10 Quotes That Shape My Work
“Breathing is the greatest pleasure in life” – Giovanni Papini
If you don’t yet know what my mission in life is, it’s to breathe and write a better world into existence.
This publication is the culmination of those two passions.
Here are 10 quotes that constantly inspire me to share the power of breathing.
“Breath is a tool with which to explore the truth about oneself” – S.N. Goenka
Because the breath activates all ten systems in the body - skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive - it forms the density of bones, teeth, and sheaths of muscle fibre, it repairs, maintains, and regulates organ functionality, it aids digestion, adds and subtracts weight, directly communicates with the nervous system, regulates the body’s temperature, removes toxins, releases hormones and endorphins known to cause stress and relaxation, and balances the body’s pH levels.
This happens breath after breath, from birth until death, every single moment we are alive, and it never ever stops. So it can be used as a way to learn about the mind, body, and spirit.
“As soon as any impurity, any defilement arises in the mind, the breath becomes abnormal; one starts breathing a little rapidly, a little heavily. When the defilement passes away, the breath again becomes soft. Thus, breath can help to explore the reality not only of the body but also of the mind” - S.N.Goenka
"The mind can't travel on its own, it uses a vehicle, and that vehicle is the breath" - Sundar Balasubramanian
If your breath were to stop on your next exhale, you’d have about 30 seconds left to live. Everything that you’ve ever known, thought, loved, and wished for would disappear into the ether with you.
This highlights just how important the breath is in our moment to moment experience of life. It seems insignificant from breath to breath but every few seconds, the breath is communicating with the heart, brain, and nervous system, and they use it as the vehicle to experience life.
“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
“When you get stressed what changes? Your breath. When you get angry what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of the breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life” - Jay Shetty
As I mentioned earlier, the breath engages the nervous system every time that we breathe. Inhaling activates the sympathetic nervous system and exhaling activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system is better known for controlling our fight or flight response which it does by accelerating the heart, speeding up the breath, monitoring the body’s temperature, controlling saliva levels, inhibiting digestion, dilating pupils, constricting blood vessels, releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, and raising blood pressure and perspiration. These combine to make the body alert, focused, and ready for action.
The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is better known for helping us rest and digest. It does this by slowing down the heart, steadying the breath, smoothing digestion, improving recovery and healing times, producing saliva, releasing endorphins and hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin, and boosting the immune and cardiovascular systems. It also houses the vagus nerve which is the longest nerve in the body. The vagus nerve makes up three-quarters of the PNS as it travels from the brainstem to the gut, passing through the tongue, throat, neck, heart, lungs, diaphragm, and abdomen. Along the way, it delivers vital information to most of our essential organs while also sending anti-inflammatory signals around the body to help us feel calm, relaxed, and at ease.
So, one way to think about this is that inhaling hits the throttle pedal and puts us in a sympathetic state while exhaling hits the brake pedal and puts us in a parasympathetic state. One breathes stress into the body, the other breathes it out.
Naturally, having a balanced breath will create balance between these two sides of the autonomic nervous system. This has been one of the most helpful tools I’ve used to create a balanced life.
“Breathing is your gear stick to put your engine into the appropriate gear” - Dr. Steven Lin
“No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are — none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly” — James Nestor
However, the way we breathe is often the last to be checked (if checked at all).
You might recall the last time you went to the doctors. You were probably asked a ton of questions about what symptoms you have, when did they start, have your symptoms gotten better or worse, do you have a family history of this, have you had any procedures or major illnesses in the past 12 months, how often you exercise, how do you sleep, and what’s your diet like. There probably was no mention of your breath.
That’s not to rank the breath above all the others. They’re equally as important. But equally is the key word.
“Improper breathing is a common cause of ill health. If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly. There is no single more powerful — or more simple — daily practice to further your health and well being than breathwork.” — Andrew Weil, M.D.
“There is a common belief that the more air we breathe, the healthier we are. Few people realise that in order to increase blood flow and oxygen delivery to the tissues, breathing should be slowed down” — The Buteyko Clinic
This is somewhat paradoxical but it can understood through a simple exercise.
For the next 20 breaths, breathe in and out of your mouth as quickly as you possibly can, focusing solely on the inhale. Pay no attention to the exhale whatsoever.
Then breathe the next 20 breaths in and out of your nose as slowly as you possibly can, focusing solely on the exhale.
What was the difference? How did each one make you feel?
Typically, breathing through your nose should have made you feel more calm and relaxed while breathing through your mouth may have left you feeling slightly claustrophobic or suffocated.
If this were to continue throughout daily life, things like inflammation is more likely to occur.
For enough oxygen to reach our cells and tissues, it needs enough time to reach the bottom of our lungs so it can pass through the lung membranes and into the bloodstream. With a slower breath, the heart can pump the blood around the body at a more relaxed pace which further supports the uptake of rich nutrients.
