A Trained Mind, Created By the Breath, and How To Be Better At Anything

1. Slow Breathing Helps Across Various Conditions

“The results of this review provide evidence that HRVB and PB [paced breathing] at approximately six breaths per minute have positive effects on a variety of physical, behavioral, and cognitive conditions. The overall effect sizes are modest but highly significant, suggesting that these methods may not be sufficient for treating any one problem but may be useful as a complementary intervention…The method is easy to learn and can easily be used along with other forms of intervention, with rare side effects.”

- Lehrer et al. (2020), Appl. Psychophysiol. Biofeedback

A powerful but grounded takeaway from a meta-analysis showing that slow breathing helps across many areas of health and performance 👏

2. The Body is Created and Sustained by the Breath

“The flow of breath, then, is constantly helping to shape the pattern of energy flow that underlies and sustains the physical body. If we can grasp the significance of this, if we can understand the crucial way in which the energizing effects of the breath support the metabolic processes of different parts of the body, we can begin to understand how the physical aspects and activities of our body are created by and dependent on the process of breathing.”

– Science of Breath

In other words, the body is created and sustained by the breath. This helps explain why breathing has such wide-reaching effects.

3. A Well-Trained Mind Can Resist Stress

“A person whose mind is well trained can manage in the midst of a stressful environment. Noise and pollution will take their toll on the body, but vitality and resistance will remain high. By contrast, a person whose mind is out of control can suffer from stress while lying on a quiet beach in Saint-Tropez.”

- Eknath Easwaran, Original Goodness

Just an excellent reminder: a well-trained mind remains resilient to stress, while an untrained mind can find stress anywhere (I know I’m guilty of this 🤦‍♂️).

4. Spiral Back Into Control

Contemplative practices allow you to spiral back into control, for a change.

"We spend so much time looking outward for validation that we don’t develop the incredible strengths that already lie within."

— — Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD

How To Be Better At (Almost) Everything by Pat Flynn

Does this have a cheesy title? Yes. But is it still one of my favorites of all time? Definitely. I read it about 6 years ago, and it had a huge impact on my life. If you love learning, make sure you check this one out 👏

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. are you ok?

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