Why Your Breathing Could Be Holding Back Your Running & Your Life Ep. 190

In this past episode of the Ella-Go Podcast, Coach Lisa interviews Sarah Hutcherson, a breath work expert from Slow Breathworks. They discuss Sarah's journey into breath work, the importance of breathing techniques for physical and emotional well-being, and how breath work can enhance your runs. Sarah shares insights on the science behind breathing, the benefits of extending exhales for anxiety relief, and the transformative power of breath work in community settings. 

BONUS: The episode concludes with a practical breathing exercise for listeners.

About Sarah:

Sarah Hutcherson of Slo Breathworks is a breath guide and educator. She guides brilliant breathers living with dysautonomia and anxiety to LIVE through accessible, integrated breathwork that honors each person's unique journey with chronic illness. After years of being defined by POTS, Ehlers-Danlos, and anxiety, Sarah understands how chronic conditions can trap you in cycles of stress, fear, and pain. She combines this lived experience with extensive training under breathing experts like Dr. Arielle Schwartz, Reis Paluso, and Luke Weitzman, as well as a Master's in Sustainability, to help brilliant breathers remember their thriving selves through conscious breaths.

Takeaways

• Breath work can significantly improve physical and emotional well-being.
• Extending the exhale is key to down-regulating anxiety.
• Breath techniques can enhance performance in sports and daily activities.
• Understanding your body's breathing patterns is essential for improvement.
• Breath work can help release stored emotions and stress.
• Community breath work fosters connection and shared experiences.
• Breath work is not just for athletes; it's beneficial for everyone.
• Personalized breath work sessions can lead to significant shifts in health.
• Breath work can be practiced anywhere, even during walks.
• Daily micro doses of breath work can create lasting change.

