SUMMARY KEYWORDS

drinking, breath, breathwork, breathing, emotions, feel, breathe, feeling, drinking, Jen, life, rhythm, good, practice, people, stress, day, listening, thought, nervous system, living, focusing, Holistic Health Coach, SOMA Breathwork Instructor, Essential Oils Coach, Sacred Breath Community, restore, optimize, health, calming the nervous system, reducing stress, awakening, inner healer, recognizes overstimulated nervous system, compromised, gut health, suppressed emotions lead tp imbalances, throughout the mind, the body, and the spirit, healing power, essential oils, holistic modalities, create a lifestyle of health, vitality, freedom, podcast, women, quit drinking, early sobriety, living without alcohol, triggers come up, reduce the feeling of uncertainty. reduce adrenaline coursing through your body, tools, feel calmer, more peace, healthier way, amazing, listening, benefits, deep breathing, a way to calm down, breath awareness, conscious breathing, pay attention, your breath often gets hijaked by stress, erratic, know how to fix it, think more clearly, take time to respond rather than react, serves so many purposes, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual place of wellness, wide spectrum, everything that can be improved, more inspiration, improving brain function, mind power, purifying the bloodstream, magical, tune into the breath rhythmic pattern, we can live a much more centered, calm, clear and focused life, tapping into your true self, practice, breathe, cleanse, purify, lymphatic system, we put our bodies in a state of healing, activate, inner healer within us, it enhances this creativity, clarity, reduces anxiety, depression, important, help clear negative imprints, traumas, trapped, suppressed, stored in your body, helps release, let go, powerful, some degree of false beliefs, turned into unhealthy habits, and patters, shaping out life, good intentions to change things, for some reason we keep reverting back to our old way of being, deeply stored subconscious patterns, reformulate, set new intentions, re imprint our minds, empowering beliefs, habits, love, powerful, frustrated, quiet space with no distractions, rhythmic diaphragmatic breathing, awesome music, beat breathing, counting, keep track, activating the parasympathetic nervous system, rest, relax, digest, reprogram imprints that are serving you, Mula Bandha Lock, track your pelvic floor muscles, shooting that energy through the root chakra of the spine into the midbrain, focusing on your third eye, blood flow, oxygen, stimulating, moving energy, stuck energy, production, feel good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, feel excited, feel energized, inhale, exhale, gratitude meditation, bring in some good feeling, higher vibrational energy, start to calm the mind, setting intention of bringing in gratitude, truly grateful for being alive, for being a human in this incredible experience called life, begin, embody those feelings and sensation of deep gratitude, feel the feelings, happening right now, carry this forwards, throughout the journey, breathe in and out, notice how these feelings of gratitude expand and amplify, Keeping a consistent rhythm with every breath you take, breathing in gratitude, breathing out love, good vibrations, keep breathing, keep connecting, surrendering deeper and deeper into the breath, building up that energy, feelings of bliss, Enjoy this moment of stillness as you go deep into a meditative state, You press pause on life, you go into a moment of deep relaxation and inner peace, allows the thought files to reassemble giving you a sense of freedom, clarity and joy, healing and nourishing every cell, you are whole, you are loving, harmonious, healthy, happy, guided meditation, trouble just concentrating on my breathing, music was really helpful, lose track off time, becomes timeless, , extending the length of your exhale is always helpful, deeper experience, fight or flight, alert state, state of focus, we’re living in survival mode, we’re stressed out constantly, so many stressors around us, at any given point, people have trouble falling asleep at night before bed, mind is still racing, access, audio breathwork recordings, download, listen in their own time, re-center, family time, energizing, different rhythms serve different purposes, comfortable, therapeutic, get up 10 minutes early, have a morning ritual, just for you, journaling, sitting on your couch with a cup of tea or coffee, sitting in silence, self-care activities, journal, gratitude journal, writing down 3 things that you’re grateful for, shift your mindset, doing a small act, set to set boundaries, say no to things that aren’t serving us, not feel obligated, guilty, letting someone else down, my health is as big of a priority as everyone else’s stuff, get to this place where we love ourselves enough to really take good care of ourselves, saying no to things that aren’t a priority in this moment, create the time for self-care, Sober Girls Guide, compliment sandwich, time, attention, where you feel balanced enough, resentful, empowering, overachievers, multitaskers, reverse programming, I have permission to take time for myself, putting in the habits, important part of our day, schedule, meeting, whitespace, calendar, searching for answers for health issues I was experiencing, reading, researching, nutrition, functional medicine, alternative medicine, integrative medicine, passion, plant medicines, rooted in ancient pranayama and yoga traditions, doing the inner work, suppressed emotions, culture, expressing emotions in a healthy way, physical health, emotions can get trapped and stored in the body, and manifest as physical illness if they are not properly processed and released, childhood traumas, learn a healthier coping technique, Family Wellness Conference, adult’s temper tantrums, dancing, stretching, moving your mind in a way that feels good, pull myself together, crying, screaming, online breathwork classes, getting feedback, people wanted these classes regularly, online Community, a variety of different breathing techniques for specific purposes

SPEAKERS: Casey McGuire Davidson + Jen Broyles

00:02

Welcome to the Hello Someday Podcast, the podcast for busy women who are ready to drink less and live more. I’m Casey McGuire Davidson, ex-red wine girl turned life coach helping women create lives they love without alcohol. But it wasn’t that long ago that I was anxious, overwhelmed, and drinking a bottle of wine and night to unwind. I thought that wine was the glue, holding my life together, helping me cope with my kids, my stressful job and my busy life. I didn’t realize that my love affair with drinking was making me more anxious and less able to manage my responsibilities.

