Understanding functional breathing
What is Functional Breathing
We take approximately 20,000-25,000 breaths every day yet, do we truly understand what constitutes a ‘good healthy breath’? Maybe you’re not even aware that bad breathing habits such as shallow breathing and overbreathing could potentially be attributing to many health concerns. Maybe you don’t even realise your breathing has the potential to improve.
With Functional Breathing, you learn how to reset breathing with techniques that cover the Biochemical (building CO2 tolerance and resetting the bodies sensitivities that control their breath), Biomechanical (using diaphragmatic breathing over shallow breathing, 80% of the movement is low in the body and the remaining 20% should be from the upper chest) and the Psycho-Physical (the relationship between the mind and body).
What is Functional Breathing?
Functional breathing, simply put, is about cultivating healthy breathing habits. But what exactly does that mean? A healthy breath is one that you shouldn’t hear or see. Yet, how often do we experience the opposite, especially after a stressful day, when anxiety sets in, or when we’ve been told we snore at night.
Who should learn Functional Breathing?
I tailor one-on-one sessions for individuals navigating the demands of daily life and health challenges. Whether you struggle with anxiety, stress, an overactive mind, sleep disorders like insomnia, snoring, or sleep apnea, frequent nasal congestion, or persistent brain fog—learning to breathe as you did before stress or disease reshaped your breathing habits is essential.
Bringing breathing to the mainstream
Breathing is definitely the new ‘black’ on the health scene with Wim Hof taking breathing to the world stage alongside ice bath immersions and spiritual trauma release sessions frequently popping up on event calendars. Often these types of breathing introduce ‘hyperventilation’ which is really the opposite to what we learn in Functional Breathing sessions.
The mission is to offer an approach to breathing to allow an avenue for everyone to learn how to breathe as nature intended in a safe environment. The breathing exercises we may cover, mostly work with the Parasympathetic putting the body and nervous system into a restful state.
What to expect when Functional Breathing is practiced?
1. Improved blood circulation and Oxygen delivery to the cells, tissues and organs
2. Opening of the airways; both the nose and the lungs
3. Slow breathing helps us relax, activating the rest and digest
4. Improvement in sleep, concentration and alertness
Benefits of breathing via the nose;
1. Filters the air, protecting against bacteria, allergens & viruses
2. Warms the air coming into the lungs preventing constriction of the airways
3. Retains a good amount of CO2 which we need to off load Oxygen
4. You engage a deeper diaphragmatic breath which is not as likely thru the mouth
