I knocked on the door. Much to my delight, my wonderful smiley client Joni walked up and let me in. You should know this about Joni. Through my experience training her, she has displayed an unwavering gift of turning on the positive energy, even if she isn’t having the most pleasant of days.
During this particular workout I made a cringeworthy decision. I gave Joni an exercise that she is not a big fan of. She did not mope around or even grind out the movements with a frown on her face. Instead Joni threw on this cheeky grin and began said some form of a gratuitous statement (which I totally forgot). She 100% made me laugh.
I love this about Joni’s. Her ability to turn something unpleasant or undesirable into an opportunity to grow.
As we progressed through this workout, she asked me a question. Joni said, “Do you know how most of the toxins within our body are released?” Puzzled, I suggested, “Is it through the excretion of waste (ie: ‘going to the bathroom’).” She didn’t tell me the answer. She wanted me to continue to guess. I mentioned sweating. “Nope, not sweating!” I thought for a few seconds and hesitantly said, “ Is it breathing?” “Yes, breathing. Breathing!!” exclaimed Joni.
Wow! I must say I was shocked. I fully embrace intentional deep breathing, as in meditation or yoga. It is estimated that up to 70% of the toxins in our body are released via breathing. Although this figure is an estimation, when you think about all of the carbon dioxide we emit daily it doesn’t seem like 70% is too far off.
Joni picked up this powerful piece of info through the podcast Energy Matters. This episode featured Dan Brule. Dan is a breathing coach of elite performers. Through breathing, he targets self-improvement, self-healing, and spiritual awakening. Dan is an absolute legend. He has worked with the Navy Seals, Olympic Athletes, even renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins.
A specific breathing technique Dan discusses in the podcast stood out to me. He called it the “box method.” Here is an example of breathing using the “box method”:
- Inhale completely for 4 seconds
- Hold your breath for a moment
- Exhale completely for 4 seconds
- Hold your breath
- Repeat
This may sound like hyperventilating. Trust me it’s not that aggressive. I found this style of breathing to be quite the destressor after a long hard day. If this aggressive style of breathing doesn’t seem to calm you down, Dan suggests breathing naturally. Deep, natural, unforced inhalations and exhalations.
I highly recommend listening to the podcast, especially if you have 45 minutes to burn.
If breathing is so important, why don’t we take time out of our day to do it? Even 60 seconds of distraction-free breathing can reduce enormous amounts of stress or anxiety.
I don’t meditate everyday, but I’m inclined to start immediately. Thank you Joni!! 🙂