Enhancing Well-Being and Performance Through Breathwork with Campbell Will

WEBVTT
00:00:05.748 --> 00:00:15.189
Welcome to it Gets To Be Easy Podcast where you're granted permission to live your most healthful and joy-filled life with ease.
00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:25.850
We are your hosts, katie and Shawna, and together we've been cracking the code to creating our own realities with ease, and now we've set out to help you grow confident in this too.
00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:32.026
Hey friends, welcome back to the show.
00:00:32.026 --> 00:00:46.490
Katie and I are so excited today we have a guest here with us, and Campbell Will is an integrative physiotherapist with a primary focus on the role of breath on human health and performance.
00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:47.841
How cool is that.
00:00:47.841 --> 00:01:00.792
His experience spans from ICUs, neurosurgical wards, working with elite athletes and in private practice and across the spread of this clinical settings.
00:01:00.792 --> 00:01:08.003
Campbell really noticed that there's this widely unaddressed commonality which is breathing.
00:01:08.003 --> 00:01:12.793
So when it's done correctly, it elevates and enhances our performance.
00:01:12.793 --> 00:01:15.766
We know that and we've tapped into that personally.
00:01:15.766 --> 00:01:21.344
But also, when it's done poorly, it drives dysfunction.
00:01:22.007 --> 00:01:23.572
Can't wait to talk about that piece.
00:01:23.572 --> 00:01:48.266
Campbell utilizes this diverse background he has you guys to experience and really help practitioners shift their focus from disease and dysfunction to health, to happiness, to freedom all the things that we've been empowering here on the show and his holistic, multidisciplinary approach focuses on restoring balance to the body, the mind, emotions, energy.
00:01:48.266 --> 00:01:53.231
These are the topics we've been talking about, campbell on the show for the past month or so.
00:01:53.231 --> 00:01:57.810
We've really been digging into body messages and tapping into what our body's telling us.
00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:07.846
So we can't wait for that and we know that you see breath as a tool that really is accessible to all of us and it really provides that foundation of health and wellness.
00:02:07.846 --> 00:02:09.271
So we can't wait.
00:02:09.271 --> 00:02:11.661
Welcome, campbell, we're so glad you're here.
00:02:12.783 --> 00:02:13.444
Thank you so much.
00:02:13.444 --> 00:02:14.287
I'm really excited.
00:02:14.287 --> 00:02:16.312
I think this is going to be a beautiful conversation.
00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:19.122
Awesome.
00:02:19.122 --> 00:02:20.185
Yes, so do we.
00:02:20.185 --> 00:02:22.270
We do All right, so let's just jump in.
00:02:22.270 --> 00:02:27.044
So, of course, you all know, having listened in, that you know we do prepare questions.
00:02:27.044 --> 00:02:36.627
We've got some things that we think you'll be interested in, but we also know that this conversation will just unfold and some greatness is going to come out, so we hope that you guys will continue to press play here.
00:02:36.766 --> 00:02:41.524
So, Campbell, I know when I was you and I actually connected through Instagram.
00:02:41.524 --> 00:02:45.371
That's how we met, right, Love that that the world is able to bring us there.
00:02:45.371 --> 00:02:57.651
But I know that something really stood out to me that you've said recently was that breathwork isn't a trend, and I really, really love that.
00:02:57.651 --> 00:03:06.152
You know somebody who has done breathwork in supporting kids in my role as pediatric occupational therapist.
00:03:06.152 --> 00:03:12.723
Like you know, it kind of bugs me sometimes because I don't want it to just be like a buzz, right, it really is bigger than that.
00:03:12.723 --> 00:03:14.467
But I want you to expand on that Like.
00:03:14.467 --> 00:03:28.206
Tell us, tell the audience, you know how you personally went from seeing breath work as this woo-woo thing, right, that it can be looked at sometimes, to this real transformable piece of healthcare.
00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:30.021
Yeah it's.
00:03:30.021 --> 00:03:39.905
I mean, and I always I have to preface, you know, I thought it was a trend too when I saw the bars and the Wim Hofs and the athletes talking about it and celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon.
00:03:39.905 --> 00:03:46.861
But then I kind of just like started to dive a little bit deeper and I'm like, well, it is really this foundational piece of health.
00:03:46.861 --> 00:04:01.050
You know, it's the first thing we do when we're born, it's the last thing we do before we pass away, and it's really this single process that sustains life between those two points and using the breath.
00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:05.114
But underneath that, it's really just a function of human health.
00:04:05.114 --> 00:04:11.617
And when it isn't working well, it starts to cause really untold imbalance and accumulation.
00:04:11.617 --> 00:04:27.324
And when it's working really well and we start to have a grasp of it, it just becomes this incredible tool that's very versatile, that requires no equipment, there's no barrier of entry, it's approachable for everyone and I think it's just fascinating.
00:04:27.365 --> 00:04:30.845
Right, we see this world of like breathwork exploding over the last kind of five or 10 years.
00:04:30.845 --> 00:04:35.002
But breathing, before we talk about breathwork, is not something that's taught.
00:04:35.002 --> 00:04:42.451
You know, we're not taught it as kids, we're not taught in school, we're not taught it within the medical profession right, like the five years of physical therapy schooling I did.
00:04:42.451 --> 00:04:47.105
We did one lecture on the diaphragm and it was on neurological injuries.
00:04:47.105 --> 00:04:48.267
You know it's like if this nerve gets severed.
00:04:48.267 --> 00:04:56.923
You know it wasn't on how it relates to emotions and mood and energy and stress and like all of the things that most people are actually struggling with you know, it's.
00:04:57.545 --> 00:05:00.983
it's not about, you know, breathing being this kind of pathology.
00:05:00.983 --> 00:05:06.408
It's really about breathing being this tool of self-empowerment pathology.
00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:08.858
It's really about breathing being this tool of self-empowerment.
00:05:08.858 --> 00:05:14.422
That's so good, that's so good.
00:05:14.422 --> 00:05:18.129
My sister just gave birth three weeks ago and her partner had never had someone who had given birth at home.
00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:29.454
No drugs, and that was the key thing was just like the power of your breath and what it can do for your mind and your body and how you receive pain or discomfort.
00:05:29.454 --> 00:05:37.334
I always go back to birth because with the body and the mind but it's just the way you phrase that too.
00:05:37.334 --> 00:05:46.358
It's that is so simplistic and everyone's like just forgets how to use it and it's such a simple tool and honestly, I think that's what it is forgets how to use it and it's such a simple tool.
00:05:47.161 --> 00:05:55.112
And honestly, I think that's what it is People forget how to use it and there's this kind of mentality that because it's automatic, it must be taking care of itself.
00:05:55.112 --> 00:06:01.608
You know and I always have this little kind of like sentence that I leave people with which is like automatic doesn't mean optimal.
00:06:01.608 --> 00:06:08.129
You know, just because we're doing something all the time doesn't mean we're doing it well, and we have many examples of that.
00:06:08.129 --> 00:06:12.872
You know, just because we're walking around doesn't mean some people walk poorly and have bad biomechanics.
00:06:12.872 --> 00:06:15.509
You know, it's like just because it's happening all the time.
00:06:15.509 --> 00:06:19.105
I think that's the reason people are like oh well, I'm breathing, like what do I need to pay attention?
00:06:19.105 --> 00:06:20.403
What do I need to know about it?
00:06:20.403 --> 00:06:24.112
And I think that's where we have this just hugely.
00:06:24.112 --> 00:06:31.076
You know we've kind of glossed over and we've just forgotten that breathing, you know, is such a powerful tool.
