Annihilate Stress with Breathwork

Life is hard. Stress is rampant. And yet, for some reason, we seem hellbent on making shit way more complicated and stressful than needs be — despite the consequences to our overall health, happiness, and longevity.

Breathwork is a simple, ancient, proven, and highly effective practice anyone can introduce into their life for an abundance of health benefits — turn the decibels way down on anxiety, stress, fear, worry, etc., and crank them up on happiness, joy, freedom, compassion, love, gratitude, etc. What’s not to love?

If you’re anything like me, you might be a little freaked out by pseudo-spirituality and be more than a little put off by some of the bullshit and inauthenticity spun by those who spend their lives preaching authenticity on Instagram?

Here’s the good news: You can ignore it all. None of it matters. What matters is how you breathe. That is literally all breathwork concerns itself with.

The mind boggles at how much our breath can impact the quality of our lives — both positively and negatively. It’s air, for crying out loud — inhale, exhale, your heart keeps beating, and geronimo — you live to fight another day. Yay! And we’ve been doing it since we exited the womb. Easy, right? How could one possibly do it wrong?

Well, we can. And do. Often with significant costs to our health.

But why? How?

Consider cause-and-effect: Anxiety and stress cause shallow breathing. In turn, shallow breathing causes anxiety. It’s a vicious cycle. Similarly, stress can cause poor gut health, which, in turn, will cause more stress. Everything is connected — Bert & Ernie, Bonnie & Clyde, Breath & Vitality!

Considering we take roughly 22,000 breaths a day — the impact on your overall health is staggering when breathing incorrectly. So what happens when you train to breathe correctly?

Your entire endocrine system will begin to fire on all cylinders. Your nervous system will calm the fuck down. Finally. Every facet of your life will improve, and every problem you need to resolve will appear easier than before.

You get cause-and-effect, but now it’s adaptive. It ripples down to improved digestion, gut health, posture, spinal health, sleep…