In this podcast, my goal is to teach you the tried and true secrets of creating and living a life you don’t want to escape from.

Each week, I’ll bring you tools, lessons and conversations to help you drink less and live more. I’ll teach you how to navigate our drinking obsessed culture without a bus, how to sit with your emotions, when you’re lonely or angry, frustrated or overwhelmed, how to self soothe without a drink, and how to turn the decision to stop drinking from your worst case scenario to the best decision of your life.

I am so glad you’re here. Now let’s get started.

Well, hi there. I’m excited about the podcast today because we’re focusing on breathwork. My guest today is Jen Broyles. She’s a Holistic Health Coach, a SOMA Breathwork Instructor and Essential Oils Coach and the founder of the Sacred Breath Community.

 

Jen helps individuals restore and optimize their health. By calming the nervous system, reducing stress and awakening their inner healer. She recognizes that in an overstimulated nervous system, compromised, gut health. And suppressed emotions lead to imbalances throughout the mind, the body and the spirit. Jen combines the healing power of breathwork, essential oils, and other holistic modalities to help clients create a lifestyle of health, vitality and freedom. And one of the reasons I wanted to do a podcast episode on breathwork and have Jen on is because I know that when women are trying to quit drinking, when they’re in early sobriety, and even later on once they’re living without alcohol, triggers come up on a regular basis where something makes you angry, you’re stressed out, you’re anxious, you want to reduce the feeling of uncertainty, or the adrenaline coursing through your body. And when you’re not turning to a drink to try to do that. You need other tools and tools, frankly, that are better able to help you regulate the way you’re feeling and feel calmer and more peace in a healthier way. So, I think the work Jen does is going to be amazing for everyone listening to this.

 

And I’m really excited because she’s agreed to do a 10-minute, mini breathwork session as part of this podcast. So, if you’re listening to this, and hold on, you’re gonna get a 10-minute session where Jen leads us. And I’m really excited for you to have a taste of that. So, Jen, welcome. I’m glad you’re here.

 

03:24

Thank you, Casey. I’m so excited to be here.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 03:26

Yeah, it’s wonderful. So, let’s just dive in. Tell me a little bit about the breathwork you do. And the benefits of it.

 

03:37

Yeah, absolutely. So, a lot of people may be wondering what, what is breathwork. I know what that means. And I was like that before I experienced it myself, you know, as a Holistic Health Coach, I had heard of, you know, deep breathing. And, you know, really as a way to calm down, just take some deep breaths and that sort of thing. But once I heard about breath work, I was like, Okay, tell me more, because I don’t know what that is. And is it just the same thing that I’ve been hearing all this other time, like, take some deep breaths, or do a box breath or something like that, and it is so much more. And it’s really, really powerful. So, when I think of breath work, I think of two things, one, breath awareness and two, conscious breathing. So, we are bringing awareness to our breath, but we’re also changing it up. We are breathing consciously in a specific pattern, and specific format, you know, breath is this one function that we have in our body that is both involuntary and voluntary. You know, oftentimes, we don’t give it much thought, we’re breathing, we’re good. Don’t need to pay attention to it. But that’s not always the case because your breath so often gets hijacked by stress. And once that happens, then it becomes erratic. It becomes irregular, becomes shallow, fast. Maybe you’re holding your breath, all of these different things. And when our breath is all over the place, that just perpetuates the stress cycle. And it makes us more anxious. And then we experience something that triggers us and makes us anxious or upset, and then that throws off our breath even more. And it’s just this vicious cycle that continues on. And this whole time, we’re not even thinking about how we’re breathing. So, once we start to tune into our breath, and pay attention to it, and know how to fix it, we can do so much for our body, we can calm stress immediately, we can really get out of our heads. And we can start to calm our mind and calm the nervous system and get more into a rest, relax and digest state of being we can think more clearly, we can take time to respond rather than react. And it serves so many purposes from a physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual place of wellness.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 06:00

That’s great. I mean, when I looked at some of the benefits of breathwork, I was kind of amazed at sort of the wide spectrum of everything that can be improved. By focusing on this, I mean, everything from reducing depression and anxiety, to sort of awakening dormant functions of the brain. More inspiration, improving brain function in mind power, and purifying the bloodstream. Is that all true? Like, is that it?

 

06:30

It is. It really sounds kind of like this magic thing. But, if you think about it, the breath is pretty magical. It’s the first thing that we do when we come into this world is, we breathe in, right, and the last thing we do when we leave this world is, we breathe out. And, you know, everything in between is, you know, we’re breathing. And if it’s his life giving function that really keeps us going day in and day out, why aren’t we paying more attention to it, you know, once we start to really tune into the breath, and one breathe and the way that we’re designed to breathe, which is in a rhythmic pattern, much slower than most of us are breathing regularly. And, you know, through the nose, and from the diaphragm, we can live a much more centered, calm, clear and focused life.

 

And so, yes, the breath really does affect us on a physical level, it affects our mental and emotional health and wellness. And even this higher level, you might call it spirituality, or really tapping into your true self, your higher power. And so really, from a physical standpoint, once we start to fix our breath, and practice, breathwork and breathe in a rhythm, right, we are able to cleanse and purify the bloodstream and your lymphatic system, we put our bodies in a state of healing. So, we really are able to activate this inner healer that is within all of us.

