Love 2.0

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10 Fun Thoughts, Meditation in a Bottle, and Whole-Life Slow Breathing

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4 THOUGHTS


1. The Greatest Skill in Breathing (plus 9 more random thoughts)

The greatest skill in breathing (like in life) is knowing when to go with the flow, and when to deliberately change it.

Click here for 9 more random breathing thoughts and quotes.

2. “Meditation in a Bottle” (random product recommendation)

That’s a tagline of this relaxation shot by iCalm.

I stumbled upon it online, decided to buy some, and really loved them. I take one almost every afternoon now.

I have no affiliation with them…just thought it was a cool product and that maybe some of you would like it too 🙏

***

P.S. When I bought it, they sent an email questionnaire…I filled it out (it took less than a minute), and they sent me a few additional bottles for free. It might be random, but be on the lookout, just in case.

3. Whole-Life Slow Breathing

Regularly engaging in any kind of contemplative practice that slows down our breathing increases our vagal tone.

The best description I’ve read of why that’s important comes from Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., describing people with higher vagal tone:

“Physically, they regulate their internal bodily processes more efficiently, like their glucose levels and inflammation. Mentally, they’re better able to regulate their attention and emotions, even their behavior. Socially, they’re especially skillful in navigating interpersonal interactions and in forging positive connections with others.”

Sounds good to me. Perhaps we should call slow breathing “whole-life breathing” instead 😊

4. Nasal Breathing, Brain Oscillations, and Better Cognition

“A key implication of our data is that the nasal route of respiration offers an entry point to limbic brain areas for modulating cognitive function.”

- Zelano et al. (2016)

This study found that nasal breathing synchronizes oscillations in the piriform cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus (those last two regions are critical to emotions, memory, and behavior). This coherence leads to improved cognitive function compared to mouth breathing.

The take-home: Breathe through your nose as much as possible, especially when learning or in emotional situations, to improve brain coherence and cognitive functioning.

***

P.S. This is one of many studies I’m drawing from for the Breathing for Better Brain Health Workshop I’m hosting this Saturday for just $50.

1 Quote

“There is no single more powerful – or more simple – daily practice to further your health and wellbeing than breathwork.””
— Andrew Weil, MD

1 Answer

Category: Brain Blood Flow

Answer: Every minute, this many liters of blood flow through the brain, which is about how much a standard wine bottle holds.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 750 ml?

P.S. I found this one in Breath by James Nestor.

In good breath,

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


P.S. ignorance is bliss

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

 
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More Joy, Long Beards, and Beating a New Type of Gravity

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If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

Breathing for Better Mental & Emotional Health 4-Week Course

There are now 25 students enrolled in the course. Words can’t adequately express my gratitude and excitement 🙏

It begins this Sunday, May 7, so it’s not too late to join if interested.

Learn more and enroll here.

Hope to see a few more of you there!

4 THOUGHTS


1. More Joy: The Nose Should Be Considered Alongside the Vagus Nerve

“The emerging scenario strongly suggests that the effects of SNB [slow nasal breathing], beyond the relative contribution of vagal stimulation, are mainly ascribable to olfactory epithelium stimulation.”

– Zaccaro et al. (2022), Neural Correlates of Non-ordinary States of Consciousness in Pranayama Practitioners: The Role of Slow Nasal Breathing

 

This was a challenging & super fun paper to read. Here is my two-sentence summary of it:

Slow nasal breathing has significantly different effects on the brain than slow mouth breathing, which results in less physical and psychological tension, less anxiety, more joy, and a relaxed yet fully aware altered state of consciousness. Nasal stimulation should be considered alongside vagal stimulation as a primary mechanism behind the benefits of slow breathing.

2. Upward Spirals in Your Life that Lift You

“In fact, science documents that positive emotions can set off upward spirals in your life, self-sustaining trajectories of growth that lift you up to become a better version of yourself.”

– Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., Love 2.0

 

This is the real power of the breath.  By using your practice to regularly elicit positive emotional states—a hallmark feature of slow nasal breathing—you set off upward spirals that “lift you up to become a better version of yourself.” 👏

3. A New “Long Beard” and the Buddha’s Advice

“Years ago, a wonderful Hindu teacher, Swami Chinmayananda, who taught me the Vedanta, said, ‘The longer the beard, the bigger the fake.’ And he, himself, had a beard that almost touched the floor!”

