Ep. 119 - How to use your breath to find instant calm with Richie Bostock

Oct 29

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The Motherkind Podcast · Ep. 119 - How to use your breath to find instant calm with Richie Bostock

This week, I’m really excited to be speaking with Richie Bostock. Richie is a breathwork coach, author and speaker, and he’s made it his mission to spread the life-changing possibilities of breathwork. Richie’s book, Exhale, is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about using your breath for healing.

No-one ever really teaches us ‘how’ to breathe and so many of us are actually breathing in ways that aren’t serving us. In the episode, we explore how we can change the way that we feel through the way that we breathe. Richie also shares some simple breathing techniques that you can use throughout your day to help shift your energy and feel better.

We also talk about how breath can be used for healing and why sometimes it can be more effective to start with bodywork practices, such as breathwork, than with traditional talking therapy.

I am absolutely fascinated by breathwork and I loved this conversation with Richie, I think you’ll find it really practical and helpful. As always, we continue the conversation over on Instagram, so come and join us there.

You can download a transcript of this week’s episode here.

Key takeaway’s from this week’s episode:

Richie Before He Became the Breath Guy:

Richie had been in management consulting for about six years. (3:45)
He didn’t feel fulfilled and confessed this dilemma to his parents. They suggested he take time off from life. (4:50)
He ended up taking three months off work to travel. (5:15)
After this, he came back and turned his life around. He quit his job, ended his relationship and moved to another country. (5:50)
He started following his intuition instead of planning things out. (6:15)

The Wim Hof Method:

Because his father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he would always look for ways to help. (6:35)
He came across Wim Hof, who developed and taught a method involving breathing and cold exposure. (6:55)
Richie went to Poland to experience this method, which is when he became interested in breathing. (7:40)

Breathwork Around the World:

Richie’s father began practising methods from Wim Hof, which halted the progression of his condition. (8:55)
Richie continued to experiment with breathwork and travel across the world to learn from different people who work with breathing. (9:26)
You don’t need to be anyone special to learn how to breathe, which is why Richie feels it could have a significant impact on the world. (10:00)

What Is Breathwork?

Breathwork is when you focus on your breathing and use it to create change within yourself. (11:03)
It can be as simple as breathing for a few minutes during the day or a spiritual experience or practice that takes more than an hour or so. (11:44)

The Difference Between Meditation and Breathwork:

A common way of meditating is breath awareness. (12:15)
Meditation is about not doing something. (12:30)
Breathwork actively uses your breath to create real physiological effects on your body, affecting your mind and emotions. (12:45)

How Breath Connects to Your Emotions:

The breath is intimately linked to our nervous system and influences what we feel internally. (13:40)
When we have a big emotion, our breath is affected as well. (14:13)
Our breathing and emotions are a two-way street. They affect each other. (14:39)

Learn a Quick Breathing Exercise for Energy:

One quick technique is the Energizer Bunny, which involves inhaling several times in succession and then exhaling quickly. (15:30)
You need to ensure you are in a safe space and not driving or running machinery. (16:04)
Let Richie lead you through the exercise by tuning into the full episode! (16:00)

Breathing Exercises for Energy:

Breathing exercises like the Energizer Bunny work by activating our nervous system and bringing in more oxygen into our body. (18:25)
You can also look at it in terms of yogic sciences: by breathing quickly, you are taking in extra prana. (19:00)
Richie recommends this exercise for handling an afternoon slump. (20:07)

Learn Coherent Breathing to Balance Your Nervous System:

According to Richie, when we are anxious or stressed, we are in fight-or-flight mode. Breathing can shift us away from this. (20:57)
The best way to get back to a relaxed state is to slow down your breath. Slowing down will help you think more clearly. (21:06)
Richie talks about what heart rate variability is and how to improve it with coherent breathing. (21:43)
Listen to the full episode to find out how to practice coherent breathing! (22:27)

Correct Your Breathing to Support Yourself:

As it turns out, a lot of us don’t know how to breathe correctly. (25:10)
Richie describes the most common breathing pattern disorder and how to correct this disorder. (26:37)
How we breathe can increase stress levels depending on which muscles we use. (27:25)

How We Lose Our Natural Ability to Breathe Properly Growing Up:

We come into this world naturally knowing how to breathe. (31:05)
However, we grow up and experience things like stress and trauma. We also develop certain habits that take away our natural ability to breathe correctly. (31:25)

Breathing Can Be Somatic Therapy for Trauma:

Richie can teach quick interventions, but sometimes what needs to be solved is far more profound. (33:06)
He suggests you get to the root of your deep-seated issue and release it. Once you figure that out, you won’t have heavy emotions or anxiety that will need breathwork. (33:30)
You can also use breathing to reach out into the emotional centres of the mind. (33:51)

Breathwork Alongside Talking Therapy:

Richie believes there's value in talking therapy; however, emotions aren’t something you can talk through rationally. (34:22)
He says modes of therapy like trauma release exercises can go alongside talking therapy to allow our bodies to heal from emotional wounds as well. (34:45)
Richie believes you can’t have one form of therapy without the other. (37:50)

Be Open to New Ideas:

Richie would very much like everyone to become more openly curious. (39:03)
He says we tend to live our lives based on a map of how things should happen. (39:35)
We should try new things before difficulties push us into them. (40:14)

Heal Yourself; Heal Your Children:

Richie shares an anecdote about a friend who decided that traumas passed down to her should end with her. (41:38)
He says the work that you do for yourself is for your children as well. (42:22)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Exhale by Richie Bostock
Wim Hof
Follow Richie as he leads you through a breathwork exercise on Instagram
Receive 10% off courses at The Mumma’s Village with the code MOTHERKIND at checkout
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About Richie

Richie Bostock is a breathwork coach and speaker, as well as the author of the book Exhale.

While researching ways to help his father, who had multiple sclerosis, he chanced upon the Wim Hof method, where he learned about cold exposure and breathing techniques. Since then, it has become Richie’s life purpose to educate people around the world about breathwork and the many wonders it can do.

Find out more about Richie and his practice through his website, or connect with him on Facebook and Instagram.