of Mind

This one certainly passes the real-life test for me 😊. Give it a try this week and see how it goes.


1 Quote

Joy seems to be the ‘natural’ state of a unified mind, and the more unified a mind is, the more joyful it is.”
— John Yates, Ph.D., and Matthew Immergut, Ph.D.

1 Answer

Category: Brain Rhythms

Answer: These are brain electrical signals directly related to mental effort and brain excitability, which can become synchronized with respiration during slow breathing.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What are slow cortical potentials (SCPs)?


In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. I was born to be Finnish

Our Only Guide is Homesickness

“We have no one to guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness.”

– Herman Hesse

This perfectly captures the essence of becoming a Mixed Mindful Artist. We don’t focus on one method that worked for someone else; instead, we let our homesickness—our own intuition—guide us while using wisdom from great teachers and scientists to support that journey. If you’re ready to find your way home, get started today.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.


Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* 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.


 

4 Tiny Thoughts, 3 Ways to Success, and What the Buddha Lost


Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊


Enjoy These Posts?

Donate to support my research.


Reading Time: 1 min 49 sec

I hope the next 27’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.



4 THOUGHTS

1. One Reason Your Breathing Changes when You Observe It

“You might notice that as soon as you begin to observe your breath, it changes a little. Perhaps it gets a little longer, or fuller. That’s ok. It’s the nature of the observer and the observed, that whatever you observe responds to you, changes, or lets you know what it needs.”

– Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

I’ve never been able to “observe my breath without changing it.” This is one of the best passages I’ve found on why that happens 🙏

2. Don’t Fake a Smile, Activate One

“I don’t like to think of this exercise as faking or forcing a smile, but rather as activating a smile. When we activate a smile, a neurological reaction takes place that lifts our mood and makes everything seem less foreboding.”

– Annabel Streets, 52 Ways to Walk

I love this reframing of ‘activating’ over ‘faking,’ which we can use across domains:

  • Activate a smile; don’t fake it.

  • Activate some slow breathing; don’t fake it.

  • Activate gratitude; don’t fake it.

It reminds us that these are natural states, literally hardwired into our bodies and minds for growth and restoration. We shouldn’t fake them; we should activate them.

3. The Buddha Gained ‘Nothing at All’ through Meditation

“Someone once asked the Buddha skeptically, ‘What have you gained through meditation?

The Buddha replied, ‘Nothing at all.

Then, Blessed One, what good is it?

Let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death. That is the good of meditation…

– Eknath Easwaran, The Dhammapada

This is one of the biggest paradoxes of breathing and meditation practices. While we often focus on what we’ll get, the things we lose are usually most important. 🙏

4. Four Tiny Thoughts

1. Breathing exercises are like brain-canceling headphones.

2. By practicing mindfulness, you become a thought meteorologist.

3. Laughter is the only breathing exercise transcending age and cultural boundaries, present everywhere, appreciated by everyone.

4. It may sound paradoxical, but the point of a breathing practice is to no longer need a breathing practice.


1 Quote

There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”
— Fred Rogers

1 Answer

Category: Nasal Breathing and Speech

Answer: This muscular organ helps maintain nasal breathing while also being critical to speech.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What is the tongue?


In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. me neither

Breath Practices and Wisdom Meditations for a Better Life

Timeless Wisdom and Modern Science to Help You Align What You Think, Say, and Do with the Person You Want to Become.

Get started today.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.


Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* 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.


 

How Breathing Heals, Life’s Storms, and the Power of Love


Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊


Enjoy These Posts?

Donate to support my research.


Reading Time: 1 min 38 sec

I hope the next 25’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.



4 THOUGHTS

1. Openings and Limitations

“Any framework, method, or label you impose on yourself is just as likely to be a limitation as an opening.”

– Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Here’s an excellent idea to contemplate: Are you using any methods (with breathing or elsewhere) that may actually be serving as a limitation? Or, are there any areas of your life where adopting a new method might serve as an opening?

2. Weathering Life’s Storms Gracefully

“We can learn to say to life, ‘It doesn’t matter what you bring today. If you bring something pleasant, I will flourish; if you bring something unpleasant, I will still flourish.’…We can face whatever comes to us calmly and courageously, knowing we have the flexibility to weather any storm gracefully. This is living in freedom, the ultimate goal of training the mind.

– Eknath Easwaran, Conquest of Mind

And I’d say it’s also the ultimate goal of training the breath. By using our breath to increase the adaptability of our nervous system and mind, we learn to weather all of life’s storms more gracefully 🙏

3. How Slow, Conscious Breathing Heals

“What conscious breathing can do is…help shift our nervous system into what is called the healing response…Conscious breathing can enhance levels of sensitivity in our nervous system to handle and manage stress, and to support the restoration of balance. Conscious breathing can create enduring states of focus, presence, and mindful observation, so that life’s challenging situations do not completely highjack us, allowing a greater degree of control. While we cannot control life, we can learn to shape our response to it; conscious breathing is a valuable tool to support that.”

– Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

That sums it up nicely (and goes perfectly with Thought #2 above) 👏

4. A Good Laugh

As I like to say, laughter is the most therapeutic breathing exercise. Scroll through these breathing memes (sound on) to get your daily dose of healing 😊


1 Quote

Laughter without love is cold and cruel. Laughter with love is joy and happiness.

Labour without love is drudgery. Labour with love is bliss.

Listening without love is empty sound. With love, it’s understanding.”
— Gladys McGarey, MD (103 years old)

1 Answer

Category: Spontaneous Breath Exercise

Answer: Although adults, babies, and animals do this spontaneously, we still don’t know precisely why we do it.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What is yawn?


In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. same tattoo, only bigger

How to Train (and change) Your Mind

Breathing exercises train your mind.

Wisdom meditations change your mind.

Used together, they help you discover who you are and become the person you want to be.

Get started today.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.


Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* 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.