one-sentence

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A Mini Life, Breath-Brain, and Helping Everyone Else Relax

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Reading Time: 1 min 32 sec

I hope the next 19’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. A Miniature Model of Life

“When we truly observe the breath, we are automatically placed in the present. We are pulled out of the morass of mental images and into a bare experience of the here and now. In this sense, breath is a living slice of reality. A mindful observation of such a miniature model of life itself leads to insights that are broadly applicable to the rest of our experience.”

– Bhante Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Yep, that sums it up perfectly. I have nothing else to add but several of these 👏👏👏

2. Breath-Brain: Entire Fields are Dedicated to This

“The brain’s metabolic-energetic coupling to respiration is at odds with how neuroscientists methodologically treat respiration. Respiration-related neural activity is typically considered noise, and entire fields are dedicated to stripping it from brain data.”

– Neuroscience Bulletin (2023)

The breath’s influence on the brain is so pervasive that “entire fields are dedicated to stripping it from brain data.” How crazy is that? 🤯

It’s a powerful reminder that, although we often talk about the breath’s impact on the nervous system, its effects on the brain may be the most profound (yet least appreciated) of all…

3. Three Random Breathing Thoughts

1. Shining your attention on your breath is like a dimmer switch: even if it’s not all the way up, it will still help you see better.

2. Scientific studies of breathing are timely and indispensable; personal experience with the breath is timeless and irreplaceable.

3. Equanimity is when the breather realizes they are the breath.

4. Few Persons Realize

“Few persons realize that health actually varies according to the amount of laughter.”

– James J. Walsh, MD, PhD

Here is our weekly reminder to laugh. It is, after all, the best “breathing exercise” around… 😊

1 Quote

“Pressure is contagious, but so is good will. Just one person slowing down, one person not putting others under pressure, helps everyone else to relax too.””
— Eknath Easwaran

1 Answer

Category: Breath Connection

Answer: Breathing influences this organ over a wide set of frequencies, ranging from as slow as 0.01 Hz to as high as 80 Hz.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the brain?

In good breath,

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

P.S. like I get it

Reminder: A Good New Year Begins Now

Like a good inhale starts with a full exhale, or a good morning starts the night before, a good 2025 begins with how we end this year. So, if you want to start 2025 off strong, consider ending this year by becoming a Mixed Mindful Artist. You can do that by joining the Breath Learning Center. I’ve made it accessible, with options starting at just $5, because I believe the mixed mindful arts should be available to all who seek them. I hope you’ll join us!

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.

 
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Learning to Live, 3 Random Thoughts, and Going on an Internal Jog

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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 33 sec

I hope the next 19’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. Learning to Live

“In the practice of meditation you become sensitive to the actual experience of living, to how things actually feel. You do not sit around developing sublime thoughts about living. You live…meditation, more than anything else, is learning to live.”

– Bhante Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Here’s a wonderful reminder that meditation—and all our other contemplative practices—are not a means of escaping life. They are actually a way of learning to live, a way of becoming more “sensitive to the actual experience of living.” 👏

2. Nasal Stimulation and Altered Consciousness

“The NS [nasal stimulation] elicited an altered perception of the self and of the flowing of time, a high degree of inwardly-directed attention together with a diminished ability of controlling their own thoughts, which led to a general perception of being in an altered state of consciousness.”

- Nature Sci Rep (2018)

I shared about this study about a month ago, but I recently made a post explaining its fascinating results that I thought you might enjoy. Check it out on HHPF.

3. Three Random Breathing Thoughts

1. Breathing exercises don’t solve our problems—they change how we interpret our problems, which may be just as valuable.

2. The goal of a mindful breathing practice is better mindless breathing.

3. Start by starting; one minute is always better than none-minutes.

4. An Internal Jog

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”

– Norman Cousins

That’s a great analogy and reminder to take a daily “internal jog” this week using the most therapeutic breathing exercise of all—laughter. No treadmills required 😊

1 Quote

“I believe I know the only cure, which is to make one’s center of life inside of one’s self, not selfishly or excludingly, but with a kind of unassailable serenity—to decorate one’s inner house so richly that one is content there, glad to welcome anyone who wants to come and stay, but happy all the same when one is inevitably alone.””
— Edith Wharton

1 Answer

Category: Breath and Brain

Answer: Breathing’s impact on this brain signal is so significant that it’s often regarded as “noise” that needs to be removed.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the fMRI signal?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Not to be dramatic but…

A Clear Path?

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”

– Joseph Campbell

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 find our own path, guided by timeless wisdom, modern science, and self intuition. So, if you’re ready to start clearing your own trail, 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.