00:06:31.076 --> 00:06:35.800
Just because it is partly automatic and it's happening in the background doesn't mean we shouldn't give it our full attention.
00:06:37.663 --> 00:06:41.110
Campbell, what was your aha moment for this transition?
00:06:41.130 --> 00:06:41.632
for yourself.
00:06:42.273 --> 00:06:42.634
It's actually.
00:06:42.634 --> 00:06:45.404
It's funny when I get asked that I like I know the exact moment.
00:06:45.404 --> 00:06:52.723
And it happened working in ICU as a respiratory physiotherapist and I had kind of two realizations.
00:06:52.723 --> 00:07:00.586
The first was that oftentimes I was the first person to talk to someone about their breathing and this was in intensive care.
00:07:00.586 --> 00:07:05.620
I'm like, wait a minute, you know like why is this the first time that you've heard about this?
00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:10.391
And you're typically at end of life or in really really dire straits.
00:07:10.391 --> 00:07:15.430
And then the second thing is I actually had a client that I was working with, a patient that you know.
00:07:15.451 --> 00:07:23.324
My job in ICU is really to go in and check that someone was breathing well and also to help them mobilize, so get them out of their bed and maybe take them for a walk if they were up for it.
00:07:23.324 --> 00:07:33.492
But I was coming to see this older gentleman who was very unwell and our job was to just get him out of bed and take a few steps and sit in the chair and just the sheer.
00:07:33.492 --> 00:07:36.254
You know how hard that was for this guy.
00:07:36.254 --> 00:07:45.661
And when he sat in the chair and eventually caught his breath, he said to me he said, when you can't breathe, nothing else matters breathe.
00:07:45.661 --> 00:07:45.939
Nothing else matters.
00:07:45.872 --> 00:07:51.151
And I'd never, you know here I was working in ICU as a respiratory physiotherapist and those words struck me as like you know what I've never even considered that, I've never considered not being able to breathe.
00:07:51.151 --> 00:08:00.242
You know, I think most of us have had the moment where we get the wind knocked out of us on the playground or something and we have that few moments where we really can't breathe and it's panic stations.
00:08:00.242 --> 00:08:06.026
You know, it's really not a nice feeling, but other than that, I think we just take for granted this thing.
00:08:06.026 --> 00:08:26.362
That's happening 25,000 times a day, but when it does go wrong, we really start to see things go wrong, and so that was the kind of catalyst for me being hmm, you know, there's something more here that I wasn't taught, that I didn't learn, that I'd like to know more about because I'm just seeing it show up in every facet of my own life and also my professional setting.
00:08:28.927 --> 00:08:31.833
Wow, yeah, okay, so let's dive into that a little bit too.
00:08:31.833 --> 00:08:41.027
Like, so what do we do to start paying attention to that before there's an emergency, before it's something we have to tune into?
00:08:41.649 --> 00:08:42.431
Yeah, great question.
00:08:42.431 --> 00:08:43.754
It starts.
00:08:43.754 --> 00:08:56.802
You know, I always like to phrase this as using kind of offline tools and online tools, but underneath everything else, you know, I often get asked like what does the breathwork practice for X and give me a breathing exercise to do this for Y?
00:08:56.802 --> 00:09:05.902
You know, and I think below that or before that, is this really interesting and important piece called awareness, and it's often the piece that people skip over.
00:09:05.902 --> 00:09:16.553
You know, if someone says to me, give me a breathing exercise for anxiety, but they don't develop the awareness around what provokes their anxiety, then we've just got another tool of symptom management.
00:09:16.553 --> 00:09:21.033
You're waiting until you're anxious and then you're trying to alleviate that or mitigate that anxiety.
00:09:21.856 --> 00:09:36.740
Awareness is really interesting because oftentimes there is a at least physiological influence, but oftentimes a physiological driver to states of anxiety, and so there's all this really fascinating research to show that you know, breathing changes.
00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:42.472
Before someone has the I feel anxious, right, they notice this emotional state that they're in.
00:09:42.472 --> 00:10:04.734
So what would happen if someone was able to notice hey, I just started breathing a little bit faster or shallower, or my breath's high up in my chest and my shoulders A lot of times, and this is why, when you said the word body messages, I was like, oh, this is going to be a great conversation, right, these are little messages from the body saying we're veering off course, right, like here is me telling you to course correct.
00:10:04.734 --> 00:10:16.552
But if I don't have the awareness and I don't notice those changes in my breathing, my body's going to give me louder and louder messages, right, whether that's anxiety, whether that's pain, whether that's burnout, you know.
00:10:16.552 --> 00:10:25.520
But the awareness piece of noticing, oh, my breathing is changing, there's my opportunity to course correct, right, to bring myself back towards balance.
00:10:25.520 --> 00:10:32.748
And when we notice those little messages, it's not a lot of work, you know, it's not now I need to go and do 30 minutes of breath work.
00:10:33.311 --> 00:10:35.139
Oftentimes we're talking about a course correction.
00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:40.472
That's like five seconds, right, oh, my breath just got higher in my body or I just stopped breathing.
00:10:40.472 --> 00:10:42.043
Let me start breathing again.
00:10:42.043 --> 00:10:49.288
Let me take that nice slow, diaphragmatic, rhythmical breath and set my nervous system back on a different direction.
00:10:49.288 --> 00:10:55.453
And if I continue to catch those little, I'm off balance, I'm veering off course and I course correct.
00:10:55.453 --> 00:11:06.830
Well, a lot changes about, you know, rather than this accumulation of stress and overwhelm and I get to the end of the day and perhaps engage in some non-optimal strategies because it's just all pent up throughout the day.
00:11:06.830 --> 00:11:14.063
It's like I course correct, I course correct, I course correct, and that gets me through the day very differently in terms of how the nervous system kind of functions.
00:11:15.388 --> 00:11:21.307
Yeah, I think that's so powerful and something that we've been tapping to personally and in conversations here.
00:11:21.307 --> 00:11:28.327
It's just so wild, like when we get tangled up in hustle and we think about, like all the things that were just go go, go, go go.
00:11:28.327 --> 00:11:30.640
There are stories in our head, right.
00:11:30.640 --> 00:11:36.462
Our ego has been telling us like I can't take that, like yeah, okay, fine, I can tell I'm breathing here, but I can't take the time to do that.
00:11:36.462 --> 00:11:39.107
Like I know personally that I've done that in the past.
00:11:39.107 --> 00:12:11.230
Like those are stories, right, but I just love the empowerment that you just said there is, like it truly is something so small, you know, throughout the day, that is having such a powerful impact and not sending us into these crash and burns because we haven't tapped into it and then it's, it is more extreme, and so it is sending us to like, okay, now we we don't have time and we don't have all the things that we want to be able to engage in, because now we're in this complete overwhelm because we didn't tap into it.
00:12:12.599 --> 00:12:21.668
Yeah, and I think you made a really important point there, shauna, that what I'm talking about is not hey, take a 30 minute break, go and lay on your yoga mat and do breath work, right.
00:12:21.668 --> 00:12:37.520
I you know that most people are like I don't have 30 minutes, and so, instead of setting ourselves an unrealistic expectation, it's like where can we kind of like set the bar so low that it's really unlikely that we aren't going to engage in it?
00:12:37.520 --> 00:12:37.761
Right?
00:12:37.761 --> 00:12:41.480
And some people, some clients I work with, I'm like let's just commit to one minute, right?
00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.726
Like, do you really not have one minute?
