Breathe Easier, Live Better: James Nestor Unlocks "The Power of Your Breath" 🫁

Summary

In a captivating interview with Virgin Radio UK, James Nestor, a celebrated author and journalist, shares profound insights from his book and teachings on the power of breath. The discussion focuses on the transformative impacts of proper breathing techniques on various aspects of life, including managing anxiety, improving athletic performance, and even addressing chronic conditions like asthma. Nestor emphasizes the importance of nose breathing, the science behind humming, and offers practical advice for everyday breathing issues, touching on his journey from being a respiratory patient to an expert in the field.

Highlights

• James Nestor explains how breathing less is actually beneficial for asthma sufferers. 🤔
• Simple acts like humming for a few minutes daily can help clear nasal pathways. 🎶
• James shares his journey from respiratory issues to a better life through improved breathing techniques. 🚀
• Learning to breathe properly through one's nose can hugely impact overall health and longevity. 🌿
• Nestor describes an ancient Chinese practice, Qi Gong, to harness energy and improve life through breath. 🐉

Key Takeaways

• Breathing less can actually help alleviate asthma and anxiety symptoms by avoiding over-breathing. 🤯
• Nasal breathing increases the concentration of nitric oxide in the body, which helps in better air passage. 👃
• Simple techniques like humming can significantly clear nasal congestion and improve breathing effortlessly. 🎵
• Alternate nostril breathing can boost focus and balance brain activity, which is backed by science. 🧘‍♂️
• Behavioral breathing techniques, once learned, become a habit and can be a lifelong tool for well-being. 🌟

Overview

James Nestor, the author and breathwork enthusiast, visited Virgin Radio UK to share the transformative power of proper breathing. Despite a hectic lifestyle, James found peace and health improvements through simple yet profound breathing techniques. He highlights the common misconception that more breathing means better breathing, revealing that techniques like breathing less and through the nose can dramatically improve conditions like asthma and anxiety.

James delves into intriguing topics like alternate nostril breathing and the significant benefits of humming daily. He explains these practices with a blend of science-backed facts and personal anecdotes, making the idea of using breath as a healing tool more accessible and relatable. Moreover, James stays grounded by choosing to remain a journalist rather than a breathwork therapist, ensuring his advice remains objective and research-based.

Throughout the discussion, James emphasizes the role ancient practices play in modern wellness, citing personal stories and cultural insights. The conversation encourages listeners to rethink their daily habits and consider how a simple focus on breathing better can lead to improved health and relaxation. His personal journey from health struggles to becoming an advocate for proper breathing serves as inspiration for anyone seeking natural ways to enhance their well-being.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' features a brief and informal interaction, likely between two individuals, where one thanks the other for hosting them. It's referred to as a 'flying visit,' indicating a quick or short stay. The conversation touches on travel logistics, with one saying they landed yesterday and will take off the next day. There is a playful tone as they discuss this hectic schedule. The dialogue also hints at a deeper topic of interest concerning 'breath work,' implying a commitment or fascination with this practice or concept.
• 03:00 - 09:00: Discussion on Asthma and Breathing Techniques This chapter delves into the common concerns and questions people have about breathing techniques, especially in relation to health issues like asthma and managing anxiety. The narrator often receives numerous inquiries during events from individuals who are eager to learn how to improve their breathing to enhance various aspects of their lives, including performance, stress management, and even sexual health. The chapter captures the emotional responses of these individuals, highlighting the importance and demand for effective breathing strategies.
• 09:00 - 15:00: James Nestor's Personal Journey The chapter titled "James Nestor's Personal Journey" delves into common questions and the pervasive misunderstanding surrounding asthma. It begins by highlighting the frequent medical diagnosis of asthma as an incurable condition, often with the prognosis of lifelong medication use, such as in the case of a friend's young son who was prescribed a butol. However, the chapter underscores a critical oversight in this conventional approach: the lack of focus on breathing, which is posited as a fundamental issue contributing to the condition. This narrative sets the stage for exploring alternative perspectives on managing asthma and underscores the author's personal insights and discoveries throughout their journey.
