October 7, 2024

A Clearer Life, Quiet Joy, and 3 Random Thoughts

October 7, 2024

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Reading Time: 1 min 38 sec

I hope the next 20’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. A Clearer and More Vivid Life

“Think about a digital photograph. The vividness and clarity of the image depend on the number of pixels. Likewise, the vividness and clarity of the meditation object depend on the number of perceiving moments of attention whose content is the meditation object.”
– The Mind Illuminated

Although it’s about meditation, this analogy is perfect for life as a whole. The more “perceiving moments of attention” we bring to what’s happening (aka mindfulness), the more “pixels” we’ll add to our life image, and the clearer and more vivid they will become 👏

2. Tuning Out from Reality (and skipping with fairies)

“If you are already breathing at a normal rate, slowing it down further still can change your state of mind to the point where you tune out from reality and skip happily away with the fairies.”
– Caroline Williams, Move

This quote made me laugh. It’s a fun reminder that, although the breath is a gateway to mindfulness, we can also use slow breathing as a mini retreat from life, allowing us to “tune out from reality and skip happily away with the fairies.” 😊

3. Three Random Thoughts

1. Breathing, with awareness, is gratitude.

2. If you follow your breath, you may actually end up where you’re going.

3. Right now, to get a fresh perspective, you can view the breath cycle as starting on an exhale rather than an inhale. The insight comes from remembering that we can do this with almost everything in life.

4. Be Weird

“We’re able to connect with life best when we get juice from multiple places. A puzzle piece doesn’t just click in on one side; it clicks in on two, three, or four. What that looks like varies from person to person.”
- Gladys McGarey, MD (103-years-old)

A reminder that breathing and mindful living are not about sitting cross-legged all day or becoming a zen master. They’re about becoming more us: allowing ourselves to be weird, embracing our varied interests, and connecting with life’s bigger puzzle on multiple sides 👏

1 Quote

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.””

— Ralph H. Blum

1 Answer

Category: Skin and Nervous System

Answer: Slow breathing helps to reduce this skin-associated measure, which is thought to be a marker of nervous system activity.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is skin conductance?

In good breath,

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

P.S. a haunted house but…

There Is No Path

“Traveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking.” – Antonio Machado

Your breath, your mind, and your awareness are your most powerful tools for living a fulfilled life. Don’t limit yourself to one method or feel guilty about your varied interests—these are what make you, you. Embrace your curiosity and explore different teachings, understand their core principles, and forge your own path. Learn more.

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.

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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

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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.

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Nicholas Heath

February 12, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

Clouds, Humming Under Water, and Two Practices for Today

Nicholas Heath

February 12, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 2 min 1 sec

I hope the next 30’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. Breathing, Clouds, and Connection

“Clouds never truly disappear. They change form. They turn into rain and become part of the ocean, and then evaporate and return to being clouds.
The same is true of art.”
- Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

And the same is true of breath.

The same air circulates for everyone. It turns into breath when inhaled, and then gets exhaled and returns to being communal air. Each breath is unique, but breath itself never disappears; it only changes form.

2. If We Breathe Slow, We Can Live Slow

“It has been said that if we breathe fast, we live fast. If we breathe slow, we can live slow. And remember, things that go fast are often over quicker, so when it comes to longevity, slow and steady wins the race. When we can control and steady our breath, we can also begin to embody steadiness in our day-to-day life.”
- Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

That’s an excellent reminder to breathe slow to embody steadiness in our daily lives, allowing us to fully experience this one short life we have. Remember: “If we breathe slow, we can live slow.”

***

P.S. Note that this isn’t about living longer per se. If you want to do that, scroll through Eddie’s wonderful recent IG post.

3. Humming Under Water

In The Well-Lived Life, Dr. Gladys told of her friend Cecile, whose son was afraid of swimming. He would inhale water through his nose and couldn’t breathe. Then, Cecile found a swimming instructor:

“The swimming instructor fixed the problem in a single session by teaching the child to hum underwater. ‘It’s such a simple philosophy,’ Cecile mused as she sat across from me on the living room sofa. ‘As long as he keeps humming, he can’t inhale the water. When he’s out of air to hum, he knows to come to the surface.’”

