131: Living a More Aligned Life Through the Power of Breathwork with Piotr

In this episode of the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast, Nienke Nina chats with Piotr Ciepiel, widely known as The MiFit Coach. Our guest is a mindful nomadic entrepreneur and breathwork expert and shares his four-year journey of living a nomadic lifestyle. Many digital nomads practice breath work and in this episode, you get a deep dive of what this is about, how it works and how it can help you live a more fulfilled lifestyle – especially for nomadic entrepreneurs. We go deep into the details on how to calm the nervous system, break through personal barriers, heal your body, and boost your overall wellness.

He also opened about his most groundbreaking experience that had led him to share his expertise with the world. Listeners will discover how to incorporate mindfulness practices into their routines and learn how breathwork can be a transformative tool for everyone’s physical and emotional health.

🔥 Why digital nomads are so into Breath Work
🔥 Understanding and practising breathwork for relaxation and healing
🔥 How to regulate your nervous system through nasal breathing
🔥 The benefits of having a home base while living a nomadic lifestyle
🔥 Real-life applications of breathwork in managing stress and physical limitations

Transcript

Nienke Nina (00:00.854)

Woohoo! We're here! Yay! Amazing, amazing! Hello guys, welcome to a new episode of the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast. Today, I am gonna take you on a journey, on a journey that I have already been on a little bit, but I'm not gonna be doing this alone. I have here the amazing Pjotr on the podcast. I'm so grateful that he's here today. Welcome, welcome!

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (00:03.417)

Yes we are!

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (00:26.269)

Thank you so much for having me. I cannot wait for this conversation. I cannot wait to share the insights with your community. Thank you, Nienke.

Nienke Nina (00:33.302)

Amazing, amazing. Oh, I love that you say Ninka. Have you been practicing? Okay. All right. So we always start this episode with a few quick questions just for the audience to kind of get to know your vibe, who you are also as a nomad, right? You're a nomadic entrepreneur. So my first question is how long have you been living somewhat of a nomad lifestyle?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (00:38.739)

I'm like tick, the box is ticked, okay?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (01:03.865)

I would say about four years now. The minute I decided to move around and feel that home can be anywhere I take my routines, my events, my workshops, and my business with, that's exactly when I felt that this is the type of lifestyle, the type of life that I want to be living using one place definitely as a hub, but then exploring the world and feeling comfortable wherever I go.

Nienke Nina (01:30.71)

Love that, love that. It's so interesting that you specifically say one place as a hub. This is just like something that I recently experienced because I've been location independent for five years. Like literally my home was my suitcase and now I have a hub too and I am loving it. It's like a whole new nomad world opening up for me. And that's also free I guess when you're listening, especially when you're not nomading yet, you don't have to sell all your stuff

like to wherever and then be a nomad. You can have your home, your hub, and then move around. Just as a little side note, right? Okay, so then my next question is, where are you talking from right now? Are you in your hub or somewhere else?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (02:16.83)

I am in my hub surrounded by palm trees and anatomy boards. I am in Barcelona, I'm in Spain right now.

Nienke Nina (02:26.554)

Oh, I love it, love it, love it. I might go to Barcelona. There's a co-living space I reached out. And I'm like, okay, I might do a little collab. Amazing.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (02:35.973)

Yeah, I mean, it's an incredible place where, I mean, everything just merges here. You get creative, the artistic, you can find space for yourself, you can find space with communities and connect a network. It is, for me, the ideal space where I can create from, and then use it as well to travel so openly to different spaces because Barcelona is so well connected with the world.

Nienke Nina (03:04.382)

Yeah, yeah. Love that. Actually we met in Barcelona. That is like, and we met like in such a quick minute. And then after we met again at the Minoma Festival, but our, our very first meeting was in Barcelona. And I remember we hugged and it was, yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (03:08.945)

We did.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (03:22.697)

And there was this powerful connection. Exactly. Yeah. It was, I feel like it was, it felt like it's gonna be a short, hello, who are you, what are you doing? But actually from that hello, we spent minutes up to 10, 20. I think we spent actually quite a big chunk of time together and suddenly we're like, oh my goodness, we're vibing so well together. And then of course Minoma in Marrakesh and Morocco.

was just like the cherry on top of the cake of our friendship and doing these things together as well.

Nienke Nina (03:55.062)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (03:58.798)

Absolutely. I love to, um, to always think about like where the root connection was, because also in a nomad space, there's just so many places where you meet people, but knowing where your root connection is and why that is, and that doesn't have to be like hours and this and that, like it can even be this, because I felt so strongly that this person is going to stay in my life. I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know, but there was something, and not even romantically guys, like we're not dating, but like.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (04:27.201)

Yeah, yeah.