• 15:00 - 21:00: Overview of James Nestor's Course The chapter discusses the impact of breathing techniques on health, specifically focusing on asthma. It highlights that leading researchers and scientists advocate that proper breathing can help alleviate asthma symptoms. The primary advice given is to learn to breathe less, as many individuals with asthma and anxiety tend to breathe excessively.
• 21:00 - 27:00: Breathing Techniques for Daily Life This chapter delves into the significance of breathing techniques, particularly focusing on nose breathing as a central practice for improving daily life. The conversation highlights the tangible benefits of these techniques, such as improved physical well-being, clear skin, and bright eyes. The speaker reflects on the personal journey and curiosity that led to the exploration of nose breathing, underscoring its effectiveness and transformative impact.
• 27:00 - 33:00: Effects of Breathing on Physical Activities The chapter 'Effects of Breathing on Physical Activities' begins with the author outlining his background as a science journalist. He typically covers topics related to sports and performance. However, a personal health struggle drew him towards exploring respiratory issues. About 11 years ago, he began experiencing severe respiratory problems that repeatedly led to bronchitis, pneumonia, and wheezing, particularly during physical exertion, despite eating properly. Initially, he was treated with bronchodilators, but his condition persisted, prompting further exploration into the effects of breathing on physical activities.
• 33:00 - 39:00: Advanced Breathing Practices In the chapter "Advanced Breathing Practices," the author discusses their personal experience with sleep difficulties due to aging. They found conventional advice unhelpful until a doctor friend introduced them to advanced breathing techniques. After adopting these practices, they report a significant improvement in their sleep quality, suggesting the impact of proper breathing habits. The chapter implies that vigilant breathing practice can resolve sleep issues attributed to aging.
• 39:00 - 45:00: Audience Interaction and Testimonials The chapter 'Audience Interaction and Testimonials' delves into the author's approach of transforming the content from their book into a more interactive and engaging format for the audience. Despite having published knowledge, the author emphasizes caution as they are not a qualified medical professional. The source material predominantly discusses the science and history of breathing, with practical breathing practices included. The chapter explores how the author balances their informational delivery without overstepping professional boundaries, reflecting on their experiences in adapting the book's content for broader audience interaction.
• 45:00 - 50:00: Wrapping Up In the chapter titled 'Wrapping Up,' the author reflects on the limitations of providing direct lessons in the book. They mention not intending the book to be a 'how-to' guide but acknowledge the recurring questions about specific concepts from readers. The author collected these questions, which revolved around 15 to 20 central ideas, and expressed a desire to address them comprehensively. However, due to constraints, they couldn't provide a complete lesson plan. This chapter highlights the importance of self-check-ins and reflection, suggesting a more self-guided approach rather than offering step-by-step instructions.