This is a perfect reminder that sometimes—just sometimes—solutions are easy when approached from a different angle.

If you’re so inspired, look for places where you have fear and see if you might be able to do some metaphorical humming instead 😊

4. Two Tiny Thoughts (and practices) for Today

Sometimes, the most mindful thing you can do is let your mind wander.

A repeat from two weeks ago: “Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” - Lord Byron

1 Quote

“Whenever you wonder how you might access gratefulness in a given moment, try this: Simply return to awareness of your breath—inhale and exhale gratefully.””

— Kristi Nelson

P.S. Thanks to Paul H. for sharing this one with me.

1 Answer

Category: Arteries and Veins

Answer: This is the only place in the body where arteries carry deoxygenated blood and veins carry oxygenated blood.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is in the pulmonary circulation?

In good breath,

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

P.S. ok thinky time

P.P.S. Check out The Breathing App for Diabetes to have Eddie Stern and me guide you through a 28-day slow breathing program.

Coaching

I can currently work with one more person if you can meet on weekends. Just send an email to nick@thebreathingdiabetic.com, and we can discuss it further 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

February 5, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

Self-Expression, Sending Messages of Calm, and How to Live Well

Nicholas Heath

February 5, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 1 min 51 sec

I hope the next 28’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. Breathing is Self-Expression, Helping You Discover Who You Are

“It may not be possible to know who you are without somehow expressing it.”
- Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

That’s so good.

And fortunately, we’re always expressing ourselves through our breathing; the state of our body, mind, and spirit are articulated in every breath. When we tune into it, it helps us discover who we are.

2. How Slow Breathing Sends Calm Messages to the Body and Mind

“When we breathe slow and steady, with the abdomen rising and falling with the breath, the messages that get sent to the brain through the vagus nerve are messages of steadiness, evenness, rhythmicity, safety, and control. The brain will receive these messages, and then respond in kind, sending messages back down to the body and releasing hormones and neurotransmitters that are a response to safety. The body will relax, and homeostasis will be supported.”
- Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

That sounds pretty amazing, but it’s even better when you experience it yourself. Go give it a try for 5 minutes and see how you feel 🙏

P.S. And be sure to get Eddie’s great new book, if you haven’t already.

3. How to Live Well: Immerse Yourself 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

This is exactly what we do when we focus on our breath: we immerse ourselves in “the pulse that ebbs and flows within us, finding the precise rhythm of how that energy moves.” And life comes alive.

So here’s to immersing ourselves in the breath to live well, today 🙏

4. Ignoring Our Minds in Mindfulness

In many ways, mindfulness is actually about learning to ignore our minds and, instead, listen to our hearts.

Meaning that with mindfulness, you learn that your mind thinks thoughts. You learn to allow them to occur without much judgment. You actually ignore your mind so you can cultivate more of your heart.

1 Quote

“Being alive is a miracle. Just sitting there, enjoying your in-breath and out-breath is already happiness. Since you’re breathing in and out, you know that you’re alive. That’s something worth celebrating.””

— Thich Nhat Hanh

1 Answer

Category: Breath-Heart Connection

Answer: During inhalation, changes in chest and abdominal pressures increase this, which is a critical component of overall cardiovascular circulation that ensures the blood gets reoxygenated.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is venous return (blood flow back to the heart)?

In good breath,

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

P.S. the most universal breathing exercise (sound on)

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1 (I currently cannot take on new clients. But if you’re interested, please send me a message, and I’ll let you know when space opens.)

Support this Newsletter

If you enjoy getting these each week, consider donating to keep me breathing. Anything helps and is appreciated 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

January 29, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

Cheap Medicine, New Breath Book, and Becoming Students of Life

Nicholas Heath

January 29, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 1 min 38 sec

I hope the next 24’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day. (P.S. This time doesn’t include the longer bonus thought at the end.)

