The Breath Letter #75 - How To Handle Stress (without losing your peace)
Happy Sunday and welcome back to the 75th edition of The Breath Letter.
The newsletter that provides you with actionable takeaways from 1 Breathwork insight, 1 Breathwork quote, and 1 Breathwork resource from BreathingByEd, a Certified Oxygen Advantage Functional Breath Coach, every Sunday morning.
I hope everyone took the opportunity to enjoy learning how I unlock parasympathetic paradise using the power of the vagus nerve in The Breath Letter #74! If you missed it, be sure to check it out!
This week’s edition of The Breath Letter is brought to you by Breathe2Achieve!
How a breathwork beginner ‘COMPLETELY TURNED HER LIFE AROUND IN ONLY 4 WEEKS’ with my Breathe2Achieve program.
Here’s what Alexa had to say about his ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ experience on my Breathe2Achieve program…
Here is exactly what you will receive in the Breathe2Achieve Program:
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✅ 4x 30-minute 1-1 video calls.
✅ 6x BreathingByEd pre-recorded Breathwork Sessions.
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Would you like to learn how to become a low-anxiety high-performing individual in 2024 like Alexa?
Now, let’s get into The Breath Letter #75…
Breathwork Insight
After the success of last week’s poll, I wanted to start this week’s edition of The Breath Letter with another simple question…
These polls make a massive difference in providing insight into what topics you would like to see covered in The Breath Letter and help me move closer to building BreathingByEd from a brand to a community.
Speaking of community, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who came and followed BreathingByEd over on X and helped me hit 8k.
I’m a big believer that Instagram rewards aesthetics.
LinkedIn rewards your CV.
X rewards valuable ideas.
As powerful as the introduction of video has been for knowledge distribution nothing will ever compare to the power of words.
Thank you all for being on this journey with me and I have no doubt we will hit the big 10k in no time.
I first started the BreathingByEd X account because I could see that there was a significantly large gap in the market.
When people think of breathwork, meditation, or any form of internal practice, they usually associate these practices with wu-wu, hippy individuals.
Now, there is absolutely no offence here to wu-wu, hippy people but I certainly believe that it puts off ‘normal’ individuals from carrying out these internal practices because of the stereotypes.
I’d be lying if I said my mind didn’t go straight to the stereotypes when I first came across breathwork.
This is why I started BreathingByEd and The Breath Letter.
I am just a normal guy with a normal life working a normal 9-5 who had the absolute pleasure of discovering the power of breathwork for reducing anxiety, improving sleep, and maximizing athletic performance.
This is why BreathingByEd and The Breath Letter have resonated so well and allowed me to build such a wonderful community and audience.
Why?
Because you can relate to the experiences that I share.
Because you feel emotion when reading about the experiences that I share.
Because you know you will learn something new in every piece of content I share.
Now I know you are sitting there thinking, ‘Awesome to hear about the growth Ed but I’m just here to learn how to handle stress .’
Well as I always say, it’s lucky you subscribe to The Breath Letter as here’s how to handle stress (without losing your peace).
How To Handle Stress (without Losing Your Peace).
In all my editions, I try to outline as much of my personal experience as possible because I know that you wouldn’t be subscribed here if you did not relate to my past or have similar goals to me for your future.
I used to deal with stress through alcohol and cigarettes.
Every day after work, we’d clock off and head straight to the pub.
I’d sit there with my colleagues I had no interest in and wade through drink after drink until it was time to go home.
I continued this cycle for around a year until the stress and anxiety in my life became too much to handle.
If you’ve subscribed to The Breath Letter for long enough you’ll know about my transformation but to save time here, if you’d like to find out more, click this link.
There’s a reason why 99% of people that find themselves in bad places, look back at that time and think, ‘Thank f*ck that happened to me.’
It puts everything into perspective.
Stress Isn’t The Enemy. How You Handle It Is.
‘It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.’ - Hans Selye.
Stress can be broken down into two strands - Eustress and Distress.
Eustress is the stress we get when we encounter a stressful situation that we perceive will have a positive outcome.
Examples included getting in an ice bath, exercising or a job interview.
Distress is stress when we see a stressful situation that we perceive to have a negative outcome.
This is where anxiety and fear start to creep in and take over your mind and body leading to chronic stress and depression.
How we perceive stress is the difference between an early death and a long, flourishing lifespan.
Don’t believe me?
Watch this TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal on a study carried out across 29,000 participants over 8 years on how the participants perceive stress.
Those who viewed stress as a negative had a 43% increased risk of death.
The key understanding here is embracing the concept of stress can make you stronger, smarter, and happier according to Stanford lecturer Kelly McGonigal.
Life has been and always will be stressful.
If you look back at any civilisation, they encountered stress.
However, there’s a key difference between the different civilisations’ perceptions of stress.
In 2024, we vilify stress.
Instead of working with stress, we avoid it.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying you should actively sign yourself up to burnout.
I’m saying you should be embracing the nature of stress to grow and adapt as a human.
There is no hiding from the fact that your success level in life is directly proportional to your level of control over your stress.
This is subject to your definition of success but this is why the most elite athletes, CEO’s and entrepreneurs are so successful because of their ability to embrace and handle stress.
However, we can’t all wake up one day and become elite athletes or CEO’s, we need to build a toolkit to be able to handle stress.
‘Conscious breathing is the best antidote to stress, anxiety and depression.’
Your ability to handle stress relies heavily on the flexibility of your nervous system.
Being able to shift between a sympathetic and parasympathetic state is so key when we talk about stress.
This is where the power of breathwork comes into play.
When we slow our breathing down, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system sending signals of rest and digestion through our body.