Breathe Easier, Live Better: James Nestor Unlocks "The Power of Your Breath" 🫁 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 good morning James thank you for having me literally this is a flying visit it is you know that's what I do when did you land uh yesterday when did you take off again uh tomorrow stop it now that's what you do right so which won't leave which alone can you not break the shackles of this breath work or is has breathing now got its sort of Talons into you uh I think a little of both one of the
• 00:30 - 01:00 reasons why I keep talking about this stuff is because I keep getting questions from people hundreds and hundreds of questions whenever I do an event there's a line of people and they're crying or they're angry or they're laughing and they want to know how to breathe better for anxiety asthma performance sex and more and unfortunately I'm the guy that has to provide them with answers right see some headlines there some flavors of the people in the queue um just just give us
• 01:00 - 01:30 some frequently asked questions and and the answers we might as well go cut to the chase the the biggest one is about asthma so when people are diagnosed with asthma they are told this is an incurable condition that they will have the rest of their lives so A friend of mine has a three-year-old son who was diagnosed with severe asthma put on a butol and the doctor told him you're going to stay on this the rest of your life but nobody is looking at breathing which is often the core issue behind
• 01:30 - 02:00 asthma I know that sounds nuts but all of this is coming from Top researchers and scientists and you can use your breathing to reduce your symptoms of asthma the science is very clear on that is there a sort of um can you give us a crash course on that now or that would that be too the it's a little complicated the simple version is you have to learn to breathe less the vast majority of people suffering from both asthma and anxiety are breathing way too
• 02:00 - 02:30 much and that exacerbates the condition and it causes them to have attacks you look well you always look well and I know that I've said that before but you just do um you're not you're not un easy on the eye I mean that does help but your skin you look great your eyes look white and you you car on this nose breathing and all started off with the nose breathing Fascination just get for people who don't know um just give us a little recap on your own personal
• 02:30 - 03:00 Journey so the reason I got into all of this stuff I'm a science journalist I've been writing about a bunch of different subjects usually around Sports and performance but it wasn't until I started suffering from pretty severe respiratory problems this was like 11 years ago and I was given um you know Bronco dilators and told to be put on my way and I kept getting bronchitis every year I kept getting pneumonia every single year and I kept wheezing when I was working I was eating the right food
• 03:00 - 03:30 sleeping 8 hours a night annoying isn't it it's annoying doing all the right stuff everyone told me it was just you know this is old age get used to it I didn't like that answer and uh a doctor friend is the one who instructed me on how to breathe better and she told me she said why don't you do this this and this let me know how you feel and I don't know if this is proof of anything but I have not had one of those issues since I fixed my breathing it's incredible isn't it um this BC Maestro
• 03:30 - 04:00 course you have is it is it your book um reimagined uh how do you flip what's in the book to Let's because you've always been very careful haven't you you've always said look I am not a qualified medical professional so so are you are you walking that Tyro ever Fin and now how does it how's it does it manifest itself so this came about from the book which is mostly looking at the science and history with some practices of breathing basically how we've got it
• 04:00 - 04:30 wrong and how we can get it better but there aren't many lessons in there because I didn't want this to be a how-to book you know at the back of the book there's some want don't you to do this this and this and check in with yourself but I kept getting these questions from people I tried to answer them but there's only so much of me and so many of these people and so all of these questions sort of rotated around you know 15 to 20 Concepts and I kept collecting them until I had the opportunity to answer them in one complete lesson plan and so I am not a
• 04:30 - 05:00 breath work guy I am not a doctor that's not what I do what I'm telling you in this course is what I have learned from experts in the field if you have asthma if you have anxiety this is what the science says about athletic performance this is what it says about sleep here's how to diagnose your sleep here's how to fix it and so I'm just a filter that's all I am I well you keep saying that and it's true you know a a proper sort of I don't know a a a soothsayer the speaker
• 05:00 - 05:30 of the truth would say what you're saying now um you've now spent so long in this field though if you if I were you because I'm stupid and you're not you're really clever I would I would be tempted to acques and to go and do some kind of course or qualification so then I could sort of um cross the Rubicon do you know what I mean yeah but with breath work it's it's different because various people can teach breath work they have no qualifications right
