The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in our body which runs from the head to the lungs, heart and digestive system. It is often referred to as the second brain because 80% of the nerve fibres travel from the body to the brain. This explains why we cannot think our way out of trauma. We must work with the body to maximise healing. When we breathe properly we tone the vagal nerve and send messages that we are safe and well to the brain. Breath work has been scientifically proven to lower or even diminish anxiety and depression.

While there is a lack of research into the true impact in alterations of hormones and breathing for females, we do know that breath work can ease symptoms that women may experience in their life time due to hormonal changes. Research has acknowledged that levels of oxygen and C02 do alter throughout each month and at major changes within the body. A range of breathing techniques can be utilised to regulate these levels which subsequently allowing women to move through these transitions with more ease.

Inflammation is a natural response to stress and is the bodies defense mechanism to an injury or infection. However, when chronic stress becomes our new normal as a response to challenges in our daily lives, our bodies have to work over time as they endeavour to return to homeostasis. Over time this can lead to physical and mental health issues.

One of the breaths main functions is to regulate the levels of C02 within our blood. Using the breath we can rebalance these levels which have become altered due to inflammation. Toning the vagal nerve through breathing techniques plays a key role in maintaining a greater resilience to stressors.

If your breathing pattern throughout the day is suboptimal, this will also be the case during sleep. Breathing exercises can dramatically reduce symptoms of poor sleep, insomnia, snoring or sleep apnea to ensure that your breathing pattern day and night effectively engages your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). Nasal breathing is very important throughout the day and night, this is because breathing through an open mouth engages the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight stress response) which exacerbates the heart rate and racing thoughts which often go hand in hand with insomnia.

Total or partial collapse of the throat through open mouth breathing can lead to snoring or sleep apnea. It is key to first address and analyse our breathing pattern throughout our waking hours in order to alter how we breathe at night. You can achieve improved sleep even if you have struggled for many years.

Using conscious connected breath work can be a fantastic approach to tackling repressed feelings, emotions and trauma that are trapped within our bodies. Using techniques such as Transformational Breath ® we are able to access our subconscious and release stuck energy which may be unknowingly creating a range of physiological and mental issues. While talking therapies work incredibly well alongside breath work, employing a somatic modality allows both the mind and body to process and integrate the negative energy can can reside in all of us.

How we breathe has a direct impact on how much we feel pain. Factors such as poor posture and muscle tension are key however, over breathing (which is the most common breathing pattern disorder) can induce muscle spasms and heightens the body’s response to stress hormones. The peripheral nerves become over sensitive to a lack in C02 and therefore, send messages to to our body and we experience a greater perception of pain. Regulating our breathing can ensure that we are not causing alkalosis by over breathing and therefore, lowering our perception of our pain.

While there are many factors that contribute to high blood pressure and heart rate, stress can be a key trigger by exacerbating this. We all recognise that a healthy lifestyle can help eliminate the chances of high blood pressure, but up until more recently it has not been fully acknowledged by medical professionals that breathing is fundamental to this. Practising particular breath work techniques can be one of the major factors in lowering both heart rate and blood pressure.