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to Ella Go. My name is Lisa, and this is not just a podcast about running. This is a podcast to empower women through fitness and health and everything in between. Because let's be honest, ladies, this journey could suck if we don't get our shit together. All right, everyone. Welcome to the ELAGO podcast. Today's guest is Sarah Hutcherson, and she is with Slow Breath Works. Slow S L O. So welcome, Sarah. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. When I met you the first time and I saw what you were about, I was like, oh my God. It's just so amazing what you're doing for people. And I never thought, well, we're not going to talk about it just yet, but you the listeners will learn more about what it is you do. So with that, how did you get started? And what is it that you do? Yeah, totally, totally. I know everyone's like breath work. I breathe. So great. Um, yeah, and that's what's cool about it. So I got started. Um, I have a background, I've taught yoga since 2009. And I what I noticed in that was I came into it full solely for the asana. I was like, I want to work out, I want to move. I came into it after um I stopped playing um college basketball. And so um that moment was big for me. And then I similarly had a moment with the breath where after my first bout of COVID, um I did not bounce back the way I thought I would, that my body would. Um, and I was having issues with um everything from like walking up the stairs, walking up the hill, uh, to even being in front of the screen. I was at this point in a corporate sustainability job, and it was really hard for me to be in front of the screen without getting migraines, having brain fog. And I was missing my release of exercise, of hiking, of um biking, everything. And I found this book that my mom had given me called Breath, um, different than the one that's amazing by James Nestor, but um, and it had different breathing techniques. And I practiced um a couple different ones, uh, a lot of extended exhales, some of the square breaths. And then I dug into more of the active breath I found online. And that was a way that I found a release. And when I say a release, like you, your listeners, right? The feeling you get after running, the feeling that you get after that movement that's nourishing, um, that's what it gave to me, right? And now that I've gone through different trainings and certifications and gone down the rabbit hole of the breath, I know that has to do with how my body was coming back into that alleostasis and homeostasis. So um I'm grateful that my body intuitively went for it, right? And that um I decided to be open and I was great, grateful for that yogic background to have the understanding of why breath can be important. Um, but that was that was the gateway into it. Wow. That's pretty amazing. And you know, it's funny because I've heard a lot of women who have taught or are teaching yoga, they've has said the same thing to me during COVID. And at first I was just like, okay, whatever. What are you talking about? And they were just like, look, you know, there's really something about the breath, and because COVID attacks, you know, the lungs and how it helped them. So that's pretty cool that it also helped you. So I was also looking in your bio on the on the on your website, and I was like, you know, is there education with this? And I saw like all the teachings or the certifications and education that you have. And I'm like, what? What is this? So talk a little bit about that because I know there might be some people listening to this and being like, just like you said at the beginning, okay, you're gonna teach me how to breathe. Like, what are we what are we doing here? Well, I think what's cool about the breath is we do what it's our body's number one function to be alive, right? You know, it's the first thing you do, you know, when you come out of the womb, and that's the last thing you do, right? There's a bookending to it. So there is always a spiritual piece to it, right? Um we're I, as a culture coming back to it, right? And I think COVID, like you said, really brought us to thinking about exchanging air, right? Like I'm breathing in your carbon dioxide, where, you know, like we are having this exchange. Um and what got me interested in it, and what I think is fascinating, is a lot of these trainings are touting it as like this new age, new find. And, you know, especially in the yogic traditions across very different lineages, um, across other religions, it's always it's been there. It's something that is now new, but it's very much old. Um, and so the I've had the fortunate opportunity to do different trainings to look at the breath as a principle, right? So there are a lot of different techniques out there. You'll hear about Wim Hof. Um, there's holotropic. So Wim Hof is um a more activating breath. Um, it has to do with cold exposure, doing plunging. Um, you'll hear about holotropic, which is a lot of like in out, in out, in out. And then you have a lot of techniques which are rooted in the downregulating. Um, and I've I've studied a lot of them because to me, it's like if breath is the principle, it's like how can you use it in throughout your day when you're feeling different emotions, right? So looking at through the therapeutic lens as well as through the functional lens. Um and so, especially when we look at it through the nervous system, um, that's a big piece because the nervous system's the connector, right? It reminds us to breathe. It's also responsible for how we feel what we call an emotion, especially with um one of the cranial nerves, the vagus nerve. So um I come at it through, I've been able to do personal trainings for myself to help from the healing with long COVID and POTS and um going through what I did with divorce. But then I've also then gone back and done the practitioner piece of that, looking at it through the lens of um the vagus nerve, polyvagal theory, and then bringing in the science and the mechanics of it um for today's science and research. Wow. Okay, so I know if for anyone who's listening to who does not have a bio background, she's legit, okay? Because I have a bio black background. She is legit. She's not just spewing things and you know, this is legitimate information that she's giving me. So that is pretty mind-blowing. And I it actually gave me the goosebumps a bit when you were talking about that. So that's so cool. Okay. So I want to ask you this. And we talked about it before we recorded. And I know that this question comes to me as a running coach is how do I breathe? Am I breathing right? Is there a right way to breathe? Is it is there a wrong way to breathe? And I'm sure, I'm sure people have asked you this. What would you how would you respond to that? Well, yes, a lot of people ask, you know, they're like, I gotta I want to breathe right. So my first answer is always, you are, your body is breathing the way it's meant to right now, right? Like it has gotten you here. It's the same with the nervous system. Like we talk about, oh, I'm always stressed, I'm this and that, and my breath's shallow, and I can't move my left rib. And it's like, but you're alive, right? Like celebrate that, like really, because I came to it in that way. Like, oh, I need to breathe more. So I always have that caveat. And