 

You know, if you’re a professional, if you’re an entrepreneur, if you are a creative person, it enhances his creativity and your mind power and your focus and your clarity. It helps reduce anxiety and depression. And from an emotional standpoint, which I think this is so important. It really can help clear negative imprints and traumas that may have been trapped and suppressed and stored in your body. And it helps you release those and let them go. And this is truly, truly powerful because so many of us are living with some level of trauma or, or some degree of false beliefs that have turned into unhealthy habits and patterns that are shaping our life that maybe we don’t want and we don’t know how to how to let those go. We have consciously good intentions to change things in our life. But for some reason we keep reverting back to our old way of being. It’s because those are deeply stored subconscious patterns. And in breathwork, we can really start to reformulate those and release those and set new intentions and re imprint our minds with more empowering beliefs and habits.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 09:22

 

So how does that work? Like is it similar to because obviously we get up, we breathe all day long, right? Is it like a meditation practice where you try to carve out 15 or 20 minutes? Twice a day, to work on it? Is it something that you do specifically in times of stress? Or when you’re going to bed? Like how does a breathwork practice sort of flow throughout the day?

 

11:54

That’s a great question. So, a breath work practice, I would say yes is similar to a meditation practice. And in fact, breath work I have found to be effortless meditation. So, if you are someone that’s listening, that’s like I have tried meditation, it doesn’t work for me. Or if you are someone listening, that’s like, I love meditation. Either way, breathwork gets you into a deep state of meditation, without having to try. And it’s that is that powerful. And so as a practice, I recommend to my clients 10 to 20 minutes a day, if you can do that, if you can set aside that time and do breathwork, you know, first thing in the morning or at night before bed, that is a great daily practice. However, the tools that you use, and breathwork are great to incorporate throughout your day. So, for example, you know, say you get in an argument with your spouse or your child and again, you’re triggered, you’re frustrated, you’re angry, you’re heated, right then and there. If you’ve been practicing breathwork, you can bring that in. And you can really start to tune in to your breath and breathe consciously and take a few slow, deep breaths. And immediately it’s going to calm me down, it’s going to relieve some of that stress, anxiety, that tension, it’s going to allow you to think better, be clearer, and maybe less reactive, right? So, it’s a tool that you can use throughout your day. But it’s also a practice that needs to be a practice for you to really get to a place where you can know to go to it throughout the day when you need to.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 13:34

That’s great. I’d actually is I hear you talking about it, I would love to just jump into the mini practice and kind of let people see what that’s like, and then we can talk about it afterwards.

 

13:45

Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s do that. Um, the first thing we do is explain the technique. First, everyone’s clear on what we’re going to be doing. And then the best place to be to practices is just in a quiet space with no distractions, you can be sitting on your couch or in a chair, maybe you want to lie down. Don’t do this while you’re driving. If you’re driving right now, then come back to this later and practice it when you’re at home. Because we are going to be closing our eyes, we’re going to be tuning in, we’re going to be getting into a meditative state. So, the major part of this breath work is rhythmic diaphragmatic breathing. So, we’re going to be breathing in a rhythm, two beats of music. So, I’m going to play some awesome music. And we’re going to be breathing and beat breathing and beats. And you’re going to hear counting in the music. So that’s going to help keep you on track. And we are going to be breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And in this sample that I’m going to offer you you’re going to be breathing in for a count of two and out for counter four. And what we’re doing here is we’re extending our exhalation, and this is great for activating the parasympathetic nervous system and entering that rest, relax and digest state of the nervous system. So, this is a good breathing rhythm to do if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed or anxious or you’re wanting to wind down and go to bed. And so, we’ll be breathing in for two and alpha 4 in through the nose out through the mouth. At the end of the round, I’m going to invite you to take a deep breath fully in and fully out. And exhale all the air in your lungs and hold your breath. Okay, and so this is a breath retention phase, you’re going to hold your breath for as long as you can. If you need to take a breath at all. Before instructed, just take a quick breath in and out. And continue to hold your breath. And what this is doing is this allows you to go into an even deeper state of meditation, really access your subconscious mind start to reprogram imprints that are serving you any longer, it’s a really powerful place to be. And then after holding your breath for a little while, and I’ll invite you to take a deep breath fully and hold your breath on the inhale.

 

And we’re going to do what’s called a Mula Bandha Lock. And this is where you can track your pelvic floor muscles, kind of like you’re doing a cable or you’re holding in your urine, you’re going to contract those pelvic floor muscles and imagine energy shooting up from your root chakra up the spine into your midbrain, and focus on your third eye. And what we’re doing here is we’re just, we really are moving energy. Stuck energy that often gets stuck in that root chakra. And we’re moving it up into the brain. And this is creating a rush of blood flow and oxygen to the brain, it is stimulating the production of those feel good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. And so, you may feel excited, you may feel energized. And we’re going to hold our breath for about 30 seconds here. And then I’ll invite you to exhale and just return to normal breathing. So that is going to be one round, we’re going to do one round. And that will give you a little taste of what a typical session is like, we usually do three to four rounds of this and a full session. And we’re gonna start off with just a real short, gratitude meditation to start to bring in some good feeling some higher vibrational energy, and to start to calm the mind and get ready for the breath.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 17:23

So, does that sound good?

 

Sounds great. I’m excited.

 

17:26

Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so, as you’re listening to this, go ahead and find a comfortable spot, either sitting up straight or lying down with your eyes closed, I’m going to start playing the music. And let’s get going.

 

17:47

Again, to slow your breath, bringing awareness to your breathing. Again, by setting an intention of bringing in gratitude. Becoming aware of a time when you were truly grateful for being alive, for being a human in this incredible experience called life.

