Breathe In, Breathe Out
Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress by Guiding and Controlling Your Breathing
This is the fourth book of Jim Loehr’s we’ve featured so far. Written in 1986, it’s a bit old school (gotta love references to VHS tapes) and it’s currently out of print but I found it in our home library (Alexandra bought it over a decade ago) and I figured it would be perfect as part of my prep for Optimal Breathing 101. It didn’t disappoint. Big Ideas we explore include: how to breathe for maximum achievement, 7X-ing your oxygen, how to drop the impatience (+ a Johnson family practice), alternate nostril breathing and the key to peak performance.
Big Ideas
- Breathing for Maximum AchievementFor maximum achievement.
- 7x your oxygenOne breath at a time.
- Drop the Impatience-10 —> +10.
- Breathing BreaksLet’s take ‘em!
- Alternate Nostril BreathingLeft. Right. Left.
- Peak Performance = Emotional Strength= Emotional strength.
“Oxygen: the first and most basic necessity of life, the essential element of your moment-by-moment involvement with the air around you.
Life begins with your first breath. You will breathe in oxygen ten to sixteen or more times in the next minute. You will take one hundred million breaths before you take your last.
But breathing is far more than inhaling air containing oxygen, circulating it in your body, consuming its benefits, and exhaling carbon dioxide. Philosophers and physicians have always recognized the basic relationship between breathing and life energy. For three thousand years, the philosophy of yoga has held that control of ‘vital breath’ is the key to good physical health and to calm, clear thinking. In this century, science has advanced our understanding of how breathing interacts with the body and the mind. Research has shown that slowing down and deepening breathing shifts us from the stress response to the relaxation response; this slows the heart, normalizes the blood pressure, increases blood flow to the digestive system, deepens sleep, increases energy, focus, concentration, and memory—optimal breathing not only helps prevent or cure diseases, it raises performance levels in school and sports. …
The purpose of this book is inspirational in the literal sense: to breathe new life into oneself, to reintegrate body and mind.”
~ James Loehr & Jeffrey Migdow from Breathe In, Breathe Out
This is the fourth book of Jim Loehr’s we’ve featured so far.
(Others include: The Power of Full Engagement, Toughness Training for Life and The New Toughness Training for Sports.)
Written in 1986, it’s a bit old school (gotta love references to VHS tapes) and it’s currently out of print but I found it in our home library (Alexandra bought it over a decade ago) and I figured it would be perfect as part of my prep for Optimal Breathing 101. It didn’t disappoint. (Get a copy of the book here.)
In honor of the title, let’s breathe in… and breathe out…
Inhale energy and exhale stress by guiding and controlling your breathing. :)
I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas and help us apply them to our lives today so let’s take one more nice deep breath and jump straight in!
Download MP3
Download PDFThe art of breathing—the most basic function of life—allows you to be alive in every moment, naturally. Breath is life!
Get the BookBreathing for Maximum Achievement
“Normally, you inhale just enough air to get by, to keep your body at maintenance level. Although you feel perfectly all right, you aren’t providing enough energy to gear up to maximum potential. What’s more, the chances are you are not breathing deeply enough to remove toxins that build up through continual wear and tear on your cells; the battery runs down. Toxic load is a major reason you feel sluggish and unmotivated. Most people don’t clean out the lower portion of their lungs. Stale air hangs around there.”
Want maximum energy? Breathe fully and deeply.
We feel sluggish when we’re not removing the toxins that build up.
Remember that one of the big reasons our breathing is so important is that our breath is THE #1 way we remove all the toxins that naturally accumulate in our cells.
Here’s how the Perfect Breathing guys put it: “The waste that is collected by the blood and delivered to the lungs is expelled with the next inhale, but few people realize that 70 percent of the waste that our bodies generate is removed by the breath. Only 30 percent is removed via sweat and elimination. So taking slower deep breaths not only increases the energy your body is receiving but is also crucial to cleansing your body of the waste and toxins that your metabolism generates.”
Note: 70% (!) of the waste our body generates is removed via breathing. SEVENTY PER CENT!!
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Wave goodbye to the toxins on their way out.
Breathing is a tool that enables anyone to perform better in every aspect of life. We can’t emphasize that enough.
7x your oxygen
“Tension is the straightjacket that constricts your lungs, that keeps you from realizing your potential through breath. Tension creates a state of internal war that limits action.
Age compounds problems. As you grow older, you will lose more and more flexibility in your chest and lungs. If measures aren’t taken to counteract this disposition, tightness becomes worse. You will hunch when you walk. You will live on edge. You will seem to run out of air. You will gulp. You will gasp.
Lamentable trends can be reversed. The means are available just about at will. Nature has provided you with the ability to take in seven timesthe oxygen you normally inhale. The nature of Nature is designed to be taken advantage of.
Do it right now.
Take a deep, full breath.
Now, exhale it slowly. Slowly.
Do it again. Take another deep, full breath. Let it out slowly.
And again.
Establish a nice, quiet rhythm. Always exhale more slowly than you inhale.
Already you should feel calmer, more relaxed.
If you do nothing more than this simple exercise every time you become tense, your sense of well-being will begin to change for the better.”