00:12:43.726 --> 00:12:52.352
And when we kind of phrase the conversation that way, it's like, you know, it's pretty hard to tell yourself I don't have one minute to look after myself.
00:12:52.352 --> 00:12:54.000
And I always say to people like, if you don't, have a minute.
00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:55.664
We need to have a different conversation, right?
00:12:55.664 --> 00:13:00.586
If you can't allocate 60 seconds to self-care, we need to have a different conversation, right?
00:13:00.586 --> 00:13:03.841
I get when people like I don't have 30 minutes, right.
00:13:03.841 --> 00:13:04.946
I get when people like I don't have 30 minutes.
00:13:04.966 --> 00:13:11.490
You know, I've got three kids and I go to business and it's like I get it, you know, like I got a two and a half year old where we're three weeks out from number two and it's like time comes in little pockets, right.
00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:21.327
It's like I don't have my 60 minutes to do my breath work routine in the morning it doesn't exist anymore.
00:13:21.327 --> 00:13:23.309
But I do have five minutes of the day.
00:13:23.309 --> 00:13:32.216
And how I show up as a dad and a husband because I'm taking those little moments of self-care right without the context of self-care being this luxury of bubble baths.
00:13:32.216 --> 00:13:32.660
It's just like.
00:13:32.660 --> 00:13:33.986
No, it's self-regulation, right.
00:13:33.986 --> 00:13:43.914
It's me just looking after my state in the moment and repeatedly doing that throughout the day so that I don't get to the point of right, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.
00:13:43.914 --> 00:13:53.230
Now I am really stressed, now I am really overwhelmed, um, and then I start to do things that perhaps I could have mitigated by being a little bit more aware throughout the day.
00:13:54.919 --> 00:14:06.821
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to jump around here a little bit because I feel like it's you know, something that you said there, like your clients, that you've been working with Kimo.
00:14:06.821 --> 00:14:10.710
I'm super curious like what are they noticing from the nervous system?
00:14:10.710 --> 00:14:28.051
Like you know, we've talked about that on the show and been tapping into that personally and I I know my nervous system is in a state of healing right now and it's wild the things that it just it really did go into autopilot with some things because it felt like it had to, because that's what I was pushing it right.
00:14:28.051 --> 00:14:30.246
I just love to talk about that.
00:14:30.246 --> 00:14:38.710
Like what are your clients seeing as far as that impact over time of those little incremental moments on the nervous system?
00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:49.490
Yeah, those little incremental moments on the nervous system, yeah, so I always like to kind of describe the nervous system, rather than most often we kind of get the nervous system is explained in this kind of one or the other right.
00:14:49.490 --> 00:14:59.951
It's binary, it's like fight or flight or rest and digest, and I really like to like take that and be like okay, those are two ends of the spectrum and in between those two points we have lots of different states that we can be in.
00:14:59.951 --> 00:15:07.320
You know a simple example if I wake up in the morning, it's like okay, so a sleep is one end of the spectrum, and then I could go all the way up to a panic attack, right.
00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:13.741
But it's not like I flip the switch, it's like sleepy, awake, alert, anxious, stressed, panic, right.
00:15:13.741 --> 00:15:21.684
And so when we have that idea of the nervous system as a spectrum, what have that idea of the nervous system as a spectrum?
00:15:21.684 --> 00:15:23.793
What I tend to find is that the clients that I usually work with are resting on one end of the spectrum.
00:15:23.793 --> 00:15:26.101
Let's call it the sympathetic end of the spectrum, right.
00:15:26.783 --> 00:15:41.380
And I always like to make this really important point that oftentimes and this is kind of I think what you were touching on Shona, it's that it's not a mistake when people find themselves in that state right, it is oftentimes a survival mechanism, right?
00:15:41.561 --> 00:15:50.347
Or I went through, right a period of time where it was necessary for me to be in this heightened state right, this state of higher arousal.
00:15:50.347 --> 00:15:58.326
And so, whether that's childhood, whether that's early adulthood, whether that's the last couple of years, like, our nervous system continues to adapt to the environment that we're in.
00:15:58.326 --> 00:16:08.052
And so if I've gone through a period of time of really high stress, high stakes, high pressure, then the resulting state is I'm going to be left in that more sympathetic end of the spectrum.
00:16:08.052 --> 00:16:23.145
And so when we start to take these little momentary practices that accumulate over time is we start to move down that spectrum, right Away from the fight, flight, sympathetic arousal state, towards the kind of rest, digest, repair, restore.
00:16:23.145 --> 00:16:30.817
And that's where it gets really really interesting, because the autonomic nervous system it's kind of the conductor of the orchestra right.
00:16:30.857 --> 00:16:32.663
It's deciding where am I sending energy?
00:16:32.744 --> 00:16:34.227
Where am I allocating resources?
00:16:34.227 --> 00:16:35.892
What functions are we engaging in?
00:16:35.892 --> 00:16:36.881
What are we shutting down?
00:16:36.881 --> 00:16:50.029
And so, when I'm at that sympathetic end, it's like we're going to allocate resources towards survival and action and short term right At the expense of these processes that we associate with longevity.
00:16:50.029 --> 00:16:56.606
Right, the repair, the restoration, the digestion, the managing inflammation, like the stuff that matters tomorrow, next week, next year.
00:16:56.606 --> 00:17:08.807
And so as we start to move down that spectrum, my nervous system gets the message that it's okay for us to start diverting resources away from survival towards restoration.
00:17:08.807 --> 00:17:13.467
And so many people that are stuck in that fight or flight state, right, they can't heal.
00:17:13.467 --> 00:17:15.734
Right, not because they're not doing the right things.
00:17:15.734 --> 00:17:21.546
They could be doing all the right things, but they're doing it in this very sympathetic pursuit state.
00:17:21.546 --> 00:17:27.528
Right, I'm looking for the solution, I'm searching, I'm trying everything, and that's keeping them in this sympathetic state.
00:17:28.531 --> 00:17:36.403
But beyond that, even outside of the practices that they may be doing, right, your breathing can suggest to your nervous system that the sympathetic state is the right state to be in.
00:17:36.403 --> 00:17:42.800
Right, if you're breathing shallow, if you're breathing up in your chest, if you're breathing with your mouth, that pushes us in towards that sympathetic state.
00:17:42.800 --> 00:17:48.527
And so even while someone is like end of the day you know what, I'm just going to take some time and sit on the couch and relax.
00:17:48.527 --> 00:17:53.903
But if their breathing pattern, right, still suggests sympathetic nervous system, that's where they're staying.
00:17:53.903 --> 00:17:57.928
And so even in their downtime, right, they're still in that sympathetic state.
00:17:57.928 --> 00:18:01.153
And the longer I've been there, the more familiar it becomes.
00:18:01.153 --> 00:18:09.807
And that's where the kind of I think oftentimes this final piece of the puzzle comes in that the parasympathetic state can feel a little bit uncomfortable to people.
00:18:10.340 --> 00:18:17.108
If you've been in the hustle, hustle, go, go, go, do, do, do state for a long time, tell me how fun it is to relax and sit quietly.
00:18:17.108 --> 00:18:18.931
You tell me how fun it is to relax and sit quietly.
00:18:18.931 --> 00:18:20.813
You know, like all of the to do list comes rushing up.
00:18:20.813 --> 00:18:22.255
I should call up, I should clean the house.
00:18:22.255 --> 00:18:23.339
You know I haven't cleaned the oven in a while.
00:18:23.339 --> 00:18:25.067
It's like the activity just like.
00:18:25.067 --> 00:18:28.961
That's my nervous system being like, hey, we're not really familiar with this.