4 THOUGHTS

1. As We Breathe, So We Live

“As we delve into specific breathing patterns, we can begin to discern that our breath has the power to influence how we experience life and even transform the course of our existence and our experience of everything that life is made of. Because, indeed, breath is life. As we breathe, so we live.”
- Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

That excellent passage basically sums up my an entire life philosophy. Thanks for saving me the effort of figuring it out for myself, Eddie 😂

Eddie’s new audiobook is a must-listen. Go get it and enjoy!

2. Becoming Students of Life and Breath

“Life is always trying to show us something. It’s communicating with us through the events, people, and ideas that show up in our lives.”
– Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

It’s also communicating with us through our breath. When we tune into our breath, we tune into the signals life is sharing, giving us the opportunity to cultivate awareness and make changes if necessary.

So here’s to frequently aligning with our breath so we can be better students of life, today 🙏

3. How Slow Breathing May Help Inflammation and Metabolic Disease

“Our findings suggest that stress can contribute to a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation that leads to metabolic dysregulation. … Stress-reduction techniques may serve as cost-effective interventions for preventing and treating metabolic disease.”
- Inflammatory Biomarkers Link Perceived Stress with Metabolic Dysregulation

If anything is (almost) certain about controlled slow breathing, it’s that it helps reduce stress. That’s why this study is so important.

It showed that stress is associated with metabolic dysregulation through inflammation. Association doesn’t mean causation, but this provides a pathway for slow breathing to help these conditions.

Namely, by reducing stress, slow breathing may lower inflammation and thus reduce our risks of metabolic dysregulation 👏

4. Spiraling Into Control

When life feels chaotic, slow nasal breathing helps you and your nervous system spiral into control, for a change.

***

P.S. This was inspired by this post, which made me laugh and think, “well, slow breathing does kind of do that, lol.”

1 Quote

“Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.””

— Lord Byron

1 Answer

Category: Medical Breathing Terms

Answer: This is the medical term referring to the sudden and involuntary contraction of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is singultus (hiccups)?

In good breath,

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

P.S. When I say “no worries” I mean…

BONUS THOUGHT

I try to keep these short and sweet, so this couldn’t make it as a thought. But it’s SO GOOD, so I wanted to share it somehow.

A Powerful and Genuinely Life-Changing Thought Experiment

“Some of my clients have a hard time envisioning themselves with this much confidence. If they’re golfers, I sometimes suggest to them that they imagine that God appeared to them and said, ‘You’re going to have a great career. You’re going to win dozens of tournaments. You’re going to win several major championships. Don’t worry about it. You just keep working hard on your game. I’ve taken care of the results.’ And then imagine that the vision ended before the golfer could ask God which tournaments he would win and when he would win them.

He’d play from that time on with tremendous confidence. He wouldn’t know exactly when his wins would come, or where. But he’d know that if he just kept doing the things he was supposed to do, the results were guaranteed. He’d step onto the first tee every Thursday thinking, ‘Oh, boy! I can't wait to find out if this is going to be one of my weeks.’”

– Dr. Bob Rotella, How Champions Think

Now, imagine if we did this with life in general. What if we imagined God telling us everything would be okay and work out? That we’d find our calling, relief for our illness, a solution to our probelm, and be exactly who we’re supposed to be. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve taken care of the results.”

Then, we might wake up every morning thinking, “Oh, boy! I can’t wait to find out if this will be one of my days.”

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1 (I currently cannot take on new clients. But if you’re interested, please send me a message, and I’ll let you know when space opens.)

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If you enjoy getting these each week, consider donating to keep me breathing. Anything helps and is appreciated 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

January 22, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

Smiling, Heart at Ease, and a Life-Changing Shift in Perspective

Nicholas Heath

January 22, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 1 min 43 sec

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

4 THOUGHTS

1. The Mindful Artist

“The artist actively works to experience life slowly, and then to re-experience the same thing anew.”
– Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

I think this could also define someone living mindfully, a mindful artist, we might say, experiencing each breath anew. (Maybe not all day, every day, but at least during their morning practice 😊).