- Larry Rosenberg, Three Steps to Awakening

That makes me laugh. But, it also makes me think of how, in today’s society, our version of “long beards” are our credentials touching the floor: Ph.D., MD, Psy.D., D.O., and on and on : )

We can apply ancient wisdom to handle this modern scenario:

“[T]he Buddha tells us to take the counsel of the wise. We would be foolish to overlook their immeasurable knowledge and skills. But he also tells us to test the teachings in the fire of our own lives. Listen to them, weigh them, and investigate them.”

Sounds reasonable to me…almost as if that Buddha person knew a thing or two : )

4. Beating the Stress of a New Type of Gravity

Gravity is a stressor. But because there’s no way out of it, our bodies have adapted, and we don’t even notice it.

I think we should start treating the external stressors of our modern world (emails, social media, news headlines) like gravity. There’s basically no way out of them at this point.

What we need to do is adapt such that we hardly notice them.

Conscious slow breathing exercises are that adaptation. They’re always available to counter the weight of our new gravity.

1 Quote

“The breath is free from greed, hatred, delusion, and fear. When the mind joins with the breath, the mind temporarily becomes free from greed, hatred, delusion, and fear.””
— Bhante Henepola Gunarantana

1 Answer

Category: Basic Breath Processes

Answer: During exhalation, these “folds” can come together and vibrate to create sound.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are the vocal cords?

In good breath,

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


P.S. Dog owners will know

The Garlic Breath of the Week

Here is the most-liked post this past week.

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

 
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Big Tech vs. Gandhi, Breathing is Self-Love, and Syncing w/ the Heart

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4 Thoughts



1. The Breath-Love Connection: Safety, Self-Love, and Upward Spirals

Here is a summary of my recent dive into the breath-love connection:

Breathing is self-love: It increases vagal tone and helps us feel safe, allowing us to experience more love-love. Experiencing more love, then, will reshape our lives for the better, triggering an upward spiral that lifts us to become the best versions of ourselves we can become.

2. The Breath-Heart Connection: Entrainment

“‘Entrainment’ is the term for when two oscillations become synchronized—like when two tuning forks come to vibrate at the same frequency or two pendulums begin to synchronize and swing at the same tempo.”

- Lisa Miller, Ph.D., The Awakened Brain

Although this passage wasn’t about breathing, I thought “entrainment” was the perfect word to describe the breath-heart connection.

When we breathe at about 4-7 breaths/min, our breathing rate entrains our heart rate. They “synchronize and swing at the same tempo.”

This makes everything run more efficiently. As Tree Meinch says, “our respiration has the potential to optimize the rhythm of various mechanisms and align them with our heart rate.” 👏

3. Big Tech vs. Gandhi

“‘[O]ne of the ironies is there are these incredibly popular workshops at Facebook and Google about mindfulness—about creating the mental space to make decisions nonreactively—and they are also the biggest perpetrators of non-mindfulness in the world.’”

- Aza Raskin, from Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

I’ve often thought it was cool to hear that big tech companies have meditation pods and mindfulness events. How neat, right?

Well, maybe not. As this passage points out, these companies are also the “biggest perpetrators of non-mindfulness in the world.” (🤯 never thought of it like that).

Of course, no one person or company is perfect—we’re all just trying to do the best we can.

But this reminded me of a Gandhi quote: “One…cannot do right in one department of life whilst…doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”

So here’s to doing our best (accepting we’ll never be perfect) to lead with our hearts and live up to our values in all areas of our lives 🙏

4. Science Offers Only Glimpses

“This highlights a weakness in what otherwise might seem quite impressive findings on the yogis: these data points are but glimpses of the altered traits that intensive, prolonged meditation produces. We do not want to reduce this quality of being to what we happen to be able to measure.”

- Daniel Goleman & Richard Davidson, Altered Traits

 

I think the idea applies perfectly to breathing, too. It’s a nice reminder that, while we should value scientific findings, we must also remember they’re only a glimpse of the benefits based on “what we happen to be able to measure.”

Free 5-Day Email Course on Becoming a Breathing Generalist

I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on the ideas presented in this email series, so I thought I should share it again. I hope you’ll sign up!

