August 26, 2024

Breath and Wine, Simplest Movement, and 4 Reminders on Connection

August 26, 2024

Announcement

I am excited to be giving a 1-hr virtual workshop tomorrow, August 27th, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern for the nonprofit BeWell in School. It’s donation-based, and all proceeds go to support their mission. They are truly and incredible organization, and I am honored whenever I get to support them. Get signed up here.

On to the newsletter…

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 this newsletter & podcast.

Reading Time: 2 min 0 sec

I hope the next 24’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. Simplest and Most Unobtrusive of Movements

“Despite centuries of reports from followers of Eastern traditions that slow breathing can improve focus, bring a sense of calm when we might otherwise lose it and even whisk us away to an altered state of consciousness, most of us still don’t take time out from our busy lives to prioritize this simplest and most unobtrusive of body movements.”
– Caroline Williams, Move

If you feel “moved” by this, here is an excellent reminder to take time this week to prioritize the simplest and most unobtrusive movement of all: slow breathing 👏

2. The Only Practice that Matters

“The only practice that matters is the one you consistently do, not the practice of any other artist.”
– Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

A perfect reminder (which also applies to breathing) to follow what’s right for you, not what’s right for someone else. It brings to mind another wonderful quote attributed to Zen Shin: “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”

3. Four Reminders that Breath is Connection

1. “To breathe is to absorb ourselves in what surrounds us, to take in little bits of life, understand them, and give pieces of ourselves back out. Respiration is, at its core, reciprocation.” - James Nestor

2. “Living beings differ in appearance and behavior…But all living beings breathe…When we focus on the breath, we become mindful of the universal nature of all beings.” – Bhante Gunaratana

3. “The air I inhale enters my body and becomes part of me. The air that I exhale moves into someone else and becomes part of her. Just by looking at how the air moves, we realize we are all connected to one another, not just figuratively but also literally.” - Haemin Sunim

4. “Each new breath creates a unity of life as all people share the nourishment that the earth’s atmosphere freely offers.” - Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

4. The Best of Both Worlds

“The breathing will seamlessly bring you back to the natural mental and emotional flexibility you had as a child, but with the direction and purpose you have as an adult.”
— Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

Here’s to using our breath to develop child-like mental flexibility alongside adult-like purpose a little more this week 🙏

1 Quote

“Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, may the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.””

— John O’Donohue

1 Answer

Category: Breath, Brain, and Wine

Answer: The cluster of neurons that generate breathing rhythm is named this after a German bottle of wine.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the pre-Bötzinger Complex?

Wiser than Before Podcast

I was recently a guest on the Wiser than Before Podcast. It was an awesome chat with Josh. If you love breathing, I think you’ll love the show!

Listen: Spotify or Apple,

Watch: YouTube

In good breath,

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

P.S. the ultimate out of body experience

A Path to Lasting Change

The Breath Learning Center integrates ancient wisdom with modern science to help us make lasting change.

You enjoy daily wisdom meditations, science and book reviews, workshops, and guided practices, all at your own pace.

Get started for as little as 16 cents a day.

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.

Nicholas Heath

July 15, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

Humor, How to Live Well, and the First Step Toward Self-Regulation

Nicholas Heath

July 15, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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 this newsletter & podcast.

Reading Time: 1 min 48 sec

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

4 THOUGHTS

1. A Humorous Breathing & Mindfulness Practice

“I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it.”
- Writer and cartoonist Frank A. Clark

Here’s a “breathing and mindfulness” practice to try:

Use mindfulness to find humor in a problem.
Use breathing to laugh at it (and yourself) 😊

2. How to Live Well: Loving Attention in the Breath

“Living well, therefore, is merely a game of learning how to steer our energy toward life. It requires us to direct our loving attention toward the pulse that ebbs and flows within us, finding the precise rhythm of how that energy moves and immersing ourselves in it. When we do so, life comes alive.”
- Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

What better way to “direct our loving attention toward the pulse that ebbs and flows within us” than with conscious breathing?