2. Smile Before Putting (and breathing)

“One tip I've shared with many golfers is a simple one: smile a little bit before each putt. Frowning is something your body does automatically when you've engaged your conscious mind to concentrate on a problem. Smiling tends to be something your body does when you're relaxed and happy and your subconscious brain is in control. Smiling can help putting. Try it and see.”
- Dr. Bob Rotella, How Champions Think

For these same reasons, smiling before (or during) a slow, deep, nasal breath can also be helpful. Try it and see 🙏

3. A New 2024 Meta-Analysis on Slow Breathing

“In conclusion, the current meta-analysis showed that slow-paced breathing had significant immediate beneficial effects on SBP, HR and time-domain HRV (RMSSD and SDNN), but not on DBP or frequency-domain HRV. Slow-paced breathing also had a modest effect in reducing negative emotions, particularly perceived stress.”
- The Effect of Slow-Paced Breathing on Cardiovascular and Emotion Functions: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Nothing too shocking here, but my overall takeaway was: Slow breathing, at least in the short term, generally had positive effects on cardiovascular and emotional health. Check out the study for more.

4. A Life-Changing Exercise and Shift of Perspective

“The next time you find yourself doing something embarrassing, I encourage you to try to think about how it could be seen as funny. What about your mistake is humorous? What was surprising, silly, or just plain ridiculous? How would someone on the outside see it, and why might they laugh? You’ll be surprised by how often a humorous interpretation is available if you only go looking for it.”
- Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

Last week, we discussed how laughing is the most therapeutic breathing exercise, tickling your adrenals and thus easing your heart.

Here, we learn a simple practice to help make humor part of our day. I’ve done it several times since reading it, and it’s truly life-changing.

1 Quote

“When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.””

— Chinese Proverb

1 Answer

Category: Breath Words

Answer: Although less commonly used, this word refers to taking a long, deep breath, like a sigh.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is suspiration?

In good breath,

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

P.S. i won’t rest until i’ve cracked this case!

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1 (I currently cannot take on new clients. But if you’re interested, please send me a message, and I’ll let you know when space opens.)

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If you enjoy getting these each week, consider donating to keep me breathing. Anything helps and is appreciated 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

January 15, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

A Wild Sleep Study, Becoming Great, and Being More Human

Nicholas Heath

January 15, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 2 min 2 sec

I hope the next 30’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. Tickle Your Adrenals with this Therapeutic Breathing Exercise

“In the body, laughter serves an important purpose. It quite literally tickles the adrenals. The diaphragm is located just above the adrenal glands, which house our reactivity, our fear and anger, our apathy and hatred. When we laugh, we flex and release the diaphragm. This gives a light jiggle to the adrenals that I think of as a tickle. … In my experience, the adrenals are often quite relieved by the invitation to relax and let go.”
– Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

This is your friendly reminder to laugh and “tickle your adrenals” today. Laughter is, after all, the most therapeutic breathing exercise 😊

2. Becoming More Human, Not Superhuman

“It’s very intuitive: If we breathe better…we can deliver more oxygen to our muscles and organs, including the heart and brain, and thus heighten our physical capacity. All we’re really doing is assisting the body in working the way it was meant to work in the first place.”
– Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage

That’s a great reminder that breathing (and other mind-body practices) are not hacks to boost our health to superhuman levels. They’re simply “assisting the body in working the way it was meant to work in the first place.”

We’re becoming more human, not superhuman.

3. A Mind-Blowing Study on Sleep: Is It All in Your Head?

Of course, sleep is critical to health, and if this study was performed over a long duration, its results would likely change. But this passage from Dr. Langer is an extraordinary reminder of the power of the mind:

“Our intervention was simple: We programmed a bedside clock to alter the amount of time that participants thought they had slept, irrespective of their actual sleep duration.

