Life Energy, Laughter, and the 4 Elements of an Effective Breath Practice

1. Speech: Where Life Energy and Language Meet

“Humans produce verbal language by controlling the flow of air over the voice box and vocal cords. Our words are carried on a wave of breath, the same breath that feeds the cells of our body with oxygen from the moment we are born until the moment we die. Pause to take this in for a moment: we use the same physiological process to speak as we do to sustain our life energy.”

- Oren Jay Sofer, Say What You Mean

What a neat perspective shift. The same breath that sustains life also creates speech. But it goes even deeper…

2. Why How You Speak May Change How You Feel

“Our breath (and therefore our speech) is directly linked to our nervous system in a reciprocal relationship: a change in one affects the other…When we understand the relationship between our breath, our words, and our mental-emotional state, we gain more mastery over our experience and self-expression.”

- Oren Jay Sofer, Say What You Mean

Since speech is controlled breathing, the way we speak changes how we breathe. And since breathing is connected to the nervous system, the way we speak affects how we feel.

Speak kindly, and we’ll feel better. Speak slowly, and we’ll feel calmer. Maybe speaking is the most profound breathing exercise of all…

3. Four Elements of an Effective Breathing Practice

Last week, I shared two meta-analyses showing breathing reduces stress as effectively as CBT. But what makes an effective practice? Let’s use HHPF's study for practical guidelines for just that.

Their review of 58 studies revealed that an effective breathing practice for stress reduction includes:

• Slow or mixed slow/fast breathing

• 5 minutes per day

• At least one human-guided session

• Long-term practice

4. Laugh It Off

“If you can laugh it off when things go against you while still giving your very best, you are mastering the art of living.”

- Eknath Easwaran, Passage Meditation

Wise words to live by this week.

"Even something as simple as taking a long, slow outbreath can begin to settle our nervous system."

— — Oren Jay Sofer

Breathwalk by Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., and Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.

Breathwalk is an all-in-one practice combining breathing, meditation, and physical movement. The book includes many specific routines you can try immediately, along with the philosophy and science behind why they work. Definitely worth the read.

In good breath,

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

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