 
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A 10-15-75 Formula, Laughter, and a Menu of Mind-Body Benefits

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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 38 sec

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


4 THOUGHTS

1. A 10-15-75 Formula for Thinking

“There is a formula for this: 10 percent of thinking can be concerned with the past, 15 percent with the future, and the remaining 75 percent with the present. When we live mostly in the present, we can move easily, step by step. We can respond to events with an open heart and an open mind.”

– Satish Kumar, Elegant Simplicity

I love this idea. Instead of saying we should “always be in the present,” it reminds us that we will, of course, spend time thinking about the past and future—that’s part of being human. So, our aim is just to do our best to live “mostly in the present” so we can “respond to events with an open heart and an open mind.” 👏

2. A Menu of Mind-Body Benefits

“The real power of breathing comes from the way that we can also control the rate and depth…and choose from a menu of body–mind benefits. … We can use it to calm down, focus and think about what to do next. With a little practice we can also use breath control techniques to escape from reality for a while, taking a well-earned break from both body and mind. … All are easy to do and can make a significant difference to how you think and feel—for solid physiological reasons.”

- Caroline Williams, Move

👏 👏 👏

3. Three Random Breathing Thoughts

1. Mindfulness is thought meteorology; breath control is weather modification.

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

3. Your current state of mind is the average of your last five breaths.

4. The Breathing Baywatch?

“I think laughter is the best medicine. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you can’t laugh at life and the silliness of it all.”

– David Hasselhoff

Did I just quote Hasselhoff in a newsletter about breathing and mindfulness? Yes, yes I did 😂 But this is a great quote and a great reminder to laugh this week—it’s the best breathing exercise around.

1 Quote

“Awakening is an accident, but continued practice will make you accident-prone.””
— John Yates, PhD & Matthew Immergut, PhD

1 Answer

Category: Speed of the Nervous System

Answer: The fastest signals in the body, clocking in at 268 mph, travel along an alpha motor neuron in this long, tube-like structure.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the spinal cord?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Big things coming

When You Get Tired

When you get tired of all the methods, all the promises and sales tactics, and when you realize that no one (yep, no one) has it all figured out, come check out the Breath Learning Center. We blend timeless wisdom, modern science, and self-intuition to create our own path. No empty promises or guarantees, just a thoughtful, caring place to discover what truly works for you. Learn more here.

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.

 
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Purely for Joy, Physics, and How to Overcome Obstacles

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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 46 sec

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


4 THOUGHTS

1. Tied into the Universe of Physics

“The lungs are tied into the universe of physics like no other organ, perfectly using the space allotted to maximize flow. And optimizing flow, and movement, is clearly one of the purposes of life from a biological perspective.”

– Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

👏 👏 👏

***

P.S. And as one of my favorite teachers, R.M., wisely pointed out in response to this quote: “Perhaps we could say the same for every organ in the body.”

2. An Intriguing Situation

“This is an intriguing situation when we stop to think about it, for if it is true that breath influences both body and mind, then the rhythm and the rate of the breath would reflect not only one’s physical condition, but would also help to create it.”

– Science of Breath

Here’s another powerful reminder that, although breathing reflects our current state, it also shapes it:

  • Fast, shallow breathing reflects being anxious…but it can also cause anxiety.

  • Slow, deep breathing reflects being calm…but it can also create relaxation.

This is the true power of breath control. When used sensibly and safely, it can help us “create the physical condition” we’re after 👏

3. Three Random Breathing Thoughts

1. What exercise is to the body, what meditation is to mind, breathing is to the soul.

2. In many ways, mindfulness means ignoring our minds and listening to our hearts.

3. Slow, mindful breathing helps you feel underwhelmed for a change.

***

P.S. Number 1 was inspired by this quote: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” - Sir Richard Steele

4. How to Overcome Obstacles to Daily Practice

“Diligence helps start you on your way, but the real solution to these obstacles is learning to enjoy your practice…Too often, people approach meditation as though they were taking medicine—it tastes bad, but they grin and bear it because it’s supposed to be good for them. Instead, make meditation into a pleasurable activity.”

– The Mind Illuminated

With that in mind, we might ask, ‘How could I tailor my practice to bring me more joy?’ Remember: We’re not supposed to grin and bear it; we’re supposed to enjoy it 👏

1 Quote

“We have to keep having fun throughout our lives—it’s so important to do things purely for the joy of it.””
— Gladys McGarey, MD

1 Answer

Category: Gene Expression

Answer: Slow breathing, through its activation of this psychophysiological response, may rapidly alter how genes are expressed.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the relaxation response?

In good breath,

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

P.S. a haunted house but…

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.

 
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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.

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

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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 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

Support this Newsletter

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

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.

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

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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 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

  1. Meditation is about stopping thinking as much as breathwork is about stopping breathing.

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

  3. 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:

Saturday, December 30:

Coaching

Breathing & Mindfulness 1-on-1

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.

