Do you know how many breaths a person takes each day? 25,000. Each breath doesn’t necessarily require conscious effort, but depending on how a person breathes, it can affect their psychological well-being and physical health.
If you’re a health practitioner still seeking to elevate your practice while empowering your clients during their healing journeys, becoming a certified breathwork instructor may be your next logical step.
You can help your clients improve not just their physical health but also their mental and emotional well-being.
In this article, we’ll delve deep into why you should start breathing the life of a breathwork instructor and why embracing breathwork instruction can become an integral part of your practice.
First Off, What is Deep Breathing?
Sometimes termed diaphragmatic breathing, deep breathing is a practice that helps you take in more air, calm nerves and reduce stress and anxiety.
Typically, people breathe in for about two seconds and breathe out for another two seconds. This is the usual rate when not consciously thinking of breathing.
Deep breathing is more intentional, though. This technique requires you to relax the abdominal region while you take a deep breath. The lungs slowly expand and fill with air as you breathe, moving the diaphragm as it contracts. Upon exhaling, the air is released.
A person’s breathing pattern can be slowed by being more aware of this process. With a slower and deeper breathing rate, you can calm down when stressed or anxious.
This deep breathing exercise is also used in practices like yoga, tai chi, and other forms of meditation that help promote relaxation and combat stress.
The proper breathing technique can also help improve your client’s attention span and lower pain levels.
Aspects Deep Breathing Can Help Your Clients Heal
- Lung Health. According to the American Lung Association, practising Deep and slow Breathing exercises helps strengthen the diaphragm while teaching it to work at total capacity instead of relying on the neck and back for breathing. With this practice, you strengthen your lungs and diaphragm enough to enable you to breathe more efficiently.
- Heart Health. The relaxation brought by Deep Slow Breathing promotes a reduced heart rate, blood pressure, and lower breathing rate. The slower the breathing, the less the demand on the heart. This increases the Heart Rate Variability (the time between your heartbeats), thus increasing one’s heart health and longevity. With more practice, deep breathing can even reduce the risk of cardiac events.
- Mental Health. For an improved state of mind, people with mental health issues are encouraged to do deep, slow breathing exercises. In many researches, it’s been found that deep breathing can help ease stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. At the same time, it also helps manage asthma and epilepsy, as these two are often triggered by stress.
- Pain Management. Through deep breathing, certain chronic conditions can be managed and help limit drug treatment in chronic pain management. Because of the relaxation deep breathing promotes, the body undergoes a sympathetic response where mood and pain processing are impacted.
By incorporating breathwork into your practice or becoming a certified breathwork facilitator, you can offer clients a more holistic approach to healing.
Breathwork goes well with different health methods like psychotherapy, yoga, and meditation. By incorporating breathwork into your current treatments, you can enhance their effectiveness.
Other Benefits of Teaching Breathwork Techniques
Breathwork is an ancient practice that’s been around for millennia and is a handy technique for healthcare professionals to learn. Overall, it’s an excellent way to enhance the mind-body connection.
Health practitioners understand the intricate relationship between physical and emotional well-being. Through breathwork, healthcare practitioners can directly address the mind-body connection.
By teaching breathwork, you can help guide your clients toward greater self-awareness and emotional healing, as it can help release emotional blockages and reduce the physical symptoms of stress.
Breathwork can also be treated as a self-care tool for clients. Once they master the breathwork technique that feels the most natural for them, they can enhance their overall activity, boost their immunity and reduce their stress and anxiety.
Teaching breathwork can be your way to diversify your practice. Knowing breathwork techniques opens up new opportunities and avenues for your career as a health practitioner.
Breathwork instruction is a niche healing technique where you can position yourself as a forward-thinking health coach, appeal to a broader clientele and potentially increase your income streams.
Aside from the benefits you can reap professionally, being a breathwork instructor is a personally transformative experience. Many instructors in this practice report increased inner peace, reduced stress, and enhanced well-being due to their breathwork practice.
How to Get Started as a Certified Breathwork Instructor
Becoming a certified breathwork instructor requires dedication, training, and certification from reputable programs.
Typically, these programs cover breathwork techniques, teaching methods, and ethical considerations. Of course, finding one that aligns with your values and goals as a practitioner is also essential.
For example, SOMA Breath has a holistic school and community to show its clients and instructors that it aims to empower them with the tools and techniques to change their lives positively.
Clients can experience the complete system of Pranayama techniques through SOMA Breath’s science-backed and certified breathwork facilitator training.
These can have different arrangements depending on the type of workshop clients attend. They can be tailored precisely to their needs since everyone’s unique needs are considered.
Take a Deep Breath to Success
This is a reasonable time for health coaches to grow their industry game. If you’re considering upgrading your skillset and career, consider becoming a breathwork teacher. The potential increase in income is too good to pass up. Plus, imagine the incredible results your clients can gain from this exercise.
Christopher Adams is a registered dietitian specializing in weight management and preventative healthcare. He’s also the author of a bestselling book on nutrition and a consultant dietitian for hospitals and wellness centres. Adams believes in empowering individuals to make healthier food choices using evidence-based research and practical advice.