As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, tuning into the breath “immediately anchors our awareness in the body, in a fundamental, rhythmic, flowing life process.” 👏

3. The First Step Toward Self-Regulation

“But one of the best reasons to breathe through our nose as a regular practice, and as a mindful practice, is that it helps us to slow and regulate our respiratory rate…This is the first step towards self-regulation.”
- Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

The first step toward self-regulation: breathing primarily through our nose. This one step helps us slow down and regulate our breathing, which helps us slow down and regulate our mind and body 🙏

4. You Are Still Carrying Her

Here’s a Buddhist story (I found in Advice Not Given) of two monks crossing a river:

“The two men come upon a young woman who is having trouble getting to the opposite shore. One of the monks, despite his vows to never touch a woman, picks her up and deposits her on the other side of the water. As they continue on their way, the other monk, the one who has kept his vows and not touched her, can’t stop chastising his overly benevolent friend.

‘How could you do that?’ he asks. ‘You know touching a woman is against our vows. And you were holding her.’

‘I put her down long ago,’ replies the first monk. ‘You are still carrying her.’”

1 Quote

“By changing patterns of breathing we can change our emotional states, how we think, and how we interact with the world.””

— Patricia Gerbarg, MD

1 Answer

Category: The Nose

Answer: A significant portion of this food-related sensation (some say as much as 80%) is attributed not to the mouth but to nasal breathing.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is taste?

In good breath,

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

P.S. breath coaches be like…

Breathing, Reading, and Meditation for a Well-Lived Life

Learn to think, speak, and act in alignment with the person you want to be.

Start Today.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

Learn more here.

Amazon Associate Disclosure

Nicholas Heath

July 24, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

Two Simple Things, a Better Brain, and You Already Knew This, But…

Nicholas Heath

July 24, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

4 THOUGHTS

1. A Better Brain: Mindful Breathing Improves Cognition and Neural Efficiency

“It is intriguing that a mental exercise that ‘merely’ entails the voluntary focus on a simple object, such as the sensation of one’s own breath, combined with a non-reactive and accepting awareness of concurrently arising mental phenomena, can have far-reaching effects on cognitive functions.”
- Nature Scientific Reports (2018)

This study found that the brief (but consistent) practice of mindful breathing improves our attention, our ability to resist distractions, and the efficiency of neural networks responsible for these processes.

Those benefits are a superpower in today’s world 👏

***

P.S. Here are two videos you can use to try mindful breathing:

Breathing Meditation | UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

Five Minute Mindful Breathing

2. How Much Should Your Mind Wander during Mindful Breathing?

Speaking of mindful breathing, I just read this Q&A in Light Watkins’ new book, Travel Light, and thought it was an amazing reframe of mind-wandering. I hope you find it helpful too:

“What percentage of time should my mind wander in meditation?
One hundred percent of the time. Trying to stop your mind from wandering in meditation is as futile as trying to stop your heart from beating by thinking, “Don't beat!" over and over. It's going to keep wandering, and therefore it's best to just shift your attitude about it from antagonistic to friendly. In other words, never chastise your mind for thinking. Instead, if you practice celebrating your wandering mind, it will become more settled more often.”

3. You Already Knew This, But…

Peter Attia, MD, discussing techniques he uses for his emotional health in Outlive:

“Another technique I have grown very fond of is slow, deep breathing: four seconds to inhale, six seconds to exhale. Repeat. As the breath goes, the nervous system follows.”

You already knew this by now, but I’m sharing it to highlight how breathing spans genres. Whether it’s MD science or deep spirituality, it all comes back to the same basics: 4 sec in, 6 sec out, repeat.

The breath leads, the nervous system follows.

4. Two Simple Things We Should Do Every Day for Our Heart & Mind

Observe One Breath: This brings us back to the present, is relaxing, and cultivates “meta-awareness.”
Change One Breath: Lengthen your inhale and exhale to feel the instantly calming power of slow breathing.

Extra: Nick the Skateboarder (plus meditation in a bottle part 2)

When I was a kid, all I did was skateboard. It consumed every inch of my life. I dreamed of being sponsored by the companies I loved.

Well, that never happened, lol. But today, I have a chance to do something kind of similar with breathing.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I love iCalm’s product and mission. I was given the opportunity to be an affiliate. Although it’s not the same as being sponsored, it’s the closest thing I can do in my current life to provide value to you (and to make younger Nick proud, lol).

So, if you want to try it out, use the code NICK20 to get 20% off.