When the clock was sped up, such that people thought they had slept for eight hours but had slept only for five, their reaction times were quicker on an auditory psychomotor vigilance test as compared to their performance when knew they had five hours of sleep. Conversely, when people slept for eight hours but thought that they only slept for five, their performance was worse than when they had slept eight hours and thought they had slept eight hours. Clearly, our perceptions of how much we’ve slept, and not just the actual number of hours, matter.”

Here’s the link to the study. I highly encourage reading the first three sentences of the discussion 🤯

4. The Biggest Mistake in Breathing

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

1 Quote

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.””

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Listen to it for deep inspiration.

1 Answer

Category: The Mind

Answer: Focusing on this, which literally translates to “tool of thought” or “mind tool,” can add a touch of mindfulness (and hence additional benefits) to a slow breathing practice.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is a mantra?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Libraries were a good start but…

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1 (I currently cannot take on new clients. But if you’re interested, please send me a message, and I’ll let you know when space opens.)

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If you enjoy getting these each week, consider donating to keep me breathing. Anything helps and is appreciated 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

January 1, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

24 Ideas, Favorite Books of 2023, and the Secret to Healing

Nicholas Heath

January 1, 2024

weekly email, Batch 9

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Reading Time: 1 min 27 sec

I hope the next 22’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. 24 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2024

1. Breathing saves your life 20,000 times a day; mindfulness helps you appreciate this truth.

2. Breathing is 90% mental; the other half is physical.

3. The best healing breathing exercise is laughter.

Read all 24 thoughts here.

P.S. We’ve made it four years straight with this one-sentence idea. Here’s to many more 🙏

2. My Favorite Books of 2023

I read 50 books last year. I’ve made a list of all of them and also broke them into the following categories:

My Top 3 Overall
My Top 3 on Breathing
My Top 3 on Mindfulness
My Top 3 on Mindset

Read the lists here.

3. An Incredible Passage on the Power of Breathing to Start 2024

“If you breathe in calmly and hold your breath for a while before exhaling slowly, you will stimulate your vagus nerve, which in turn will have a soothing effect on your body and brain. That is why training in meditation breathing is a formidable tool for controlling and consciously inhibiting unconscious stress reactions. As such, it allows us to modify our brain activity (as we have demonstrated in our lab) to overcome anxiety, to lower blood pressure and sugar levels (and thus reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases), to strengthen the immune and metabolic systems, and to have a positive influence on numerous pathologies.”

- Steven Laureys, MD, The No-Nonsense Meditation Book

4. The Secret Ingredient to Healing (from a 102-year-old doctor)

“Healing, too, takes its own time. More often than not, time is the secret ingredient that allows healing to take place. Sometimes, while we're wishing things would hurry up, they're doing exactly what they should be doing.”
– Gladys McGarey, MD (102), The Well-Lived Life

Thats an excellent reminder that with healing, time is our ally, not enemy 🙏

1 Quote

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.””

— Francis of Assisi

1 Answer

Category: Funny Breathing

Answer: The number one reason we do this breathing exercise is not because of jokes but actually to bond with others.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is laugh?

In good breath,

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

P.S. a gummy vitamin perhaps

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1

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If you enjoy getting these each week, consider donating to keep me breathing. Anything helps and is appreciated 🙏

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Nicholas Heath

December 25, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

Love, the Gift of Giving, and How Life Gets Measured

Nicholas Heath

December 25, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

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Sorry, no audio this week. I got sick on Saturday and couldn’t record. I hope to have it up by Tuesday or Wednesday.

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Reading Time: 1 min 38 sec

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

4 THOUGHTS

1. Any Effort We Put Toward Love

“Just as our bodies are born to breathe air, we are born to love. That's why although it's good to address our fear, it's even better to focus on our love. Any effort we put toward love—truly, any effort at all—will self-perpetuate, bringing joy, health, and well-being into our lives.”
– Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

One more time: “Any effort we put toward love…will self-perpetuate, bringing joy, health, and well-being into our lives.”

