Show Notes

Please note: New episodes will now be airing every 2 weeks.

Breathing is an automatic process that we often don't pay attention to. Simple breathwork practices can enhance your health, increase longevity, create cognitive clarity, and impact athletic, academic and work performance and productivity. The breath is a gateway to your inner experiences and can be used to alter your biochemistry and your mood. It's free, it's simple and you can start making changes right now. So, tune in to learn some key information from functional medicine practitioner and holistic nutritionist, Austin Tchikatilov.

To contact Austin:

Website: 

https://www.austintchikatilov.com/

Email: austintchikatilov@live.com 

Instagram: @austintchikatilov 

Highlights from the Episode:

General Info

1.Breathing is a powerful practice.

2. Review your breathing patterns periodically throughout the day and notice the rhythm and quality so you can see how you might want to make a change.

3.You can improve the innate process of breathing by being mindful and choosing to connect to your breath and create the experience you need in the moment because breath is a gateway to the present moment and helps you connect to your body, alter mood, create a calm nervous system and activate your brain.

4. Your breath is tied to your emotions and how you feel so you can use your breath to alter your emotional and physical experiences.

5. Be intentional about how you are breathing. It is critical for health and longevity.

6. Strictly mouth breathing is linked to negative health issues.

7. Check in and see if your test chest is tight, are you taking shallow or deep breaths?. Shallow mouth breathing can create a sense of anxiety.

Calming breath work practices:

Nasal breathing (light, slow and deep): activates diaphragm, stabilizer core, increases vagal tone, increases parasympathetic nervous system activity, increases oxygenation of tissues, increases carbon dioxide tolerance, slows down the breathing rate, helps calm the mind.

Exercises:

1.Relaxing practice

Inhale four seconds, Exhale six seconds

2. 478 breathing

Inhale through the nose four count,

 hold for seven count,

exhale with a whooshing sound for an eight count. The longer you exhale the better for increasing calmness.

Activating Breathwork (for before performance or to increase cognitive clarity).

Know your optimal arousal level.

Exercises:

1.Wim Hof

 Deep inhales, deep exhale (mouth, nose or both). This creates alkaline blood which excites our brain.

For more info:

https://www.wimhofmethod.com/

2.Fire breath( yoga)

Short rapid nasal breaths

Air Hunger

You want to create air hunger because it increases carbon dioxide tolerance which increases clarity, calmness of mind, increases parasympathetic tone, increases lung capacity, increases oxygenation of tissues.

Exercises:

1. Inhale gently through your nose -not a full breath just taking a little bit of air then fully exhale and repeat until you feel like you need to take a breath. Then begin normal breathing and repeat.

2. When walking close one nostril and breathe only through the other nostril. You’ll feel the urge to take more air in but  if you can lengthen the amount of time before you use both nostrils because your brain and body will adapt.

Bolt (blood oxygen level test) Score:

This can be used to test for health issues. A low bolt score indicates carbon dioxide sensitivity.

To test:

1. Take a normal inhale through the nose.

2. And a normal exhale through your nose.

3. Then see how long you can go before you get the urge to breathe or any kind of muscle twitching.

Less than 20 seconds may indicate dysfunctional breathing.

The breath is a gateway to the present moment in our spiritual essence. Bring awareness to your breath and transform your life.

Resources

Patrick McKeown – The Breathing Cure

Bolt Score-https://oxygenadvantage.com/measure-bolt/

Sparks of Wisdom from Austin

1. 1.Breathing creates space (physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually). By taking a step back throughout the day and focusing on your breath you create space between you and any stressful situations. You can create space between you and others and can see the big picture. It can also create space for gratitude and enable you to be in the moment

2. Let breathing change your life by creating space.