Get the iCalm Relaxation Shot

1 Quote

“The breathing will seamlessly bring you back to the natural mental and emotional flexibility you had as a child, but with the direction and purpose you have as an adult.””

— Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

1 Answer

Category: Attention

Answer: This theory suggests that time in nature may be able to improve our ability to focus and concentrate.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is Attention Restoration Theory?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Where is my support group

Nicholas Heath

January 30, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

4 Lessons in 4 Years, Behind the Scenes, and Establishing Inner Calm

Nicholas Heath

January 30, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

A Special Week + Behind the Scenes

Today marks 4 years of sending this newsletter every week. That blows my mind. To mark the occasion, I have a “behind the scenes” look at the newsletter at the bottom of this edition.

Thank you for reading 🙏

4 Thoughts

1. Four Lessons from 4 Years of Writing this Newsletter

I think these can be applied in all aspects of life.

Let Go of Expectations: I get so excited about these thoughts, so I just have to remind myself it's just a newsletter, and I have no clue what will resonate with you, the reader.
Deadlines are Diamonds: Having a deadline (preferably self-imposed—I hate when people tell me what to do 😂) is the driving force behind completing anything.
The Process Brings the Most Joy: Cliché but true. Putting together the newsletter is what brings me joy.
Less is Always More.

2. When’s the Big Performance?

“[A]n observed quipped, ‘Practice, practice, practice! All you ever do is practice! When's the performance?’ After a muted wave of chuckles rolled through the meditation hall, our teacher went on to say that there is indeed a performance scheduled; it's called ‘Your Daily Life.’”
- Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, Love 2.0

That’s what all our breathing, meditation, exercise, yoga, etc., practice is all about. It’s training for the biggest performance we’ll ever be a part of: Our daily lives.

3. Flip Your Perspective to Understand Long-Term Benefits

“[J]ust as repeated activation of the fight-or-flight response can lead to sustained problems in the body and its mechanics, so too can repeated activation of the relaxation response reverse those trends and mend the internal wear and tear brought on by stress.”
- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing

It’s easy to see how chronic stress can add up to all sorts of health problems.

But let’s not forget that the opposite is also true: repeated elicitation of positive states can reverse those negative trends.

4. Growing Grass or Pulling Weeds?

“When I was working for the St. Louis Rams, I asked the head groundskeeper, Scott Parker, how I could get rid of the weeds in my yard at home. With great confidence, he replied, ‘Grow more grass.’ Growing more grass chokes out the weeds.”
- Drs Jason Selk & Ellen Reed, Relentless Solution Focus

This is a profound mindset shift. When trying to resolve a challenging problem or life situation, let’s ask: “Am I growing grass or pulling weeds?”

Become More You

“Paradoxically, it takes time to become what we already are.” – Rick Hanson, PhD

I think it takes ~30 minutes a week.

Here’s exactly how.

1 Quote

“Once you establish an inner calm, you will transmit it naturally to others.””

— Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg

1 Answer

Category: Nose

Answer: When the thin wall between your nostrils is displaced to one side, it’s called this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is a deviated septum?

In good breath,

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

P.S. That’s not how averages work

Behind the Scenes of The Breathing 411

I’ve never posted about the newsletter itself, so for the 4th anniversary, here are some random things about it:

First Edition: January 27, 2019

(3 recipients: me, my other email address, and my wife, 😂 😂)

Subscribers as of Today: 1,372

(That’s probably awful for how long I’ve been doing it, lol. But, it makes me proud as hell because (1) you all are awesome, (2) I write about breathing, and (3) it’s all been word of mouth and w/o lead magnets, advertising, etc.).

Open Rates: 50-60+%

(I’m awful and don’t track things like I should, but this seems to be my average.)

Time I Spend on It: ~8 hours/week

(This doesn’t include all the background reading and research that goes into it. Eight hours is just writing and all the nonsense logistics.)

Hardest Part: Finding ideas for the “1 Answer” each week.

Best Part: When people reply and say what resonated with them.

(Sometimes I jump up and run around, and sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.)

Joy: I absolutely love writing this newsletter. Putting it together is one of my biggest sources of joy.

Support: If you enjoy these emails and would like to support them, share them with a friend.

