The Nervous System’s Love Language: Breathing
I get asked often about HRV (heart rate variablity). How do you measure it? How do you improve it? What does it do? My busy mom friends say to me, “My HRV sucks!” and I feel bad because I can tell them why it sucks but there is very little they can do about it. I say, “Have you tried breathing?” Breathing properly and deeply is the secret to a healthy autonomic nervous system response. The goal in life is NOT to feel or be stressed but to know how to transmute stress quickly and efficiently so that it does not become chronic stress. And that is done through…your breath.
Dan Millman, the author of The Peaceful Warrior, said to me, “the only difference between fear and excitement is whether you’re breathing (fully and gracefully).” What did he mean? Breathing? What happened to sports psychology advice?
Learning how to breathe properly, while moving, was something I had to re-learn recently. In ballet, you learn to hold your breath — sometimes for 8 counts so you don’t knock yourself out of balance. In skating, I discovered I was holding my breath for 20 seconds in when a spin, which left me gasping for air and unable to continue to the next element. I thought I was out of shape.
When we think about mental training, if you are like me, you probably assume that you have to force your brain/mind to do something. Meditate real hard. As if the harder I concentrated or the more I focused, the more something would happen. I soon learned that belief is actually false.
If you ask me what is the one thing that changed my life the past few years? Learning how to breathe and on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the full potential of my breathe, I put myself at a 2.
But even at a 2, what has learning to breathe done for me?
- Gave me control over my anxiety
- Helped me regulate my nervous system (HRV)
- Helped me manage my performance anxiety
- Allowed me to perform more fluidly with power, strength and grace
- Helped me feel more present in my body
- Help me relax without needing to change my environment or take substances
It’s not easy to breathe properly. It is a complicated science, which I believe, without an understanding — you will never reach your true potential as a human being or athlete. The ability to do more with less effort is what will set you apart because it will make doing hard things, like performing well under pressure and managing your anxiety — more enjoyable. A pill is a bandaid solution but learning how to control your thoughts through your breathe — that is witchcraft level magic.
I recently started using an Airofit device which is a company based in Europe (the Europeans are eating our lunch when it comes to wellness innovation). The reason I decided to give it a try is that my lung capacity is my one chief compliant on the ice. I hate running my program. It is the most biologically tragic part of my day — like being chased by a herd of elephants. Cortisol spikes, glucose spikes.
What is it? Airofit is a respiratory training system. The breathing trainer provides resistance on your breathing muscles, while the mobile app gives you live feedback and guidance through exercises, as well as, the ability to track your progress. Just like any other muscle group, your respiratory muscles can become stronger, faster and more efficient, which directly correlates to a better O2, therefore improving your physical performance. Airofit is also the only breathing trainer that goes beyond simple respiratory muscle training (RMT) by addressing other aspects of breathing, like Respiratory strength, Vital capacity, Anaerobic threshold, and relaxation.
I am not sponsored by Airofit and I paid for my own device. I’m genuinely curious how I can help gain more lung capacity by training my diaphragm muscles. I also like the digital nature of the app because I can see and monitor my progress. It is currently part of my daily routine.
The app has several different types to training from mindfulness to anaerobic. I’m using the program for speed skaters as they don’t have a figure skating module but it is likely pretty similar. Sometimes when doing my training, I feel like I am going to pass out but this happens to me as well when I do Wim Hof breathing.
I find that when I use the trainer, I feel more energized. It’s like I can really draw a lot more oxygen into my lungs.
The device itself with taxes and shipping was close to $400. I spend so much on figure skating that this is pretty much a small drop in a bucket for me. If I think it can help me get more out of everything else I’m already doing, it is worth it to me. I realize not everyone is going to drop $400 for a device you use 6 minutes a day (that is how long the training session lasts) but knowing how important breathing is — it is worth it for me.