00:18:28.961 --> 00:18:32.484
Let's go back to what we know, which is go, go, go, do, do, do.
00:18:32.484 --> 00:18:33.786
I'm more familiar with that.
00:18:33.786 --> 00:18:35.387
And so then people go.
00:18:35.387 --> 00:18:39.132
Well, I can't meditate, I don't like breath work, I can't relax, it's like it doesn't work for me.
00:18:39.132 --> 00:18:52.540
You know, not understanding that there is an adaptation that needs to occur, like the more times I dip back into that parasympathetic state, the more familiar it becomes, and then over time, that's where I start to rest, like that's the resting point of my nervous system.
00:18:54.644 --> 00:18:56.405
Okay, so that makes a lot of sense.
00:18:56.405 --> 00:19:06.366
Katie, right the bumpy road when we started talking about rest and what that felt like and how much awareness that took right.
00:19:06.366 --> 00:19:07.965
Oh my gosh, there it is.
00:19:08.701 --> 00:19:22.342
I feel like the more that we've moved towards being comfortable, being uncomfortable, in that rest state, the less tolerance I have to be in that sympathetic state still.
00:19:22.342 --> 00:19:33.567
So it's, you know, finding myself in these moments of like I almost feel more overwhelmed, because I'm more aware of how overwhelmed I am.
00:19:33.567 --> 00:19:43.549
Yeah, and so I feel like you've talked a lot about how we can benefit, like what are the long-term transitional benefits and how we get from A to B.
00:19:43.549 --> 00:20:01.000
But that one minute is so key and getting there, how have you worked through for yourself, for your clients, like getting them to take those, like what sort of routines and habits are we implementing?
00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:04.169
Just to start small, with that small awareness?
00:20:04.169 --> 00:20:06.840
Because, yeah, it was, it's bumpy, it's still bumpy.
00:20:07.502 --> 00:20:12.093
Just had this conversation with my sisters where it was like we can't have chill.
00:20:12.093 --> 00:20:15.365
Our mom's in town and we're watching her and the three of us look at each other.
00:20:15.365 --> 00:20:17.808
We're like, oh, wow, there, it is right there.
00:20:17.808 --> 00:20:21.315
That's where we learned no chill.
00:20:21.315 --> 00:20:26.185
So that's I'd love to hear also.
00:20:26.185 --> 00:20:40.820
It's like you know the self, self regulation, but also in this piece of like, put it into the people who are trying to transition from hustle, but someone like myself who I can't fully get away from it, even though I know I don't want to be there anymore.
00:20:42.124 --> 00:20:42.986
Yeah, really good question.
00:20:42.986 --> 00:20:58.152
And so the where I always take a question like this is, I think oftentimes people feel that when we're talking about self-regulation and going to accessing more of the parasympathetic state, that we lose access to the sympathetic state.
00:20:58.152 --> 00:21:06.005
Right, a lot of my high performers, right that almost feel like I'm successful because of my anxiety.
00:21:06.005 --> 00:21:09.175
Right, like that's my hustle, that's my goal and without that am I still going to be able to do what I do.
00:21:09.175 --> 00:21:17.126
And it's not as though we're like we're turning you into this like Zen monk that doesn't get phased, and it's like you know that's not going to happen either.
00:21:17.126 --> 00:21:21.173
It's that we have an ability to return to baseline.
00:21:21.173 --> 00:21:22.423
Like I call this the rebound.
00:21:22.423 --> 00:21:26.311
You know it's like, yes, right, something can still pull you up.
00:21:26.311 --> 00:21:31.352
Right, that maybe makes you feel stressed and now you're more aware of that state.
00:21:31.941 --> 00:21:39.885
Our ability to get back down to calm is what we're talking about, right, the example I often give is that you know someone cuts you off in traffic.
00:21:39.885 --> 00:21:46.112
If five hours later you're still worked up about that, you have a poor ability to rebound.
00:21:46.112 --> 00:21:59.509
Right, you're telling your partner at dinner that night some asshole cut me off in traffic this morning and it's like, oh, you're still in that sympathetic state, right, whereas someone else someone cuts them off in traffic and 60 seconds later moved on, right.
00:21:59.509 --> 00:22:06.662
Yes, they still had the response sympathetic on pupils dilate adrenaline, whoa, you know, and they got rattled by it.
00:22:06.662 --> 00:22:09.152
But then, vroom, they just returned to baseline.
00:22:09.152 --> 00:22:31.746
And when we're talking about that state of the nervous system, well, the person that still worked up about that at dinner has spent the previous six hours in that survival state where they're not prioritizing repair, restore, regenerate, right, they're prioritizing action, whereas the person that can return quickly, it's like oh, I just spent the next five hours in that state where my body is supporting itself and so you're a hundred percent right.
00:22:31.766 --> 00:22:35.903
That, like, once you start to come out of it, it becomes way more obvious.
00:22:35.903 --> 00:22:44.383
You know, it's like the paradox that it's like it gets a little better, so it gets worse before it gets better.
00:22:44.383 --> 00:22:49.660
It almost feels like and I think it's a really interesting tipping point because you're not any more stressed, overwhelmed, you know, sympathetic.
00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:59.093
It's just that you now recognize when you go up there, because you're spending more time out of that state and so it can be like whoa, I don't like this.
00:22:59.093 --> 00:23:04.308
But if you then take that moment of reflection of like, oh, this is just how I was navigating the world, right?
00:23:04.308 --> 00:23:08.207
This was just my normal right A year ago, five years ago, whatever it is.
00:23:08.207 --> 00:23:14.884
And so now, yes, it feels really like obvious and very uncomfortable, but that should be my kind of like.
00:23:14.884 --> 00:23:16.526
Oh wait, how do I get back to baseline?
00:23:16.526 --> 00:23:17.907
Like, how do I spend less time here?
00:23:17.907 --> 00:23:20.250
Because it is really evident when I am there.
00:23:22.272 --> 00:23:33.386
Yeah, I like that I love that and I think it really goes along the lines of something that we've been noticing in ourselves and really trying to share and empower here is noticing it without the judgment.
00:23:33.386 --> 00:23:39.730
So I love what you just said is just recognizing like oh wait, that was just how I was doing it before, you know.
00:23:39.730 --> 00:23:48.169
And then being able to make that conscious choice of like, oh actually, this is what I want to do now and you know, be able to switch back to that baseline a lot quicker.
00:23:48.790 --> 00:23:49.412
That's really cool.
00:23:49.412 --> 00:23:59.096
Also, just having the expectation that it's going to be, you know, it's not like oh, now you know the tools that they're just like incredibly effective, right?
00:23:59.096 --> 00:24:03.154
Sometimes you're like, oh, I've been running around this state all day, you know it wasn't.
00:24:03.154 --> 00:24:06.444
I caught it in two minutes and I re-regulated and here I am again.
00:24:06.444 --> 00:24:12.905
It's like, oh, I had one of these days, you know, I didn't notice, I wasn't aware I was on this autopilot once more.
00:24:12.905 --> 00:24:19.375
But, as you said, it's like the self reflection moment of wait, you know, end of the day, I noticed, hey, today was one of those days.
00:24:19.375 --> 00:24:24.502
You know, what am I working on?
00:24:24.502 --> 00:24:25.145
Where am I trying to get to?
00:24:25.145 --> 00:24:25.808
What could I have done better?
00:24:25.808 --> 00:24:28.019
You know, not in a judgment way, but just in a self reflective like how can I do better tomorrow?
00:24:28.019 --> 00:24:30.125
I think is a really important thing.
