As a self-declared , breathwork has been on my radar for a while. It has always sounded easy enough, you just lay there and breathe, right? It turns out, there’s a lot more to it. I was lucky enough to take a beginner breathwork class with Nike Well Collective Yoga trainer, therapist and breathwork instructor about a month ago — and I’ve been intrigued by (and practising) breathwork ever since.
So, what is breathwork? According to Zoe, Breathwork is an umbrella term for any kind of conscious manipulation of our respiration: “I think of my personal breathwork practice as a set of ongoing conscious practices that support my body’s optimal way of breathing and feeling. Conscious breathing is a really accessible way to cultivate and the presence of the mind.” Are there different styles of breathwork? Similar to other wellness practices, like and , there are many schools and styles of breathwork and hundreds of different breathing techniques.
“In some cases, there are even different names for the same techniques,” says Zoe. “Broadly speaking, there are a few core styles of breathwork.” First is functional breathing or breathing retraining.
“These techniques are oriented around restoring the natural way of breathing,” explains Zoe. “This is a response to the poor breathing habits that have been culturally adopted throughout history.” “Poor breathing is a massively under-appreciated health crisis.
Learning to retrain the way we breathe is vital to physi.