Sign Up for Free Here.

Day 1: The Four Paths of a Generalist

Day 2: How to Read Books Efficiently

Day 3: How to Find Science Papers Worth Reading

Day 4: How to Decide Which Books and Papers to Read

Day 5: Become More You, Become Irreplaceable

1 Quote

“Love—like taking a deep breath…—not only feels great but is also life-giving, an indispensable source of energy, sustenance, and health.””
— Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

1 Answer

Category: Breath Speed

Answer: A nasal exhale travels at a maximum of about this many miles per hour.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 3 mph?

In good breath,

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


P.S. this one’s gonna be huge for me

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
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4 Lessons in 4 Years, Behind the Scenes, and Establishing Inner Calm

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A Special Week + Behind the Scenes

Today marks 4 years of sending this newsletter every week. That blows my mind. To mark the occasion, I have a “behind the scenes” look at the newsletter at the bottom of this edition.

Thank you for reading 🙏

4 Thoughts



1. Four Lessons from 4 Years of Writing this Newsletter

I think these can be applied in all aspects of life.

  1. Let Go of Expectations: I get so excited about these thoughts, so I just have to remind myself it's just a newsletter, and I have no clue what will resonate with you, the reader.

  2. Deadlines are Diamonds: Having a deadline (preferably self-imposed—I hate when people tell me what to do 😂) is the driving force behind completing anything.

  3. The Process Brings the Most Joy: Cliché but true. Putting together the newsletter is what brings me joy.

  4. Less is Always More.

2. When’s the Big Performance?

“[A]n observed quipped, ‘Practice, practice, practice! All you ever do is practice! When's the performance?’ After a muted wave of chuckles rolled through the meditation hall, our teacher went on to say that there is indeed a performance scheduled; it's called ‘Your Daily Life.’”

- Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, Love 2.0

That’s what all our breathing, meditation, exercise, yoga, etc., practice is all about. It’s training for the biggest performance we’ll ever be a part of: Our daily lives.

3. Flip Your Perspective to Understand Long-Term Benefits

“[J]ust as repeated activation of the fight-or-flight response can lead to sustained problems in the body and its mechanics, so too can repeated activation of the relaxation response reverse those trends and mend the internal wear and tear brought on by stress.”

- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing

 

It’s easy to see how chronic stress can add up to all sorts of health problems. 

But let’s not forget that the opposite is also true: repeated elicitation of positive states can reverse those negative trends.

4. Growing Grass or Pulling Weeds?

“When I was working for the St. Louis Rams, I asked the head groundskeeper, Scott Parker, how I could get rid of the weeds in my yard at home. With great confidence, he replied, ‘Grow more grass.’ Growing more grass chokes out the weeds.”

 - Drs Jason Selk & Ellen Reed, Relentless Solution Focus

 

This is a profound mindset shift. When trying to resolve a challenging problem or life situation, let’s ask: “Am I growing grass or pulling weeds?”

Become More You

“Paradoxically, it takes time to become what we already are.” – Rick Hanson, PhD

I think it takes ~30 minutes a week.

Here’s exactly how.

1 Quote

“Once you establish an inner calm, you will transmit it naturally to others.””
— Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg

1 Answer

Category: Nose

Answer: When the thin wall between your nostrils is displaced to one side, it’s called this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is a deviated septum?

In good breath,

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


P.S. That’s not how averages work

Behind the Scenes of The Breathing 411

I’ve never posted about the newsletter itself, so for the 4th anniversary, here are some random things about it:

First Edition: January 27, 2019

(3 recipients: me, my other email address, and my wife, 😂 😂)

Subscribers as of Today: 1,372

(That’s probably awful for how long I’ve been doing it, lol. But, it makes me proud as hell because (1) you all are awesome, (2) I write about breathing, and (3) it’s all been word of mouth and w/o lead magnets, advertising, etc.).

Open Rates: 50-60+%

(I’m awful and don’t track things like I should, but this seems to be my average.)

Time I Spend on It: ~8 hours/week

(This doesn’t include all the background reading and research that goes into it. Eight hours is just writing and all the nonsense logistics.)

Hardest Part: Finding ideas for the “1 Answer” each week.

Best Part: When people reply and say what resonated with them.

(Sometimes I jump up and run around, and sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.)