• 05:30 - 06:00 there's no medical certification for breath work and in the medical Fields I mean there's doctors in my family there were pulmonologists in my family they don't learn any of this stuff because they're dealing with lung cancer and people who just got in a car accident you know acute serious problems they don't have time to sit someone down and say how do you feel like does that feel better like that's that's not their world so there is this big open Chasm that needs to be filled with somebody so people are becoming breath work therapist with no certification and uh I
• 06:00 - 06:30 want to stay out of that I want to remain a journalist where I'm objective and I can call BS on something that's not true and then I can say hey there looks like there is legitimate data and science between something else you know but as as potential sorry I started that with but it is a but but as as a potential client or patient of yours I'm screaming you look from what I've read and I'm I'm fortunate enough to know you and to have interviewed you several times now and to witness you doing ious things in front of lots of people and
• 06:30 - 07:00 definitely to to their benefit I'm screaming look I'm by I'm not an Examining Board but you'll do for me just tell me all you know and I'm happy to to sort of sing from your himy sheet but I think I can tell you everything that I know without coming at you as some sort of you know phony licens therapist right I can just be a journalist and go out and find the research and report on this you know the
• 07:00 - 07:30 the most Savory facts from what I've learned over so many years and I don't ever want to cross that line I want to remain objective all the time all right um I I rather spookly fatuously maybe for this conversation have a right blocked nostril this morning uh because I've I think I've had a cold I had a covid test couple of covid tests one last week and one on Monday I feel much better now I'm getting better I'm
• 07:30 - 08:00 sounding worse do you know have any idea why that might be well up to 50% of people especially in winter time Springtime have chronic congestion right this is a a serious issue and so you're either you know in the after stages of having a cold and so you still have inflammation in there and you have chronic congestion in there what I found uh was that there was this study done this very weird study where this guy tested he had chronic ritis and he start started humming for 10 minutes four
• 08:00 - 08:30 times a day she's good humming whatever I know it's a lot to ask but you can do it when you're riding a bike when you're doing dishes whatever I like just doing that and it completely resolved his ritis what so we are working to do some citizen science study with some real researchers to get a 100,000 people with chronic rinitis to try to do this what are the negative side effects of doing this nothing you're going to annoy the
• 08:30 - 09:00 person next to you if you're humming too much so hum alone hum in the shower so cuz people are texting the show and whatsapping the show this morning saying you know here's a nasal spray you can use here's nasal spray you can use and I'm saying I don't want to do that because my body's blocked my nose for a reason and it needs to be blocked what I would do if I were you and this is just what I would I'm not a doctor you're not my patient just very clearly it's so good I'd use a Netty Pot right okay with a little grape fruit seed extract couple
• 09:00 - 09:30 drops of that you know a NTI pot you put it in your nose and it filters okay I do that and then you can try this trick that I learned years ago you can take a very soft breath in through your nose and exhale and one more soft breath in through your nose and exhale and pinch your nostrils shut hold your breath hold your breath till you feel a palpable need to breathe keep holding your breath hold your breath when you feel that need
• 09:30 - 10:00 to breathe take just a sip of air through your nose until you feel that real need to breathe that breath should be very soft and easy you take just a sip of air through your nose you are still holding your breath look at you didn't know this was this does not make for good radio I'm realizing but uh he's still holding I will report what is happening somehow he's going to do a minute long breath holding in front of me now he's just showing off because
• 10:00 - 10:30 we're at 80 Seconds still holding your breath when you are done slight see that's Che slight inhale should be a normal soft inhale go back to breathing normally in and out of your nose you don't have to hold it right now oh my God it's completely clear and you're going to do that about five to six times your nose is going to be clear my nose is clear now that's incredible
• 10:30 - 11:00 so try I can feel it blocking up again almost instantly but it was clear do that about five to six times and do that throughout the day what okay and it can absolutely help so we don't know exactly it could be a buildup of carbon dioxide which could help open up those blood vessels and increase of nitric oxide you get 15 times more nitric oxide through your nose so when you're not doing that you can hum when you're on your bike I see you working out out during commercials right you can hum and you