then, of course, there are ways you can breathe that are more, depending on what your goals are, you so for that efficiency, for that performance. But that performance doesn't have to necessarily be, I mean, it can be an awesome marathon, right? It can be an ultra. That's great. And it can also be I want to show up in my presentation um for school or for work and be able to do it without turning beet red, right? That's a goal, right? So, or it's as simple as I want to feel when I walk into the house, like a level five out of 10 in terms of stress instead of a 10 out of 10, so that when I see my partner, I can respond instead of react. Um, and so when you think about what your goal is, then you can focus on, okay, like in the body, right? In the anatomy, um, am I where am I breathing? Right. So that's a that's a starting point I always like to think about, right? Of like, am I breathing a lot in the clavicular area, like up in the neck? Am I breathing kind of more in the chest and the ribs? Um, what about is there movement in my belly? And um, they're signs, right? It's like a they're communicating kind of what's going on because there we have breathing muscles that are meant for the breath, right? We have the beautiful respiratory diaphragm, which is right in between, separating, you know, what's going on with our digestion versus what's going on with our breathing. And it that's affected by our posture, that's affected by what we do day to day with the neck, the rounding, whatever it may be. And so as we notice where that breath is, that's always my question back is well, where do you feel you breathe? Right? Where do you feel your breath? And to build that interoception, right, that awareness of what's happening inside the body, that takes time. But that's the step towards finding, you know, the right way to breathe, if you will. Um, and how I look at it. Yeah. So the minute you said that, I'm like, okay, my position right, but you know, but it's so true because like for runners who tend to look at their feet, you're you are obstructing that airway. So that's not a good way to run because you're not really taking in that breath. And then if you're looking straight ahead, it's a little bit better. You're creating more of that airway. And then when you were saying where you breathe, and I almost feel like, well, I think that is like, you know, when you're just like it's like superficial breathing. It's like you're not even like really taking it in, you know, it's just like up here, and it's not going, you're not really, you know, when you think about the breath, what it actually does, you know, not just all the things that you're talking about, but your cells need them to live. And you're not respiration. Yes, it's not going into that whole entire body when you're doing that. So yeah, with the breath, when we think about right, like I love to think about it with the gym, right? Or if you're with running with training, right? We have certain muscles that are designed to be most efficient, most helpful in terms of allowing for that strength and the longevity to occur. And so it's the same thing with the breath. And if you think about it, like you have your scalenes here, and if they're engaged, they're trying to help you breathe, right? Like I think a lot about it. I grew up with asthma, right? So that you know, or if you're running and you cut, you're right, and it's here, you're not gonna be able to have the movement that you want in terms of that lung capacity expanding. And where that lung capacity comes from is from the pressure shift with from the movement of that respiratory diaphragm, right? And so a lot of this breath work and the breath training is about like making sure that we can allow for that breath to come down. Um, but and you know, there's and we'll talk about it, I know um during the panel, um, because uh there's a lot around how you breathe in terms of different gears and shifting up and shifting down. And it's not being like, oh, I'm Zen and running and like feeling nothing. It's about knowing how to move in and out of those different breathing um postures, breathing techniques to allow for your performance to be there. Yeah. Okay, we definitely need to have you uh come to the Eligo tribe and do a session with us because this is just so, so good. So the question I was gonna ask you next next, and we kind of touched upon it, was how does the breath benefit people? Um, so I'm just curious, besides the running and the movement and the walking, I mean anxiety, right? Yeah. I mean that I it's all interconnected. That's what I get so excited about, is like if you come to work on your breath to for one reason, it's gonna open up all these other facets, right? So if you're coming at it and you're like, I want to be able to, for example, um, I have a client who I've worked with who we he came to work with me to hold his breath under, he's a surfer. So you could hold his breath underwater when he gets thrown under and he can be there underwater for up to four minutes, not breathe. I was like, I would never do that. First, let me just, I mean, I don't know if you want to work with someone that doesn't won't be willing to do that. But through that, what we've learned is the connection, right, between that of like where's the anxiety coming from? What is it that related to in life? How does that relate to the job, right? So it all comes out. Um, and so what I like to think about in terms of just a tangible tip is with the breath cycle, you have your inhale, you have your inhale hold, and you have your exhale and your exhale hold. And there's different names for the spaces in between, but for simplicity's sake, that's it. And if you want to really downregulate, you want if you're feeling that sympathetic, that anxiety, you just you extend the exhale always. That is what you want to focus on. And then you can play with passageways, right? Are you breathing through the mouth? Are you breathing through the nose? You know, that's and then you add texture, you add velocity, right? But the number one thing, can I extend that exhale and make it longer than my inhale? Um, and then you can play with the holds, right? Because in between, that's where you can build that carbon dioxide tolerance. You can learn to bring that pH in the body back into that balance. Um, but starting point, extend that exhale. Wow. Okay. So I'm sold. Okay, so it's this is just too good. It is really good stuff here. What does it look like to work with you? Because like I'm listening to this and I'm like, okay, I need this woman in my training. Like, what does that look like? You know, start from the beginning with someone reaching out to you. You know, what is the process? Yeah, well, I always love to get on a call. I you know, whether it's face to face or, you know, if you're in the area, we can go on a walk. And it's about, I want to understand why you want to work on breathing or what's you're interested about the breath, um, and to make sure that we're the right fit for each other in terms of what you're looking for. And then once I understand kind of what your goals are, right? When we talk about the performance, what does performance mean to you? Then we'll meet for 75 minutes and we go through a couple different tests, um, looking at what is your baseline level of stress right now in terms of your