Joy: I absolutely love writing this newsletter. Putting it together is one of my biggest sources of joy.

Support: If you enjoy these emails and would like to support them, share them with a friend.

If you’d like to help even more to keep the newsletter around, join the Learning Center or purchase the Breathing for Diabetes Course 🙏

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
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My New Favorite Therapy, Self Love, and Your Breathing Headphones

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4 Thoughts



1. Reading Can Produce Healing (my new favorite word & therapy)

“Bibliotherapy is based on the assumption that the simple act of reading can produce healing of various health conditions, including depression. The definition of bibliotherapy has broadened over the years to include using any type of reading material that is uplifting or emotionally sustaining.”

 - Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

 

As someone obsessed with reading, bibliotherapy might be my new favorite word and therapy : ) However, I’ve always thought that reading alone is not enough; we must also act. 

Maybe I’m wrong…

As Dr. Benson says, one study found “Therapeutic reading ranked toward the top of the interventions, along with CBT and supportive-expressive groups, as a highly effective method of decreasing depressive symptoms.” <— 🤯

I hope these 411s serve as bibliotherapy for you 🙏

2. The Relaxation Response for Stress-Related Diseases

“Taken together, the RR has been shown to be an appropriate and relevant therapeutic tool to counteract several stress-related disease processes and certain health restrictions, particularly in immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases/mental disorders.”

- Esch et al. (2003)

This study found that regularly eliciting the relaxation response can counter the adverse effects of stress and serve as a free therapeutic tool in many chronic diseases, especially immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative/mental disorders.

Want to use it in your life? Here’s a short video showing you how.

***

P.S. If you want to use the relaxation response to conquer stress, check out the latest Science 411 on this paper or the new Book 411 on Relaxation Revolution, released this past Friday.

3. Breathing as Spiritual Headphones

Breathing exercises are like spiritual headphones: You can tune in, not bother anyone, and no one will ever know what you’re “listening” to.

4. Breathing is Self-Love, a Pre-Requisite for Loving Others

Last week, we learned that high vagal tone = high loving potential; thus, slow breathing increases our loving potential.

But the key word there is “potential:”

“While these activities do not directly create positivity resonance, they can set the table for an eventual feast of love. … They condition your mind, heart, eyes, and ears to be more prepared for positivity resonance when true connections become possible.”

- Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., Love 2.0

So, we might say that a daily breathing practice is self-love, which prepares your heart and mind to love others.

1 Quote

“We must meet hate with love. We must meet physical force with soul force.””
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

1 Answer

Category: Stress

Answer: When free radical production exceeds antioxidant defenses, it creates this kind of stress.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is oxidative stress?

P.S. The relaxation response helps counter this stress, too.

In good breath,

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


P.S. I’ve been really missing my friends

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
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More Loving Potential, Cold Showers, and the Healing Power of Mind

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4 Thoughts



1. How to Improve Your Loving Potential

“High vagal tone, then, can be taken as high loving potential. … Compared to people with lower vagal tone, those with higher vagal tone experience more love in their daily lives, more moments of positivity resonance.”

- Barbara Fredrickson, Love 2.0

High vagal tone = high loving potential. That’s pretty awesome.

And fortunately, we can immediately increase our vagal tone with just a few minutes of slow breathing. We can also improve our baseline vagal tone with just 10-20 minutes of slow breathing every day.

So breathe less, love more.

2. Do Cold Showers Improve Breathing Efficiency? (my guess is yes)

“It’s very simple. A cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.”

- Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method

Wim also tells us that when we practice cold exposure, we exercise our “sixty-two thousand miles of veins, arteries, and capillaries,” ultimately improving blood flow.

This matters because we need adequate blood flow to get oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Thus, better blood flow = better breathing.

So, in addition to keeping the doctor away, we might guess that a cold shower a day keeps us breathing in an efficient way…

Learn more cold benefits in the Book 411 and Science 411s available as part of the Wim Hof Wisdom Bundle.

3. One Reason (of many) We Began Habitually Mouth Breathing

There are lots of reasons why mouth breathing is so prevalent, but this is one I hadn’t heard that makes a lot of sense:

“Of course it's often tough to avoid mouth breathing, especially since we started living much of our lives indoors. … Enclosed spaces are areas where allergens (substances that cause allergies) tend to concentrate. … In turn these allergy-friendly environments increased the odds that children would early on develop upper respiratory problems.”