• 11:00 - 11:30 can breathe softly in and out of your nose and let just talk about my um midom commercial break workout yeah the management now have seen me doing that I didn't realize people guest who said I saw you working out earlier and I thought I didn't see them walk past the studio but apparently it's in it's in the camera shot isn't it yeah and you have a monitor and all the guests could see me I didn't know this this is why all the guests know that I work out certain part of the show now the management have figured it out so then know that if they want to have a sort of
• 11:30 - 12:00 quick meeting with me they can come and do it then and they've stopped my working out doesn't matter the irony of that yeah right it's wrong it's all wrong that's fascinating and the humming right so one of my favorite meditations is the r um meditation do you know this one so so it's ah so you go ah and that's because that's your diaphragm and if you if you if you pronounce the sound ah then that that that gets you most automatically deeper into your diaphragm
• 12:00 - 12:30 so you it's a bigger deeper breath the ones that are are parasympathetic nervous system love and then if you oo that lends itself to a to a chest breath and if you m that's a throat breath but also they're varying levels of vibration as well so the the a vibrates your tummy the U vibrates your rib cage and the M vibrates your throat and they hopefully
• 12:30 - 13:00 also tune up your body um in the morning so that your throat is talking to your chest and your chest is talking to your tummy and that all helps as well so I'm so this all makes complete sense to me and a lot of that is working on the premise that different organs of the body have different resonant frequencies right and so the cells in those organs will resonate at a certain frequency and this is why the Ancients have had all of the these hums right and these prayers
• 13:00 - 13:30 and sat right for so long and what's what's interesting now is that you know someone says oh they feel better when they do that that's cool but we can actually measure what is happening throughout the body and in the brain when you're practicing these different techniques that's where I think it gets really interesting to me it gets really really interesting and I think one of the reasons that people are fearful of it is because it's almost too simple and then
• 13:30 - 14:00 what do you do with all your stuff all the stuff in the cupboards all the stuff in the G because it's the beginning of do you you realize that we've over overlaid our onion throughout life because if you can just unblock my nose which and you just did that you know or your the technique that you that just actually happened and you said do it five more times it already done it and it's blocking up again now and I know that if you know if you if you turn your car in the morning you warm it up sensibly before the older the car the more you have to do that before it so
• 14:00 - 14:30 all bits of your car engine is talking to the oil is in the right place the pressure in the right place the water temperature up and all this kind of stuff if you do that with your diaphragm and your chest and your throat and therefore also your nose you just feel more together your Orchestra is tuned up ready for the day and it is the sense of well-being and the touch paper that that lights for future well-being within your own um gift to yourself is immense and it can be beautifully overwhelming well you know we're one United organism
• 14:30 - 15:00 we're not just a stomach or lungs or heart or a brain and what I found is people are more convinced by things that are more complicated which is why diets have become so insanely complicated because people think oh that means it's more scientific but that is not always the case sometimes the most simple things eating food that is not processed right it's a very simple thing thing breathing the way that nature intended
• 15:00 - 15:30 us to breathe who's your guide look at a healthy dog look at a healthy infant look at someone that doesn't live in an industrialized Society right these simple things this is what the body responds to so I think so much of this stuff uh health is becoming Superfluous and it's becoming way too detailed uh to our detriment it doesn't have to be that complicated CH hand says or said still says forever that if you take a when you take take a deep breath a proper big
• 15:30 - 16:00 deep breath all the way down to your tummy and your tummy comes out and it almost looks like it shouldn't but that's exactly what should happen and so often doesn't happen unfortunately that when you take a deep breath it switches on all your cells and for the moment that you are inhaling that oxygen then all your energy is available to you in that moment and that is transformational well it's also efficient so we can get by doing something inefficiently but but our bodies have to compensate so right
• 16:00 - 16:30 now if you take your palm of your hand and place it on your stomach the majority of people when they inhale their stomachs go in yeah okay this is called paradoxical breathing and it's a disaster so the very first thing you need to do Beyond nasal breathing when you take that inhale you have to loosen your belly and be comfortable with that feeling a lot of us aren't we want hot looking ABS we want to look good you know all that important but what's more