 
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30 Seconds, Wim Hof Wisdom, and 23 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas

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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. Warm Up Your Mind & Spirit with the Wim Hof Wisdom Bundle

“There’s nothing mystical or abstract about it. It’s physical. Your breath is your life-force, right here, right now. It could not be any simpler. Just breathe and reclaim your soul.”

- Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method

If you enjoy Wim’s philosophy (like me) or practicing his method, check out the wisdom bundle I just added to the Learning Center.

You get all the science and inspiring quotes condensed into 62 minutes of podcast audio and 22 PDF pages.

Here’s to a happier, healthier, and stronger new year 🙏 ❄️ 🧊

2. 23 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2023

A few of my favorites this year:

#1. You don’t have to meditate; breathing meditates you.

#12. Our breath moves spirit around like our hearts move blood around.

#13. Breath is to body what Brandy is to wine.

#22. Breathe hearter, not smarter.

Read them all here.

3. A 30-Second Thought Experiment That is Bound to Improve Your Life

(it genuinely changed mine in 2022)

(1) Bring to mind someone you would die for—no hesitation, no questions asked.

(2) Now ask yourself: Would you live for this person? Would you start that one thing you know you should be doing? (Yes, that one.) Would you give up that one thing you know you shouldn’t be doing? (Only you know which one.)

It’s easy to say you’d die for someone. What’s harder is really living for them instead.

***

P.S. This was inspired by a beautiful book titled The Gift by Dr. Edith Eger, a Holocaust survivor with an incredibly tragic yet deeply humbling and inspiring story.

4. A Tiny Thought on Problems

A breathing practice won’t stop problems—health or otherwise—from occurring in 2023 (or any other year).

These are part of being human.

A breathing practice will, however, give you the mental, physical, and spiritual strength you need to deal with and bounce back from those challenges as they occur.

(EXTRA) Being with Diabetes: Meditation as Medicine

Diabetes Sangha, a non-profit meditation community for type-1 diabetics, is launching their first course, which brings “meditation to diabetes & diabetes to meditation.”

I’ve spoken to their community twice, and they’re just genuinely great people. Kind and compassionate, yet honest and open. It’s almost like they meditate a lot or something…

But dad jokes aside, they’re offering 411 readers 20% off (this isn’t an affiliate link, just a kind gesture on their behalf).

I hope you’ll check it out if you have diabetes or live/work with people that do 🙏

Discount Code: BREATHE-20

Click Here to Learn More

1 Quote

“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.

1 Answer

Category: Saving Breaths

Answer: If you spent 20 minutes a day breathing at 6 breaths per minute every single day in 2023, you’d save approximately this many breaths (assuming 15 breaths/min is average).

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is ~65,700? (or about 3 days worth of breaths)

In good breath,

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


P.S. The cutest blueberries you’ll ever see

* 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.

 

An Unexpected Truth, 22 One-Sentence Ideas, and the Best Part of Breathing

 
 

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4 Thoughts


1. 22 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2022

1. Demonstrations of breathing are small compared with the great thing that is hidden behind them. 

2. Breathing doesn’t heal you; it gives your body the environment it needs to heal itself.

Keep going…

Let’s continue the tradition this year. Here are 22 one-sentence breathing ideas to kick off 2022. Enjoy!

***

Related: 21 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2021

2. A Unexpected Truth: Use Your Heart to be More Objective

“I feel like I process information more objectively. If there's a bad call, or a player does something unexpected on the court, I can inhibit my reaction and quickly determine what needs to happen next with less effort.”

- Client of Leah Lagos, excerpt from Heart Breath Mind

This was the result of heart rate variability (HRV) training via slow breathing. As counterintuitive as it might sound, current science tells us that the more we train our hearts, the more objective we become.

It’s actually our pesky (albeit valuable, lol) brains that trick us into excess emotional reactivity, anxiety, stress, rumination, and on & on.

So to be more rational, use your heart, not your head : )

***

Related: This 2-Minute Breathing Exercise Can Help You Make Better Decisions, According to a New Study

3. Why You Should Practice Abdominal Nose Breathing

“However, when we breathe through the nostrils and into the abdomen, not only do we breathe less frequently, but our exhalations are prolonged. What this means is that abdominal nose breathing not only makes more oxygen available to our bodies in a more efficient manner, but it also stimulates the sympathetic nervous system less frequently.”

- The Tibetan Yoga of Breath

That is all : )

4. The Best Part about Breathing

The best part about breathing is that we can satisfy our craving to read and learn while also applying that wisdom in our lives. There’s no abstraction. It’s as easy as “sit down and breathe like this for a few minutes and see how you feel.”