Nienke Nina (04:28.27)

Just to make sense here, but like, you know, like I felt like this there is there's this root connection, but there's no pressure to like unfold everything in one go, you know, like sometimes we feel this connection so strongly with like minded people and we want to dive in really strongly. Sometimes good to have this strong connection, like feel it and then just let it pop up when it's you know, like this just keep

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (04:52.579)

Mmm.

Nienke Nina (04:55.458)

Keep the nature be do its thing.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (04:59.205)

I think we are the best example of planting a seed and then seeing how it grows. And what you said as well, I do believe that the friendship that we are constantly building is gonna be a friendship for life. When you meet a person, you connect in different spaces, you do this incredible thing now together, but you know that life will give you so many opportunities to meet again, to vibe again, because when two people like us come together and...

in the world, you've got these beautiful connections amongst people, you see how everything else lights up as well.

Nienke Nina (05:34.866)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's also really the power of the mindfulness community. We will talk about it later because I have one more question. So you already said a little bit about like workshops, where you take your work to, right? So kind of the big question for a lot of our listeners is how do these people make money? So how do you make your monies?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (05:58.157)

Well, there's a couple of sources that is bringing me the income. So I would base most of my income on one-on-one exclusive services. So helping people through therapeutical programs of reconnecting with their body, the mind and their spirit. So those programs can either be one, two, three months time. So you really...

are unpacking and the program is called unpack yourself. You're unpacking yourself from limitations, conditioning, old beliefs about yourself. So you can truly live this incredible life in health, in wealth, in success, in love, in relationships, just as you were meant to be on this planet. So one-on-one services is something that brings most of the income. And then of course, I love...

hosting events and workshops all around the world. And it is mainly through word of mouth. And I have this incredible way of connecting with people all around the world. If you're able to breathe, you can connect with me. Basically, I always say that as well. So if you're breathing, we can be friends. And the great thing is that a lot of people that have experienced my events and workshops and then they go back to their...

Nienke Nina (06:51.214)

Thank you.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (07:18.113)

hubs or to their countries, places where they live, when they find out that I'm coming or they try to get me over to their spaces so I can host and give to their communities the same or even a deeper event and workshop. So then I would host these and of course retreats is kind of the third bigger way of bringing in the income and I host.

bigger retreats, three or four big retreats, five day retreats, healing retreats in different parts of the world. We just finished Mexico, which was a huge success. And we are setting up now the Sicily retreat and then Chile will be another one. So these are the big retreats that are bringing people from all around the world to one space, one idea of transforming and healing ourselves through the modalities that I'm able to deliver.

Nienke Nina (08:15.474)

Love it, love it. Yeah, and it's also like something that we connect on very, very deeply is that there is all these conditions and all these layers that we got growing up.

And there is not even something wrong with that because that is just how society works and that is fine. But I do think that one of the most challenging things as a coming into adult life, and this is why for me, the Nomad lifestyle, even this podcast still is so powerful is because we learn that we create awareness about these layers, about these conditions, about all these things that we have attracted. And now we're undoing a lot of that sort of deconditioning.

Um, which is a very overwhelming journey. It can be very lonely. And I think that the power is then to go to retreats, to have someone that can guide you in that journey or on that journey, to be part of communities like Minoma, um, to talk with people about it and then have all these conversations. So you kind of like, um, have a larger toolbox with more tools to, to help yourself unpack or decondition.

and create and come truly to yourself. And I really, so that's also why I wanted you to have on this podcast because so far I've talked a lot about like the practicalities of living a digital nomad lifestyle, but also just around the time that we met in Barcelona, this topic became much bigger for me as I was healing from a breakup and experiencing new love.

And then being in a Noma festival, I was like, whoa, whoa. Like, like a deconditioning and reconditioning on steroids, basically. I'm very beautiful. But then you go home and then, yeah, what do you do then? So that's what also what I really love that you gave me a beautiful Christmas present and to go on this journey with you in my own home.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (09:55.845)

Hehehehe

Nienke Nina (10:19.978)

And that was so powerful. So let's talk a little bit about that. So we did a breath work journey. Now breath work, can you explain what that is in like child language? Because a lot of people, remember that I told my boyfriend, Danny, like, yeah, I got a present and it's a breath work journey. And he was like, what? I was like, yeah, like breath work. And he was like, I was like, I'm gonna breathe with someone else. And he was looking at me like, okay, woman, I don't know what this is. So.