 

18:29

Begin to embody those feelings and sensations of deep gratitude. Feel the feelings as though they are happening right now. And carry this forward throughout this journey as we breathe in and out. And notice how these feelings of gratitude expand and amplify. Again, to turn up the dial on those good feelings and good sensations. As we begin to breathe in a rhythm, through the nose, out through the mouth. Keeping a consistent rhythm with every breath you take. Notice it as you breathe. feeling of gratitude expands. Turn up the dial on these good seat, good feelings and good sensations every breath you take in and out.

 

20:21

Imagine you’re breathing in gratitude and breathing out love. Building up those good feelings and good sensations with every breath you take.

 

20:40

Making sure your breath is in a smooth, consistent rhythm like an ocean wave.

 

20:51

As you breathe in and out, imagine these feelings of gratitude are expanding into every cell of your body. healing and nurturing you with these good feelings and good sensations of gratitude. Feeling the expansion throughout your body as you wake up all of your blood vessels feeling a warm tingling sensation growing throughout your body. Notice that as you breathe in a rhythm. These good feelings are growing and expanding. Notice where this feeling begins from give it a color. observe this color expanding and rising with every breath you take in and out.

 

21:50

Notice as it begins to expand. So, does this feeling of deep gratitude. All of these good feelings, good sensations, good vibrations. Keep breathing. Keep connecting. Surrendering deeper and deeper into the breath, dissolving into the sacred sound of your own breath. Building up that energy, more and more feelings of bliss.

 

23:45

Now take a deep breath fully in and fully out. Exhaling all air in your lungs and holding your breath. Enjoy this moment of stillness as you go deep into a meditative state. See, hold your breath. You press pause on life, you go into a moment of deep relaxation and inner peace. This allows the thought files to reassemble giving you a sense of freedom, clarity and joy. If you get an urge to breathe, just take a quick sip in and out. Continue to hold. Going back into that deep state of meditation. Bringing awareness to those good feelings and good since stations to all of this energy you’ve brought into your body, healing and nourishing every cell. Go deeper and deeper, within your own mind, joy, the bliss. Then when you get a really strong urge to breathe, take a big breath fully in all the breaths, squeeze the Mula Bandha, contracting those pelvic floor muscles, shooting that energy through the root chakra of the spine into the midbrain. Focusing on your third eye. Realizing that you are whole, perfect,

 

25:43

shop, loving, harmonious, healthy and happy. And then exhale with a sigh of good feelings. returning to normal, relaxed breathing, slowly begin wiggling your fingers and toes and coming back into your body. And in your own time, allow your eyes to flutter open.

 

26:44

And welcome back.

 

That was great. I loved the music. Like, it was amazing.

 

26:54

It was awesome. I think I didn’t realize how tired I was. I close my eyes. Oh my gosh.

 

27:02

yes, yes. yeah, the music is such a big part of it. I love it so much. So yeah, was there anything else that came up for you?

 

27:13

Well, I just, I definitely needed it. You know, it is, as we’re recording this, it’s the day after the election. So, it is yeah, it’s been a long week. And you know, I’m sure it’s gonna be a longer one. But I think that it felt a lot longer than 10 minutes, or however long it was like, it felt like a really long time. But unlike when I’m trying, you know, I’ve tried to do meditation where you’re, you know, I’m definitely more into guided meditation, I have trouble just concentrating on my breathing during. So, I felt like the music was really, really helpful.

 

27:49

The music is incredible. And, and I agree there’s sometimes, I do this breath work. And it’s one of those things where you just kind of lose track of time, like things just become timeless. And sometimes it feels like you’re in a space for a really long time when it was only a few seconds. And then other times, it’s like oh my gosh, I just did an hour long breathwork session, and it felt like five minutes, you know, so you just totally lose all sense of time. Yeah, so that’s amazing.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 28:19

Yeah. No, that’s great. And so, tell me about if someone you know, wants to use this, like, how does it vary? If you know, for a lot of women listening, like, sometimes sleeping is really difficult in the beginning. You know, they’re not used to they lay down and they’re worried about having insomnia and not being able to go to sleep like does that differ from what you would use in that situation, from what you would use if you are just really spent at the end of the day and your nerves are shot. And you don’t have more than 10 minutes to kind of reset before you have to deal with the kids and everything else?

 

28:58

Yeah, absolutely. So, we breathe a lot in different rhythms throughout different breathwork sessions that I teach. Typically, when you’re wanting to wind down, either after a long day, or at night before bed, and you’re someone that struggles with falling asleep, and you want to do some breath work before bed, extending the length of your exhale is always helpful. So, a lot of times, we’ll double the length of our exhales kind of like we did here where we breathed in for 2 and out for 4. Well, I also teach sessions where we’ll breathe in for 4 and out for 8. And that is even a deeper experience. And so those two rhythms are really good to do at night before bed to help you fall asleep. Because what we’re doing, we’re definitely calming the nervous system, but we’re also activating your parasympathetic nervous system. So, you can think of it in terms of when you breathe in, you stimulate your sympathetic nervous system that is your fight or flight. That’s your alert state, state of focus. And when we breathe out, when we exhale, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which is your rest, relax and digest. And most of us during the day, are living in sympathetic state, you know, we’re living in survival mode, we’re living in fight or flight, because we have a million things on our to do list. And we’re stressed out constantly, and there’s just so many stressors around us at any given point. So, we’re constantly in a state of fight or flight, we don’t get into parasympathetic often enough. And so, that’s why a lot of people have trouble falling asleep at night before bed, because their mind is still racing, or they, it’s usually something in the minds, you know, either they’re thinking about their to do list or there is they’re thinking, thinking about or anticipating a future event. And that could literally be five minutes in front of you, you’re scared, you’re not gonna fall asleep, right? You’re thinking about that, and it’s stressing you out. Right.

