Breathing Essentials: COVID & Beyond

Like the beating of your heart, your respiratory system doesn’t need monitoring to continue doing its job. Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, it’s there, quietly working underneath it all.

It may be a natural body function, but it does more than sustain life. Breathing is essential for stress management, minimizing the risk of chronic illnesses, reducing pain symptoms, and enhancing how fast you recover from illness and injury.

Research into basic physiology and into the effects of applying breath awareness and regulation has become much more popular in the clinical and performance fields, and for a good reason.

Many of us take for granted the power that breath has over our entire body and the opportunities it can present to improve our long-term health and longevity.

We face new challenges; COVID has changed the way we work, live, play and engage in activities. Over 77% of the Canadian population are not currently moving enough daily, and 1 in 5 of us are dealing with persistent, chronic pain. Everyone is moving less, sitting more, and our posture and ability to breathe optimally are suffering for it.

These numbers are continuing to climb in all age categories, and a new key contributor is remote working and social distancing. Our new landscape has left many of us looking for creative and innovative ways to access safe options so that we can continue to engage in health and fitness. But a big hurdle is that there is a lot of stigma around talking about chronic pain, let alone COVID related lifestyle challenges.

As a movement and pain specialist, I have spent the last 15 years bridging clinical intervention and fitness gaps. I talk about the hard things and make them easy to understand and simple to action. As Glennon Doyle says – “we can do hard things.” Doing them well is easier with the right tools, support and guidance.

The number one focus and tool I use for my clients is breathing awareness and regulation. It works and permeates every level of your muscles, organs, cells, and is key to mindfulness and our emotional regulation.

The basic element to a healthy and resilient body is the ability to breathe deeply during any activity, not just while at rest.

Breathing also plays an essential therapeutic role in minimizing risk of exposure to illnesses like COVID-19, COPD and other respiratory conditions. It is also a powerful tool in the COVID-19 recovery process, as it helps to re-establish safety and creates a framework for healing.
Therefore, prioritizing a breath practice should be just as crucial as any preventative care or fitness-related goal. Breathing has many benefits.

1. Breath awareness and regulation strengthens the diaphragm
2. Helps manage pain symptoms
3. Decreases the effort needed to breathe by slowing the breathing rate
4. Reduces oxygen demand and promotes overall ph balance
5. Your body uses less effort and energy to breathe
6. It can help improve exercise tolerance and improve fitness
7. Stimulates parasympathetic tone, the ‘rest and digest’ branch of your nervous system

In response to the growing demand and need for understanding breathing I have complied my research, experience, and education into a webinar. I provide you best practices in the health and fitness space related to breathing, and specifically COVID. This educational webinar gives you all the tools you need to feel more confident navigating clients, work, life and play in times of COVID.

It is for active-adults and fitness-professionals looking to expand knowledge on optimal breathing strategies to minimize risk and improve respiratory and movement health on the training floor and out into the world.

The details:
This webinar has been pre-recorded so that you can take your time moving through the materials.