Explain.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (10:50.518)

Yeah, I love, oh my God, so many incredible things that you mentioned, but I'm going to obviously unpack breadtwork because like with everything, once there is a trend, suddenly everyone and everything is about breadtwork, breadtwork. And what I really want to mention to people is when I start facilitating a breadtwork session,

I kind of sneak in the phrase, I teach people how to breathe. And of course that kind of gives you this kind of discomfort because you feel like I know how to breathe. It's been with me throughout my life. But then I like to go a bit a level deeper and an insightful way of asking, but do you actually know how to regulate your nervous system and how to help yourself?

to either calm yourself down or either energize yourself in certain moments and breath work. So techniques, pranayama, energy control, breath control, that is exactly where it comes from. There's so many different ways of practicing breath work nowadays, but it all comes down to regulating the way you breathe. So it will impact and influence the way you feel in your own body.

and befriend your mind as well. So the bread work that we have done and the bread work that I facilitate is a parasympathetic bread work, meaning that you are tapping into more of a rest, relax, breathing sequence and technique guided by me. And the bread allows you to, in a soft but deep way, go to areas of your life that you might have neglected.

found that they are not things that you want to revisit. Traumatic events as well, emotional events, we so often disguise our emotions or the traumas or the wounds with more things to do, action takers. And we all know that also in the Nomad life, the more we do, the more we kind of show up. But actually, when you start unpacking through the breath, everything that you've been through without judgment,

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (13:12.557)

as what you beautifully mentioned as well, that's so powerful. Everything that I guide and facilitate, I always mention, we are not judging your past, your interpretations and your experiences because everything has served you and maybe you don't see it right now, but through the unpacking and through the breathwork and through the sequence of movement and somatically and then breathing.

Nienke Nina (13:12.777)

Mm-hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (13:39.425)

you will be able to see that everything has brought you to this point in your life when you're truly present and you can see that it all came to this moment where now the breath is actually helping you to reconnect and actually give you that blanket of love support peace tranquility That it all brought you to this point in life and in this point in life everything as well

Nienke Nina (13:55.502)

Thank you.

Nienke Nina (14:03.582)

Yeah, that's beautiful. And when you, um, when you say like calm the nervous system and do those techniques, could you, could you explain a little bit like why, like, why is that so important and in what moments of the day can that be important? Um, like, is that related to like your morning, your evening, during the day, like during work specific events? Because I just want to give a little note on this. A lot of the times people.

maybe perceive that doing these things when you're already not feeling well or when you're in low mood or when something catastrophic is happening. But I think the power of it is to sort of embed this in your life, not a hectic routine, but just like make it maybe regulated or make it more normal. So that's why I'm asking that question.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (14:46.202)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (14:53.529)

Thank you for asking that question because I would like to simplify it. So let's simplify it a little bit. So there's the breathing awareness. So in the mindfulness practices, as often as possible throughout your day, if you can reconnect with your breathing and your breathing should be nasal breathing only. So in and out through the nose because the nose has also a gas that is then released. Going a little bit into science, but don't worry, I'm not going to bore anyone with this.

Nienke Nina (14:57.634)

Mm-hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (15:20.689)

There's nitric oxide that is actually released through the nasal passages. So when you breathe that in, it's an antioxidant and it helps with releasing, removing inflammation, helps with stress and with calmness because then the air enters the belly using the diaphragm. So this is the parasympathetic receptors are down there. So that's why it's a calming breath. So as often as possible, try today. If you can connect with nasal breathing, because that should be your default way of breathing, nasal breathing only.

Nienke Nina (15:41.314)

Mm.

Nienke Nina (15:48.642)

You mean in and out through the nose? Okay.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (15:50.289)

Correct, correct. So when I wake up, because in the morning between four and seven a.m., the body is resetting. So you're sleeping, but the body is resetting. So what is happening is actually the body starts to chaotically breathing because it starts to reset a lot of the functions and the systems in the body. So you might actually wake up with a dry mouth, for example. And that is just the effect that how the body, and it's an incredible unit, and we can definitely.

have an episode on that as well, where we go really deeper into the nomadic life of what the body does. But when you wake up in the morning and when you can connect just with nasal breathing, close your mouth and just connect with nasal breathing if you can give yourself a moment of peace by closing your eyes without being stimulated by the outer world and just go inwards. Because remember, the inner world should reflect the outer world and the outer world will reflect in the inner world. So as peaceful...

Nienke Nina (16:18.435)

Thank you.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (16:46.285)

and tranquil you are in your body, so will be your interpretations of the stimulations that you're receiving from the outer world. So that is breath awareness. That is not breathwork. Breathwork is all different techniques that we can implement for being energized. So you might be breathing in a controlled way through the mouth and very energetic. So, for example, there's a lot of like

Nienke Nina (17:14.541)

Mm-hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (17:15.681)

and a breathwork. Then there is another technique, which is nasal breathing in and out through the mouth, which we have done in our session. So that allows a beautiful rhythm and cycle of breath. So this is breathwork. Breathwork means breathing techniques, but you're not gonna be doing breathwork throughout every single moment of your life. That's why it's a practice and it's a session that is designed and for a specific time controlled. So you're controlling it. And then after that, you go back to your nasal breathing. I hope I was able to clarify this.

Nienke Nina (17:21.55)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Nienke Nina (17:35.672)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (17:39.618)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (17:44.665)

and everyone understands this breathwork and breath awareness.