If you’d like to help even more to keep the newsletter around, join the Learning Center or purchase the Breathing for Diabetes Course 🙏

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

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.

Nicholas Heath

December 26, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

3 Breaths Changed David Goggins’ Life (+ a free gift)

Nicholas Heath

December 26, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

4 Thoughts

1. Three Breaths that Changed David Goggins’ Life

In his new book, Never Finished, David Goggins says that the first freezing wave that hit him in Hell Week almost sent him home:

“I was a half-step from voluntarily pulling the plug on a dream that had the power to change the course of my entire life.”

Enter the power of the breath:

“In order to think clearly, I needed oxygen. I took a deep breath and then another. … I took another breath as the next big wave swelled … I was done showing weakness. I was finished with fear.”

He goes on to say:

“When I was teetering on the brink, I was able to physically calm myself down with a few deep breaths, and that helped me see through the adrenaline rush. My heart rate was still elevated, and panic continued to creep in, but I’d regained enough of my composure to make a conscious, One-Second Decision to stay in the fight.”

That’s a powerful reminder that, whatever challenging life event we’re going through, our breath is always there—not to make it go away, but to help us align with our highest self and make that one-second decision to stay in the fight.

2. 2021 Study: Slow Breathing Reduces Blood Pressure

Effects of diaphragmatic deep breathing exercises on prehypertensive or hypertensive adults: A literature review (2021 )

The most practical take-home from this review was that practicing slow breathing for at least 10 min daily for 4 weeks led to noticeable improvements in blood pressure.

If you want even more useful findings, I just released a Science 411 for this paper on Friday in the Breath is Life Learning Center.

3. Why Breathing is a Powerful Approach to Healing

“In this way, breathing techniques provide a portal to the autonomic communication network through which we can…send specific messages to the brain using the language of the body.”
- Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarb, MD, The Healing Power of the Breath

And remember: “Of all the automatic functions of the body, only one can be easily controlled voluntarily—breathing.”

This means we can voluntarily send messages of healing to the brain using the language of the body. Let’s make sure we do more of that 🙏

4. When Air Becomes Breath

Adding a spiritual significance to the air—realizing it contains life itself—can only add value to your breath practice.

1 Quote

“Thus spirit = breath = life, the aliveness and power of your life, and to speak of your spirit (or soul) is to speak of the power of life that is in you.””

— Frederick Buechner

1 Answer

Category: Wim Hof Breathing

Answer: Counterintuitively, Wim Hof breathing is thought to reduce inflammation through release of this hormone and neurotransmitter.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is adrenaline?

In good breath,

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

P.S. This is exactly what happens when you go to heaven

HOmm HOmm HOmm 🎅

Try Out the Breath is Life Learning Center for Free

SquareSpace doesn’t allow me to have “free trials,” which many of you have asked for before signing up. So, I found a workaround by manually making a free mini member’s area.

You get 2 free Book 411s, 2 free Science 411s, and 10 free editions of The Breathing 1%. No catch. No additional sign-up. Plus, you can download the PDFs and audio of the 411s, so they’re yours forever.

Just click below to start living healthier & happier through the breath.

***

P.S. I picked the most popular Book and Science 411s, so you’re guaranteed to love them—especially The Healing Power of the Breath.

CLICK HERE TO START LEARNING NOW

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Nicholas Heath

December 19, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

3 Healing Breaths, a Celebration, and a Thought Experiment

Nicholas Heath

December 19, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

A Celebration (sort of)

Today marks 24 years with type-1 diabetes. Not exactly the present I wanted from Santa. But it was exactly what I needed to become the person I was meant to become.

My parents were obviously devastated. But, this did have an upside—they gave me some early presents 😂 😂 😂

P.S. HOmm HOmm HOmm

Alright, on to this week’s 411…

4 Thoughts

1. Why Mind-Body Therapies (like breathing) Seem Like a Panacea: Part 3

“A certain mind body treatment may help hypertension, depression, or insomnia. At the same time, this treatment will counter the overall physical and mental manifestations of stress through the calming of brain activity and altering hormones and gene expression. The mind body treatment performs particular, reductionistic functions on specific health complaints and at the same time tends to the health of the entire biological system.” (my bold)
- Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

That’s incredibly powerful. It means we can use breathing for our individual needs (diabetes, for me) while strengthening all other aspects of our health at the same time. Quite panacea-ish, indeed 😊

P.S. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.