 

So, doing that sort of breathing, where you’re doubling the length of your exhale is really helpful. Within my Sacred Breath Community, they get access to a number of different audio breathwork recordings that they can download and listen to in their own time. And I have some that are specifically designed for rest, relaxation, and sleep. So, you can download it to your phone, you can listen to it in your bed, and it’s going to help you fall asleep. Now at night, before bed, you may need to listen to it for it, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, I don’t know. But you also asked like end of the day, and they’ve got you know, five minutes before you go get your kids. Yeah, you can do some of that with or without music, to just re-center you and kind of calm the nervous system, shake off some of the debris from the day, and then get into a space where now it’s family time. So that’s what I would recommend. There are other rhythms that we do in the breath work that are great for energizing. So sometimes we’ll breathe in a fast rhythm, like I’m in for two and output, or input one and output one that’s very energizing, right. So, whether that’s first thing in the morning, or just when you need to pick me up, you can do some faster paced breathing to just reenergize you. So different rhythms serve different purposes, for sure.

 

32:23

So basically, it’s you know, you get comfortable with the sort of portfolio of breathwork options available to you. And when you kind of are feeling like something needs to change, I want to change the state, I want to change what I’m feeling you kind of tap into what do I need to have more energy, reduce my energy, calm? All that kind of stuff? Is that right?

 

32:49

That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. And when you’re not sure what to do, seriously, like a four, four rhythm is great, because that’s going to calm you and it’s it can also be energizing, if that’s what you need, as well. So, if you’re like I don’t know what to do, just breathe and perform and outperform, and perform and outperform. And I love it with the music because the beats really keep you on track, right. And the music itself is very like, therapeutic. But if you don’t have the music, you can literally just like take a minute, you know, look away from your computer and just breathe in 2,3,4…2,3,4 do that for a couple minutes. And you’ll feel noticeably different and better. Overall.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 33:32

Well, and I love what you know, when we talk about breath work, and you know, sort of navigating the world with this overstimulated nervous system. Because I feel like that’s how I know I operated and still do for a lot of time. But a lot of the women listening to this as well, right I, you know, got up had to get the kids ready, run out the door, go to work deal with my boss and my colleagues. Come back. I mean, there was never a moment when I wasn’t trying to multitask six things, right? I’m blow drying my hair while answering emails and trying to listen to the news. Like you’re, you’re always trying to do a million things. So, you know, in terms of calming that overstimulated nervous system, what sort of like mini practices do you suggest for someone who’s kind of running through their day?

 

34:26

Yeah, that’s a great question. Because Yeah, I mean, we had a million things on our to do list. It’s like as one person how do you do it all, we all have the same number of hours in a day but so, there’s several things that come to mind here. First of all, I think it’s so beneficial if you can get up even just 10 minutes early and have a morning ritual that is just for you. And that could be journaling. That could be a little bit of breath work that could be literally like this. sitting on your couch with your cup of tea or coffee and just like sitting in silence, whatever that is for you, like have that time that is. So, I mean, just that’s such a great way to start your day before you check email before the kids are up before you have to do anything for anyone else, you need your time. And, and if that’s not first thing in the morning, find some time during the day to get that. And you know, and 10 minutes is great. If it can be 30 minutes or 45 minutes, that’s even better. But I know, I know, that’s just not possible for some people in the life stage that that they’re in. But self-care activities.

 

Um, you know, I love breath work, but I also journal. So maybe having a gratitude journal and writing down three things that you’re grateful for like that can really shift your mindset just by doing a small act like that. Some of us need to set boundaries and say no to things that aren’t serving us and not feel obligated to say yes to all the things. I was guilty of this and I use that word kind of ironically. Because I would say yes to a lot of things. Because if I said no, I felt guilty, like I was letting someone else down. And then I finally realized No, like, my health is as big of a priority as everyone else’s stuff, right. So, we have to get to this place where we love ourselves enough to really take good care of ourselves. And sometimes that requires saying no to things that aren’t a priority in this moment.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 36:36

Right. And so that frees up some time, as well. So those are a few things that I would say. And then also when you are in those spaces where you’ve got a lot going on, tuned into your breath. And just if you can just slow your breath down while you’re doing those other things that that can serve you a great deal.

 

Yeah, I love that I love especially when you were saying that saying no to things in order to create the time for self-care. That is something that I know a lot of women struggle with. And I did as well. And I’ll actually put in the show notes. I’ve got sort of the Sober Girls Guide to say no, where I give you an actual script of like, you know, it’s similar to the compliment sandwich. But it’s like saying no, you know, thank them for asking, you say no, redirect, removed. But it’s like, specific phrases that you can use because it is so hard. You know, there are a million people coming for your time and energy and attention every single day. And if you keep saying yes to everyone except yourself, you will never have time to actually care for yourself in a way where you feel balanced enough that you’re not feeling like oh my god, I need a glass of wine to tolerate my life.