00:24:30.164 --> 00:24:42.886
And the final kind of piece I find with that is that with, with the idea of the nervous system, you know, is when you have the okay, coming back to the idea of, like parasympathetic being a little bit uncomfortable.
00:24:42.886 --> 00:24:47.568
If you're told that and you expect that, it's like part of the process, right.
00:24:47.568 --> 00:24:51.702
But if you think, oh, doing breathing exercise is going to make me feel blissed out and Zen.
00:24:51.702 --> 00:24:53.605
And then you do it and you're agitated.
00:24:53.605 --> 00:24:55.930
You then fall back into like what's wrong with me?
00:24:55.930 --> 00:24:56.771
This doesn't work for me.
00:24:56.771 --> 00:24:58.074
What am I doing wrong, you know?
00:24:58.074 --> 00:25:05.653
Whereas if someone explained, hey, it's probably going to be kind of uncomfortable, you're probably not going to like it early on, but that is part of the process.
00:25:05.653 --> 00:25:14.603
So then when someone encounters that discomfort, they're like cool, I knew this was coming right, like this is part of the process, rather than I'm doing this wrong as well.
00:25:14.603 --> 00:25:15.263
What's the point?
00:25:15.263 --> 00:25:16.586
And so I found a lot of the time you, what's the point?
00:25:16.586 --> 00:25:17.366
And so I found a lot of the time.
00:25:17.366 --> 00:25:22.173
You know, like when I first kind of learned about breathwork and everyone talked about down regulation.
00:25:22.173 --> 00:25:27.221
It's really calm and I'm like this kind of makes me feel more agitated.
00:25:27.241 --> 00:25:40.200
But then I just spent so much more time learning about the nervous system and had that realization of like oh, this is just my nervous system trying to stay in the familiar Right.
00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:43.452
It wants to make me busy and active and doesn't want to sit still because that's how I grew up, right, that's how I, that's the, the world I lived in.
00:25:43.452 --> 00:25:53.568
And as I started to recognize that and just spent a little bit more time and gave myself a bit more grace, that it's not meant to be all bubble baths and roses, right, it's like this could be challenging as well.
00:25:53.568 --> 00:25:58.231
But then I got to this point where I'm like, oh, this is what relaxation feels.
00:25:58.231 --> 00:26:22.826
Like Like hadn't really felt this before, you know, because I just my relax was just less active, like it wasn't relaxed at all, it was just slightly less on, you know, until I first started to feel like, oh, this is actually what relaxation is, and I honestly feel I mean, I can only speak for myself and the handful of clients that I've had this conversation with but I think most people have no idea what relaxation is right.
00:26:22.846 --> 00:26:25.401
Like I ask people like, what's relaxation feel like?
00:26:25.401 --> 00:26:27.345
And they tell me about the absence of stress.
00:26:27.345 --> 00:26:33.692
Well, I'm not tense, I don't have a headache, I'm not rushing, you know it's like no, no, what's relaxation feel like?
00:26:33.692 --> 00:26:34.013
They're like.
00:26:35.137 --> 00:26:36.221
I'm just not these things.
00:26:36.221 --> 00:26:44.287
You know, and I think people confuse relaxation for exhaustion, right, they're like I get home at the end of the day and I drop onto the couch I'm like that's not relaxed, that's tired.
00:26:44.287 --> 00:26:48.645
You know, like you can be relaxed and alert, you can be relaxed and not tired.
00:26:48.645 --> 00:26:53.727
They're not kind of, you know, those states aren't tied together, but for me it always was right.
00:26:53.727 --> 00:27:02.424
What I call relaxed was when I was just exhausted.
00:27:02.424 --> 00:27:04.313
And now I've realized like relaxation can actually be this very like energy giving state.
00:27:04.313 --> 00:27:11.260
Right, it's like this well, that you can dip into where it's like oh, there's my recharge because I relaxed rather than I think relaxation is when I'm tired and going to bed.
00:27:13.265 --> 00:27:15.229
Wow, I am so glad you pointed that out.
00:27:15.229 --> 00:27:16.432
I think that one.
00:27:16.432 --> 00:27:28.088
It's so empowering for our listeners to hear that and I know permission for me myself too, of just knowing that it is going to feel uncomfortable and it doesn't mean that we're doing something wrong or we should give up right Because of that.
00:27:28.088 --> 00:27:40.146
And then, yeah, just being able to tap into the practice of awareness because we want to understand what that relaxation feels like for us as the individual.
00:27:40.146 --> 00:27:43.413
It seems really key to this.
00:27:43.413 --> 00:27:46.787
So are there suggestions that you would have for that?
00:27:46.787 --> 00:28:01.661
Let's say that I mean, katie and I talk about our own awareness practice and sometimes I feel like it's so many pieces of it are so automatic now that I forget that maybe someone's new into this and not having a practice of really going inward and really focus on that awareness.
00:28:01.661 --> 00:28:10.405
What are some ways that you know we can tune in to this awareness around breath and being able to recognize our own relaxation states?
00:28:11.448 --> 00:28:12.028
Yeah, amazing.
00:28:12.028 --> 00:28:17.105
So I like to kind of stack things on top of each other because that seems to be most effective.
00:28:17.105 --> 00:28:20.381
So, yes, we could start with here's how to breathe.
00:28:20.381 --> 00:28:23.328
But there's nothing magic about breathing.
00:28:23.328 --> 00:28:31.007
If I'm continuing to think about things that stress me out, you know like I could breathe slowly, but we worried about the presentation I have to do tomorrow and I'm not going to feel relaxed.
00:28:31.007 --> 00:28:37.531
Right, so the layer is like we have our, our breath or our physiology, which the simple act is like close the mouth.
00:28:37.531 --> 00:28:48.874
Right, so we're breathing through our nose and just make it a little bit slower and a little bit deeper, right, like I think oftentimes we jump to like what's the practice?
00:28:48.874 --> 00:28:49.939
And now we're very cognitive, right, like, do I count?
00:28:49.939 --> 00:28:50.220
Do I do this?
00:28:50.220 --> 00:28:50.800
Am I meant to?
00:28:50.800 --> 00:28:53.809
You know, it's like we've already gone away from the body back into the head.
00:28:53.809 --> 00:28:56.864
So, just like, little bit slower, little bit deeper.
00:28:56.884 --> 00:29:01.069
I sometimes call it goldilocks breathing, right, not too Not too fast, not too slow, not too deep, not too shallow.
00:29:01.069 --> 00:29:05.086
It should feel just right, you know, but it is a little bit slower, a little bit deeper.
00:29:05.086 --> 00:29:08.300
So now my breath is kind of sending a message to my nervous system.
00:29:08.300 --> 00:29:10.807
The second thing is what am I doing with my body?
00:29:10.807 --> 00:29:18.234
Right, it's my forehead all crunched, are my temples tight, is my jaw clenched, are my fists, my shoulders, my pelvic floor, my belly right.
00:29:18.234 --> 00:29:26.738
I just kind of go a little top down and be like relax my head, relax my face, my shoulders, my belly right, and just kind of like wind down the body a little bit.
00:29:26.738 --> 00:29:30.903
Right and this is a five second thing, right, it's not like it needs to be a long guided practice.
00:29:30.903 --> 00:29:33.471
I'm just like relax my forehead, my jaw, my shoulders, my belly.
00:29:33.471 --> 00:29:36.788
So now my breathing is slow, my body is relaxed.
00:29:36.788 --> 00:29:44.416
And then what I found most effective is I use this big thing we have in our head, right, that loves to live in the past or the future.