• 16:30 - 17:00 important is you living another 20 years because your body just slightly more important let's you're at the beach and then we know what's more hot looking ABS important but you know put the shirt back on loosen your belly and when you inhale it should expand when you exhale should lightly contract and that's it you know simple how how you found your life you the you know your relationships your decisions your Wellness your happiness your contentment levels since
• 17:00 - 17:30 you delved into breathing has it has it been holy transformation I live an extremely stressful life overworked just like a lot of other people I think that this is a coping mechanism that allows me to do what I do you know I'm not going to say it's fixed everything yeah you know everyone still has their issues just like eating well isn't going to fix everything exercising isn't going to fix everything but it's part of a larger
• 17:30 - 18:00 picture so the one thing I like about having this knowledge is in my back pocket at any circumstance I will know how to breathe to change the way my mind is functioning to change my nervous system to change the oxygenation and my bloodstream so all of these different things when you have this toolbox you you'll never forget it right and the more that you breathe better the more this becomes a habit so you don't have to think about it but that can take a couple months or couple years to get to that point and behavior we know begets
• 18:00 - 18:30 Behavior so so the better your behaviors the better your future behaviors will be and breathing is an important part of that because if you are trying to calm yourself down if you're always stressed out but you are breathing in a dysfunctional way your posture is bad you're breathing into your chest you won't be able to reach that point okay there is no such thing as curing anxiety without curing your breathing dysfunction um couple of quick hacks for
• 18:30 - 19:00 people listening if they're feeling a bit foggy this morning what can they do Brea breath wise immediately going into a meeting or into a situation today I'll tell you an easy one then I'll tell you more complicated one so for just basic Focus for calmness try to breathe in and out through your nose at a count of around 5 to six in 5 to six out if I were watching you breathing I would hardly notice your breathing at all it's that subtle 5 to
• 19:00 - 19:30 six in out through the nose as well yes out through the nose as well when you inhale your belly again should be expanding and then Contracting five to six outs so if you're really stressed out and you need a lot of focus this one's a little weird I'll make it quick you can do something called alternate nostril breathing where you can take your thumb or a finger and you're going to plug your right nostril breathe in through your left to a count of about four plug both nostrils hold for a moment
• 19:30 - 20:00 breathe out through your right now breathe in through your right hold and out through your left one more time in through the left hold out through the right you can do that for a couple of minutes there have been a bunch of measurements of what happens in brain
• 20:00 - 20:30 function and blood pressure and it's all real stuff there's around 20 studies that have looked at what this simple very simple exercise that anyone can do that is free for everyone all the time can do to your body and to your brain and to your emotions and I inadvertently genuinely accidentally preempted something you wanted to talk about yeah but this is this is what this is what we do I'm in a in an hour and a half's time I will be sitting cross-legged doing that in my yoga class in Putney uh it's called their pranama and we do it and we
• 20:30 - 21:00 hold but we hold the breath a little bit more than that and we do it 8 10 Rounds I don't know something like that but it's extraordinary how balanced and healthy you feel afterwards what why is that what's happening to you is it something to do with balancing the male and the female parts of you well there's the more metaphysical side of it so according to ancient yoga you know there's the right nostril which is invigorating the male and the left nost nostril which is the feminine or or
• 21:00 - 21:30 softer side you can get into all that and that's interesting but if you actually look at the science of what is happening what you're doing is slowing down your breath so it's the pace of your breathing it's the volume of your breath and you are also hacking into this thing that that happens naturally is because our nostrils switch from side to side throughout the day one nostril gets slightly inflamed and it lets the other nostril have more access to more air we know that breathing in through
• 21:30 - 22:00 the left nostril activates the right creative side of the brain breathing in through the right activates the left analytical side so there is some science behind these ancient beliefs you know in yoga class they explain it in this this very ornate broke way which is cool I'm into all of that stuff but I really like to see the measurements and the data first and foremost can I ask you one more question which is totally unrelated um I was run running with my daughter on