body. And then we look at your body as it breathes, right? Like, let's see what happens with the shoulders. Let's see what's happening with the chest, what's happening with the back, right? Like we just get to watch. And then from there, once I kind of see those things, then I can I tailor a program for us to work together so that you can then achieve whatever that breathing goal is and walk away, have the tools that you need so that you can real time be like, all right, I'm gonna practice this four, seven, eight breath. All right, I'm gonna practice this nasal blocking technique, round blocking technique. And so just learning how to breathe, to live the breath is really what we focus on. So that's what I do for one-on-ones, and it's a joy. It's a joy to see the shifts that happen. And every time I get to do it, imagine what you do too. It's like a pinch me moment. And uh it's neat. It's just the more each time one person learns the breathing, right? Then they bring it to their community and their people, and you get to see how that then has a ripple effect, and then they can be the teacher, right? That's the goal is that they walk away and can talk about functional, therapeutic, gentle breath work, whatever they took about breath, and then they can bring that and have conversations there with um their loved ones. That's so cool. So you said one-on-one, but I've seen you do a lot of group work, really a lot of cool group work. So can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. Oh, I love the group because you know, again, when you're breathing together, you start to really think about where you're sending your breath, how you're breathing. Uh, I love to leave breath walks. Breath walks are amazing. Just for me, I mean, that started back when I was having those difficulties with long COVID, and I couldn't go do my usual like 10 out of 10, let me hike up this mountain, you know, feeling. And so instead, I had to learn how to travel within a very small space, right? And have that exploration, which is a really big core value of mine, is exploration. So I brought that to walking from my front door to my mailbox and breathing with different elements of nature that were around me, different trees, looking at different lines in the sidewalk and be like, what breath does that look like? And then playing with it. And so that's that's what they're about. And I love to go on breath walks with people and see how they see the breath around them, right? Because or feel the breath, right? It's not just the visual, um, because it's just inspiring because we each have such a different perspective. But then that breath can come in and be that support tool, which that's what it's about. So that's what I do. I love that. That's that's the gift. Get outside and be with some trees, you know. Yes, yes. You know, it it's funny that you are talking about walking because we try to do that once in a while. Although the ladies don't really like running without music, but it brings it to another level, and we practice that um, you know, just doing a nice slow jog, no music, and just listening to the breath. And I did this with like my beginner runners, and we did that probably for like 10 minutes. And I'm like, okay, we're gonna stop. How did you guys feel? And they're like, oh my god, they were like, I was going through the rhythm with your breathing because I was really trying to make it very controlled, and it brought everybody in sync with me, and we were cool. I love that. I mean, and we were literally in our zen, and we were in our zen mode, and everybody was like, I had one woman say, you know, I haven't ran that far, like long distance until today, because of that, you know, going through that rhythm with the breathing. And she goes, I'm just following, I was just listening to your breath, and I was going with that, and that was just like that's so cool. But it's whole it's so hard to to have people do that because they're not experiencing it at first. But when you do experience that without the music, without the distraction, being outside with the trees, listening to the rustling of the leaves, like it is like a whole nother level of running, right? Yeah, that's so uh we should totally do that. We gotta do that with you and like just witness that. That's really beautiful. That yeah, that sensory play. I mean, and I can imagine too, in terms of like while you're running with that nervous system regulation happening right through the sensory, through that external focus, that's gonna help in terms of your time, right? And the strides and just being in that runner's flow. Yeah, yeah, it's so cool. Yeah, we definitely have to have you. With the breath, it's you start like anything, right? Spe with running with any habit you want to build, it's having that little daily microdose, if you will, of the breath just woven in so your body can start to have that understanding, those neural pathways start to form and get more and more defined. Um, that you can take the breath before the reaction. Um so good. So, Sarah, thank you so much for coming today, being on the podcast. Your voice is very calming. Thank you so much. I appreciate it this opportunity and um I'm pumped. Let's get let's get more runners, walkers, breathing, and just bring that breath in. Yes, yes, a hundred percent. Do you want me to do a couple breaths? Oh, yeah, yeah, let's do that. Okay, okay, let's do that. All right, so let's end with a couple breaths, right? Just to sprinkle that into our day. Um, so you can either keep the eyes open or softly shut them. And you're gonna just notice one area of tension in the body, whether that's the shoulders, the jaw, the hip, the back, you name it. And the next three breaths, I really want you to focus on sending the breath in that direction in that physical body. We're gonna practice the coherent breath, inhaling for five and a half, exhaling for five and a half. Meet me at the bottom of the exhale. Inhale through the nose, two, three, four, five, exhale, five, four, three, two, one, two more. Inhale, belly, ribs, chest, open, exhale, chest, ribs, belly, fall, last one, inhale into that area, feel it expand, feel it open, notice that sensation, and then exhale, think the sensation, let it be, don't try to control it. Return to your breath, open the eyes if they were closed, and notice. I need you every day. Every day I wake up, I need to have you. Hello. Oh my god, that was amazing. I am so relaxed. It's just so isn't it cool your body just did that? Three breaths, right? Like, I mean, just it starts. They this new study just came out. 30 seconds, within 30 seconds of a slow breath, like we just did, they see shifts in not only blood pressure, heart rate, but also like brain in terms of the brainwaves. It's so cool. Like, your body wants to help you, right? Like, that's we just have to love it and nurture it in that way. So, yeah, and you have to welcome that. You gotta welcome that help. You gotta welcome the sensation, right? I mean, I love to resist it too. I'm like, I don't want to feel that, but yeah, you gotta move that. Sarah, you are a special person, and I again thank you so much. Uh, her bio is gonna be in the show notes, so please check that out again. Sarah, thank you for coming to the show. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, until next time, everyone. Bye.