 

37:56

Yes, exactly. Because, you know, when we when we’re saying yes to things that aren’t the best things for us in that in that moment, oftentimes we feel resentful, right? And then that can become a trigger. And, you know, we also have to practice saying no, because in the beginning, it’s uncomfortable, and we might feel guilty, right? But the more you do it, the more you’re like no like that this is so empowering, to say no, and you don’t have to give a reason, you know, like, yeah, reason, you know, no, no.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 38:31

And when it gets easier with practice, it really does, you’re able to sense things and realize that the world doesn’t end. And in the same way, you need to say no to yourself. I mean, it’s the constant message in your head, like I should do all these things. And it’s one of the things that I tell people in when they first quit drinking that they have to lower the bar, they have to do less like it is required. So, they need to pick and tell me two things that they are not going to do that week that they were planning on doing. And sometimes I’m you know, so many women I work with are such amazing overachievers and multitaskers. And they want to, okay, I’m going to quit drinking and go on a diet and lose 30 pounds and do this. You know, I’m going to become the perfect human being all at once. And I just remember talking to a client saying she’s like, Okay, I’m gonna stop drinking. And what I’m going to do is, I’m going to clean out my attic and organize my office. And I was like, Okay, well, how long has that attic been an issue that you’ve been looking at? She’s like about 3 years. So, I would like to do that in your first week of not having alcohol. Not a great solution. But the idea of it, I’m not going to drink. I’m going to say no to the carpool the room, parent, the I’m going to volunteer to do whatever it is at work. And instead I’m going to do 30 minutes of breath work every night like that. That is amazing. Or I’m gonna go to bed early. And because I wasn’t drinking the night before I can get up early and feel really good and start my entire day balanced. I mean, that’s amazing.

 

40:14

Yeah, that is huge. And it’s it is it’s incredibly empowering. Because, you know, again, in the world we live in, you know, it’s totally reverse programming, right? So it’s like, oh, my gosh, I have permission now to say no to stuff. And I have permission to take time for myself. And it’s like, oh, wow. And once we start doing that, and putting in the habits, yeah, I mean, it’s, you know, your days are totally different. Your life is certainly all right, you feel so much better. It’s freeing. It’s very, very liberating for sure.

 

40:50

Yeah. And I think that, you know, we actually have to put things on the list that are good for us. Like I am one of those people who loves to do lists, I somehow feel more in control. But I will literally on the weekend, put down things like take a nap, so that I can cross it off and say, Yep, I did that. It sounds ridiculous. But I need to take a nap. Like I get up early, six days a week, or like sleeping on Sunday, cross that off the list. And we don’t give ourselves permission enough to like, put ourselves on the list. And I think this breath work is amazing in terms of if we actually make time for it as an important part of our day not a fitted and if I can.

 

41:36

yes, yes, I totally agree. I tell my clients the same thing, like schedule it in just like you would schedule in any other meeting, you schedule it in. And I used to do the same thing, especially when I was starting out my morning routine. Now it just now it just happens. But I used to schedule in whitespace on my calendar, because that’s where everything else was scheduled. So, I would plug it in. And I knew that that was you know, a lot into something and nothing could be booked over it. And that was really helpful.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  42:10

For sure. So, I’m curious, how did you get into this space? I mean, both the breath work and the Holistic Health Coach and the work you do with that?

 

42:22

Yeah, absolutely. So, I got into just the world of natural health, I think like so many of us through searching for answers for health issues I was experiencing, is usually that or that, you know, for some for a loved one, right. And, and that was the case with me, I was dealing with a lot of digestive issues and me throughout my 20s. And for the longest time just tried to manage it, I didn’t try to do anything about it, I didn’t talk to doctors about it, I just thought it would eventually go away. And then when it started getting worse and kind of, I started experiencing other symptoms as well that at the time, I didn’t realize how everything is connected, and I thought they were all separate issues. But they weren’t they were all, you know, linked to a lot of the same stuff. But you know, I started experiencing hormone imbalances and, and anxiety and just a lot of different things. And so, I found myself in my 20s seeing all these different specialists and being prescribed all this different medication and doing a bunch of different testing and I worked in pharmaceutical sales. So that is the world that I lived in.

 

And, you know, when I was looking for answers myself, going down that path and wasn’t finding them, I started to look elsewhere. And so, I started just by reading and researching on nutrition because I really didn’t know anything about nutrition, everything I thought I knew was false. And the more I learned about what real nutrition was, you know, it led me down this path to functional medicine and alternative medicine, integrative medicine and my eyes were open to this whole world that I didn’t really know existed because I’d never searched for it and I fell in love like this, this passion kind of sparked in me and so I left my career in Pharma and I returned to school to study integrative nutrition and worked as a Health Coach for a number of years. And I still work as a Health Coach for clients that you know, are dealing with some you know, either health challenges or just wanting to clean up their diet and get on a more just healthier eating pattern. And then throughout all of that, the more I got immersed into the world of Holistic Wellness, I brought in Essential Oils as just natural, you know plant medicines into my practice and then found breathwork and several people had mentioned to me in conversation and I didn’t really know what it was and I just started Googling it. I was out in California at the time and found several places They were offering breathwork classes. And so, I just, I signed up for classes and went to them and tried several styles of breath work. And I was, I was hooked. I was like, this is amazing. Like, why is this not more well known. And the thing is, it’s nothing new. Like, these are practices, they’re rooted in ancient pranayama and yoga traditions from 1000s of years ago, because they knew then how powerful the breath was. And, and, and we’re starting to see more breath work. You know, popping up in the US now, I mean, we see a little bit with yoga and stuff, but, but actual breath work, we’re starting to see more of, and, for me, it was like one of these missing pieces, you know, like, I had the nutrition down, I had, you know, all these other things, I was like, I really wanted something that was really good for, you know, reducing stress and reducing anxiety and just going into that space and doing the inner work. And for me, it was it was breathwork.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 46:01

That’s amazing. And so, you also talk about suppressed emotions. And so how does breathwork help with some of that, because I know a lot of times, we’re kind of moving through the world, basically, trying to hold it all together. And as women, a lot of times, we also feel like we shouldn’t feel, you know, overwhelmed, angry, resentful, scared, anxious, right? You’re, you’re just trying to like any negative motion that might surface you’re trying to push it down and basically be like, hold it together. If you’re upset, what the fuck is wrong with you? You clean it? Yeah. So. And I think one of the challenges are we never let that out. Right? It’s so natural, to feel those, you’re allowed to feel angry, you’re allowed to feel upset, disappointed, sad, you know, not the only emotion in the world is happy and grateful, even though I love gratitude practice, right?

