Day 1
Welcome to Respira
Today, we’ll explore:
- How this course will help you develop resilience through awareness and breath practice
- The science behind today’s Breathwork Exercises
Respira: More Than Breathwork
Respira isn’t just a breathwork course—it’s a nervous system health support app, designed to give you the tools to understand, track, and regulate stress for long-term well-being.
Awareness for your mind. Resilience for your life. Balance between internal systems.Overview
Over the next 21 days, we’ll guide you step-by-step through a practical breathwork practice, combining hands-on exercises supported by insights into how your body and mind work together.
You’ll not only learn effective breathing techniques but also dive into understanding your nervous system, your stress responses, and how they shape your well-being. Through the lens of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), we’ll explore how stress impacts physical and mental health, and how breathwork positively impacts your health—exercising your vagus nerve, reducing stress, and supporting your immune function.
By the end of the course, you’ll have a nervous system health toolkit, and the deeper knowledge to create meaningful change in your daily life. We're so excited to have you on this journey.
Goals
Respira is designed to help you feel empowered. Giving you agency over long-term health by building a nervous system health toolkit for long term wellness. Helping you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally connected.
Strengthen Your Nervous System
You’ll learn simple breathwork techniques that tone your vagus nerve—the part of your body that helps you switch out of "fight-or-flight" mode and into a state of calm and balance.
Get to Know Yourself
This course is about more than breathing—it’s about learning to listen to your body. You’ll start noticing the signals it’s sending and understanding how your physical and emotional states are connected.
Build Resilience
Life throws challenges at all of us, but you’ll gain tools to handle stress and emotions in a way that feels steady and grounded. By the end of the course, you’ll notice you’re responding to life with more ease and confidence.
Feel Less Stressed and More Relaxed
Chronic stress takes a toll, but with these practices, you’ll find ways to actively calm your body and mind. By creating moments of deep relaxation, you’ll feel more recharged and ready to take on the day.
Boost Your Overall Health
Breathwork isn’t just about feeling good in the moment. It has real physical benefits—like improving digestion, sleep, and even your immune system. And it’s great for mental clarity and emotional well-being, too.
Build Lasting Habits
This isn’t a quick fix—it’s about creating a practice that sticks. You’ll leave with simple, accessible tools you can easily work into your daily routine, even after the course ends.
Learn How It All Works
I’ll share insights from science, especially psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), to help you understand how your mind and body are connected. Don’t worry,it’s straightforward and easy to follow, so you can focus on how to put it into practice.
The science of breathwork
Breathwork is a powerful, evidence-based practice that enhances vagal tone, regulates the nervous system, and improves both physical and mental well-being.
By understanding the mechanisms behind breathwork, we can see how controlled breathing influences physiological processes, leading to benefits such as stress reduction, improved cardiovascular health, and enhanced cognitive function.
Why Breathwork Works Differently from Meditation
While both meditation and breathwork regulate the nervous system, breathwork is unique because:
Mechanisms of Action
Heart rate regulation (1)
Inflammatory response modulation. (2)
Digestion and gut-brain communication. (3)
Stress and emotional regulation . (4)
A high vagal tone is associated with greater emotional resilience, lower stress levels, and reduced inflammation, while low vagal tone is linked to anxiety, depression, and chronic diseases (5). Breathwork is an accessible way to increase vagal tone, improving overall health.
Scientific Benefits of Breathwork
Mental & Emotional Wellbeing
Reduces Anxiety & Depression
Slow breathing lowers amygdala activity, reducing fear responses 6
Regular practice increases GABA (calming neurotransmitter) production. 7
Enhances Focus & Cognitive Performance
Breath control increases prefrontal cortex activity, improving executive function 8
Physical Health & Longevity
Reduces Anxiety & Depression
Paced breathing lowers blood pressure and enhances circulation 9
Enhances Focus & Cognitive Performance
Breath-hold training enhances lung capacity and CO₂ resilience 10
Enhances Focus & Cognitive Performance
Vagal activation reduces systemic inflammation, benefiting autoimmune and inflammatory conditions 11
Read more about the science
The Role of the Vagus Nerve in Breathwork
Respiratory-Vagal Stimulation
Mechanism:
- Slow, deep breathing (especially with a longer exhalation) activates the vagus nerve, triggering a parasympathetic response (Porges, 2011).
- Breathing at 5–6 breaths per minute synchronizes respiratory and cardiovascular rhythms, enhancing heart rate variability (HRV) (Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014).
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and the Cardiac-Respiratory Connection
HRV refers to the variation in time between heartbeats, which is an indicator of autonomic nervous system balance. Higher HRV is linked to better stress resilience and cardiovascular health (Thayer & Lane, 2009).
How breathwork improves HRV:
- Inhalation activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), slightly increasing heart rate.
- Exhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), slowing heart rate (Zaccaro et al., 2018).
- Controlled breathing increases HRV, indicating better nervous system flexibility and stress adaptation
Oxygen-CO₂ Balance and Blood Chemistry Regulation
Breathwork influences oxygen (O₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, which directly impact nervous system function (Courtney, 2019).
Key processes:
- Dysfunctional breathing (e.g., chronic hyperventilation) reduces CO₂ levels, leading to respiratory alkalosis, which can cause anxiety, dizziness, and increased SNS activity (Noble & Hochman, 2019).