• 22:00 - 22:30 Sunday morning uh at a park run and sometimes when she's running she gets all a little bit stressed and the running is very like the breathing is very agitated and then the running is very difficult because no one can breathe and that's why people find swimming difficul is because they're taking short and then they're breathing and then they're holding their breath and you know it's just not easy have you got any nice hack for people who are who find exercise whatever it is difficult because they're breathing so shallowly
• 22:30 - 23:00 and they feel like they need all the oxygen all the time but actually paradoxically that's making what they're trying to do much harder they're getting less Oxygen by over breathing and this is so contradictory but that's exactly what's happening so the one thing I would suggest is to slow down what you want to do is you continue breathing normally continue breathing in that healthy pattern right as you're running once you start slipping into a dysfunctional breathing pattern that is your body saying slow down and acclimate
• 23:00 - 23:30 your body and slowly work up a lot of people want to go from zero to 100 and it messes their bodies up right so uh and a lot of us are are very stubborn we say I don't want to slow down I want to run faster you will run so much faster if your breathing is locked in to the needs of your body you can only do that through a slow acclamation process and so again breathe normally in and out through your nose the moment
• 23:30 - 24:00 you're you have to slow down and stay at that pace just below that line so um for the first half mile of a long run now I will do the two or three inhales before an exhale just to literally calm my body down and I don't know what I'm doing you told me something once about this it's in the book The Double inhale I sometimes triple inhale just to I don't know why I do it and it seems to work but my breathing doesn't settle down for about half a mile and then it's great after that and I'm really out of breath I mean my legs
• 24:00 - 24:30 you know they have an issue with my running but my lungs rarely do I think you start breathing that way 10 minutes before you run 5 minutes before that run so if you're in your car and this tells your body to get prepped for the run I mean a lot of people say well it's impossible to run or to jog breathing in and out of your nose look at kimoi right he he ran a 2hour marathon look at him breathing at the end of the race shoulders down calm into the belly in
• 24:30 - 25:00 and out through the nose running at 13 M hour for 2 hours so smil smiling annoying highing people Smiles the whole time isn't he well CU it's just telling his face to relax it's telling everything to relax he he and he breathes I always think of OT kogi when I run because and I think of you you can tell um because I try and breathe through my nose even when I'm going up a hill if you can it's it it really helps and you sort of that thing you said paradoxically you think you need more oxygen but actually just need to relax I
• 25:00 - 25:30 think smiling and breathing properly go hand in hand at gets a little creepy looking though so you know you don't want to smile too often on the train you know with your breath running in the morning most of the time we're okay if you're yeah if you're alone running in the dark keep smiling everybody smiling or just just wear a snood like so nobody that's why after the reason I wear all the bloing time um James you on fire mate on fire as always loads of questions for here running out of time hi hey Chris Laura here hi Laura so glad
• 25:30 - 26:00 to hear James on the radio this morning his book is full of such wonderful life-changing information it has been a true inspiration thank you so much James keep doing what you do um inspiring and an inspiration oh that's that's handy that works doesn't it uh Amy in Stratford up on AA how amazing to hear about humming this morning my daughter when she was a toddle used to hum just instinctively every time she had a cold she's a natural yeah
• 26:00 - 26:30 beautiful yeah we're we we're built with all of this knowledge right we just forget it as we get older well we unpick it we do worse than that don't we I mean what happens when two lovers are getting together and and what does that do stimulates nitric oxide which what does that do opens up blood vessels what does that do you can draw your own conclusions well is having a baby one of our having a baby five here all that humming keep humming baby huming keep humming there's honeymoons
• 26:30 - 27:00 and there's humming moons um you know um the two she meet Penny from morom says please thank James on my behalf after struggling with my breathing due to the effects of long covid I went back to his book breath and Revisited all the exercises I feel so much better zero breathlessness it made such a difference I'm so grateful it's cool isn't it amazing so great to hear an says he used to have asthma but I'm convinced that starting swimming has helped to relieve the symptoms is is there any correlation there you think there is it's it's
