Are you on the New Year, New Me buzz? One simple way that you can improve your day-to-day life is through breathwork.
Breathwork is a way to regulate our inhalation and exhalation to help influence our central nervous system. It is believed to reset the fight or flight response to help you be more grounded in your day.
We sat down with Katie Donovan, the woman behind Align Wellness, Dublin’s first design-driven sauna, ice bath and breathwork studio. The studio offers Guided Sauna Sessions and Ice Bath, including aromatherapy infusions and sound instruments, along with Breathwork Classes and the option of Self-Guided Sessions.
Find out more about breathwork here…
What is breathwork?
Katie explains: “It’s a nervous system reset tool that people can use if they are feeling stressed or overwhelmed. We all have it in our lives, and it’s just to come back and ground the body, ground the mind. It helps you to reset and tackle the stress or the task from a more grounded space.
“There are loads of different types of breathwork and facilitators, but it’s just learning how to breathe into the nose, into the belly, into the chest and just calming that nervous system.”
And most of us aren’t breathing correctly!
Katie goes on to say: “It’s not even that we aren’t breathing correctly, it’s that we don’t know how to breathe to reset the nervous system. You can breathe to get through our day-to-day lives, but you know if you have a big presentation and you get that tight feeling in your chest and the breath isn’t reaching the whole way down, it’s just about learning how to reset that and learning how to reset the nervous system to get out of that fight or flight state.”
@jane.sohn Who else is on day 22 of breathing with me? 🥰 #breathwork #somatichealing #anxietyrelief #calm ♬ I Waited Patiently – Josué Novais Piano Worship
What is a breathwork class?
Breathwork classes help teach you breathing patterns to help calm and centre you.
“What we do at Align Wellness is quite different to your standard breathwork class which normally take place on a mat, but we do it in the sauna, so we incorporate different types of breathing, like box breathing, two part breathe, a lot of meditation and visualization, so you are getting the whole package really and not just breathe work which is great, and its a whole nervous system reset,” she shares with us.
“If you are just doing breathwork and not getting fully into it, your mind is racing, so we really try to focus on calming the mind with meditation and visualisation tools.”
How can you incorporate breathwork into your life?
While we all love the idea of being able to go to regular classes, life definitely gets in the way! So can we bring breathwork techniques into our every day life?
Katie promises us that it’s absolutely possible!
“You can do it on the go! I’m in the car sometimes, and I feel a little bit stressed, just five deep breaths, breathe into the nose, fill the belly with the breathe and do a nice long exhale that’s really good to reset the nervous system and calm a little bit and say okay, I’m reset.
“You can do it anywhere, if I have a presentation to do or if I am teaching a big class and I’m nervous, just five deep breaths just helps to calm that nervous system and come back into that relaxed state.”
So what is one breathing technique we should all be doing? Katie shares that five deep grounding breaths are perfect to settle us every day.
“I think that would be the main one to do every morning, you can get up and do it as you are getting dressed. I am sure we would all like to sit with candles and ground ourselves, but sometimes that just is not the case when you have three kids pulling out of you and you have to get them ready and you are running out the door, so if you just focus and start by taking five deep breaths and building from there is an amazing place to start.”
@pocketbreathcoach Nervous System Reset Try my app Pocket Breath Coach (Link on my channel page). Customize the breathing pattern, listen while using other apps, set a timer that fades out the sound when time is up, perfect for falling asleep. This pattern is 4-4-6-2 breathing. Breathe in 4 seconds Hold for 4 seconds Breathe out 6 seconds You can breathe in and out through your nose, or you may find it easier to breathe out through your mouth like you are blowing out a candle. By practicing deep breathing, we activate the vagus nerve, which shifts us into the parasympathetic state, helping us relax. This quick “reset” lowers heart rate, reduces stress, and brings balance back to the body—an easy tool for managing stress! Pause for 2 seconds #DeepBreathing #NervousSystemReset #VagusNerve #CalmMind #BreatheEasy #MindfulBreathing #StressRelief #RelaxAndBreathe #BreathWork #RestAndDigest #BreathingExercises #ParasympatheticNervousSystem #ReduceAnxiety #MentalWellness #BreatheToCalm #CalmTheMind #HealthyBreathing #RelaxationTechniques #FindYourCalm #BreatheAndReset ♬ original sound – Headfulness – Luke Horton – Pocket Breath Coach
What are the benefits of breathwork?
Katie doesn’t know where to start when we ask her this.
“Oh my god, there are so many!” she says with a laugh.
Take a look at the benefits below…
Mental clarity
“The mental clarity you get, taking your body out of that fight or flight that we are all constantly in. It’s brilliant to just get our nervous system back to that parasympathetic state. That for me is the main one which is great, your overall health is better, your physical health is better its amazing.”
Reducing stress
“For day-to-day, the nervous system reset is really good for reducing stress and anxiety.”
Energy boost
“If you do the breath work in the morning, it’s really good for energising too. If you wake up feeling groggy, it’s really good for boosting that energy.”
Boost your immune system
“Breathwork can help boost your immune system too, so that’s really good is well if you are feeling a little run down.”
Menstruation pains
“It can also be used around menstruation, and I suffer from endometriosis so I get a lot of pain, and I would use my breath to manage the pain, if I’m at work and I can’t just pop home, its really good at just letting the nervous system know its safe and just taking those nice long deep breaths that will say stop to any cramping or pain, so that’s really good for women around periods and pain.