2. An Inverse Thought Experiment

Think of a time you got really mad or frustrated for a very brief period. Did it actually end when it ended? Or were you upset for another hour? Maybe the rest of the day?

OK, this is exactly how slow breathing works, just opposite. It’s a brief period of calm that lingers just like a brief period of anger does.

The difference: It’s easy to see how anger ruins our day, but sometimes harder to notice how a breathing practice brightens it.

3. Three Healing Breaths You Can Start Using Today

If you’d like to get all of the most powerful practices, guidelines, and science from one of the best breathing books, The Healing Power of the Breath, check out the Book 411 I just released on it.

It has everything you need to use their approach for better health.

Join the Learning Center for the full review. In the meantime, here are 3 core healing breaths from the book you can start using today:

1. Coherent Breathing® is taught as breathing at a rate of 5 breaths a minute with a 6-second inhale, and a 6-second exhale. “Coherent Breathing … calms the mind, slows the heart, lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and strengthens stress resilience.”

2. Resistance Breathing is any technique that adds resistance to our breath. They have two practices for this, ujjayi (or ocean breath) and pursed-lips breathing: “Whether you choose to make a sound in the back of your throat like the ocean or to use pursed lips to create resistance to the flow of air, your practice of Resistance Breathing can amplify the benefits of Coherent Breathing.”

3. Breath Moving: “Breath Moving entails moving the breath in circuits to different parts of the body, moving upward on the inhale and downward on the exhale. … [It]…can be used to elevate energy as well as to relieve pain.”

(All above quotes come from the authors, Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD.)

4. Study

Rather than study every aspect of life, we can study the breath, which can be applied in every aspect of life.

1 Quote

“Breathing involves a continual oscillation between exhaling and inhaling, offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next.”

— David Abram

1 Answer

Category: Oxygen Transport

Answer: Hemoglobin molecules have this many binding sites for oxygen molecules.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is four?

For Therapists: Anicca Wellness

“What if you can stay in sync with your breath, wherever you are, no matter what you are doing?”
- Edo Ceder, Anicca Wellness Co-Founder

If you’re a therapist, check out this opportunity to incorporate breathing into your practice using Anicca Wellness. One of the co-founders, Edo, is a 411 subscriber, friend, and just a genuinely good person.

I hope you’ll check it out.

In good breath,

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

P.S. I used to think adulthood was…

P.P.S. A Secret Breathing Santa

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Nicholas Heath

December 5, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

Neat Breath Science, 3 Sentences to Live By, and it is a Panacea

Nicholas Heath

December 5, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

4 Thoughts

1. Neat Science: How to See If Slow Breathing is an Antioxidant

“…our results lead to the hypothesis that slow breathing may exert some antioxidant effect, possibly via parasympathetic stimulation.”
- Nature (2017)

The way they got to this hypothesis was pretty cool:

They had people with type-1 diabetes inhale extra oxygen.
After, they observed that arterial stiffness and blood pressure went up. This was likely due to excess oxidative stress.
Then, they repeated the process, but participants breathed slowly at 6 breaths/min while inhaling oxygen.
Slow breathing offset the harmful effects of extra oxygen on blood pressure and arterial stiffness.

Together, this suggests that slow breathing acts as a natural antioxidant.

***

P.S. If you want more neat findings like this, check out the Science 411s in the Breath is Life Learning Center.

2. Get 90% from 50% (or less): A Few Minutes Go a Long Way

“As you read any given sentence, you will probably get 90% of the meaning from 50% of the words…the rest of the words are unnecessary filler.”
- Peter Hollins, The Science of Self-Learning

This made me think of how, with breathing, we get a lot of psychological benefits from a small percentage of the breaths we take.

Example: A 20-minute morning breath practice might be less than 1% of your breaths. But, it may account for 90% of your equanimity.