Nienke Nina (17:46.262)

Yeah. Yeah, no, I think you did that very well. And, and I love how we clarify this also now in this episode, because I think what you'd said before, like, yes, we're all breathing, but our, and the awareness of it, like, how are you breathing? How are you expressing yourself? How are you seated? Like all of these little things. And this is why I love having episodes now like this also on the podcast is that in the digital nomad space, it's not just about

Oh, you just basically fuck off to the other side of this planet. You just make some money, drink some cocktails, have your palm trees bomb. Let's go. No, it's, there's so much, it's more like intentional living. There's so much intentionality. And if you are on a runaway journey as a nomad and don't face the things that you have in your imaginary backpack that you always going to carry with you, no matter where you are, then it's.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (18:37.222)

Mm. Yes, yes.

Nienke Nina (18:40.482)

it, this lifestyle is not going to be as fulfilling. You're not going to get the best fruits of it. But if you unpack and create awareness around the, even the basic things of our human body, like breeding, you can like tap into that much deeper thing that you have, which is your, your soul, your core. And that's why I think it's so important that it all starts by with awareness, whatever you do, and then you can apply techniques to go deeper and.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (19:09.443)

Mm.

Nienke Nina (19:09.73)

you know, really do things.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (19:12.153)

And I believe, Ninka, that digital nomads are way more receptive to everything that is going on around them. So the fact that we're moving, we're traveling, and we're meeting, and we're surrounded by so many different stimulations by different cultures, people, languages, it actually makes us, or should make us, way more connected with our core. Because only when we have the internal piece,

That luggage that you beautifully mentioned is a luggage of love, support, that we can take with us everywhere we go. And then we show up with that peace and internal love for everything that we also do. Because we are constantly in this world of buzzing, buzzing. And we must have moments that doesn't matter if I am right now in Mexico, in the States, at an airport, in a bathroom.

Nienke Nina (19:58.53)

and

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (20:09.225)

I can find myself in a moment of peace by being with me. And by being with me, I mean by being connected with my breath. Because the breath is the only thing that can bring you back home to your body. And that's where you're safe.

Nienke Nina (20:11.35)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (20:23.39)

Yeah. I love how you just said that. I also feel like with the luggage thing, like, I feel like when you deal with, with all these layers, with all the, the things that you have learned throughout your life, and even the things that you want to unlearn or that you don't want to connect yourself with. If you, you're basically freeing up space also to receive new energies, new humans, new insights, new opportunities. And I think that this is what a lot of digital nomads kind of do.

being abroad. And this is also why I think having, it doesn't matter if you are completely like fully location independent or if you do have a home base because it's like taking yourself out of your normal, going to different places, learn new things, maybe leave some things behind there. Like it's, it's an, and I know it sounds a bit like woohoo, but that is really how I experience now this lifestyle. And by freeing up this space, I can receive so much more.

slowly, step by step coming more into my alignment, enjoy my work more, enjoy my connections more and setting better boundaries because I freed up space and I understand now things. So that's why this is so important. Yeah, I just another thing. When you just said

that you can always come to your breath. I had a flight not so long ago and it was extreme turbulent that my laptop literally fell from the thing. Like I went and I didn't have my seatbelt properly done. Stupid Nini. So I also went like really like 30 centimeters up. I thought like, oh my God, there was this guy sitting next to me. It was kind of an old man and he started like hyperventilating a little bit.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (21:56.317)

Hmm. Ha ha ha.

Nienke Nina (22:09.942)

because he was using his stress breathing. And I was honestly a bit afraid as well in that moment, but I was actually going back to our session and just doing my slow breathing. And then at one point I looked at him and I was like, you know, I was like, okay, let's breathe together, like calm down, we didn't speak the same language. And that was such a significant moment for like, yes, your breath can really help you calm down, be relaxed, come back to yourself.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (22:19.997)

Hmm

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (22:27.382)

Yes.

Nienke Nina (22:38.73)

rationalize what is going on like.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (22:41.962)

And keep you very focused as well. So even throughout different talks, experiences, meetings, even now as we are having this beautiful discussion.

Nienke Nina (22:43.746)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (22:55.681)

I make sure as well that I'm calming my nervous system with nasal breathing, because obviously if this would be an old pure version of talking, we would like, it would be so much chaos. We'd be like, oh my God, and let me, and let, and let, and let, and let me tell me, and let me tell you, tell me. And that's exactly, and when you observe people, that's exactly how some of the conversations are happening. And there's the excitement, but of course with so much excitement, you kind of, you can have...