Nature has provided us with the ability to take in SEVEN TIMES more oxygen? Really? Yep. (And, Wow.)
Our ticket to that level of Optimization is super simple. We just need to retrain ourselves to breathe deeply and then REMEMBER to breathe every (!) time we’re feeling tense.
So, let’s get in another micro breath workout. This time, three reps. I challenge you to do this and NOT feel more calm, relaxed and centered.
(And then I challenge you to REMEMBER to do this EVERY time you feel the tension building.)
Start with a nice, deep, light inhale into your belly. (Hello diaphragm muscle!)
Now exhale, just a little more slowly and for a little longer than your inhale.
Smile.
Repeat.
Take a nice, deep, light inhale through your nose and into your diaphragm. Filling up your belly like a balloon.
Now exhale, just a little more slowly and a little longer than your inhale.
Smile.
Repeat.
Take another nice, deep, light inhale through your nose keeping your chest relaxed and your belly blowing up like a balloon.
Exhale nice and slowly and fully.
Smile.
How do you feel? If you did it and didn’t feel yourself drop down a level or three in calmness you either need to try again or you started from a place of jumbo calm. (Laughing.)
7x the oxygen. That’s the target.
One nice, deep, relaxing breath at a time.
Limits are not set in concrete! Barriers are false, illusory. Deeper relaxation, serenity, peace, and vigor can be reached through training in breathing. Psychological limits *can* be stretched.
Drop the Impatience
“Impatience causes your breathing pattern to quicken. All you can think of is how much of your time is being wasted. With every fiber of your being you want the line to HURRY UP, GET A MOVE ON UP THERE! But all that does is speed up your pulse. Your blood pressure rises, your head throbs. Short, jerky breathing compounds your frustration and anger. Because it takes time to calm down, what’s left of the lunch hour is shot. Such reactions to waiting—no matter where—cost a great deal in terms of lifespan and health, not to mention the day-to-day quality of life. Learning to breathe appropriately in response to a trying situation can be of extraordinary value. Coping methods like the basic Abdominal Breath provide an alternative to the biological alarm reaction.”
Want to waste energy? Be impatient.
Notice what happens when you find yourself getting frustrated in line or in traffic. Your pulse rises along with your tension levels as your breathing quickens and becomes more shallow.
You might as well be saying: “Hey stress + toxins: Why don’t you just hang out and swim around in my body some more while I get all worked up?”
The solution? We need to do the work to recondition ourselves such that those moments of impatience become cues for deep relaxation.
Then, rather than that step BACKWARDS -1 style, we get to step FORWARD +1 style.
Again, note: That’s a +2 gain. Do that over and over and over again all day every day with all the little things and we see HUGE changes.
All of which reminds me of George Leonard’s brilliant wisdom in Mastery: “Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice?”
So… The next time you’re growing impatient try to notice yourself. (That’s ALWAYS the hardest part, of course.)
Then remember this idea and see if you can step in between the stimulus and your normal response and create a better one. Use that moment as a cue to take a deep breath. Swap tension for relaxation.
And, remember the math: +1 rather than -1 = +2 = Optimization en route to Actualization.
P.S. Here’s a little way I recently applied this to my life. If you’re a parent, you know that listening to your kids whine isn’t the most pleasant experience. (Laughing.)
Now, when our 5-year-old Emerson used to start whining (usually at the end of the day when we’re all a little toasty from the day and ready to eat and wind down), I used to find myself getting impatient and easily frustrated.
Alexandra, my ultimate parenting coach, told me about the importance of staying CONNECTED in those moments rather than following your impulse to DISCONNECT.
So… I decided to try it out. Every time Emerson started to get a little whiney, we’d play a game where we’d give each other a big squeezy hug and hold it for 5-10 seconds real nice like and then check in on what needs may not be getting met. It goes something like this:
E: *whiney*
Me + E: *big hug* *extra squeeze*
Me: “I love you buddy! It sounds like you might have some needs that aren’t being met. What are they?”
E: “I have the need to _____________.”
Me: “I hear that you have a need to _____________. And, mommy/I have a need to ___________. I wonder what the best way is to meet everyone’s needs. Hmmm…”
Then magic happens. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME (it’s weird) the situation is defused. In like 30 seconds. This little practice has completely changed the energy in our house. It’s not just a -1 turned into a +1, it feels more like a -10 turned into a +10.
And, the best part? Now Emerson catches ME when I’m being a little whiney/frustrated. “Daddy! We need to hug!” HAH! So good. “Thanks for coaching me, buddy! That’s what a good team is all about. Go Team Johnson! Sometimes I help you and your mommy and sometimes you and your mommy help me. I love you.”
Breathing Breaks
“Breathing breaks are quick injections of fresh air into your day.
Breathing breaks slip easily into daily routines: walking, working, dishwashing, car-waxing, typing, eating—anything, anywhere. …
Do the Work-Station Breathing Break—or any of the other breathing techniques that are appropriate—every hour on the hour. You will find that taking two minutes for a breathing break—120 ticks of the clock—can relax, energize, and clear your mind, making the hour that follows productive and pleasant, releasing stress and tension that have built up in the past hour. The psychology of the break is that of a ‘zing’—the quick, clean fix that regenerates the groggy mind or the tense body, a restoration of peak performance.”