Of course, all our other breaths aren’t just “fillers”—they’re critical to our wellness, too. But let’s remember that even a small investment in our breath can go a long way toward our health and happiness 🙏

3. Why Breathing Seems Like a Panacea: Part II

“In fact, any condition that is caused or exacerbated by stress can be helped by a well-designed mind body approach. Furthermore, because all health conditions have some stress component, it is no overstatement to say that virtually every single health problem and disease can be improved with a mind body approach.” (my bold)
- Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

Slow breathing is one of the fastest and most effective mind-body approaches to triggering the relaxation response and reducing stress.

And since stress plays a role in basically every health condition, breathing can therefore help in basically every health condition.

Breathe slowly—> reduce stress—> improve virtually every health condition. Maybe it is a panacea, after all? 😊

***

P.S. See Thought #1 here for Part I.

4. Three Short Ancient Sentences to Live By

“Walk slowly! Talk little! Love breath!”
- The Primordial Breath, Volume I

Sounds like a perfect life-mantra to me 🙏

1 Quote

“And beyond improving stress resilience, breath practices can restore your sense of being genuinely who you are, of knowing what you feel, of recognizing what others feel, and of being able to experience deep and meaningful connections with people, with your values, and with all that is.”

— Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD

1 Answer

Category: The Cardiovascular System

Answer: There are approximately this many miles of veins, capillaries, and arteries in an average adult.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 60,000 miles?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Every. Single. Time.

Breath is Life Learning
Science and Books Made Simple

For each book and research paper I read, you get an easy-to-digest 411 summary:

Web-based text or downloadable PDF
Audio podcast version (also downloadable)

Plus, you get a super short daily email with a nugget of breathing wisdom. It only takes a few seconds to read, but it will set you up for a better day, every day.

Learn More

P.S. 30-Second Science

For each Science 411, if you read the “1 Big Takeaway” followed by the “1 Practical Application,” you can get almost everything you need from a study in about 30 seconds.

P.P.S. Life-Changing Ideas

For each Book 411, you get “1 Life-Changing” idea from that book. Thus, even if you’re not interested in the book, you can open that section and get a quick idea to help you live a better life.

Here are a few of my favorites:

From Buddha’s Brain: Our Breath Moves Spirit Around Like Our Hearts Move Blood Around
From The Mindful Day: How to Live Longer (regardless of your age, lifespan, or healthspan)
From Breath by Breath: How it Should Be, and Letting Breath (and life) Unfold Naturally
From The Confidence Gap: No One is Perfect (and the solution)
From Stolen Focus: Mind-Wandering is a Superpower (and How to Do It Correctly)

Get Started Now

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Nicholas Heath

November 28, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

Holotropic Breathing, a 6 bpm Prayer, and the Power of PNS

Nicholas Heath

November 28, 2022

weekly email, Batch 9

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 😊

4 Thoughts

1. Study: Prayer and Mantra Lead to ~5.5-6.0 Breaths a Minute

“Remarkably, the regularity of breathing seen during recitation of the Ave Maria or of the mantra was similar to regularity during controlled breathing at 6/min, indicating that these methods could stabilise the respiratory rate as effectively as precisely timed control.”
- Effect of rosary prayer and yoga mantras on autonomic cardiovascular rhythms…

In this now somewhat famous study, reciting the Hail Mary prayer or a yoga mantra naturally led to a breath rate of almost exactly 5.5-6 breaths/min. Leading to the conclusion: “The rosary might be viewed as a health practice as well as a religious practice.” 👏

***

P.S. I released a Science 411 for this paper on Friday as part of my new Breath is Life Learning Center. You still have two days to get this & tons of wisdom for just $11/month or $110/year (27% off forever) 🙏

2. The Power of the PNS and How to Nourish It

“Parasympathetic activation is the normal resting state of your body, brain, and mind. If your SNS were surgically disconnected, you’d stay alive (though you wouldn’t be very useful in an emergency). If your PNS were disconnected, however, you’d stop breathing and soon die.”
- Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Budhha’s Brain

That’s crazy. And since our PNS is so vital, I think it’s safe to say we should nourish it every chance we get. So how do we do it?

Here are two (of several) exercises Dr. Hanson suggests:

Diaphragmatic Breathing: Place a hand on your stomach and look down at it. Then, breathe slowly, and try to “breathe into your hand with real oomph, so that it travels back and forth half an inch or more with each breath.”
Big Exhales: “Inhale as much as you can, hold that inhalation for a few seconds, and then exhale slowly while relaxing.”

