What's a Breathing Class, and What's in it for ME?

When I decided to become a certified BREATHE instructor at the end of last year, I had no idea I would come up against so much resistance, when it comes to taking a class that would help people to look and feel better on every level and at any age. I mean, breathing truly is essential to your quality of life. It’s a no-brainer in my mind; if you breathe well, you live well, if you don’t…

Really. It’s not your fault. From the time you were a little kid, and beginning to make your way into the world, leaving the nest and going to school, you were taught – indoctrinated into – to follow the predetermined path of your parents and grandparents, subscribing to their habits, their values, virtually unaware that you do have many more choices than you believed were available to you at the time.

By the time you started having your own experiences and figuring out that you do have (some) freedom to choose, you already had most of your behaviors and habits on auto-pilot. The most disastrous habit we developed as a result of that modeling, was breathing in a way that Dr. Belisa Vranich, author of BREATHE; the Simple, Revolutionary Program to Improve Your Mental an Physical Health, and the creator of The Breathing Class, calls ANATOMICALLY INCONGRUOUS AND BIOMECHANICALLY NOT SOUND. That doesn’t sound very good, does it?

No, it doesn’t! But what does it mean? I know I asked that very same question when I first started studying to be a BREATHE Instructor. It means that we are designed to breathe in a way that supports life, health and vitality – with our whole bodies: The diaphragm, the pelvic floor, the spine and the muscles that mobilize and stabilize them as our main breathing system, along with the mental, emotional, and chemical processes that drive them and us.

The problem for our time is, the combination of the above indoctrination and our stress-fueled lives have hijacked our health by limiting our capacity to breath (and live) fully, by making us rigid, and keeping our breath in the small upper part of our lungs, using our neck and shoulder muscles as our main respiratory muscles, causing us to breathe faster and shallower, keeping us in an almost constant state of “fight or flight”, and setting off a cascade of health problems, not the least of which is chronic stress.

The solution to this problem, is to regain control of your nervous system, so it will stop controlling you, by re-learning how to breathe the way your body is meant to breathe, in an ANATOMICALLY CONGRUOUS AND BIOMECHANINCALLY SOUND way. This is where THE BREATHING CLASS comes in.

Since I’ve had asthma practically all my life, I have been looking for ways to improve my breathing as soon as I realized that it could even be a possibility. Even though I have tried many programs, none of them impacted me as this one did. I’m certain that it’s because of the way it’s set up as a PRIMER, to give you enough kinesthetic awareness to begin to embody what breathing well is supposed to feel like, and then lays out a program to make good breathing your habit, over 14-days.

And, in 14-days – much less time that it takes for most other habits to feel natural and automatic – you have noticed that your body has changed. Your posture is better, that belly has started to flatten, your skin is clearer and more radiant. Your mind has changed. You’ve become a better problem solver and critical thinker. Your memory has improved. Your emotions(moods) are more stable. You are calmer and more alert, and you don’t come unhinged when someone or something disturbs your peace. You are more resilient, and you have more energy. Yes, all that, and much more as a result of changing your breathing back to the perfect horizontal (circumferential) breath you had as a very young child, from the vertical (apical) breath, you adopted.

This is how it’s done:

• I have laid out my classes in a way that closely follows the program outlined in the book – because IT WORKS!

• You begin with attending a BREATHING CLASS PLAYSHOP (I call it that, because it’s fun!), where you will learn about how and why we’re breathing the way we are in order to begin dismantling those bad breathing habits.

• I give you tools for measuring your baselines (where you’re starting from) and track your progress (your better health goals).

• You’ll get a Breathing Anatomy to understand how, and where you’re breathing from, and how it’s related to your overall health and well-being.

• We’ll do a series of exercises specifically selected and designed to change your breathing to a horizontal from vertical (or mixed).

• Then we’ll do an Active Recovery Breathing-Meditation, the perfect remedy to diffuse stress that even appeals to people who say they can’t meditate.

After the PlayShop, you can simply choose to follow the book through the 14-days, but what I’ve found is that learning and exercising with others on the same path as you, will make sustaining changes easier, and make the learning fun. Plus, it also helps with your commitment to be accountable.

In that case, you can choose to allow me to coach you further, and opt-in to my Zoom Bonus Classes, done 3 days a week over the course of the 14-days following your PlayShop experience. You can either take the class live with me or use the recording. However you do it, it’s important to do it consistently, to make the most of the program.

I'm blown away by the mind-blowing life-changing results this incredibly simple but totally effective life-hack is providing for people who have attended the classes have shared with me. Most are reporting more energy and better sleep. Many have eliminated digestive issues, neck, shoulder and low back pain, and all have said that they feel that their mental clarity and memory has improved.

This is the Magic Pill you've been waiting for, and what's really cool is, you've had it all along.