Why wait until you’re feeling impatient? Let’s practice taking micro-breathing breaks all day every day. Whether it’s “on the hour every hour” or every 1,000 seconds or whatever, we’ll see two benefits: We get the immediate boost in energy/calmness (good combo, eh? CALM ENERGY!) and an immediate reduction in stress/tension. And… We’re conditioning ourselves to breathe differently throughout the rest of the day.
It’s been amazing for me as I’ve really leaned into making my breathing a practice. I find myself breathing deeply in moments when I used to be holding my breath—without having to consciously think about it. I can’t even calculate the gains on this over the course of my life time but if we breathe 100 MILLION times over the course of our lives then I’m looking forward to reaping the benefits over the (God willing) next xx million breaths! :)
So, how (and when!) will YOU integrate breathing breaks into YOUR life?!
For many people the coffee break tends to reinforce the stress response. Caffeine has a bipolar effect—first it lifts you way up, then it drops you way down. Sensitive people find themselves enervated but jittery. We urge you to abolish self-defeating cycles and substitute the clean energy of relaxed breathing.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
“Research accomplished at the University of California at San Diego indicates that the nasal breathing cycle corresponds to the dominance of the left or the right hemisphere of the brain. The researcher David Shannahoff—Khalsa suggests that the cycle of hemispheric dominance could be manipulated by using breathing techniques: ‘Closing the right nostril and forcibly breathing through the left nostril produces greater EEG activity in the right brain and vice versa. These changes in the pattern of EEG dominance occur almost instantaneously; at most, they require periods of about five minutes.’”
How about a little alternate nostril breathing? It’s an ancient yogic technique that’s been shown to effect brain waves and reduce anxiety and stress while inducing a calm, balanced mind. I’ve been having fun integrating it into my meditation practice.
Want to give it a try? Here’s the quick tutorial:
Place your right thumb over your right nostril and rest your pointer finger on your forehead. Inhale through your left nostril. I like to do so to a count of four. Then hold for four.
Then press the ring finger of your right hand on your left nostril while you release your thumb from your right nostril and exhale through your right nostril. Then, inhale through your right nostril, hold for four and exhale through your left nostril. Repeat.
That sounds way more complicated than it is. Give yourself a few “mis-takes” and have fun!
Peak Performance = Emotional Strength
“Performance consistency is the trademark of all peak performers. Day in and day out, these men and women are able to extend themselves to the upper ranges of talent and skill.
Performance consistency is the fruit of emotional consistency. A peak performer never rides an emotional rollercoaster.
Peak performers have developed a unique kind of emotional control—the Ideal Performance State, the emotional balance that makes peak performance possible. It is characterized by feelings of relaxation, calm, and energy—lots of energy, fueled almost exclusively by positive emotions. There may be additional feelings of confidence and optimism.
Peak performers are superb problem solvers. They are superb because they respond emotionally to problems in a unique manner. The ‘man in the street,’ when confronted by a stubborn situation, tends to get angry, annoyed, irritated, frustrated; he withdraws energy and commitment; he removes ego from the task; he becomes a bystander. The peak performer triggers his Ideal Performance State. He is relaxed, calm, pumped positively, confident, and very much in control. His emotional response is: ‘I love problems. Give me problems.’”
Pop quiz: How’d you like to show up day in and day out at the upper ranges of your talent and skill. Performing at your PEAK potential. All the time.
Seriously. Think about what you at your absolute best looks like. Do you perform at that level consistently? THAT’s what peak performance is all about.
It’s easy to put on a great show on occasion. The trick is knowing how to put ourselves in that state CONSISTENTLY and at will.
(I’m reminded of the great basketball trainer Idan Ravin and his wisdom on the subject. In The Hoops Whisperer he tells us: “Talent and fireworks on a few random nights in December aren’t enough; succeeding in the NBA requires consistency over an extended period of time—eighty-two regular season games, six months, a daily grind.”)
So, how do we get there? Simple. Emotional control. Step 1. Get off the emotional rollercoaster. Step 2. Stay off. Instead, buy season tickets to your Ideal Performance State. :)
Our new mantra: “I love problems. Give me problems.” Which, of course, reminds me ofThe Tools “I love pain. Pain sets me free.”
So… In a book about breathing in and breathing out, what do you think is the best way to gain emotional control? Yep. Breathing. “The key to emotional control is breath control. Breath control is the ultimate weapon. It is the simplest, safest, cheapest, most accessible handle there is for mastering emotional control, for recharging the Ideal Performance State in response to problems, for staying in control, for becoming a peak performer. Breath control is the force that leads to the emotional control that leads to the winning feat.”
Here’s to YOU having fun at your absolute best, one breath at a time!
The key to experiencing life more fully is energy. We search for energy externally, but never seem totally fulfilled. When we begin to look within ourselves, we find all the energy we need, moment to moment. Breath is the key to unlocking our inner energy and vitality.
About the authors