Better yet, combine the two, and enjoy stimulating and nourishing your PNS a little more this week : )

3. The Healing Power of (different) Breaths

“Each breath form is taught for its own special healing purposes. Just as you use different exercises for different muscle groups, you gain more by using a variety of breathing practices that each has their own unique effects.”
- Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD, The Healing Power of the Breath

Just an excellent reminder that one of the key healing powers of the breath is that we can use it in different ways for different outcomes.

We “gain more by using a variety of breathing practices that each has their own unique effects.” <— Let’s do that 👏

4. Are All Breathing Practices Holotropic?

Discussing the word “holotropic:”

“This composite word means literally ‘oriented toward wholeness’ or ‘moving toward wholeness’ (from the Greek holos = whole and trepein = moving toward or in the direction of something).”
- Stanislav & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork

Based on that, I’d say we practice “holotropic” breathing—moving toward wholeness—every time we stop and breathe consciously.

So regardless of what methods we use, let’s all orient toward wholeness a little more, this week 🙏

***

P.S. I’m releasing a Book 411 on Holotropic Breathwork this Friday. Although it’s somewhat controversial to some, I absolutely loved the book (and its bold claims). I hope you’ll consider signing up to get it.

1 Quote

“All persons going to sleep should think, not of their business, not of their riches or poverty, their pains or their pleasures, but, of what are of infinitely greater importance to them, their lungs; their best friends, that have kept them alive through the day.”

— George Catlin

1 Answer

Category: The Nervous System

Answer: The nervous system can transmit information up to this many miles per hour.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 268 mph?

In good breath,

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

P.S. A brosecco

Breath is Life Learning Center Now Open

I made the Learning Center for you. The person who reads these posts all the way to the bottom; that loves learning as much as I do 😊

It’s literally my dream come true, and I hope that shines through in the amount of material I’ve added and continue adding every day.

I hope you’ll consider signing up to get all of it for just $11/month or $110/year if you pay annually (less than 40 cents a day in either case). Your price will never go up. This intro offer ends on Dec. 1.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and supporting my work over the years 🙏

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Nicholas Heath

September 26, 2022

weekly email, Batch 8

Nutritious Breathing, a Touch of Mindfulness, and Why Resonance Works

Nicholas Heath

September 26, 2022

weekly email, Batch 8

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 😊

4 Thoughts

1. Nutritious Breathing

Practicing low & slow nasal breathing is like eating a nutrient-dense, whole-food meal. We get more with less and always feel nourished afterward.

P.S. This was inspired by Katy Bowman’s Nutritious Movement.

2. Relaxed & Alert and Why Coherent (or Resonant) Breathing Works

“Within a very short time, breathing at five breaths a minute will synchronize the electrical rhythms of the heart, lungs and brain, which is very beneficial and leads to a state in which we are both relaxed and alert. It's unusual to be both relaxed and alert at the same time, but Coherent Breathing creates this sweet spot.”
- Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, from Wake Up to Sleep

Here’s an excellent description of why resonant breathing (aka Coherent or just “slow” breathing) works. It synchronizes the electrical rhythms of the heart, lungs, and brain, leaving us “relaxed and alert.” <— Sounds good to me 🙏

Give it a try: Breathe 6 seconds in and 6 seconds out. Or 5 seconds in, 7 out.

3. But You Don’t Have to Control Your Breathing, Just Touch it with Mindfulness

“Something happens when mindfulness touches breathing. Its quality changes for the better. […] The breath becomes pleasant; it is enjoyable just to sit and breathe. […] The body, the mind, and the breath begin to coalesce. They each partake of the other, so that it is difficult to distinguish among them.”
- Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath

I’m guilty of thinking controlled slow breathing exercises are best.

But let’s not forget that a touch of mindfulness is similarly powerful, causing the body, mind, and breath to coalesce. <— Sounds good to me (again) 😊

***

P.S. That “coalescing” sounds a lot like the synchronization of electrical signals from the heart, brain, and lungs described for resonance breathing…

4. Direct vs. Indirect Slow Relaxed Breathing: Pick Which Suits You Best

Thoughts 2 & 3 bring up two important concepts:

Direct Slow Breathing: Using an app (or counting) to deliberately breathe slowly at a set pace (like five breaths a minute).
Indirect Slow Breathing: Using mindfulness or a relaxation technique (like yoga nidra) to inadvertently slow your breathing.

