Performance Breathing
What I Learned Teaching Alongside Author James Nestor
Performance breathing isn’t about taking bigger breaths.
It’s about creating a better life through a better relationship with your breath.
When I had the opportunity to spend time on my podcast with James Nestor, one thing became abundantly clear………. Are you aware of James work? If not do yourself a favor and Google search his work.
The conversation around breathing had finally begun in west.
For decades, breathing was something we assumed happened automatically. No big deal. We paid attention to nutrition, movement, sleep, supplements, and exercise, yet almost no one asked a simple question.
How are you breathing?
James helped bring that question into the mainstream, he did some very heavy research, and I love research…….
His research reminded millions of people that breathing is far more than moving oxygen. The way we breathe influences sleep, energy, athletic performance, emotional regulation, recovery, and overall health. It also challenged many long-held assumptions about mouth breathing, airway health, and the remarkable design of the human nose.
I believe his work helped awaken an entire generation to the importance of breathing.
Where my journey begins is with the next question.
Now that we know breathing matters, how do we live differently?
That has been my work for more than thirty years.
Breath Is the Beginning
Many people think performance breathing is reserved for elite athletes.
I disagree.
Performance is not about winning races. Performance is about showing up fully for your life. The awareness to respond instead of react. The resilience to recover after life’s inevitable challenges. The clarity to make better decisions.
The courage to become who you’re capable of becoming.
Every human being is a huge performer.
We’re simply performing different roles.
Breath As Medicine
Science continues to reveal what many ancient traditions understood centuries ago.
The nose warms, filters, humidifies, and conditions the air before it reaches the lungs.
A functional diaphragm improves breathing efficiency and supports healthy movement throughout the body.
A slower exhale encourages vagal activity and helps the nervous system shift toward recovery.
Healthy carbon dioxide tolerance improves the body’s ability to deliver oxygen where it is needed most.
These are not separate systems.
They are part of one beautifully integrated design.
Where Life With Breath Begins
This is where my philosophy differs.
Breath As Medicine is the method. Life With Breath is the destination.
The breath is not something I practice for twenty minutes and then forget for the rest of the day.
It becomes the way I walk. The way I run. The way I listen. The way I respond. The way I teach. The way I age.
Every conscious breath becomes an opportunity to return to presence.
Over the years, I’ve discovered something simple. Performance isn’t created during moments of pressure..
Pressure reveals how you’ve been breathing, thinking, and living every day before the pressure arrived.
That’s why I teach awareness before intensity. Presence before performance. Regulation before stimulation.
The greatest performance advantage isn’t found in another supplement or another gadget.
It’s found in becoming aware of the one thing you’ve been doing since the day you were born.
The Daily Practice
Today, don’t try to breathe more. Breathe with greater awareness. Close your mouth. Feel your diaphragm move, down towards you feet on the inhale, up towards your heart on your exhale.
Allow your exhale to become a little slower than your inhale.
Then notice what changes. Not only in your breathing. In your thinking. In your posture. In your relationships. In the way you experience this moment.
Because every conscious breath is an opportunity to perform our life a little better.
The Daily Remembering
James Nestor helped remind the world that breathing matters.
My life’s work has been helping people discover why that matters.
Breath is the doorway.
Presence is the practice.
Go BE Great.
To learn more about breathwork, emotional intelligence, resilience, and healthy aging, visit EdHarrold.com.
Ed’s Some Cool Stuff
Breath AS Medicine Trainings: 25-Hour Designed for Health & Wellness Professionals OR 15-Hour Designed for Personal Trainers & Fitness Professionals
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The Breath Source Breathing App: Deepen your practice with myself and over 50+ Breath Masters.
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