You need it to survive. You can only live a few minutes without it. It controls your brain activity, your mood and your psychological state. And most of the time, we do it without even noticing.
Breath is literally life.
Did you know that there is a right and wrong way to be breathing? Did you know that you can manipulate your state of mind with breath? Breathing techniques have been used by different types of people from all different backgrounds for completely different uses. Breath can be used to withstand extreme cold, manage extreme trauma or high-stress/high-stakes situations. For others, it can be a magical key to a restful sleep or stopping the cycle of endless anxiety.
This week’s guest, Max Gomez, harmonized his degree in neuroscience, his love of breathwork and his entrepreneurial mind to create a platform where over 10 million people can harness the power of breath.
What is breathwork, you might ask? Breathwork is an umbrella term for powerful breathing techniques. The incredible thing is that depending on the kind of breathwork being done, one can either eliminate stress and anxiety, increase energy, improve endurance or help you fall asleep.
“We consider the breath to be the remote control to the nervous system and we want to give everyone all of the channels to the nervous system. So if you’re looking to calm down from an anxiety attack, if you’re looking to go to sleep, if you’re looking to wake up, you should be able to control that very quickly just with your breathing alone which is a very healthy alternative to all of the other vices we have out there.”
Enter Max Gomez. Max took his love of breathwork and his entrepreneurial senses and blended them together. What he co-founded was the Breathwrk app. Now the CEO of Breathwrk, Max has helped bring various forms of breathwork into the lives of over 10 million users.
“True freedom is really living your mission and living your purpose. I really think that I’ve found that with breathwork.”
Breathwork has some very powerful effects on the brain. For example, navy seals use breathwork techniques to manage high-stress situations. Some pro athletes use breathwork in altitude training and multitudes of performers and public speakers use breathwork to calm the nerves backstage. Not to mention yogis!
Now, let’s get down to it.
Controlling the rate and type of breathing used can have 2 major effects:
- Slowing down breath, can put your body into a parasympathetic nervous system response, also known as “rest and digest”. This can be used for relaxation, managing stress/anxiety or preparation for sleep.
- Increasing the rate and pattern of your breathing can increase alertness, focus and energize the body. This is great if you’re sluggish to get out of bed or trying to tackle that 3pm slump.
“Something that we take for granted most of the time, something that happens automatically most of the time, unless you actually control it, can really have a powerful, powerful impact on your life and wellbeing.”
Download the Breathwrk app via Apple or Google Play
To find out more about the Breathwrk app check out the website here.
Check out their Instagram: (@breathwrk)
Check out their TikTok: (@breathwrk)
Giveaway
Enter to win this week’s giveaway here. One lucky listener will receive a lifetime subscription to the Breathwrk app with all of its current and future content.
This article was written by Olenka Toroshenko
Olenka Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer, and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clown, song, and ritual performance art.
Olenka is a Katonah yoga teacher, lifelong student, and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcast and politics which have helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm
https://www.olenkatoroshenko.com/