00:29:44.416 --> 00:29:55.441
Right, we know, if I asked either of you to remember you know the worst thing that's happened to you in the last 12 months, it would start as a thought, right, you'd think of that and very quickly it would become more than a thought.
00:29:55.441 --> 00:29:58.618
You'd start to feel in your body the remnants of that memory.
00:29:58.618 --> 00:30:04.124
Right, the brain's not that good at telling the difference between something that's happening and something we're imagining, right?
00:30:04.124 --> 00:30:09.107
This is why, as a species, we can give ourselves anxiety today about something that's happening next week.
00:30:09.107 --> 00:30:12.900
Right, like and it's not just like, it's like my heart rate changes, my cortisol increases.
00:30:12.900 --> 00:30:15.596
There's a really biological response to thoughts.
00:30:15.596 --> 00:30:32.856
And so when we flip that and we think, when was the time I felt relaxed, when was the time I felt appreciative, grateful, awe, compassion, love, whatever emotional state we want to choose that we have a strong memory tied to right.
00:30:32.856 --> 00:30:34.942
And this doesn't have to be.
00:30:34.942 --> 00:30:39.439
When I explain this practice to someone, we're not looking necessarily for the big grand memory.
00:30:39.439 --> 00:30:40.461
It could be the little thing.
00:30:40.461 --> 00:30:41.251
Right, I go to this.
00:30:41.251 --> 00:30:47.013
There's a little waterfall near where I'm from in Cairns that I can hike up this little trail and it's usually just by myself.
00:30:47.013 --> 00:30:57.503
I can sit under the tree, I can hear a waterfall, I'm just surrounded by rainforest, right, and I just get this sense of awe where I'm just like wow, and I, if I remember, like if I close my eyes and I go to that little spot.
00:30:57.503 --> 00:31:09.909
I get this feeling of awe in my body because I've been there enough times, right, and I've taken in the sensory information and my brain goes oh yeah, we know what state to generate based on this thing that's happening in my head.
00:31:09.909 --> 00:31:17.276
And so when I give people, I often say there's a little bit of homework attached to this and to the listeners, right, I encourage you to do this homework.
00:31:17.829 --> 00:31:27.005
Sit down for half an hour, grab a piece of paper and a pen and think of some really positive memories that you had a really strong emotional state tied to them.
00:31:27.005 --> 00:31:34.493
That holiday we were on, I was sitting on the beach watching my kids play in the sand and I just felt like content, right, this is it, this is that you know?
00:31:34.493 --> 00:31:36.421
All right, well, go back and remember that.
00:31:36.421 --> 00:31:37.652
Where was the sun?
00:31:37.652 --> 00:31:38.993
Right, was it on your skin?
00:31:38.993 --> 00:31:39.855
Could you hear the waves?
00:31:39.855 --> 00:31:40.715
Were there palm trees?
00:31:40.715 --> 00:31:41.637
Were your kids laughing?
00:31:41.637 --> 00:31:42.578
Right, who was there?
00:31:42.578 --> 00:31:46.285
Right, make it really sensory, really dive back into that memory.
00:31:50.589 --> 00:31:52.816
And an interesting thing happens when we do that right, you'll start to feel how you felt in that moment.
00:31:52.816 --> 00:31:58.550
But it's only effective because you've first changed your breathing and added relaxation to your body.
00:31:58.550 --> 00:32:00.674
If you're rushing around like crazy.
00:32:00.674 --> 00:32:03.961
You're in the supermarket, it's like and you're trying to remember that time you're on the beach.
00:32:03.961 --> 00:32:06.231
There's a mismatch of information.
00:32:06.231 --> 00:32:11.472
Your body is saying we're not relaxed, my heart rate's erratic, my breathing's erratic, we're tense, right.
00:32:11.472 --> 00:32:14.951
Yet I'm just trying to conjure up this imagery in my head and it doesn't.
00:32:14.951 --> 00:32:17.396
There's no alignment there, right, so it is.
00:32:17.637 --> 00:32:20.325
I slowed down my nervous system through my breath.
00:32:20.325 --> 00:32:22.911
I further slow down my nervous system through my body.
00:32:22.911 --> 00:32:27.240
Right Now, my body's in this really like safe, supported state.
00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:31.256
And now I can go up into my head and be like what did that feel like?
00:32:31.256 --> 00:32:33.762
Right, how did I feel during that moment?
00:32:33.762 --> 00:32:34.731
Right, this memory.
00:32:35.273 --> 00:32:41.578
And now I've combined these three wonderful things, right, my breathing, my body, and then my visualization, my memory.
00:32:41.578 --> 00:32:45.422
My, you know how we want to call that, but it's a big driver of emotional state.
00:32:45.422 --> 00:32:54.773
And then let that be a little five minute practice, right, and make that a daily five minute practice, if you can, right, where I literally set a timer.
00:32:54.773 --> 00:32:57.442
I sit down, I spend one minute slowing down my breathing.
00:32:57.442 --> 00:32:59.211
I spend one minute relaxing my body.
00:32:59.211 --> 00:33:19.326
I spend the next three minutes just diving into that lovely memory, right, and I keep coming back to like my breath is slow, right, my body is relaxed and oh yeah, there was that thing that happened and so, and so was there and they said that and I felt this way and it's like, and you'll come out of that five minutes, it'll go by like that and you'd be like oh, I feel like I had a nap, I feel restored, right.
00:33:19.326 --> 00:33:25.314
I feel just like there's a very obvious shift in your state because you've combined some very powerful drivers.
00:33:27.137 --> 00:33:28.161
So so cool.
00:33:28.161 --> 00:33:29.363
Oh my gosh, thank you for that.
00:33:29.363 --> 00:33:34.320
That feels so empowering and so helpful and so doable too.
00:33:34.320 --> 00:33:40.059
So that's the piece that I'm really appreciating for that is that it feels like I can see where that can fit.
00:33:40.059 --> 00:33:53.897
Throughout my day, I know I've personally been talking about how, like I'm'm pretty good at the book ended things right my morning routine and my end of the day but there's this in between where I'm so busy doing all the things that I need this sort of thing in the day.
00:33:53.897 --> 00:33:55.281
So thank you for that.
00:33:56.131 --> 00:34:12.275
And I can't stress like how much that little five minutes goes when we're looking at the big picture of the nervous system, right, because you like most, ron and myself as well, it's like, yeah, I can engage in my morning practices when I wake up, but then the day happens right and it's like, oh wait, and then I have my wind down practice at night.
00:34:12.275 --> 00:34:28.735
And I've found that when people can kind of dip into that parasympathetic state throughout the day, even if just for a minute, even if it wasn't the full formal practice that I just described, but one minute, of just finding that slower, deeper breath, right, it's just like I just direct the nervous system back to this state of recovery momentarily.
00:34:28.735 --> 00:34:35.099
But it's like the analogy I often give to people and I when I work with people on sleep, it's like they tell me about their day.
00:34:35.099 --> 00:34:44.606
It's like I wake up, I'm in my inbox or I check my phone and get the kids ready, I'm off to work, and it's like it's just the whole day right, it's just like active and then dinner and wind down.
00:34:44.606 --> 00:34:48.273
It's like, and then I just like drop into bed and I expect to fall asleep and I'm like tell me what happens.
00:34:48.273 --> 00:34:49.157
Like I'm wired.
00:34:49.157 --> 00:34:56.909
I'm like, yeah, surprise, surprise, you are expecting just to be able to, like, hit this off switch when you haven't hit it once today.