Sure, I write to try to make it fun and philosophical. But when it comes down to it, you just sit there and breathe. No one can take it away from you, and you don’t need any special training. You just do it.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"There's nothing mystical or abstract about it. It's physical. Your breath is your life-force, right here, right now. It could not be any simpler. Just breathe and reclaim your soul."

- Wim Hof

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: The Airways and Ancient Yoga

Answer: The trachea, a key component of breathing, is also referred to as this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the windpipe?

P.S. Yantra Yoga techniques were called “Wind Energy Training,” which sounds kind of woo-woo. But let’s not forget modern science refers to our main breathing tube as the “windpipe” : )

In good breath,

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

P.S. a workplace revolutionary tbh

 
 
 

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.

 
 

22 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2022

Let’s continue the tradition this year. Here are 22 one-sentence breathing ideas to kick off 2022. Enjoy!

***

Related: 21 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2021

1. Demonstrations of breathing are small compared with the great thing that is hidden behind them. 

(Inspired by a Khalil Gibran Quote)

 

2. Breathing doesn’t heal you; it gives your body the environment it needs to heal itself.

 

3. We can be lost in breath, without knowing we have been breathing.

(Inspired by The Things You See Only When You Slow Down)

 

4. If you know only one breathing method, then you really know none; if you understand one breathing method, then you really know them all.

 

5. Breathing is the most direct path to practicing philosophy in our lives.

 

6. If breath is life, then optimal breathing is optimal living.

 

7. Science is timely; personal experience is timeless.

 

8. Every method works when used correctly, but no method works for everybody.

 

9. What one teacher says is essential, another will say is useless.

 

10. Breathing is a pair of leather shoes for life.

(Idea from The Tibetan Yoga of Breath)

 

11. The most practical tip for breathing is this: make it quiet and subtle. 

 

12. To breathe in a “quiet and subtle way” takes deliberate practice—effort leads to effortlessness.

 

13. Breathing may be my 70% solution but only your 20% solution.

 

14. Breathe less, sometimes more; breathe slow, sometimes fast.

 

15. We breathe through each nostril separately so they function better together as a whole.

 

16. Read about breathing but, most importantly, embody that education through practice.

 

17. Start by starting; one minute is always better than none-minutes.

 

18. A simple rule for getting started: 40% of your breath should be inhaling, 60% should be exhaling.

 

19. Holding implies tension and effort; pausing is natural and effortless.

 

20. Breath and mind are inseparable: This means you can use your breath, to change your mind, to change your breath for the better.

(A play on this line from Neurodharma: “Neurons that fire together, wire together. This means that you can use your mind, to change your brain, to change your mind for the better.”)

 

21. The goal of a breathing practice is better mindless breathing.

 

22. The joy of breathwork is breathing.

One-Sentence Ideas and Your Breathing Identity

 

Happy New Year!

Thanks for joining me for the first 411 of the year. Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for you to consider this week.

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. 21 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas

"Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his breath; strong is he who forces his breath to control his thoughts."

Breathing ideas are often long-winded, but they shouldn’t be.

Here are 21 one-sentence breathing ideas to kick off 2021. You’ll learn how breathing is the compound interest of health, the most effective way to breathe right now, and the best time to start a breathing practice. Enjoy!

P.S. Josh Spector’s excellent post on communication inspired this idea.

2. What Not to Focus On in 2021

"Just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing." - James Clear, Atomic Habits

Focusing on any one outcome (e.g., CO2 tolerance or BOLT) is simplistic, even in breathing. The problem is, as James also states, "we optimize for what we measure." So, let’s avoid putting too much weight on any one measurement in 2021.

The alternative, James tells us, "is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become." Measuring progress is important, but we don’t want our identity to be based on a measurement ("I have a high BOLT score"). Instead, we want the measurement to be an outcome of our identity ("I am someone who focuses on optimal breathing, so I have a high BOLT").

It’s a significant distinction.

3. "The Consequences of Sucking at Breathing"

"Without knowing it, you might be messing up your sleep, mood, digestion, heart, nervous system, muscles, brain, and even the development of your teeth and face structure." - Patrik Edblad, How to Breathe Properly – A (Surprisingly Important) Complete Guide

I love finding breathing articles from "non-breathing" people. It makes my heart (and lungs) happy. Even more so when they are excellently written, like this one.

My favorite part was that Patrik conveyed all the benefits of breathing without ever mentioning CO2. 👏 Enjoy the awesome read!

4. Harmonize the Butterflies in Your Stomach

"It's all right to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation." - Dr. Rob Gilbert

Controlling your breathing is an easy way to help synchronize them.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"A hundred objective measurements didn't sum the worth of a garden; only the delight of its users did that. Only the use made it mean something."

- Lois McMaster Bujold

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: Approximately 2/3 of the mass of the human body is made up of this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is oxygen?

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. A new reason to be upset