Release the peace within by...breathing

Breathwork is half exercise, half meditation

Have you ever tried “breathwork”?

That is, forcefully inhaling and exhaling at a specified cadence, plus holding at the top, lungs full, or at the bottom, lungs empty, for minutes at a time?

Over the last three months I’ve found breathwork to be the most effective and rapid way to self-soothe.

When I’m feeling grumpy, scattered, or stressed, guided breathwork breaks the cycle. And now, I’m sorta in love with YouTube creator Breathe with Sandy.

It all started some years back with the guided breathwork app Othership. At the time I was curious to “be high on my own supply”. And it worked, but it was also sorta intense—the app’s guided sessions are rapid, some as short as 3 minutes. It dumps you right into getting light-headed and tingly fingers.

Rather quickly I bumped against its paywall and couldn’t decide if $18 a month was worth it. For a while, I forgot about intentional breathing and focused instead on meditation.

Then a friend recommended I read Breath, the book by James Nestor, which I did last year. You can read more in my book club post, but in essence, Nestor explains how breathing can affect all kinds of health outcomes and how nasal breathing differs physiologically from mouth breathing. My takeaways were that breathing is powerful, and awareness of how we breathe helps us be more intentional, active respirators.

Meanwhile, I was still learning to meditate and getting my deep breathing from exercising in the gym, running, and frequently practicing yoga.

Sometime this spring, YouTube’s algorithm flashed Sandy across my screen, and it felt fated. He’s tall, broad-shouldered and toned with long gorgeous locks of brown hair. I have a thing for long-haired men. But looks weren’t enough to hold my attention.

Not only is Sandy fit and attractive, but his voice is real mellow and his videos are slickly produced. He guides each meditation with ease and gentleness, exactly what you want from someone who’s pushing you to breathe forcefully and hold your breath for longer than is comfortable. Each of his videos varies in length, so you can pick something relatively quick or intensive sessions that last up to an hour.

And it works! His sessions always make me feel better. Lighter. More joyful. It’s those good endorphins at work. None of it is especially uncomfortable.

Regardless of the style of breathing, regardless of the cadence, simply going through some guided exercises with a soothing voice is enough to break me from whatever inner drama I’m focused on and brings me back to the present, to my body, to my gratitude.

What dawned on me is that breathwork is a sort of hybrid. It’s cardiovascular, gently forcing the expansion of my lungs. It’s also a meditation, on the body and on the breath. I can’t think about other things when I’m trying to keep pace with big inhales and big exhales.

My favorite part is the “breath retention” at the end of each round, where Sandy and I sit with empty lungs and resist the urge to inhale. It’s the strangest feeling.

I’m still a novice, of course. It’s only been a few months.

But I feel like I’ve stumbled on something so simple yet so powerful.

And, it’s easier than sitting down to meditate. Whereas silent meditation works best in controlled settings without noise or distractions, these breathwork sessions include audio and in theory, could be performed anywhere, even in a crowded airport. I did a session yesterday in a spare meeting room at the coworking space I’m using—Hive Ybor.

Plus, and this is the clincher, it’s free.

Well I pay for YouTube Premium, so it’s ad-free for me, but Sandy releases his guided breathwork videos for all to use and enjoy freely. You can support him on Patreon, but he’s essentially offering something for free that many will charge for, especially slick apps like Othership.

No offense to slick apps, but as I mentioned in my previous post, there are lots of things you can find for free if you dig around some—especially on streaming platforms you already pay for.

So have you tried it—this funny thing called breathwork? What did you think? Did you feel different after? How did it change your mood?

Are there other techniques you use for self-soothing? What works for you?

“Remember to breathe, and remember to laugh. Peace.” - Sandy