00:34:56.909 --> 00:35:02.972
Right, the more times you touch that off switch throughout the day, the easier it is to find at night when it's time to wind down.
00:35:02.972 --> 00:35:11.795
You're like, oh, I've wound down multiple times today, even if just momentarily, and I found for myself that was a huge unlock for my sleep.
00:35:11.795 --> 00:35:14.936
It's like it's not just about how good my nighttime routine is, it's about the previous 14 hours.
00:35:14.936 --> 00:35:15.976
And did I manage my state throughout the day?
00:35:15.976 --> 00:35:17.978
Or was I in this very heightened state from the moment I woke up until now?
00:35:17.978 --> 00:35:19.617
And did I manage my state throughout the day?
00:35:19.617 --> 00:35:23.478
Or was I in this very heightened state from the moment I woke up until now?
00:35:23.478 --> 00:35:28.880
And now I'm just trying to like magically turn my nervous system off, and I think people forget that.
00:35:29.121 --> 00:35:32.121
You know, our nervous systems did not evolve.
00:35:32.121 --> 00:35:36.764
We're not designed to deal with the amount of stimulus that we get today.
00:35:36.764 --> 00:35:38.905
Right, that never existed before.
00:35:38.905 --> 00:35:42.206
That you could wake up and just be in this constant state of activity.
00:35:42.206 --> 00:35:43.485
Right, we would wake.
00:35:43.485 --> 00:35:45.427
It was dipping in and out, right?
00:35:45.427 --> 00:35:47.268
Yes, there might've been some moments of stress.
00:35:47.268 --> 00:35:49.487
Go hunt some food, build a fire, whatever.
00:35:49.487 --> 00:35:51.289
But then there was these lull periods.
00:35:51.289 --> 00:36:08.184
But now, with technology, you know, with this hustle culture that we're immersed in, it's like you can and you more or less are in this on state from the moment you wake up to the moment you hop in bed at night, and we wonder why so many people struggle to switch off, to feel their body to sleep.
00:36:08.184 --> 00:36:15.003
Well, you know, it's like yeah, well, we need to rewrite that kind of like up and down state that the nervous system is meant to have throughout the day.
00:36:15.003 --> 00:36:21.298
It gets far easier than to wind down at the end of the night at the end of the night.
00:36:21.318 --> 00:36:23.862
Yeah, I think that that's you know, that's we talk about.
00:36:23.862 --> 00:36:35.663
You know, you know breathwork is free, but the aura ring is is is really tapping into that key aspect of like giving you the awareness.
00:36:35.663 --> 00:36:38.610
If you can't do it yourself, you have this tool that's helping recognize.
00:36:38.610 --> 00:36:43.539
Well, you need to have more restorative moments throughout the day in order for you to have X, y, z.
00:36:43.539 --> 00:36:47.885
You know, as you go forward Just quickly to.
00:36:47.885 --> 00:36:51.597
The time has probably passed, but I'm going to say it anyways.
00:36:51.597 --> 00:36:57.871
But you were like let's do this homework, which I know we're going to do some homework but I was like what if my happy place is Disneyland Campbell?
00:36:57.871 --> 00:37:03.480
It's like where you're never low, but what is it about being at?
00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:03.860
Disneyland.
00:37:03.860 --> 00:37:09.197
I'm assuming you were there with your kids rather than by yourself, Katie.
00:37:09.697 --> 00:37:14.277
I mean I could go either way, but yes, but what is it about Disneyland, right?
00:37:14.297 --> 00:37:21.418
That memory that you have, that feels like a positive memory, right, because it's probably not the lines that I was in.
00:37:21.418 --> 00:37:34.432
You know the busy it was, probably watching the, just the blissed out, ecstatic face on my children, right, it was seeing all of the energy of these other children that are just like, whoa, there's this, there's that, and that uplifted you.
00:37:34.432 --> 00:37:35.675
Right, it's like the excitement.
00:37:35.675 --> 00:37:43.831
So it doesn't always have to be a calm, relaxed memory, right, but it's you picking it like why is that memory really powerful for me, right?
00:37:43.831 --> 00:37:47.280
What is the emotional state that it kind of corresponds to?
00:37:47.280 --> 00:38:04.675
And it might be one of excitement, right, excitement is a beautiful emotional state to have, and so I often use that exercise, like you know, more often than not people need it, or it's more, it's more necessary, with the kind of like winding down, but I have some that want to feel confident, right, that want to feel empowered.
00:38:04.769 --> 00:38:06.757
So it's like, okay, well, when was that memory?
00:38:06.757 --> 00:38:29.697
And it's like, oh, actually, when I got my postgrad certificate and I stood on stage and I didn't think and I felt this like uplifting sense of achievement, cool, right, there's a memory that's tied to a certain emotional state that you want access to, and so there's no kind of rules to that or boundaries as to, like, what type of memory it has to be, as long as you can identify it's like this was the resulting state that I got into and that's what I want to have access to.
00:38:29.697 --> 00:38:31.534
Cool, then any memory works.
00:38:33.110 --> 00:38:35.199
Just trying to throw something else out there.
00:38:35.730 --> 00:38:48.431
Yeah, I think that's so great that you did that too, because I think that was a powerful point, that sometimes, when we think about self-care and relaxation and all of that, it really truly is like us just thinking about the calm and the Zen.
00:38:48.431 --> 00:39:01.393
But you know, sometimes during our day we need a pep up too, right, and so I could see where that tool of going to that memory of that is going to also be able to, you know, increase your energy.
00:39:01.393 --> 00:39:07.971
If that's what you're looking for, so I could see where this is an incredible tool to move through different states that we need to be aware of.
00:39:08.751 --> 00:39:14.751
Yeah, and let me just share an example from a client I had, because this one always made me laugh.
00:39:14.751 --> 00:39:34.798
Right, like I explained this exercise and again, people often think I'm asking them to think of like the birth of my first child, my wedding day, you know, it's like these big things and I was going through this was like when was the time that you felt, and I think we were just going for like gratitude or something and he was scratching his head for a while and thinking of this and that and I just looked at he came to a conclusion.
00:39:34.798 --> 00:39:35.670
I could see he didn't want.
00:39:35.670 --> 00:39:46.900
He's like like the driving range and I just like hit the ball so sweetly out of the center and I just want and as he's explaining this to me, I watch his whole demeanor change.
00:39:46.900 --> 00:39:57.317
Right, he's in the moment he's like telling me about the feeling that he gets and I see it right in front of me, right as he's talking through that moment of hitting the golf ball, perfectly in the sweet spot.
00:39:57.317 --> 00:39:58.599
I watch him change.
00:39:58.599 --> 00:40:03.072
I'm like that's, that's the thing, because I just watch the impact that it has on you.
00:40:03.594 --> 00:40:19.059
The other really common one right is probably it is the most common, I'm not going to say nearly like it's the one that always comes up for anyone, if they're like look, and they're like, you know, when I get home at the end of the day and I open the door and my dog is there, just like wagging its tail off, it's going to fall over, like that brings me joy.
00:40:19.059 --> 00:40:21.487
I'm like me too, like I know what that feeling is.
00:40:21.487 --> 00:40:24.418
And again, as they're explaining it, I'm watching them change.
00:40:24.418 --> 00:40:28.632
Right, they're just melting in front of me because they're going back to that memory.
00:40:28.632 --> 00:40:34.373
And so, again, it doesn't need to be this like what we think is, like this big, important memory.
00:40:34.534 --> 00:40:38.152
It could just be getting home at the end of the day and your dog's wagging its tail, and how does that make you feel?