Sounds good to me 🙏

2. How to Practice Right Effort (hint: start with love & joy)

“Without love and joy motivating your efforts, you're not practicing right effort.”
- George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete

You can apply breathing & mindfulness for the wrong reasons: to rob a bank, manipulate people, and so on. That’s why right effort is critical.

There are several elements of “right effort,” but Mumford provides a simple starting point: make sure love & joy are motivating your efforts. If they are, you’re likely on the right track 🙏

3. Why Healing Hurts (at first)

Here’s David Goggins discussing a race where he had to take a break to let his thyroid reset:

“I decided to rest with no idea how long that process might take. I’d already run 120 miles. Predictably, within an hour, my body reacted as if the race was over. I started to swell and tighten up as my muscles shifted into recovery mode. … This would be a problem.”

It’s a nice reminder that swelling & tightness usually occur when we stop to rest & recover. Not only in endurance events, but in life in general. Just remember that feeling this pain is part of the process.

4. The Gift of Giving: Two Breathing Metaphors to Apply to Life

Reverse Breath Cycle

Think of the breath cycle starting an exhale, not an inhale. Use this as a reminder to give before you receive.

Extended Exhales

Make your exhale slightly longer than your inhale. Use this as a reminder to always give more than you receive.

1 Quote

“Ultimately, your life will be measured by what you gave, not what you received. Don’t hold out on the rest of us—we need you to contribute.””

— Todd Henry

1 Answer

Category: Oxygen Absorption

Answer: Humans only absorb about this percentage of the oxygen they inhale with each breath.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 5%?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Start off your new year right

Upcoming Workshops

Saturday, Dec 30: Breathing for Better Brain Health

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1

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Nicholas Heath

December 18, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

Health & Happiness, and How to Align with Your Life Force

Nicholas Heath

December 18, 2023

weekly email, Batch 9

Listen Instead of Reading

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Reading Time: 1 min 33 sec

I hope the next 23’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.

4 THOUGHTS

1. You Will Receive All Benefits in Due Course

“If we commit to a twice-daily practice and give it some time to work, the benefits will be there. The beauty in this is that no matter which of the benefits we have come looking for, we will receive all of the benefits in due course – relaxation, good health and, eventually, enlightenment too.”
- Yogani, Spinal Breathing Pranayama

I love that. And although it’s referring to spinal breathing pranayama, I think it applies to any slow breathing practice: We start with the benefits we’re after and let the others come naturally with time and persistence.

2. Playing an Infinite Game

“More to the point, Richie’s lab finds that even among the meditation adepts—all of whom have put in at least 10,000 hours of practice—expertise continues to increase steadily with the number of lifetime hours.”
- Goleman and Davidson, Altered Traits

Translation: there’s no end to contemplative practice. The more you do, the more you grow.

3. Three One-Sentence Thoughts

Meditation is about stopping thinking as much as breathwork is about stopping breathing.
Breathing saves your life 20,000 times a day; mindfulness helps you appreciate this truth.
The greatest skill in breathing (like in life) is knowing when to go with the flow, and when to deliberately change it.

4. How to Align with Your Life Force

“On a very basic level, when we’re consciously aware of the in-breath and the out-breath—or in other words, the act of inhaling and exhaling—we infuse ourselves with that life force and anchor ourselves in our own deep center space.”
- George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete

I have nothing useful to add, except for a few of these 👏👏👏

1 Quote

“Health and happiness are about being so connected to our own life force that we feel we fit into the world around us.””

— Gladys McGarey, MD

P.S. This came from The Well-Lived Life. I’m only about a third way through, but I must say it’s incredible—an absolute must-read.

1 Answer

Category: Breath and Focus

Answer: This state (often achieved through conscious breathing) involves being wholly immersed in an activity, cultivating intense focus and creativity, and losing awareness of time and self.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is flow?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Nice book. Too bad it was…

Upcoming Workshops

Saturday, December 23:

Philosophy of Breath

Saturday, December 30:

Breathing for Better Brain Health

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1

Amazon Associate Disclosure