The power of breathwork is that it dampens the sympathetic branch of our nervous system and strengthens the parasympathetic branch.
This is why breathwork is such a powerful tool to handle stress.
If you struggle with stress, here’s what I want you to do over the next week.
All I ask for is 1.3% of your day or 20 minutes (for those who don’t own a calculator.)
Using the FREE recording below, I want you to follow the guidance within the recording for 10 minutes in the morning and then 10 minutes before bed.
The practice you are going to be following is resonance breathing.
4 seconds inhale through the nose.
6 seconds exhale through the nose.
For 10 minutes, 2x a day.
James Nestor, the author of Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art, outlines the optimal breathing rate for humans is around 5.5-6 breaths a minute.
The reason why this breathing pattern is so powerful is all down to the science.
Take a moment right now.
Stop what you are doing and put your phone down.
Start your stopwatch and follow your breathing pattern for 15 seconds counting how many inhales and exhales you take in this period then times that number by 4 to get your minute breathing rate.
The average human takes between 12-16 breaths per minute.
This is why when we practice resonance breathing it has such a profound effect on the body as you are cutting your breathing rate by 50%.
And what happens when we reduce our breathing rate?
We activate our parasympathetic nervous system sending signals of calm and rest throughout our body.
Don’t believe it works?
Look at the testimonials from members of my Breathe2Acheive program who have been using resonance breathing 👇
Are you an individual looking to learn how to use your breath to help you handle stress?
DM me on X or reply to this email with ‘BREATHE’ for more details on my Breathe2Achieve program and you can check out my X timeline for some CLIENT WIN’S.
As you can see from the photos, I advise using this beautiful breathwork technique before bed to maximize that parasympathetic activation.
However, resonance breathing can be used anytime during the day when you are looking to handle stress.
That is the beauty of breathwork.
It can be used anytime, anywhere as your on-demand natural stress and anxiety reliever.
As you move through your day or even in the morning as you commute to work on the train. You may feel a bit anxious with the start of the new week and worrying about the work you should have done on Friday.
Re-open this edition, take a moment to take control of your breathing and follow the technique.
4 seconds inhale through the nose.
6 seconds exhale through the nose.
Watch as your breathing rate slows and the profound effects take place through your body as you start to feel your parasympathetic nervous system taking over and the signals of calm gradually flowing.
1.3% of your day is all I ask for and I guarantee your ability to handle stress will massively improve.
As I mentioned from the start, stress is a universal, day-to-day occurrence, you are not special because you experience stress.
The difference between how much stress affects you comes down to your ability to handle it.
If you take one thing from this edition, know this…
Your success in life is directly proportional to your ability to handle stress.
You don’t have to let stress and anxiety control you, you have the power to take control.
If you are an individual looking to learn how to use your breath to help you handle stress, drop me a DM on X or reply to this email with ‘BREATHE’ and I will be in touch with further details on my Breathe2Achieve program.
Thank you for reading, happy Sunday and see you all next week!
*BREATHWORK DISCLAIMER*
Breathwork can have an intense effect on your cardiovascular system, endocrine system, respiratory system, nervous system, and lymphatic system.
If you are pregnant or have any medical problems with these areas of your body, do not practice breathwork until you are advised following a consultation with your doctor before practice.
For more disclaimer details please click here.
Breathwork Quote
"Old and young, we are all on our last cruise."
- Robert Stevenson
Breathwork Resource
This week’s Breathwork Resource comes from The BreathingByEd Breathwork Library.
After continuously getting the same DM’s and requests from followers, subscribers and Breathe2Achieve members asking me to create a breathwork library filled with all my breathwork sessions, I finally listened.
The goal of The BreathingByEd Breathwork Library is to help you on your journey of building a daily breathwork habit so you can experience all the benefits first-hand.
Just like I did myself.
The library is focused on providing you with 24/7 access to over 3+ hours of my breathwork recordings, giving you the quickest and easiest solution to alleviate anxiety, drift off to sleep, find focus or prepare for performance on-demand, all at the touch of a button.
And guess what?
The BreathingByEd Breathwork Library is now LIVE 👇
What has BreathingByEd been up to this week…
Listening to my guided BreathingByEd Breathwork for Sleep session.
Reading this awesome post by Dr Brandon on the power of Vitamin D and why it should be part of your supplement stack.
Working on finalizing my new challenge for Summer!
Sharing that Breath Letter subscribers have the opportunity to get access to a sensational EXCLUSIVE BREATHINGBYED DISCOUNT of 10% on their very own Dream Recovery mouth tape using the code “ED10"
Inviting you to leave a comment on what topics you would like to see in future The Breath Letter editions. you to leave a comment on what topics you would like to see in future The Breath Letter editions.
I hope you have a great Sunday and until next week.
Ed
P.S. When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help:
1. The BreathingByEd Guide To Breathwork: When you’re ready to implement breathwork into your life, the BreathingByEd Guide to Breathwork is the obvious choice.
My guide provides individuals with a bulletproof guide on incorporating breathwork into their daily routines and the monumental benefits of 10 minutes of daily breathwork.
2. Do you want to learn how to use your breath to overcome anxiety, improve sleep, and enhance your athletic performance?
Apply to join my 1-1 coaching program Breathe2Achieve here.
3. Promote yourself or your business to over 8,000+ performance, health, and breathwork enthusiasts across The Breath Letter and BreathingByEd X account by sponsoring The Breath Letter.
Previous sponsors include Vital, James Peters,Oxa, Dream Recovery, Snift and WellO2. If you like to know more about sponsorship packages and analytics, drop me a DM or email me at breathingbyed@gmail.com.