00:40:38.152 --> 00:40:40.195
Makes you feel loved, makes you feel, makes you feel grateful.
00:40:40.195 --> 00:40:41.858
Whatever it might be, it's like cool.
00:40:41.858 --> 00:40:46.704
And those ones can often be more effective because they're really inbuilt right.
00:40:46.704 --> 00:40:53.034
You've got home and your dog has made you feel happy hundreds of times, right.
00:40:53.034 --> 00:40:55.280
So it's an easy program for your nervous system to run if you give it the right stimulus.
00:40:57.510 --> 00:40:58.454
So powerful.
00:40:58.454 --> 00:40:58.956
Oh my gosh.
00:40:58.956 --> 00:41:12.599
I have really just loved this conversation, but, kim, I want to ask you is there anything else that you feel like you wanted to chat about or to add into the conversation to make sure that our listeners are really getting this?
00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:14.143
I want this to land for them.
00:41:15.070 --> 00:41:17.735
Yeah, I mean, I always come back to awareness.
00:41:17.735 --> 00:41:29.802
I actually teach, like in the practitioner program, I teach this kind of framework and it's something that I work with all my clients on and it's something that I think is just really valuable and I call it the ACO framework, which is awareness, control optimization.
00:41:29.802 --> 00:41:37.092
I think oftentimes people want to jump to control or they want to optimize something without first doing the work of awareness.
00:41:37.092 --> 00:41:57.684
And so, like that ACO of awareness control optimization, like it's applicable everywhere and not just for breathwork, but like, if you're someone that struggles with anxiety, right, developing the awareness around the situations, the environments, perhaps the people, the things that are linked to your anxiety, can be some of the most valuable work you can do.
00:41:57.684 --> 00:42:04.594
Yet most people jump straight to control, right, like what is the thing that I can do to control my anxiety?
00:42:04.594 --> 00:42:08.530
And they haven't recognized what is it that actually provokes my anxiety?
00:42:08.530 --> 00:42:14.994
Right, and oftentimes, as we touched on the start, there may be a driver that is definitely within your control.
00:42:14.994 --> 00:42:19.673
Right, it's your breathing, it's your posture, it's what you're thinking about, the internal narrative, those things.
00:42:19.673 --> 00:42:30.099
But working through that framework of like building the awareness around the thing that I want to change, then starting to kind of tweak the knobs and the dials right, controlling and using certain practices.
00:42:30.099 --> 00:42:32.833
Then finally, we go to optimizing, right?
00:42:32.913 --> 00:42:41.356
I think you know all of this talk of like breathwork and cold plunges and saunas and exercises, like that's all in the optimization end of things.
00:42:41.356 --> 00:42:55.440
And if you're someone that's in this chronic sympathetic state, you've been in fight or flight like you don't need 30 minutes of hyperventilation, breath work, you don't need an ice bath, right, you need to build awareness and you need to slowly start to control or influence.
00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:59.737
And, yes, eventually, when you build the capacity, you want to stretch your comfort zone.
00:42:59.737 --> 00:43:03.577
You want to do all these wonderful things like that's when those tools come into play.
00:43:03.577 --> 00:43:12.958
But because they're so, you know, popular and they look cool and it's a great social media thing, it's like everyone thinks, oh, the ice bath is going to fix my nervous system.
00:43:13.038 --> 00:43:56.481
The hour long breathwork session is going to be transformational for me, and oftentimes I think it's the little things that we do every day, right, that I think we gloss over and we think it needs to be this big thing that's going to change how I feel, and in fact, it's the accumulation of little things, and so I think that the final thing that I'd perhaps leave people with is, instead of seeing your health, you know, or your wellness, as something that can be fixed, you know, in one fell swoop, it's like it's a practice, it's a pathway, it's like these little things that we do day by day by day by day by day, that eventually I get to that point of like oh yeah, my health's better, right, not because I fixed it, because I started making these very small, consistent changes and over time they all start to stack up.
00:43:58.929 --> 00:44:00.710
Wow, so, so powerful.
00:44:00.710 --> 00:44:02.132
That's incredible.
00:44:02.132 --> 00:44:10.637
And something you said earlier too is that oftentimes we're in survival at the expense of longevity, and that really landed for me, because that's it.
00:44:10.637 --> 00:44:17.603
If we're staying in that survival mode, then it really is at the expense of us feeling the way that we want to feel.
00:44:17.603 --> 00:44:19.925
So thank you so much for that, campbell.
00:44:19.925 --> 00:44:25.431
How can our listeners stay in contact with you, follow along with what?
00:44:25.431 --> 00:44:26.815
Everything you have going on?
00:44:27.657 --> 00:44:29.503
Yeah, the best place is definitely Instagram.
00:44:29.503 --> 00:44:39.500
I'm most active on there at Breath Body Therapy and I always encourage you, like it's me on my Instagram and I really like I'm super passionate about this branch of work.
00:44:39.500 --> 00:44:41.858
It doesn't even feel like work anymore.
00:44:41.858 --> 00:44:47.411
So if you do have questions, right, people are often like, oh yeah, this breathwork stuff, but my situation, no, it wouldn't work.
00:44:47.411 --> 00:44:52.690
For that, you know, it's like we often categorize ourself as this, like n of one.
00:44:52.690 --> 00:44:56.617
That's like, yeah, it works for everyone else, but there's no way it would work for me because of x, y and z.
00:44:56.617 --> 00:45:00.601
So, if that doubt comes up, shoot me a message and be like is there any way Breathwork could help with this?
00:45:00.601 --> 00:45:03.346
Right, and I already can tell you the answer is yes.
00:45:03.346 --> 00:45:08.110
And the reason I can say the answer is yes is like Breathwork is not a tool of symptom management.
00:45:08.351 --> 00:45:13.242
You know, it's not this special like it's really a general tool that supports the underlying system.
00:45:13.242 --> 00:45:17.592
Right, it supports the person rather than the problem, and I think that's what's missing for a lot of people.
00:45:17.592 --> 00:45:19.655
It's like what do I need to help me thrive?
00:45:19.655 --> 00:45:24.802
Right, well, when we look at the nervous system and physiology and emotions and how do we support those systems.
00:45:24.802 --> 00:45:30.260
That's very different to how do I manage the symptoms that I'm experiencing or focus on the problem that I have.
00:45:30.260 --> 00:45:45.605
And so breathwork, really like I don't want it to sound like it's a panacea and it fixes everything and it doesn't right, it requires work and there's lots of other things that need to happen, but it's this really interesting general tool of support right, that supports the system.
00:45:45.605 --> 00:45:53.583
And when we do that, I think we all know right, innately we have this capacity for healing and regeneration and living well.
00:45:53.583 --> 00:46:01.963
Right, but the environment has to be right, and so that environment being external and internal, a big component of that, a huge lever we can kind of pull on, is breathing.
00:46:04.170 --> 00:46:07.159
Thank you so much for helping us set up that environment today, Campbell.
00:46:08.110 --> 00:46:09.315
It's been a pleasure we appreciate you.
00:46:09.876 --> 00:46:10.338
Thank you.
00:46:15.851 --> 00:46:18.778
We want to welcome you, to tune in, stay close and grow with us.
00:46:18.778 --> 00:46:21.474
Come feel empowered, inspired and connected.
00:46:22.056 --> 00:46:30.213
Check the show notes to follow us and, of course, we'd love for you to take us on social media and you share what lands for you until next time.
00:46:30.534 --> 00:46:33.822
Breathe on purpose, stay curious and trust your intuition.