Exploring Breathwork to Tackle Stress and Boost Mental Health with John Hall
## Show Notes: Advancing With Amy / Mental Health Warrior & Neurospicy Mama
### Episode Title: Exploring Breathwork to Tackle Stress and Boost Mental Health, with John Hall
**Host:** Amy
**Guest:** John Hall
### Episode Highlights:
1. **Introduction to Belly Breathing**:
- John Hall introduces the concept of belly breathing as a method to signal safety to the body, differentiating it from chest breathing used in dangerous situations.
2. **Breathing Exercise Demonstration**:
- John demonstrates a calming breathing exercise: inhale through the nose for 5 seconds, then exhale through the mouth for 7 seconds. This helps tell the body it is safe.
3. **Influence of Physical Posture**:
- Discussing the impact of physical posture on mindset, John cites studies showing how smiling or adopting power poses can improve decision-making and confidence levels.
4. **Incorporating Breath Techniques**:
- John details his use of breath techniques with clients:
- **Tactical Breath** for immediate stress relief.
- **Strategic Breath** for regular practice to expand stress tolerance.
- **Transformational Breath** to challenge and dissolve limiting beliefs.
- He shares a personal story of using breath work to address his own limiting beliefs.
5. **Democratizing Breathwork**:
- John aims to democratize breathwork, sharing its benefits with a wide audience, not just entrepreneurs and executives.
6. **Physiological Aspect of Stress**:
- Stress is presented as a full somatic experience. The episode dives into how stress affects the body, and John introduces his BPM (breath physiology mindset) technique for redirecting stress responses.
7. **Understanding Stress Responses**:
- John outlines the two types of stress responses (hyper arousal and hypo arousal) and specifies that they are suitable in particular situations.
- He discusses a UK study showing that forcing a smile for ten minutes can be as effective as Prozac for clinical depression.
8. **Impact of Stress on Body Functions**:
- High stress can shut down non-essential functions like digestion and advanced critical thinking. John explains how chronic stress can lead to distress and harm health.
9. **Types of Stress**:
- The episode categorizes stress into neutral stress, healthy stress (Eustress), and unhealthy stress (distress).
10. **Utilizing Breath Work to Signal Safety**:
- Breath work techniques are highlighted for th
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