Nienke Nina (22:58.656)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (23:07.161)

we're gonna go-

Nienke Nina (23:12.15)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (23:22.457)

a very relaxed, mindful talk, conversation. So of course, every single time you're saying something, I'm like, beautiful, beautiful. And in my own internal system, I'm like, but stay grounded, calm yourself, be in the present moment. And as you said, breathing is something that is so powerful because as I mentioned before, we all have it. It's a unity, we are united by the breath. And we so often in this world look for

Nienke Nina (23:24.98)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (23:51.517)

things that are different between us but actually the breath is something we all have in common and what you mentioned you breathing in the on the on the plane during the turbulence was actually helping the person next to you calm him down even though he was still maybe hyperventilating but your energy because we're energy we are energy this is just a layer our bodies are layers you know beautiful fantastic vessels but they're layers underneath that there's trillions of cells

there are energy. So when you breathe, you're calming, you're sending signals, ripple effect around you. So the passenger next to you receives that energy. So quite often, even in a hug, when we hug as well, and I love hugging, because you're able to translate that energy. And suddenly the person you might feel that it's tense, their shoulders are up, they are shallow breathing, but you breathing in a very relaxed way, suddenly you're calming that person down as well. And suddenly after just three cycles of breath,

two energies are meeting and becoming one. And suddenly you feel like, wow, there is something way more and there is the woo-hoo talk. And this is what I love as well about the digital nomad world right now that so many people are actually coming to terms that the wellbeing, breadth, movement, understanding that we can live the successful life as digital nomads, but we have to be successful as well with our breadth, with our wellbeing. And only then can we truly show up.

Nienke Nina (24:52.364)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (25:16.558)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (25:19.533)

and be our greatest expression of self.

Nienke Nina (25:22.122)

Yeah, yeah. And I really, really love that. Her greatest expression of ourselves. Beautiful. Um, let's dive a little bit into the session we have because you already mentioned cycles. Um, there was a very specific technique. So I had, um, a few breath work experiences, two of them were not so great. We're not going to talk about that. I had one amazing with one of, uh, your good friends, Bjorn at the Minoma Festival. It was.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (25:48.378)

Yes.

Nienke Nina (25:50.57)

really intense, like hands cramming, everything like that. It was like what you see on the Instagram ads that people are like shaking a little bit. Like it was intense. And when you offered me to do this session online, I had a bit of anxiety because I had the perception and this image of what I had at the Minoma Festival.

that intensity, which was beautiful, by the way, guys. Like it was intense, but beautiful. So never be afraid of it. But I was like, oh, but I'm gonna be in my home. My partner is in, he was on a work trip, I think in Dubai or something. Like I was alone. No one knows me here in the building. I was like, what if I collapse? And I was able to share that with you. You know, you knew that I had this image. So I'm...

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (26:35.224)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (26:42.73)

I think it's very important. Maybe you can like explain a little bit like what, like the different sort of breath works that, that they're there, just like a light touch and then the journey that we had specifically, because this was so calming and about talking about like freeing up space, my luggage so I can have new things coming in. Like that was that experience without the cramps and the shaking. I, yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (27:08.378)

Mmm

Nienke Nina (27:08.898)

There's lots of questions back in one, but I think you know all of them.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (27:12.941)

Yeah, I'm gonna try to unpack this now. So, and of course, because my program is called unpack yourself, let's unpack the question as well. So, but thank you so much for asking this because there's so many different rhetoric techniques and schools out there. So, first of all, don't be scared to participate in one. Second thing, don't be scared to ask questions before you participate in one.

Nienke Nina (27:20.226)

Ha ha ha.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (27:40.773)

you must feel very safe with the coach and the guide that will be your facilitator. Do not sign up to something that you are not aware of and you just feel like, oh, everyone's doing bread work, I can do bread work as well. Not really. There's actually quite a few things within your own health that must be looked at before you start a very intense bread work session. Like in regards to, of course, absolutely.

Nienke Nina (28:07.262)

Can you tap into this? Because I think it's a very important thing. Like how do you even know what kind of breath work teacher or session is like, how can we, how can people signal that? Or like.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (28:14.436)

Mmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (28:19.461)

I'll say, if you ask a Breadtwork facilitator, is this session safe for me? And he or she says without any questions, yes, of course it is. I don't think you should be participating in that Breadtwork journey. Purely because as a facilitator and you filled out a lifestyle questionnaire, so I knew a little bit about your background, your intentions, your trust. So I knew what kind of session

guiding you through and also I knew that the session that I'm guiding, and as you I'm glad you mentioned it was online, and I'm very happy to be guiding online sessions knowing that the participant will be safe in that session because I know that the technique that I'm going to be handing over to you will be a technique that will not be so aggravating that you will feel

Nienke Nina (29:18.762)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (29:19.109)

So in regards to especially mouth breathing, chest breathing, you might not be able to participate in a session if you have seizures or epilepsy, if you have a pacemaker. Of course, if you're pregnant, congratulations. If you've got high and uncontrolled blood pressure, if you just had a recent surgery. So there's a couple of things. And I always like to say,

Nienke Nina (29:38.262)

Thank you.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (29:48.913)

connect with your own body. So whatever, however your body feels, and you can, you still will have full control over your body. So if you feel like you cannot go deeper, you will not go deeper in the sessions that I guide. But sometimes the mild breathing sessions, and as you mentioned, there's so many different better schools out there, they might be so aggravating that you might be going in such a depth in such a continuous cycle of breathing that you might...

