Everyone breathes all the time – of course! But did you know that most people don’t breathe correctly? Did you know that one of the first things that change when we are subject to stress is our breathing mechanics and this change is not necessarily for the better?
JMichael’s breathwork techniques will allow you to establish control of your emotional and physical body with just a few mechanically correct breaths which stimulate the parasympathetic response (rest, digest, heal) and reduce the sympathetic response (fight or flight). These techniques are an amalgam of his training with The Hendricks Institute, The Optimal Breathing School, Daoist, Buddhist, and Medical Qigong training. With his techniques, you will learn proper breathing mechanics as a stepping off place to the Shaolin technique of “Open the door and remove the thief.”
Combined with classical Medical Qigong treatment, the breathwork is taught first so it becomes automatic, creating the foundation in the body for optimal health and well-being.
Changes due to stress are programmed into our bodies from ancient times in human evolution when the “stress” was actually a life or death situation. This situation might be, for example, a charging lion, or saber-tooth tiger. When faced with this type dangerous situation, the breathing becomes shallow, fast and directed away from our major organs and out to our arms and legs so we can run fast or fight! The problem in today’s world is that stressful emotions cause the same type of mechanical breathing difficulty that is harmful to our mental and emotional health. Even though there is no external threat to our life, a stressful situation will unconsciously cause us to alter our breath. This shallow breathing does not nourish our organs and promote optimal flow of energy through the body. Over time, this type breathing can lead to physical and emotional disease. It is caused from lack of proper oxygen flow to the organs as well as continuous stimulation of stress hormones to the organs.
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) responds to stimulus from the sympathetic nervous system (faint, fight, flight, flee, freeze, fumble), or to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, heal) by way of the breath. Proper breathing mechanics include re-training the diaphragm which is the magic key to the ANS. A person may re-establish control over the ANS and reduce hyper vigilant and hyperactive reactivity.