The Beneficial Breath
Centuries old practices like yoga, meditation, and the Chinese self-cultivation practice Qigong, have long known the power and benefits of breathing.
“For nearly everyone, this simple practice will reduce heart rate dramatically, increase heart rate variability, which is good for the heart and overall health, encourage alpha brain wave state, and can even lower blood pressure,” Rockwood said.
An alpha brain wave state occurs when you are relaxed and effortlessly alert, and he said you could slip into this state very quickly with a breathing practice.
Mutschler said this seemingly simple change of how you breathe could add years to your life and reduce the risks of chronic illness by “optimizing our own healing capacity.”
“Is it going to make you jump higher or outcompete your coworkers? Probably,” he said with a little chuckle.
When Mutschler began practicing Qigong after a brain injury years ago, he immediately saw the benefits of more focus and less agitation. Qigong, pronounced CHEE-gung, is a three-pronged practice, with movement and attention being the other prongs. Mutschler said all aspects center on the breath, though. Tai Chi falls under the umbrella of Qigong.
This deep beneficial breath has reached more mainstream sports and athletes, too. Have you seen Marshawn Lynch’s high-altitude mask? He wears it to work his diaphragm and build up lung capacity. Simple breathing exercises, like using breathing balloons or the Butekyo method, are used in training for professional sports teams.
Lucy Hendricks FMS, a restorative breathing coach, trains athletes to breathe properly at GYM Laird Strength and Conditioning in Lexington, Ky. This gym takes takes a holistic approach to getting people in shape, looking at movement patterns, sleep, diet, and stress management. She said all athletes who train there lie down on the floor for about 2 to 3 minutes to breathe before they leave the gym.
“I want them to be able to slow down their breathing and be more efficient with the oxygen they’re taking in,” Hendricks said. “People have retrained their body to breathe too much and too fast. “
She said that by relaxing and doing some breathing exercises, the athletes can come out of a high threshold state, which is basically fight or flight mode. Hendricks said too many athletes are in this state all the time, not just when working out.
Stories of pain relief through mindful breathing are numerous. Just ask any woman who electively has had a natural childbirth. Or ask Mutschler about the time he used breath to completely dull the pain of an exposed nerve in his mouth while he waited more than 24 hours to get into the dentist.
“Pain is 5% stimulus and 95% reaction,” he said. “How you experience pain is how you react, and the very first thing that reacts is breathing. If you can become able to control your breathing, you’ll have a huge leg up.”
Just as stress can impact the way we breathe, mindful breathing can reduce our stress levels and help us sleep better at night.
“There is a direct relationship between inhibited breathing and stress,” Mutschler said. “If you put a number on stress, breathing is inhibited to that degree.”
As it turns out, deep breathing can also help you get ripped.
“Diaphragmatic breathing is a great way to strengthen your deepest core muscles,” said personal trainer Meghan Covington, the owner of Mind Body Fitness NYC.
Even that standing breath – the one with your knees slightly bent – can mean pretty rock solid leg muscles. As men age and get rounder in the middle and scrawnier in the legs, the focused breathing exercises in Qigong or Tai Chi can reverse those changes, Mutschler said. Just by making your legs support you, standing becomes a real strength building exercise, as Tai Chi devotees can attest.
“If you decide to leg or arm-wrestle one of those guys, you’ll get wiped because it takes a lot strength to breathe and move that slowly,” he said. “It’s deceptively macho exercise.”
Mutschler said cultivating this skill will pay off exponentially.
“It’s not like having someone whisper winning lottery numbers in your ear, but the more you work with it, the better you get and the more benefit you receive from it,” he said. “It becomes addictive actually. It produces endorphins and it feels so good.”
