Addicted to Breathing

Sometime in my early 20s, I started exploring meditation, yoga, tai chi, massage, qigong, and philosophy. But it wasn’t until sometime in the Spring of 2016 that I truly got hooked on breathing. Not meditation. Simply breathing with awareness of the heart. Heart-focused breathing as taught by the HeartMath®Institute.

For decades I ran a well-established massage and healing arts practice employing body-led therapies to help my clients address physical, mental, and spiritual challenges in their lives. In 2016, I started noticing that many of my regular clients were coming in with more pain, more anxiety, more headaches, and more difficulties sleeping than I had ever seen before. It didn’t take me long to connect the dots and realize that their symptoms were linked to a heightened state of stress resulting from the 2016presidential campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It didn’t seem to matter how politically engaged a person was or which political views they held. There was a palpable level of fear and people were experiencing this in their bodies, minds, and spirits.

It was also during this time that I started noticing that many of the articles I was reading cited research from the HeartMath® Institute. Curious, I looked them up and read about scientifically validated tools that were resulting in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits.  I started learning the techniques and discovered how easy they were to learn and use. I knew that my clients, family, and friends needed a way to reduce stress and anxiety on a daily basis. Something that would allow them to shift out of a state of fear and stress. So I signed up to become a HeartMath® coach. 

Before I knew it, I found myself doing heart-focused breathing at stoplights, in grocery store lines, when I was placed on endless hold with large multi-national telecommunication companies who couldn’t seem to address my problems. Even while listening to the news. I wanted to experience for myself if this would really make a difference.  Soon I noticed that I was calmer, sleeping better, and less stressed. It seemed I had become addicted to breathing and found myself doing it everywhere. 

Through the HeartMath® training, I learned tools that help me identify depleting situations, events, and emotions and shift into a renewing emotion that builds my resilience throughout the day. 

“I tried a meditation class once and didn’t get anything out of it. This is better and just what I was hoping for.”

When I shared the approach with my parents, who are addicted to the news, my mom said, “I tried a meditation class once and didn’t get anything out of it. This is better and just what I was hoping for.”  After practicing the Heart-Focused breathing for just a minute or two she was delighted to find that it not only reduced stress but also decreased the pain she experiences in her back. 

I have found that people feel empowered and motivated when they understand the science behind the techniques and how these tools can quickly change their physiology, reversing the negative effects of stress. 

When I coached a friend, who travels regularly, she really found it helpful to use the HeartMath® exercises to identify what situations were depleting her and realizing that she had the ability to tap into a renewing emotion even while sitting in an airport. Not only did she start to feel better when she traveled but she now understood the science behind how this was changing her physiology. 

As I reflect on the last 6 years since I have learned these techniques I realize that I have tapped into them at the bedsides of family and friends as they were dying; during conversations with friends and clients going through difficult times; the decision to close my massage therapy practice after 30 years, the ups and downs of the pandemic and most recently, while sitting in a hospital waiting room as the love of my life was being treated for a near-fatal heart attack. I don’t do these techniques to get good at breathing or reflecting, but rather to be good at responding to the stress that happens throughout our lives. 

Me, I am still addicted to heart-focused breathing and a good cup of coffee in the morning. Both have made my life immeasurably better. 

Click here for a Heart-Focused Breathing tutorial

Find out how the HeartMath® tools can help you or your organization build resilience and improve the quality of your life. Contact Rachel Egherman for a free 30-minute consultation.