EPISODE 7 – Breathe: The Evolution of Breath & Buteyko Breathing
Breath control has been a part of many cultural and spiritual practices for thousands of years. Modern research is showing us that even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
So how do we do it?
In the first half of this episode, my conversation with James Nestor, author of the book “Breath: The New Science of the Lost Art” explores just that. In our conversation, we explore the history of human civilization and how our teeth became crooked, the ancient practices of breath across time, the effect of breath on the nervous system, and the story of a remarkable individual called Wim Hoff who used intentional breathing techniques to regulate the impact of stress on his body.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
And in the second half of this episode we explore a transformative new way of breathing called the “Buteyko Technique” with Patrick McEwen, a world leader in breath retraining and the Buteyko method.