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Forget The Fad And Breathe Your Way Into 2025

Siobhan Fitzgerald is a well-established Yoga Therapist using movement, prescriptive breath work, and Ayurveda in a very bespoke way. She is the founder of Prana for Life education, and has a book on its way “The Breath Code”. She wants everyone to own ways to fill the void and transform their life.

 
Executive Contributor Siobhan Fitzgerald

There are many theories on what makes for a good routine to keep you well in today's world. Our fast-paced life means less time for self-care, yet it is vitally important to fit something in, especially if it buys you more time and focus in the long run. What if, as an added bonus, it keeps you happier and younger, too? Would you consider it?

women touching her chest and stomach

Why breathe as a daily routine? 


Science proves that dedicating just 8 minutes every day can create transformative change. Just 8 minutes. A few active breath practices done well, combined with one key slow breath practice, are invaluable in so many ways. Active breathing, when performed and executed well, clears the channels that harbor disease. It strengthens the vital organs, burns abdominal fat and visceral fats, and removes toxins from the cells. It enhances the vital capacity of the lungs, helps increase heart rate variability, and improves digestion. All these benefits keep your internal environment cleaner and healthier, which impacts the mind giving you resilience, clarity, focus, and calm.


When we couple active breathing with traditional slow breathing, we further enhance the oxygen and CO2 levels in the blood. This actively breaks the stress mechanism and begins to create balance in our entire system.


Why fads don't work?


Yoga as a daily routine is widely practiced, but what part of it really works, and what is likely to be a fad or fizzle out? If you are lucky enough to have an authentic yoga teacher, then you are extremely fortunate. However, there is a huge variation in the standard of teaching, ranging from basic to lifelong immersion, which greatly affects what instructors can give back.


When we start a routine, it is exciting, but day by day, it gets harder to keep up. Reasons for this can vary: it may take too much time, the effects might not be felt quickly enough, or life’s demands, such as work shifts, might disrupt the routine. Getting back on track again can be tough.


Fads are a waste of your money, time, and energy not to mention the hopes and dreams of “getting it right this time around.”


The truth is, if there is something going on in your system causing you stress, poor eating habits, weight gain, fatigue, hypertension, diabetes, anxiety, asthma, mental health issues, confidence struggles, and so on, it didn’t happen overnight. So why would you ever assume a quick fix or fad diet could reverse everything overnight either?


Believe me, I know. From the age of 13, I tried to change myself. I started with my Felicity Kendal workout tape in my bedroom. By my twenties, I was trying the Beverly Hills diet, Callanetics, Cindy Crawford workout videos, gym memberships, and a whole host of herbal pills and colonics. I was desperately trying to control my weight, insomnia, bulimia, IBS, acne, irregular menstrual cycles, and mood swings. For me, childhood trauma was so deeply seated that nothing touched how I felt. My self-worth and belief system grew weaker and weaker as I failed to find a solution.


I spent a lot of money on these diets, setting myself up with expensive ingredients and a big jar of hope.


How I got into a transformative breath routine? 


At 26 years old, one of my clients, a yoga teacher, asked me to come to her classes. Eventually, after some heavy persuasion on her part, I decided to go. At this point, I was swimming and running every morning and then walking 45 minutes to work. I was staying fit, but all my issues were still there, right under the surface.


That evening, after taking my first yoga class with a group of women three times my age, I realized two things. First, I felt different. Second, although I was fit, my body was tight, stiff, and wouldn’t yield like the others in that class. It was a hard class for me, but I wanted more. A tiny seed of feeling, a new and good type of difference, urged me to continue.


I started going to this lady’s classes twice a week. Growth happened. I sought out more good local teachers, and more growth followed. I went to India in 2004, at the age of 34, eight years after my first class. In 2005, I met my master of breathing, who shifted the last of my long list of issues from my system forever. I was free, liberated, with beautiful skin, a slim and toned figure, deep sleep night after night, and a very happy digestive system.


For me, yoga has been part of my life for the past 28 years. Daily, on my mat, I get a chance to empty my mind, energize my body, and calm the deeper emotions within. No matter what life throws at me, yoga helps me remain in a better place.


8 facts about the breath’s ability to internally transform you


1. Break stress 


Under stress conditions our Oxygen intake gets stuck and the molecules are not absorbed? Keeping us in a state of stress and fatigue. When you learn the traditional practice of breath work it breaks this cycle and the Oxygen becomes highly absorbable once more, our rate of vitality and happiness increases. 


2. Reverse ageing 


Did you know a daily short breath practice of 8 minutes per day reverses the ageing process of your cells. That's right, telomeres that fray causing ageing, start to lengthen again. Keeping a younger, more youthful body. 


3. Rewire the brain 


You know that no medicine can cure our mental and emotional troubles? Did you also know yoga, especially breathing and meditation, is the only thing that can change the psycho-physiological pattern of the body? It is a wonderful and powerful tool for life. It can literally rewire our neural circuits from stress brain to calm and rational brain. The only side effect is feeling happier. 


4. Control over your calm 


Vagus nerve activity in the human body is difficult to control or tap into, it is responsible for how our nervous system reacts to stress. It can contribute


along with the carotid sinus to how we control heart rate and pulse rate under stressful conditions. Yoga breathing is the only practice that can access all branches of the Vagus nerve and restore harmony and overwhelm bringing us back into balance. The CO2 ratio in the blood changes and we become increasingly calm. 


