Breathing is like a Swiss Army Knife
Writing this article makes me laugh and cry a little inside.
My first Swiss Army Knife
It takes me back to when I was a mouth breathing child, standing in a shop holding my first ever Swiss Army Knife. The first thing I did was open the knife at the very tip with my nail. It cut me straight down the pad of my thumb and snapped back in again. I was smarter than that. I just wasn’t thinking. Nor was I guided to open it safely, because you’d assume I would know what to do in the moment. It isn’t like I’d never seen one before.
My first panic attack
A few years later, aged 12, I experienced my first ever panic attack. I knew what a panic attack was because my school friend had them. I just didn’t realise I was having one. I wasn’t the sort of child who got panic attacks. I had never been prepared for them. Even after I sought advice from my GP, I was not taught that I had control over my breathing and how to use it in a situation like I was explaining. I was however provided with an inhaler for sport induced asthma because I had been running for help at the time.
My panic attacks masqueraded as sport induced asthma
As a sporty child, I would then need and use my inhaler for the next few years because each time I exercised I would panic that I’d need my inhaler. After all, the Doctor had told me I had sport induced asthma. A hyperventilating mouth breather experienced their throat closing up over and over again, and yet again, no one explained that I had the tools to prevent this myself, well before the need for an inhaler. Upon leaving school I gave up high-intensity sports.
I suffered physical pain linked to anxiety
In my mid 20s after years in the world of work, my anxiety and stress levels were so high I started getting physical symptoms on top of recurrent burnout. Although I was performing well in my job, I secretly experienced chronic pelvic pain and pain during sex for more than 2 years. My pelvic pain would get worse at the same time every menstrual cycle, at a time that I now recognise breathing becoming much faster due to hormonal changes. I went to medical professional after medical professional to start to unpick what was going on and to find a solution. There is more to this story but it gives you the nuts and bolts.
I was introduced to my first breathing tool
My women’s health physiotherapist explained that her own research (outside of what she’d been taught in her training) had made the link between how you are feeling and the pain experienced. She encouraged me to use slow diaphragmatic breathing and conscious relaxation of my muscles before and during any physio exercises I was to do. I was also advised to stop immediately if I felt mentally uncomfortable, wait until I had calmed my body to feel safe, and then to proceed. I also used it to calm the feeling of persistent cystitis which would often come on just as I was going to bed. These physio breathing exercises became a way of improving my sleep and dropping off quicker.
My physio finally showed me how to open the damn knife, aged 28. If only I’d known there was a knife to use in the first place, maybe I’d have been asking questions on how to open it. I was hugely grateful to finally be making progress. By the time I was discharged a year later with full control of my pelvic floor and the ability to manage the onset of pain during anxious situations, she told me in response to my question, that I was probably better prepared for a positive birth than most women.
I breathed my way through labour and birth
Another powerful moment was after reading some books on the power of the body during birth, as well as entertaining the idea of some hypnobirthing via YouTube videos. Reading Millie Hill’s “The Positive Birth Book” transformed my impression of birth. I went from feeing petrified to feeling actually quite excited and intrigued to unleash the power of my body. Recognising that slow conscious breathing was powerful for pain, I practiced a few times over the last few months of pregnancy. I was pretty flabbergasted though by my body’s natural instinct to chant in the car on the way to the hospital. I was fortunate enough to be able to use a birthing pool, and once finally in there, I was able to finally soothe my body and concentrate on my breath. I had crawled in desperation, not waiting for a wheelchair, through the corridor, on my hands and knees and in my knickers, because it felt so unnatural to be on a hospital bed in a brightly lit room during labour. For the next few hours if I ever lost my breathing rhythm I was guided back by my birthing partner, whilst my husband continued to spray my back with the shower for hours on end. Focused breathing linked to the feeling of water avoided the use of further pain relief. I had scoffed at the idea that you could feel like a wild animal and a ‘Goddess’ at the same time. That is exactly how I felt. Instinctual and totally in tune with my body for the first time in my life.
I finally learned the concept of conscious breathing and awareness
Having found conscious breathing and breathing awareness as tools that I couldn’t ignore, I started to look a little deeper. It took me a lot of digging to come across the concept of retraining breathing fully from being a mouth breather to a nose breather, as well as learning to use the diaphragm properly. Considering our mouth is designed as a back up system only to our nose, this seems a little odd to have been overlooked by the medical industry at large. Not to mention the impact mouth breathing has on facial development during childhood, impacting the size of the nasal cavity as the roof of the mouth caves upwards in a ever narrowing mouth. This is a topic for another time.
I started to fully understand the breathing multitool that I hold
Just when I thought I’d found the most incredible Swiss Army Knife, I turned it over and realised there were a whole load of other tools, I hadn’t even noticed on first inspection.
These breathing tools include but are not limited to:
breathing methods to regain control and reduce anxiety
breathing methods to improve oxygenation of the body
breathing methods to prevent and improve snoring
breathing methods to regain control of breathing before an asthma attack
breathing methods to improve breathlessness
breathing methods to counteract stressors
breathing methods to prevent brain fog
breathing methods to increase endurance
breathing methods to retrain to nose breathing as a mouth breather
breathing methods to re-engage the diaphragm
And yet most people are still fiddling around with the easy to access tooth pick which naturally slips in and out, so unaware of their Swiss army knife, that they don’t even realise it is there to be learned out and used optimally. Like most multitool users, there are still tools I am yet to use in a variety of situations, and this excites me.
I write this as a breathing retrainer & awareness coach
I write this now as a healthier, happier, calmer, less anxious, more energetic nose breather who is hugely passionate about breathing and awareness. I experimented with my own breathing and awareness multitool, tried out breathing and awareness tools with other people and learned from a number of different breathing and awareness tool users in the industry. I decided to move away from my previous career and go out into the world teaching busy people how to not only recognise what tools they have, but teach them how and when to use them. Some tools take practice whilst some have instant results. I am yet to meet someone who hasn’t noticed a health improvement and felt empowered to have learned something about themselves which they can improve their own health with. For many of my clients, breathing retraining and breathing awareness has been quite literally life changing. This is the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done.
Intrigued?
If you have been intrigued by this article and would like to better understand your own breathing and awareness toolkit or help your team understand theirs, don’t hesitate to get in touch for the following breathing & awareness coaching:
One-to-one coaching (via Zoom & in person)
Corporate coaching (via Zoom & in person)
Group coaching - family/friends/join a group (via Zoom & in person)
Book a call at a time that suits you.
Email me on jane@canidoitmyself.com
Contact me on social media @linkbreathing
I am based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, where I provide face to face coaching as well as online coaching, however I can travel within the UK for corporate coaching.
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