Nienke Nina (29:50.446)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (30:01.282)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (30:18.833)

hurt yourself rather than actually help yourself. Does that make sense? And it's all about asking the questions. And I know of course as well in some spaces at festivals, for example, it's quite hard to ask these questions, but I know as well that in a surrounding, and I know Bjorn is our dear friend and I know exactly what type of bread work he does.

Nienke Nina (30:22.947)

Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (30:48.021)

I knew as well that the facilitators that he had around him, kind of the angels that are walking around, would help a person that will be going through something really severe, traumatic, to actually help them get out of that state and feel again calm. So there's a couple of things that just, to ask the questions, see maybe the space, find out as well how big the event will be, and then you judge for yourself how you feel safe.

Nienke Nina (31:12.547)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (31:17.329)

to actually be let by the participant. So the better journey that we have done and that you have done in the safety of your home, and this is quite important for your own subconscious mind because you know your space. So I remember as well all the questions that you've asked me which were beautiful questions, but they were, oh, what about this? Should I lie down? Should I sit up? Should I, you know, and so I knew that, you know, that you're going through all these emotional states because as you said, you had previous experiences.

Nienke Nina (31:17.742)

Got it. Okay.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (31:46.161)

So you wanted to find out how you, your body will react. And that's what I was very grateful for you asking questions, not just going deep in, like, yeah, let's do this, no. So I knew as well that I can help you go deeper and unpack yourself from all of your conditioning, all your limitations, while doing it online, while doing it in the comfort of your space, your home, and me being the guide that you trust and you feel safe with.

Nienke Nina (32:14.954)

Yeah, no. And it was also very interesting that I so I'm a projector, right? So I'm here to like optimize systems. And it's always like, is this good? Is this like, so I'm so focused on that. So that's also where that strongly came from, because I was like, I need to have enough space. And then I'm like, okay, I need to have blankets. I was very like, on the sort of like making the system work. So I can work. I'm

And yeah, so that was kind of interesting for me, but it was, um, it was a very beautiful journey and I didn't like go like, because it was a calming journey. Um, before we were, you were talking about, um, uh, you would do three breath cycles.

For example, in the morning during the journey, we also did breath cycles. I think we did five. I mean, like I was like, I don't know. I was in another universe in one or two of those. Can you explain what are breath cycles? How does that work? And how does that apply to like the sessions that you do?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (33:06.109)

Yep.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (33:21.957)

The breath work that we have done and the breath work that I love to guide is based on cycles of inhale and exhale without pausing in between. So most of the techniques that I guide and the one that you have participated in was breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. So in a rhythm without going too deep, too fast, slowly bringing the breath in.

through the nose, using the diaphragm into the belly, then into the chest and letting it out through the mouth, you allow a coherent breath to happen. Coherent doesn't have to be a count of four, four or two, two. It can actually be inhaling for two and exhaling for four. So meaning inhaling for a count of two and exhaling for a count of four. That is coherent, meaning that you're allowing your brain and your heart to find that pattern and rhythm when it literally starts

Nienke Nina (34:15.376)

Mm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (34:17.645)

uh, mimicking the rhythms of that our body should be going through like our body works on rhythms There's arcadian rhythm all the rhythms that are within our body. It's also a cycle of inhale and exhale And what is happening is that? Initially and maybe you can um, you can uh talk about this as well. Um, Whether you had this as well initially the mind will try to kick in and the thoughts will show up So you're breathing in and out and in and out and i'll be guiding you with

certain brainwave stimulation music as well that allows you to go deeper into your brainwaves, so you can go into more of a trance-like meditative state. But of course the mind is very clever, it was helping you throughout this entire lifespan, so it will try to either show up as why am I doing this? All these different phrases, nothing is happening, this is boring, why am I trusting Piotr? All of these, right, they all show up. But then because I am the one here

reinforcing and guiding you keep on breathing keep on and I'm making sure as well that there is an intention set so you're paying not only attention to the intention but also you're paying attention to my guidance and after a while what is happening you let go of the mind chatter the mental chatter and you fully embody the breath in your body so you become the breath so then you beautifully become that cycle so every single cycle what was happening

it was bringing you deeper into your soma. And soma means the body. Somatic is the body. So you have become the body with the breath. And what is happening is then, and this is what I love talking about this, is that all the dormant, stagnant energy that you had in your body has been moving now, has been constantly moving by your breath. And also, I'm not sure whether you remember, but I mentioned to you, start squeezing your pelvic floor muscles to create more energy.

