We all breathe anyway, right? But do we breathe correctly, and why should we care?
We don’t notice our breathing until things go wrong, which happened to me in 2016. I started experiencing severe panic attacks and sleepless nights for almost 18 months. After being told by doctors there was nothing clinically wrong with me, I was recommended a meditation retreat where I was introduced to a breathing technique that changed the course of my life and career.
Fast-forward to 2021. After researching breathing techniques to improve my health and spurred on by my love of competitive freediving, I became certified as an Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor. I teach science-based functional breathing techniques that incorporate nasal breathing and diaphragmatic activation to retrain breathing muscles to perform optimally.
Like other muscles in the body, the diaphragm (the primary breathing muscle) can also be trained. When it is not fully functional, it has a negative impact on the body, including poor mobility, lower back pain, upper body tension, and poor circulation.
Nasal breathing is proven to support immunity, increase ventilation, enhance sports performance, and aid structural facial development in children. Habitual mouth breathing, on the other hand, has a debilitating effect on the body, causing exercise-induced asthma, increased anxiety, snoring, sleep apnea, and oral health issues, amongst other things.
By incorporating these techniques into daily practice and training programs, clients have transformed their breathing habits to build confidence, eliminate insomnia, reduce stress, study for exams, train for marathons, and swim the English Channel. My specialised freediving training provides a unique insight into how to use the breath to optimise performance in sports and day-to-day activities.
By changing our breathing habits and empowering ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally, we can alleviate and, in some cases, eliminate health issues.
A gift for life!
