Breathwork to Support Digestion
Are you someone that eats really quickly or is always eating on the go? Maybe you eat when you’re stressed or you often end up eating between meetings or at your computer?
Breathwork is an amazing healing tool for getting ready to eat and putting our body in a place where it's able to digest. One of my favorite ways to use breathwork to support digestion is to use “four, seven, eight” breathing for digestion. This video will take you through a breathing exercise so you can try this practice for yourself!
BREATHWORK TO SUPPORT DIGESTION
Are you someone that eats really quickly or is always eating on the go? Maybe you eat when you’re stressed or you often end up eating between meetings or at your computer?
This can be true for me too! So many of us tend to eat when we’re not in a place where our body is ready to actually digest. This can lead to a lot of downstream issues like heartburn or indigestion, bloating or constipation. And then this can have a carry over effect that creates even more downstream issues that come from impaired digestion. It could lead to nutrient deficiencies. It could be bacteria imbalances in our gut or autoimmunity. There are so many things that can be influenced by the health of our gut and our digestive system.
Breathwork is an amazing healing tool for getting ready to eat and putting our body in a place where it's able to digest food. Even slowing down and looking at the food in front of us can start this process of digestion. One of my favorite digestive support practices is 4-7-8 breathing. The video below will take you through this process so you can try this practice for yourself!
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
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If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, breathwork, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
The Power of Breathwork with Kathleen Booker
In today’s episode of The Live Well Podcast, we are joined by Kathleen Booker. Kathleen is passionate about Conscious Connected Breathwork therapy. We speak about her journey, how she found breathwork, and the huge supporting role it can play with our health. Kathleen also guides us through a brief breathwork session.
In today’s episode of The Live Well Podcast, we are joined by Kathleen Booker. Kathleen is an effervescent native New Yorker, and her energy is infectious! She is passionate about Conscious Connected Breathwork therapy and knows first-hand the energy, healing, peace, and joy it creates in one’s life.
As a certified and insured Breathwork Coach, Kathleen has worked with many masters in the field of Conscious Connected Breathwork therapy. For over 10+ years, Kathleen has used her Breath Coaching and intuitive skills to support individuals in clearly identifying areas in need of growth, healing, and focused goal creation.
In this episode we speak about her journey, how she found breathwork, and the huge supporting role it can play with our health. Throughout this episode, we also experience what Kathleen teaches, and we are guided through a brief breathwork session.
You can learn more about Kathleen and her work at www.kathleenbooker.net.
LISTEN BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
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SHOW NOTES:
0:00 Intro
3:12 A little bit about Kathleen Booker
4:35 Go a little bit deeper and listen to your intuition
5:41 Why Kathleen wanted to avoid the breath
6:51 Her first job in breathwork after she quit her previous job
9:01 Breathwork and how it supports our body
12:36 Breath invites us to connect to our heart and higher consciousness
14:18 How this helps remove stress
17:47 Kathleen as a breathwork snob
22:02 Start where you are and take the first breath
23:13 Breathwork 101
26:55 Free breathwork practice here
30:28 Drink water after every breathwork session
31:22 Peace is always within
31:58 When Kathleen uses breathwork
34:09 Setting your day with a morning practice
37:21 How best to reach Kathleen
If you loved this episode, I'd be honored for you to give me a rating on iTunes. This helps me to get content out to others who are interested in getting control of their health through diet, lifestyle shifts and personal empowerment.
If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
The best breathing exercise to reduce stress
We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information and stimuli from all angles. But, what can we do about this? Once you have identified that you are experiencing a chronic stress response, the goal is to find ways to shift yourself away from the “fight or flight” mode into the “rest and digest” mode of your nervous system. There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorite ways is using this 4-7-8 breathing exercise demonstrated in this video.
We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information and stimuli from all angles.
We may find ourselves constantly “on” from the moment we wake up until the moment our head hits the pillow at night. We demand so much of our bodies and minds on a daily basis to keep up with the pace around us, it’s no surprise many of us find ourselves in a constant state of stress, fatigue and exhaustion.
This constant stress may even come to feel normal to us. We become so used to the surge of adrenaline that allows us to power through our day and check off all of the tasks on our to-do list, that it becomes our normal state of being.
While many of us recognize, and even accept constant levels of stress as part of our lives, we may not fully appreciate the fact that chronic stress has serious implications for the health of our bodies.
Often times we think of “stressors” as big, negative events like deaths, divorces or demanding deadlines at work. If someone were to ask, “Are you stressed?” we might answer no because we aren’t experiencing a big trauma at the moment. What we have to understand however, is that stressors that have the ability to influence our body and nervous system, come in all forms.
Chronic, low level stressors that comes from lack of sleep, not enough rest, a packed schedule or long hours at the computer are what have the biggest impact on our overall health and wellbeing.
Stress is our body’s response to any real or imagined threat.
It is a natural response and can be advantageous when it helps protect us and get us ready to be in “flight or fight.” A stressful incident, like being chased by a tiger in the wild, can trigger physiological changes like increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, muscle tension, and rapid breathing. Ideally, these responses cease once we have found safety from the perceived threat.
Unfortunately, the body can react to stressors that are not life-threatening, such as the stressors mentioned above. Over time, this stress becomes chronic, meaning we seemingly never escape the perceived threat and our body never gets a chance to return to it’s natural state of relaxation.
This overexposure to stress can disrupt almost all our body’s processes specifically our hormones and immune response.
So, what can we do about this?
Once you have identified that you are experiencing a chronic stress response, the goal is to find ways to shift yourself away from the “fight or flight” mode into the “rest and digest” mode of your nervous system.
There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorite ways is using this 4-7-8 breathing exercise demonstrated in the video below.
This 4-7-8 breathing exercise works by activating the diaphragm which stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce the sympathetic or “fight or flight” response in the body [1].
It’s best to start slow with this exercise to see how it makes you feel. Try 5 breaths in a single sitting. Aim to bring this practice in twice a day or as many times as feels good for you.
Watch the video below for a simple demonstration of the 4-7-8 breathing exercise you can try today!
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
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Or if you’d like to play the episode right now in your browser, use the player below:
If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, breathwork, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.