Nienke Nina (35:47.278)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (35:51.107)

Mm-hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (36:14.713)

So again, that was another way to bring in the energy from the dormant state, staking state to start moving. But of course, as you start moving your energy, you start also moving all your conditioning, thoughts and beliefs. Because what? The body keeps the score. All the traumas, your wounds, your past, your generations, your parents, your grandparents, all of it is stored in your cells in your body. We are carrying cells of wisdom. That is,

Nienke Nina (36:28.822)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (36:44.113)

that has protected you through your life. Or maybe you had a survival mechanism at the age of five, six of either stepping out of a uncomfortable situation, et cetera, it's somewhere stored in your body. But of course, at the age of 20, 25, Ninka doesn't need that survival anymore that you had at the age of five, six, seven. So you're able to move that energy. But so often we don't move that energy. So the breath, the movement, somatic experiences are helping you to move it out.

Nienke Nina (37:08.47)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (37:13.113)

release it and see it with love and light, that you can actually let go of that thought. You don't need to be anymore in that belief. You are safe in the body of a 20, 25, 30, 25 year old. So it's so important that every single cycle brings you closer to the body. I would design, every single journey is very specific to a person. So you finding out a lifestyle questionnaire that I've sent you made me design a journey for you.

So I knew that the music that I selected, the questions that I'm gonna be asking, and you going into meditation and trance, and by the five, six different rounds, cycles of breath, I knew that I can bring it deeper and deeper and deeper, and knowing that you will be able to discover. And as you mentioned, you felt very calm and safe, because these journey then can be repeated. I can do that again with you now, with your full awareness of how to breathe.

Nienke Nina (37:41.463)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (37:55.726)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (38:11.045)

So every journey will allow you to go deeper and deeper and start unpacking even more. Where some of the breathwork schools that are mouth and chaotic and chest breathing, they might be re-traumatizing you and might leave you feel unsafe. You know, where the breathwork that I am able to guide you through is actually a very safe breathwork. And you're, a lot of my clients are so happy to come back to me like, you know what? I am ready to keep on unpacking. And I know what to unpack next.

Nienke Nina (38:23.297)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (38:39.641)

because I have seen this and now I'm ready to unpack this. So that's why all the rounds are bringing you closer and back into your body.

Nienke Nina (38:39.966)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (38:47.39)

Love that. Love that. Also, the, what really resonates with me. And as I said, this, I don't know when I said it now in the episode, probably a few times it doesn't like, it's like the intensity of like selling all your stuff, packing, quitting your job, going across. It's a very intense, drastic, emotional, dramatic, almost tactic to create change, right? And I think that what I really love also about this journey that you and I had,

dramatic, big intent, like, kind of like the crazy big approach. It was a very like, calm

approach and I think that sometimes because online we see I did this and then whoa happened. I did these whoa like there's so much like bomb it's like fireworks going off all the time but what about just like a beautiful candle and then create lights you know it's like and that's what I really experienced with this journey. Now interestingly enough I have had t-bend on both knees both sides for one and a half years.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (39:43.108)

Yes.

Nienke Nina (39:55.13)

I have created this belief system that I couldn't run and I really like running. It's just because from sitting down a lot, but I really created this belief system. So I think the next day or something, I went to the gym and start running and I felt the feeling coming up again, but then I was doing the breath, um, like doing some, some breath cycles. I don't even know if a replicated, but I was just like, so I was like running like this. I was like, like going like this.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (40:12.529)

Hmm.

Nienke Nina (40:22.166)

And then at one point, the feelings started to dissolve. And I was like, what? I can run 10 minutes more, I think. So I kept doing it. And this is, this was so crazy because I was able to run instead of 10 minutes that it was my max for a really long time. I ran for 40 minutes. Like, what the heck? Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (40:43.421)

And you texted me about this and I was so happy because this is exactly the power of the breath. And what you mentioned is something that I very often see with my clients. That a lot of the limitations are put by the mind, not by the body. And a lot of the fears that people have is based on the belief that became them. So they have truly embodied that I'm not a runner. It's a belief.

Nienke Nina (40:58.082)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (41:09.913)

I'm not a runner, I cannot do this, I won't be able to last 12 minutes. So of course you're not going to prove to yourself that you can last because everything that you will do will prove that you cannot run the 12 minutes. So the mind and the body are very clever here as well. And of course whatever you believe, it's with that saying, right? It's whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right in both cases.