Of course, they have slightly different benefits, but either will be an effective way to improve your health & wellness, so pick the one that suits you best 🙏

1 QUOTE

“Bringing awareness to our breathing, we remind ourselves that we are here now, so we might as well be fully awake for whatever is happening.”

— Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

1 ANSWER

Category: The Nose

Answer: These bony structures, which are surrounded by tissue and a mucous membrane, play a critical role in warming and humidifying incoming air as well as modulating airflow.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are nasal turbinates?

In good breath,

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

P.S. how I am now

Breathing for Diabetes:

If you love learning about breathing, or just want to live an overall healthier life, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).

LEARN MORE AND VIEW THE COURSE CURRICULUM

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Nicholas Heath

April 12, 2021

weekly email

How To Be a Straight-A Breathing Student, and Why Diabetics “Get It”

Nicholas Heath

April 12, 2021

weekly email

Listen to this post in 5 min 51 sec:

Yesterday was 4-11.

Yesterday was World Breathing Day.

Yesterday was also my birthday.

It’s almost as if it was meant to be this week…

Alright, here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for the week. Enjoy!

4 Thoughts

1. How To Be a Straight-A Breathing Student

One of my favorite stories is the “50 lbs = A” parable. I even kept a post-it of that phrase on my monitor during my post-doc. As it goes, a professor found that grading ceramics students based on quantity—50 lbs gets you an A—led to better quality than grading them on one “masterpiece.”

The moral of the story: Quantity leads to quality.

Quality is obviously essential to breathing. We do take more than 20,000 breaths per day, as it is. But, perhaps what’s more important is just starting and sticking to a consistent breathing practice.

So for breathing, we might say: Focused quantity leads to quality.

You might not begin with perfect diaphragmatic breathing, proper tongue placement, or proper volume. But with a consistent practice, you’ll naturally start noticing and improving these things.

So how about we write our own parable, where 50 breaths = A.

Or maybe just 5 breaths or 5 minutes. Regardless, it’s the focused, consistent quantity that counts. Here’s to becoming straight-A breathing students today.

Related: “If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection […] You just need to practice it.” - James Clear, Atomic Habits

2. Why the Power of Breathing is Actually Easy to Explain to People with Diabetes

Ask a diabetic what affects their blood sugar. They’ll either start laughing, or immediately blurt out “everything!”

So then, when you tell them that breathing literally impacts almost every bodily function, they’ll get it:

Everything affects my blood sugar. Breathing affects everything.

It just makes common sense for us diabetics to optimize it.

Related Quote: “Breathing isn’t everything. But, breathing impacts everything.” - David Bidler

3. This Breathing Exercise Can Calm You Down in a Few Minutes

“Many people find benefit, no one reports side effects, and it’s something that engages the patient in their recovery with actively doing something.”
- Cynthia Stonnington, Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ

Here is yet another excellent article from Vice: This Breathing Exercise Can Calm you Down in a Few Minutes. In it, we learn about the power of resonant breathing from Cynthia Stonnington (above) and gain invaluable insights from a pioneer in breath research, Patricia Gerbarg.

Enjoy the awesome read!

4. The Universal Structure of the Respiratory System

“There is something transcendent in the very structure of our respiratory system…Other examples of this configuration in nature abound—streaks of lightning converging into a single bolt only to diverge again as they approach the ground;
the tributaries of a riverbed unifying into one main waterway; the human body itself, branching from its trunk to arms and legs, then fingers and toes.
The lungs tap into something universal in their structure, maximizing uptake of the life force that surrounds all of us.”
- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

Here's another gem from Breath Taking's prologue, reminding us just how remarkable, yet universal, the structure of our respiratory system is.

1 Quote

“The daily use of breath practices can turn back the tide of stress, counteract disease progression, and improve overall quality of life.”
- Richard Brown & Patricia Gerbarg
The Healing Power of the Breath

1 Answer

Answer: For every tooth you lose as an adult, your risk of this increases by 2%.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is obstructive sleep apnea?

(I learned this in Breath)

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. 100% me. (Looking at you Wibbs)