Is Breath Therapy the Answer to the Ultimate Question?

Just because you’ve been doing it all your life doesn’t mean you’re doing it right. Jason Hartman invites Breath Therapy expert Dan Brule to discuss how anyone can breath themselves to a healthier life on episode #54 of the Longevity & Biohacking Show. Dan is the go to guy for all things related to breathing. Keep reading. You just might learn something.

Dan’s Background
Dan Brulé is a modern day teacher and healer—an innovative, unorthodox, irreverent, creative, game-changing entrepreneur. He is a master of Prana Yoga (the Hindu Science of Breath), and of Chi Kung/Qigong (Chinese Medical Breathing Exercises).

He is one of the originators of Breath Therapy, and was among the first group of Internationally Certified Rebirthers.
More than 80,000 people in over 40 countries now apply Dan’s breathing exercises and techniques in their work and in their lives. Among them are Olympic champions and elite martial artists, leading psychotherapists and medical experts, monks, meditators, hospice workers, yoga teachers, performing artists, personal trainers, substance abuse and pastoral counselors, health practitioners, life coaches, and business executives.

Dan is the author of: “A Formula for Transformation,” “The Principles of Breath Therapy,” “Zen and the Art of Breathing,” “Stress and Breathing,” “A Brief Introduction to Chinese Medical Breathing Exercises,” “The Art and Science of Breathwork,” and “Spiritual Breathing.”

Humans Need to be Trained to Breathe
Breathing is the only system that is completely automatic and completely under our control. As Dan Brule says, it is a behavior that can either serve you or hold you back. There are thousands of techniques available but this article will focus on the foundational ideas and maybe whet your appetite for more.

Box Breathing by the SEALS
Most people are aware of the Navy SEALS, an elite team of commandos responsible for many things we know about (like taking down Osama Bin Laden) and probably many other things we don’t. One thing is certain. As a SEAL you’ve got to be a cool customer because you’re always training for or headed to an intense situation. According to Brule, SEALS are taught a breathing pattern known as box breathing, which they use to focus and calm themselves on the way to a mission.

Box breathing is characterized by inhaling, holding, and exhaling your breath for a four count at each step. Try it a few times. If you’re honest, you’ll feel different at some level. Breath Therapy is all about training you to use that “difference” to your advantage. Once they are on scene and in the moment, SEALS drop the four count hold and switch to a simple four count on the inhale and four count on the exhale.

Simple Breathing Therapy for Anyone
If you take nothing else away from Brule’s teaching, remember these two simple ideas about breathing. To relax you should make your exhale twice as long as your inhale. Flip the idea for a quick burst of energy by making your inhale twice as long as the exhale.

The neat thing about Breath Therapy is that, although the practices are based on a few thousand years of ancient traditions, once you get some simple ideas down, Brule suggests you should feel free to take it anywhere you want. Figure out what works for you and create your own patterns.

Core Breathing Techniques
Before anything else, learn to pay attention to how you are breathing at any given moment throughout the day. It won’t be long until you discover that you have definite patterns that correspond to various emotional and physiological states. All of us have allowed our natural healthy breathing to be blocked and interrupted by a lifetime of physical and emotional trauma.

These poor habits have disconnected you from your body, setting off a dissonance that you may not even be aware of. Brule proceeded to demonstrate a series of patterns he referred to as conscious breathing, which means to breathe a particular pattern.

The Cleansing Breath
This one is dead simple. It’s nothing more than a conscious sigh of relief. And it’s just what it sounds like. Take a quick breath in, then blow it out in a longer noisy exhale. Don’t be afraid to include sound effects. The cleansing breath can be done as often as you like, up to or more than 100 times daily. Brule likens it to a quick system reboot when you get out of balance.

Transformational Breathing
This breathing pattern is intended to enhance your overall health, sex life, and even digestion. Transformational breathing is characterized by continuous breathing with no pauses. It can be performed either fast or slow to activate energy in the body that promotes healing sensations, thoughts, or emotions. After establishing this active energy, switch to smooth, gentle breathing to reconnect with the activated energy.

Convergence of Breath
This is an interesting technique in which the practitioner synchronises breathing with a conscious activity like running or walking. Pick your activity or cadence. Doesn’t matter. The important thing is to make a conscious choice to control your breathing.

Jason’s Question
Throughout the course of the interview Jason, ever the devil’s advocate, tries to elicit from his guest why he thinks our breathing got so screwed up in the first place. When so many things work right automatically with the human body, it seems strange that breathing should work correctly from the get go.

Brule’s response is that the first few years of life we are essentially in a hypnotic trance and programmed by the behavior patterns of those we spend the most time around. For most, that means parents. The problem is that dear old mom and dad have already been mis-programmed by their parents and the dysfunction goes on.

Learn More from Dan Brule
Visit www.BreathMastery.com to learn more about all things Brule, including his books and various Breathing Therapy programs. (Image: Flickr | Mae Chevrette)