• 27:00 - 27:30 interesting because swimmers have the highest incidence of asthma if they're swimming in chlorinated pools and we don't know if it's because they're mouth breathing or it's the chlorine but asthma is also uh can be reduced through swimming so it depends how you do it don't overdo it don't huff and puff too much if you can swim in salt waterer got it Shannon darford says good morning you wonderful happy people could you please ask James what the best breathing
• 27:30 - 28:00 technique is to increase my blood oxygen my average is between 93 and 94% since I had a lung infection last year and I'm struggling with my breath most days thank you slow and low get a pulse oximeter right they still sell those at at drug stores and this records how much oxygen is in your blood no money and they're fun so Slow and Low you might think well that's going to give me less oxygen you will see it does the opposite so try that so just why is that so why is that the case and also why is if you
• 28:00 - 28:30 breathe a lot why do you get less oxygen not more why why are those two ironies why do they exist so the main reason is when we're breathing like this we're breathing into our chest which means the majority of air gets stuck in our mouth our throats the bronchite all these other areas that don't participate in gas exchange so all we're doing is taking this breath in and breathing it out without ever using it how inefficient is that they found that breathing at a rate of six breaths per minute you use 85% of the air you take
• 28:30 - 29:00 into your body breathing at a rate of around 18 to 20 breaths a minute you use only half isn't that interest that's so interesting so if you want to increase your efficiency Slow and Low is the way to go yeah well U my I got to say I got to go again tick that Han he's in out deep slow calm ease smile release and I love that that just sorts me out it gets me to sleep calms me down cheers me up you
• 29:00 - 29:30 know un often if you're at lcen nowadays that happens that much but you know if you get distracted at home and you you might go to the in the past go to the crisp drawer the chalky draw the naughty drawer just I just have a bit I go for a bit of a breath you go you can have a bit of a breathe in the corner it's great isn't it it works for some people works for me well it works for everyone it's just that some lots of people don't try it right so James is on primarily to talk about his BBC Maestro course uh these are good courses that the BBC did
• 29:30 - 30:00 in bbc.com the power of your breath is James's uh course lessons the power of your breath introduction Diagnostics nasal lungs and diaphragm breathe slow breathe less exhale hold it chew posture sleep business breathing walking asthma anxiety over breathing cundalini qu gong and conclusion what's quong that is the ancient Chinese practice I mean they invented a lot of this stuff thousands of years ago about bringing energy into
• 30:00 - 30:30 your body through the power of breathing and once you're able to do this some of these Masters I've seen them do things that are supposed to be scientifically like what you won't believe me if I tell you so I can't tell all these people out here but it's it's almost illegal it's so powerful isn't it it should be illegal cuz once you see it you open that door you can never close it again have you tried any of those methods I've tried some but they take years and years and years to really really get the
• 30:30 - 31:00 benefits and then when you get there you you've take spent so long doing it you don't even realize you're there but you are there so it's sort of Untouchable kind of and they require sometimes three months in a cave right in complete darkness but once you come out of that these powers that you have and again I've seen this I have felt this just gives you the creeps of what we're we're capable of that we've forgotten about and once you once you access realize a where become aware of accept and um
• 31:00 - 31:30 deploy but don't hopefully not abuse this power that we have um it just takes the pressure off the rest of a bit of a what's becoming more and more of a not a nonsense Western Way of Life although it is but that's too too cheap and easy to say that but it just gives you more agency over your own self-esteem uh your own experience of life on a minute by minute basis uh the power of sleep the fact that it's okay to be Quire all those things the opposite of what we're
• 31:30 - 32:00 trying to be sold every day well I think this is what we we develop these systems because this is what our bodies and brains respond to this is how it used to be in nature right and we've only been industrialized for a very short amount of time considering our Evolution and our bodies can't catch up to it the vast majority of diseases we suffer from are diseases of civilization these are diseases that we created but since we created them we can we can also not
• 32:00 - 32:30 create them right and and we can help reduce them by returning back to Nature the way our bodies are naturally designed to be love it James have we missed anything out we've We've ran out of times is there is there something that you thought oh I should have talked about that or we cool there's a lot more in that BBC Maestro course okay B all right well literally a flying visit James you're always welcome you always make time for us we'll always make time for you there you go it's quid pro quo love it thank you very much for having me you guys James Nest
• 32:30 - 33:00 radi