 

But yes, and that’s one of the things that is truly sad about the culture, we live in that expressing emotions in a healthy way is just not a thing. And it is incredibly detrimental. And I was the same way. I mean, from early childhood, you know, like learning that, okay, it is not okay to act out and feel anger and all of these things. And so, you do you learn to bottle it up, and just put a smile on your face and act like everything’s okay. And that is so, so harmful to so many areas, especially physical health, because emotions can get trapped and stored in the body, and manifest as physical illness if they are not properly processed and released. And so especially as women, we need a tool to begin to release some of that stuff and, and the power of breath work is that it allows us again, to, to get out of our heads really start to move energy in the body. Emotions are energy, right? It also allows us to access our subconscious mind. So, everything that has ever happened to us, everything we’ve ever experienced is stored in our subconscious mind, whether we consciously remember it or not. And so, even early childhood traumas, and I say trauma, and I’m not talking about these big t traumas that are awful things that happened, and some people may have experienced things like that. But all of us have experienced trauma to some degree, because when we are kids, we experience things and we don’t know how to rationalize things properly. So, what we might see as an adult, as no big deal as a kid, the experience could be totally different and traumatic, right. And all these things get stored in us. And a lot of them form how we are as adults too. So, the fact that we can start to access the subconscious mind, and whether or not memories come up, sometimes memories will come up that maybe we had forgotten about other times, we just start to feel emotion. And so, and there’s, sometimes when you do breathwork where you may, you may have emotions rising up, and you don’t know what is causing it. But I always tell my clients, like just lean into it. Don’t fight back the tears. Let them come because there’s something that’s moving, there’s something that is coming and going and you’re releasing it and it’s good. Other times when you do the breath work, you just may be feeling so happy and laughing and just blissful. But it allows these emotions to come up and we don’t need to put a reason behind it. We don’t need to have a memory tied to it. But there’s stuff that is becoming untrapped and is moving out of the body and it is. It’s powerful. So, it’s very healing.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 49:58

Yeah, I mean, I can imagine. Do people do this breath work with their kids sometimes, because I feel like I have a six-year-old daughter who has all the emotions. And I can imagine that like, doing it with her would be so helpful with her, you know, to try to learn a healthier coping technique for some of those big feelings that I never learned as a kid.

 

50:22

Yeah, absolutely. I think doing the breathwork with kids is amazing. Doing it as a family is incredible. I actually was recently part of a Family Wellness Conference where I talked about breathwork. And I think this is a powerful tool to teach kids at a young age, especially the rhythmic breathing. Breath holds is there’s some controversy around that, that kid with young kids. So, I always advise, like, leave out the breath holds for kids under 12. But again, you know, as a parent, it’s your choice. But the rhythmic breathing is a powerful tool to do as a family.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 50:58

Well, I can imagine the music too. I mean, right now she gets, we do the like, smell the flowers, blow out the candles. That’s what we do. But, you know, she gets overwhelmed with emotions on like, first grade assessments. And it’s, you know, you’re just like, okay, you’re upset. I get it. And, you know, it’s actually probably sad that like, we don’t allow ourselves to feel that way over things that genuinely probably bring up those same emotions, like she’s probably more honest in expressing this manifestation as opposed to, we are terrified or stressed or worried. And we’re just like, advice. Like, how you doing? You’re fine. Fine. Good. Yeah. busy. super busy.

 

51:42

Busy is the word. I’m like, I like I try not to never say that anymore. Like, that is not like a good thing necessarily. Like, yeah, so and it’s true. Like, I think we need to give ourselves permission for some adult’s temper tantrums sometimes, right? And just like, even if you go into your bedroom and shut the door and scream into a pillow, like let it out. Yeah, some of the stuff we do a lot of times before a breathwork practice is we’ll do some movement, whether that’s dancing or stretching, or just moving your mind in a way that feels good, because it really starts to loosen things up and let things flow and release some tension. Sometimes we’ll do a shaking exercise. like letting your body just shake is a powerful way to release emotions. If you look at animals, you know, they shake things off.

 

52:34

Yeah. And I am going directly to Taylor Swift song but yes, exactly. Shake it off. Seriously. Yeah. Shaking physically shaking your body is another powerful tool to let go and release some of those toxic emotions.

 

52:48

No, I can’t imagine that I can see that. You know, I am. I am not often overcome by emotion. But I have to say that yesterday was incredibly just, you know, you you’re holding on to tighten the emotions overwhelm you, whatever happens. And I went to a workout and then I tried to pull myself together. And then I ended up driving blasting Ani to Franco, which was huge when I was like a freshman in college, and was singing some of her like, angry women songs, which was very helpful to me, and was cried, and I was just like, Okay, this is weird, and felt so good. Just like, I came home about half an hour after my husband. I was supposed to get home. He was like, what were you doing? I was like, crying, screaming to Franco. Alright, cool. Keep it.

 

53:38

That’s awesome, though. Like that. That is therapeutic. I know. We think oh, my gosh, this is crazy. But

what you’re describing seems like it would be healing on a more regular basis. Yeah. And possibly in a healthier way.