- Slow, nasal breathing increases CO₂ tolerance, optimizing oxygen delivery to tissues (Bohr Effect) and enhancing relaxation (Yackle et al., 2017).
- Breath-hold exercises improve CO₂ resilience, training the body to tolerate physiological stress better.
Nitric Oxide (NO) Production and Vascular Health
Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator that improves circulation, reduces blood pressure, and enhances immune function (Lundberg et al., 1996).
How breathwork enhances NO:
- Nasal breathing increases NO production in the sinuses, improving oxygen uptake and cardiovascular function.
- Humming during exhalation boosts NO levels by up to 15 times, promoting anti-inflammatory effects (Telles et al., 2016).
The Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway (CAIP)
Breathwork can modulate inflammation through the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, a vagus nerve-mediated mechanism (Tracey, 2002).
How it works:
- The vagus nerve releases acetylcholine, which inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokine production (e.g., TNF-α, IL-6).
- This reduces chronic inflammation, benefiting conditions like autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, and gut inflammation (Gidron et al., 2018).
Day 1 Breathwork
BOLT Test
Gathering your BOLT Score to build your data driven toolkit.
The Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) score measures how efficiently you breathe by timing how long you can comfortably hold your breath after a normal exhalation.
This simple test reflects your CO₂ tolerance, respiratory efficiency, and nervous system balance. We’ll repeat the BOLT score every 10 days to track your progress. A rising score indicates improved breath control, better stress resilience, and enhanced oxygen efficiency—key markers of functional breathing.
To improve your BOLT score:
- Breathe through your nose to build CO₂ tolerance.
- Slow your breathing & extend exhale to activate relaxation.
- Practice breath-hold exercise to optimise oxygen delivery.
By tracking your BOLT score, you’ll gain valuable insights into how breathwork strengthens your nervous system and overall well-being over time.
Basic Breathing
Breathing: A Gateway to Better Health and Well-Being
Breathing is something we do automatically, but how we breathe has a profound impact on our health, energy, and mental clarity. Correct breathing isn’t just about taking in air—it’s about optimising how our body uses it.
Nose Breathing: The Natural Way
First, let’s talk about nose breathing, which is the way our bodies are designed to breathe. Breathing through the nose filters, humidifies, and warms the air before it reaches our lungs. This protects us from pollutants, allergens, and dryness.
More importantly, nose breathing adds nitric oxide to the air we inhale. This powerful molecule is essential for dilating blood vessels, improving circulation, and supporting heart health. Simply by breathing through your nose, you enhance the efficiency of your respiratory system and support your cardiovascular system.
Our bodies are designed for nose breathing, which offers a multitude of benefits that go beyond simply inhaling and exhaling. Breathing through the nose filters, humidifies, and warms the air, protecting us from pollutants, allergens, and dryness.
This process also adds nitric oxide to the air we inhale—a molecule essential for dilating blood vessels, improving circulation, and supporting heart health. By simply breathing through your nose, you enhance the efficiency of your respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Nose breathing also impacts sleep quality, jaw development, and overall well-being. It promotes deeper, more restorative sleep, whereas mouth breathing can lead to snoring, dry mouth, and restless nights. In children, nose breathing influences facial and palate development, helping to prevent issues like misaligned teeth.
The Balance of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
Beyond these physical benefits, nose breathing regulates the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood. Surprisingly, having too little CO2 makes it harder for your body to use oxygen efficiently. Slowing your breath and breathing through your nose ensures your body maintains the right levels of CO2 for optimal function.
When we’re stressed, our breathing often becomes shallow and rapid—usually through the mouth. This is a signal of the body’s stress response. Shifting to slow, nasal breathing can activate the relaxation response, lowering your heart rate and calming your mind.
Posture: The Foundation of Effective Breathing
How you sit or stand significantly impacts your breathing. Sitting upright with a relaxed spine, open chest, and soft belly allows for unrestricted airflow and full diaphragm expansion, enabling deeper, more efficient breaths. If you notice yourself slouching, gently realign to maximize the benefits of each breath.
Maintaining good posture not only supports better breathing but also promotes relaxation, focus, and mental clarity. By observing your natural inhales and exhales, you move from autopilot breathing to conscious breath awareness—a key step toward nervous system regulation and overall well-being.
Why This Matters
- Proper breathing isn’t just about survival—it’s about thriving. By practicing nasal breathing and maintaining good posture
- you enhance your body’s natural efficiency, improve your health, and foster a sense of calm and focus. On this first day
- Observing your natural breath builds self-awareness and lays the foundation for breathwork.
Key Takeaways
- Respira is a science-based approach to breathwork, designed to build nervous system resilience and well-being.
- Your breath is a powerful tool for regulating stress, improving focus, and supporting long-term health.
- This course will guide you step by step towards integrating breath awareness and nervous system regulation into your daily life.
- Tracking your BOLT score helps personalise your breathwork journey.
- Observing your natural breath builds self-awareness and lays the foundation for breathwork.
Coming up
Breathing: A Gateway to Better Health and Well-Being
Tomorrow, we dive into stress: what it is, why it happens, and how it affects both mental and physical health. You'll learn the difference between acute vs. chronic stress and how modern life keeps us in a cycle of stress overload.
This session lays the foundation for understanding how