It sounds simple but it’s the difference between optimal health and feeling sub-par.
“Yes, breathing in different patterns really can influence our body weight and overall health. Yes, how we breathe really does affect the size and function of our lungs. Yes, breathing allows us to hack into our own nervous system, control our immune response, and restore our health. Yes, changing how we breathe will help us live longer” — James Nestor
“Breathe like a tortoise, live like a King”
The correlation between our health and how often we breathe was first observed in animals. Researchers noticed that animals who breathe fewer breaths per minute tend to live longer, healthier lives. Elephants, for example, breathe 3–5 breaths a minute and live up to 70 years old. Tortoises breathe 4 breaths a minute and live between 80-300 years. Crocodiles and alligators breathe two breaths a minute and live up to 50 years old. Then there is the naked mole rat who lives up to 32 years old and can go 18 minutes without oxygen. This, remarkably, is what helps them live 6x longer than their family of rodent relatives.
These slow-breathing animals seem to have a higher resistance to disease, illness, and cancer too, and the correlation between taking fewer breaths per minute and breathing them slowly seems to be a big factor in this.
Paramhansa Yogananda (author of Autobiography of a Yogi) added this:
“Many illustrations could be given of the mathematical relationship between man’s respiratory rate and the variations in his states of consciousness. A person whose attention is wholly engrossed, as in following some closely knit intellectual argument, or in attempting some delicate or difficult physical feat, automatically breathes very slowly. Fixity of attention depends on slow breathing; quick or uneven breaths are an inevitable accompaniment of harmful emotional states: fear, lust, anger. The restless monkey breathes at the rate of 32 times a minute, in contrast to man’s average of 18 times. The elephant, tortoise, snake and other animals noted for their longevity have a respiratory rate which is less than man’s.”
If humans breathed fewer breaths per minute could we also experience such health, vitality, and resilience that these other animals do? From the large array of case studies that have been conducted over the years, the results seem to suggest that we could.
“The nose is a vital and much underrated organ. To realise its importance we only need to reflect on when we last suffered from a bad cold. Nasal congestion and a runny nose have a noticeable effect on our ability to breathe, our energy levels, our ability to sleep, and our general ability to function” - Lenus: The Health Benefits of Nose Breathing
There are only two ways to breathe: through the nose or mouth. This study highlights the importance of nose breathing in a visceral way. Being forced to breathe through my mouth because my nose is blocked sucks. I feel more agitated, more drowsy, less focused, and more on edge. This is not a coincidence.
That’s because we’re meant to breathe through our noses 95% of the time. Moreover, if we don’t, illnesses become more likely which further perpetuates the issue.
“In Tibet, temperatures can drop to -17 degrees Celsius, yet the monks slept like babies. Later on, in a magnetic resonance study, they found out that during meditation, the monks had an unusual blood flow in the brain area. They concluded that this allowed the brain to take over body functions like temperature and metabolism” — Wim Hof
Remarkably, they achieved this using their breath and visualisation techniques.
The easiest way to understand this is to hold your breath in on your next inhale. Hold it until you can’t hold it any longer and notice what happens in your body.
You’ll almost certainly feel heat beginning to rise. This, in a nutshell, is how those Tibetan monks harnessed their breath to survive the cold. Why this is important is because it shows that we can control our inner world regardless of what’s happening outside. We have the power to control our destiny and the breath is a tool that can support us.
“When our hearts are in a state of coherence, we more easily experience feelings such as love, care, appreciation, and kindness. On the other hand, feelings such as irritation, anger, hurt, and envy are more likely to occur when the head and heart are out of alignment” - Jed Diamond
One of the easiest ways to come into a state of coherence is through heart coherent (or rhythmical) breathing.
You can practice it below.
Breathe in through your nose (smoothly and without force) for 4 seconds
Breathe out through your nose or mouth (smoothly and without force) for 4 seconds
Leave no pauses at the top of the inhale or at the bottom of the exhale
Continue up to 5 minutes or 40 breaths to get the best results.
If four seconds feels too long, start with two or three seconds instead. Then once your breath is calmer, make it longer and deeper. As long as you’re breathing rhythmically, the number of seconds doesn’t really matter
“For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth” - Sanskrit proverb
Let me end with some simple math.
Let’s say you breathe close to 700 million breaths in your lifetime (this equates to roughly 80 years of age). However big that number is it’s also finite. At some point, you’ll breathe your last breath.
Logic suggests that if you breathe them fast, life will finish sooner. If you breathe them slowly, life will end later.
This is the wisdom that underpins yoga and pranayama exercises and those who actively work with their breath don’t just live longer lives, they also feel happier and healthier.
You can become one of those people and it all starts on your next inhale.
And the next…
And the next…
Thanks for reading!
See you next week :)
P.S. If you enjoyed this weeks edition, consider reading my new book - The Joy of Breathing - as it explores topics like these in much more detail.