 

53:53

Yeah. Yeah. But hey, listen to music and yelling out the words and then maybe having some tears, I mean, that that needed to happen.

 

54:00

Yes, you did it in your space. And I just think that’s awesome. Well, and I think that, especially if women are listening to this, and they’re used to, you know, their knee jerk reaction is, you know, God, I need a glass of wine, or Oh, my God, I want some wine to calm down to feel better to numb out you know, what you’re basically trying to do is shut down your mind, shut down your emotions, completely numb out of anything that you’re feeling. And the problem with that is you never get to process it and you wake up the next day, feeling lower than you even did when you went to the process of numbing out. So, you know, as you’re listening to this, if you can try some new techniques, some new patterns, some breath, work, some dancing, the music, the shaking. It is a technique that really will help you soothe your nervous system. let out some of those emotions you’re suppressing and actually, I mean, Afterwards, I’ve heard you feel so much more joy. Is that right, Jen? Is that? Like, what are the emotions you feel afterwards?

 

55:08

Most people describe just feeling lighter, free, blissful, ecstatic. You know, there’s, sometimes people say, oh my gosh, I got, you know, I had tears flowing, I felt emotional. But now I just feel so, again, free and light, less anxious, you know, people come in feeling uptight and stressed. And they leave feeling, you know, just totally relaxed and more clear and ready to just ready to go again, like they can handle the world again, they can handle their life again, some people have said, they felt like they had an out of body experience, which is amazing. Like, they felt like they were floating on the clouds and looking down, you know. So yeah, everyone feels just better. Afterwards, I always have people rate themselves on a scale of one to 10 before we do the breath, work with 10 being amazing. And then we do the same thing at the end. And, you know, on average, people come in feeling like between a four and a six, and by the end, people are feeling 8, 9, 10. Some people are like, I feel like I’m 100 you know, like, I’m just so high on life right now. So yeah,

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 56:18

I know, you have a group community, are these like group classes? Or tell us about your Sacred Breath and how that works?

 

56:25

Yeah, yeah. So um, I created the Sacred Breath Community, after doing a lot of online breathwork classes and getting feedback and people saying they wanted, they wanted these classes regularly, they wanted a community, they want it to be accessible. And so that’s what the Sacred Breath Community is. It’s an online community, where you get access to live online classes every month. And then also, you get access to a variety of audio breathwork guided breathwork recordings, that are great for daily practice, they range between 10 to 20 minutes, and you can download them and listen to them at any point during the day. And they are kind of categorized based on what your intention is, whether it’s rest and relaxation, or energy, or focus, those types of things, and, and then you get access to a variety of different breathing techniques for specific purposes. Whether it’s to boost digestion or to promote longevity, there’s different breathing techniques that you’ll learn. And we also have an expert speaker series, where I have guests come on once a month, and just teach a class in their area of expertise in the wellness field. So, it’s a wonderful community. And like I said, it’s very accessible from a price point, and just from a time flexibility standpoint, as well. So, it gives you the tools that you need to incorporate breathwork into your routine to get the benefits of a consistent breathwork practice and get the support and accountability. That is helpful when you’re starting something new.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 58:05

Yeah, I mean, I love that because I think that, you know, when I’m working with women as they are transitioning away from using alcohol as their sort of go to treat or reward response to most things in life and replacing that habit, I talked a lot about like finding other ways to treat yourself finding other ways to feel good. Or to sort of break up the day that don’t involve having a drink and pre COVID that was a lot easier, right? I mean, pre COVID, it was much easier to go to a yoga class or to a gym, to get a pedicure, or to get a facial to get a massage, you know, all the things that you are substituting ways to feel good. But now that a lot of us are in our homes and not going out to places as often. I love the idea of the breathwork. But with the music as sort of a real way to sort of transform how you’re feeling all your senses, on a regular basis is something that you can do for yourself like a sober treat or an anchor activity that you do. At the witching hour at 5:00p.m. When you start thinking about oh my god, wine would feel really good, like interrupting that cycle. And having a 30-minute practice that is going to be different. That will you know, because a lot of like opening and pouring wine is really just it’s a signal that you’re transitioning from one portion of your day to another portion of the day. And what people don’t realize is that that signal can be anything you think. It’s wine because it’s what you’ve been doing. I swear to God for some people, they change it and it’s a cup of tea or it’s a walk or it’s an ice cream sandwich like I have a client who has an ice cream sandwich every day at 43:0 and data It’s her signal, you’ve replaced those automatic cues. So, I think breath work could be, you know, a great thing to insert there as well.

 

1:00:07

For sure, for sure. Absolutely.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 1:00:11

Well, thank you so much, Jen, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, will you I’m sure people are going to want to get in touch with you. So, when you share what the best way is, for people to connect with you and find out more.

 

1:00:23

Absolutely. And thank you, Casey, for having me on. It was so much fun to chat with you and share this with your audience. But yes, I would love to connect with you. You can find me at my website, it is jenbroyles.com. And you can learn about my Sacred Breath Community on there. I also do work I work with private clients as well. And so, you can just check out the website and learn all about that. I’m currently offering a 7-day free trial to the to the Sacred Breath Community. If it’s something you just want to check out and see for yourself how you like it. And then I’m on all the social media platforms to on Instagram @jenbroyleshealthcoach. And on Facebook, if you search Jen Broyles, I should come up.

 

1:01:12

I will link in the show notes as well. They have all the links there, you can just go to go to the show notes page, and you’ll be able to find Jen.

 

1:01:21

Awesome.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 1:01:22

Well, thank you, Casey.

 

Yeah, thank you.