5. Increase the amount of oxygen in your body 


The breath mechanism used in yogic breathing can increase vital capacity of the lungs and at the same time use up much less oxygen in doing so. If it is also taught correctly, it is able to create a more open space to breathe easier. Exercise does also increase vital capacity in the lungs but it also uses up lots of oxygen in the process. Active traditional Pranayama breath work will create an aerobic environment but with the added benefit of an oxygen gain. 


6. The greatest detox of your life 


When we do breathing the immediate effects are felt on heart rate and a calmer mind and we start breaking the stress mechanism and reducing metabolic load by detoxifying the body, we also improve cortical control and balance over our limbic system when we continue it reverses dis-ease and enhance wellbeing– by strengthening and activating our immunity and our PSN system, which can become virtually inactive in long-term stress. We become clearer, calmer thinkers and more in control. Every cell in our body gets in better, cleaner shape. 


7. Put the lid on Anxiety 


Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, is an important acid used by the nervous system, it helps with mood and alters how excited our nervous system gets under stress. During proper yogic breathing its levels increase greatly, slowing the nervous system and greatly aids in a reduction in feelings associated with anxiety, stress and fear.


8. Go for authenticity for results that really work well


Breath work comes in many different practices. Since Covid it seems everyone has a solution. These new methods will be short lived. The ancient yoga methods of correct breath work are scientific and they work long term and have the ability to change the way we feel forever if we give it the time. They have stood the test of time because they work. Practices on hyperventilation are careless and have not been seen in the 2500 years of yoga therapy to have been documented anywhere. Neither has any form of breathing using the mouth rather than the nose. Be selective in who you look to for guidance. Teachers from a lineage or traditional school have proof, teachers of a style don’t and it is all too easy to get qualified and not do the deeper work needed to be authentic. 


Breath a tool for life 


By learning how to access the organs of the breath and gradually making the exhale longer than the inhale, you can break your body’s stress mechanism. This frees up oxygen for the cells, and the extra CO2 keeps you remarkably calm. All yoga practices contribute to lowering stress levels and steadying the mind. In the ancient sutras of Patanjali, it is said that the goal of yoga is “yogas-chitta-vritti-nirodha,” meaning the goal is to calm the head talk (chitta) of our thought patterns (vrittis). No other standalone practice in the Western world has the power to achieve this. Even aerobic exercise depletes oxygen as fast as it increases it, so we don’t get the same chance to heal and repair as we do with authentic traditional breathwork.


The main problem is that it is often not taught with solid methodology and is frequently diluted. Since the pandemic, a myriad of so-called breath masters has emerged, claiming their methods work best while suggesting that some of these phenomenally beneficial traditions make us unwell or cause hyperventilation. This misconception arises because the methods are misused and executed incorrectly in the first place.


On my first trip to learn from my lineage, I discovered I had been taught the wrong methods and was feeling poorly after breathwork. I continued, thinking it would eventually help. Learning to do it correctly was a game-changer. The effects, as I explained earlier, were transformational. I have never experienced such an amazing sense of self-love, compassion, and inner calm as I did from that immersion. That is why I continued. I never went back to feeling the way I did before this experience.


However, the reasons for my illness came from trauma and remain part of who I am today. The key was to keep going, practicing, and developing deeper channels of calm in my body and mind. This allowed me to stop reacting to triggers and catch myself before things got out of hand. Having the skills to do that is worth its weight in gold.


The breath has been everything to me. I do have a daily physical routine in the Ashtanga style of yoga, but if I am short on time, I know that 20 minutes of breathwork is better than anything else for setting my mind in the right place for the day ahead. Over time, I’ve developed an almost invincible feeling. It’s hard to describe – it’s a sense that nothing can touch me.


This doesn’t mean we don’t get upset, cry, or feel anger. We just catch it in motion and stop its flow before it harms us. If we do become overwhelmed, I find the recovery period gets faster every time. It’s an inside job. Your daily care is worth it, and what’s not to like? Breathwork has been proven to be the only practice with effects that last 24 hours after a single daily session.


Catch the ocean and ride the breeze. It’s a beautiful thing and one you won’t regret. Being part of a lineage means all the practices have been tested for over a hundred years. The mechanism of breathing lies in the respiratory muscles of the belly, pelvic floor, and diaphragm. Under stress, these areas become tight and barely movable. The key is to soften these areas over time, releasing them and the nervous system they so tightly attach to.


Breathe in through the nose for 3 counts and let the belly fill up. Breathe out through the nose for 4, 5, and eventually 6 counts, so the exhale becomes twice as long. Just see how you feel after 5 to 8 minutes. All the while, try to relax the lower ribs and diaphragm on the exhale. It really is a beautiful thing.


If you would like to work with me. My name is Siobhan Fitzgerald and I own Prana for Life Limited, where I pride myself in helping people greatly improve their wellbeing and their life.


Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

Read more from Siobhan Fitzgerald

 

Siobhan Fitzgerald, Yoga Therapist and Breath Master

Siobhan Fitzgerald is a lifestyle educator focused on filling our void through rewiring our brain using breath and yoga therapy. A fusion was unique for every soul. Working with a one-hundred-year-old lineage, the practices lead to a life free from emotional pain and a hollow void we are compelled to try and fill. Her goal is to liberate us from that mindset and give us transformational tools that change and evolve with you. Healing her trauma this way after failing on so many other levels. Her mission: To invoke positive change within and your window on life.

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