- Sandra Kahn & Paul Erhlich, Jaws

4. A Small Thought on Adding Meaning

Your birthday, January 1st, or any holiday are all just ordinary days.

What makes them so fun is that we add meaning to them.

And what’s amazing is that we can use this power of meaning anytime we want.

We can make an ordinary breath practice extraordinary by adding meaning to it.

We can make anything extraordinary by adding meaning to it.

Being with Diabetes: Meditation as Medicine

Just a quick reminder from last week. The Diabetes Sangha’s Being with Diabetes course starts January 15th.

I hope you’ll check it out if you have diabetes or live/work with people that do 🙏

Here’s the 20% discount code they graciously offered 411 readers/listeners:

Discount Code: BREATHE-20

Click Here to Learn More

1 Quote

“Gradually, study after mind body study, carried out with the most careful scientific protocols, produced incontrovertible evidence that the mind can indeed influence—and heal—the body.””
— Herbert Benson, MD

1 Answer

Category: Airway Anatomy

Answer: The roof of the mouth can equally be called the floor of this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the nasal cavity?

In good breath,

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


P.S. New Year’s resolution off to a good start

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
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30 Seconds, Wim Hof Wisdom, and 23 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas

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4 Thoughts



1. Warm Up Your Mind & Spirit with the Wim Hof Wisdom Bundle

“There’s nothing mystical or abstract about it. It’s physical. Your breath is your life-force, right here, right now. It could not be any simpler. Just breathe and reclaim your soul.”

- Wim Hof, The Wim Hof Method

If you enjoy Wim’s philosophy (like me) or practicing his method, check out the wisdom bundle I just added to the Learning Center.

You get all the science and inspiring quotes condensed into 62 minutes of podcast audio and 22 PDF pages.

Here’s to a happier, healthier, and stronger new year 🙏 ❄️ 🧊

2. 23 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas for 2023

A few of my favorites this year:

#1. You don’t have to meditate; breathing meditates you.

#12. Our breath moves spirit around like our hearts move blood around.

#13. Breath is to body what Brandy is to wine.

#22. Breathe hearter, not smarter.

Read them all here.

3. A 30-Second Thought Experiment That is Bound to Improve Your Life

(it genuinely changed mine in 2022)

(1) Bring to mind someone you would die for—no hesitation, no questions asked.

(2) Now ask yourself: Would you live for this person? Would you start that one thing you know you should be doing? (Yes, that one.) Would you give up that one thing you know you shouldn’t be doing? (Only you know which one.)

It’s easy to say you’d die for someone. What’s harder is really living for them instead.

***

P.S. This was inspired by a beautiful book titled The Gift by Dr. Edith Eger, a Holocaust survivor with an incredibly tragic yet deeply humbling and inspiring story.

4. A Tiny Thought on Problems

A breathing practice won’t stop problems—health or otherwise—from occurring in 2023 (or any other year).

These are part of being human.

A breathing practice will, however, give you the mental, physical, and spiritual strength you need to deal with and bounce back from those challenges as they occur.

(EXTRA) Being with Diabetes: Meditation as Medicine

Diabetes Sangha, a non-profit meditation community for type-1 diabetics, is launching their first course, which brings “meditation to diabetes & diabetes to meditation.”

I’ve spoken to their community twice, and they’re just genuinely great people. Kind and compassionate, yet honest and open. It’s almost like they meditate a lot or something…

But dad jokes aside, they’re offering 411 readers 20% off (this isn’t an affiliate link, just a kind gesture on their behalf).

I hope you’ll check it out if you have diabetes or live/work with people that do 🙏

Discount Code: BREATHE-20

Click Here to Learn More

1 Quote

“Each new breath creates a unity of life as all people share the nourishment that the earth’s atmosphere freely offers.””
— Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.

1 Answer

Category: Saving Breaths

Answer: If you spent 20 minutes a day breathing at 6 breaths per minute every single day in 2023, you’d save approximately this many breaths (assuming 15 breaths/min is average).

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is ~65,700? (or about 3 days worth of breaths)

In good breath,

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


P.S. The cutest blueberries you’ll ever see

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.