Nienke Nina (41:10.818)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (41:15.744)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (41:19.635)

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Nienke Nina (41:23.671)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (41:32.67)

Yeah. And this is so freaking powerful because this was a run, right? So I was going and I was like, okay, can you maybe one more minute? Okay. And then I was like, maybe I can do 10 more minutes. And, and just by, by breeding it, I was like tapping into my music. I was having like, you know, my thoughts kind of freed up. And then this dopamine kick came in. It was so freaking powerful. When I was done with my run, I was like, at one point I need to stop running because I have meetings.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (42:00.293)

Hehe

Nienke Nina (42:02.282)

was like crying, like I just ran a whole marathon. There were two people running next to me and they were like, are you okay? I was like, I was like, a fourish like it was like a fourish is that a word that it was like, a fourish. Yeah, it was so like, I just felt like I could like, I don't know, like flight to Pluto or something. And then I have instead of continuing my workout, I said I had my notebook and everything with me I sat down.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (42:05.859)

Mmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (42:13.945)

Euphoric, yeah, yeah.

Nienke Nina (42:30.694)

I was tapping into like, who am I? What are my goals? What it feels in alignment. And I got aha moments, not answers aha moment. So this whole calm breath has been a chain reaction to some of the stuff I'm working on now. And I think that this is why it's so powerful. It's not about just like, oh, I'm going to go through a breath work and solve X, Y, and Z. Maybe the answer to it might not be right after.

but just putting your energy into it and having different conversations and opening up your heart space and you're like, like really it's, it's not bullshit. It's magical.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (43:10.617)

Ninka, my heart is smiling. I am so proud of everything that you just mentioned because that is exactly what I love when I hear people coming out of a journey and the journey itself is just the beginning. Because what is happening afterwards, how you're tapping into your body, what you have just experienced is exactly you being in your body. And then your body will give you all the

Nienke Nina (43:27.555)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (43:38.109)

answers, the aha moments, the questions. You will start feeling so liberated from the mind that if you when you start tapping into the body and then the mind will start befriending all that you are and that is that is the power that you have unleashed. So I am so grateful that you just mentioned that.

Nienke Nina (43:43.403)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (43:55.926)

Yeah. I'm so grateful for you for giving me, for giving that tool and helping me also to apply that in my day-to-day life without going on a 40 minute session or three hour session, but just, you know, you start observing when your mind is like playing stuff, it's tricks on you. Okay. Just go back to your breathing and, and like, and like observe what's going on. So I have a question for you.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (43:59.737)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (44:25.15)

So what I just described was something that is actually not even so unique, right? Because you can create these things, you can procreate this. Can you go back to a moment in your life where you would have like a similar sensation that using the breathwork techniques and the awareness, where you had a similar sensation to what I just described?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (44:46.958)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (44:53.177)

Absolutely. The most groundbreaking and also life-changing events where I had to, it was a must for me to come back into my body was when I was diagnosed with cancer. That was exactly the moment in my life where I had to stop the mental chatter, stop doing, doing and become authentically me.

understand that the masks that I was wearing and the constantly working, harder, proving, proving I'm not good enough. I'm unworthy. So I need to do more and have more titles. It actually finally broke down My body gave up. I was disconnected from my body. So my body completely gave up It was sending me all the time signals. I know that now from a perspective but back then I didn't know this So it was a moment in my life where the body was so exhausted so tired

Nienke Nina (45:46.306)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (45:51.857)

Burnout after burnout, chronic stress all the time. So finally it said stop. And the stop for me was the diagnosis. And the minute that happened, intuitively, because we all have it, as you mentioned, it's all about unpacking and unlearning. So we all have the breath, we all have our heartbeat, the connection with our intuition, our gut. Why is the gut our second brain? I actually believe it's the first brain. The gut knows, the gut had the butterflies, the effect.

Nienke Nina (45:57.608)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (46:06.244)

Hmm.

Nienke Nina (46:15.662)

Thank you.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (46:18.893)

So my body was literally helping me to recover from cancer. And that's exactly where intuitively I became aware of Brett. And then of course, me being a manifesting generator, I really wanting to find out, okay, let's step into the body, let's step into the mind, let's learn about this, let's learn about that. Let's continue. So I start to be really obsessed and addicted to finding out about how this body works, how the mind works, how the energy works. And that was my moment of

Nienke Nina (46:35.914)

Yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (46:48.733)

clarity and I was like I need to show this to the world because the world is so often Forgetting that we all are limitless. We're abundant. We are when we tap into what we already have when we unlearn and unpack Revelations are happening. We are becoming aha. We were becoming aha moments We are the aha moment when we start finally stripping away all of that. Yeah goosebumps, right?

Nienke Nina (46:49.975)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (47:05.784)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (47:10.326)

No.

Nienke Nina (47:14.152)

Oh yeah.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (47:15.385)

When we're stripping away all of this, we are finally realizing that, you know, all that has been in the mind and all that chatter is actually not me. It truly is not me.

Nienke Nina (47:17.291)

No.

Nienke Nina (47:25.094)

Yeah. Beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing that. I want to cry. But like, I always say like my cries are just the energy release. It's so beautiful. And it's like, yeah, everybody, thank you for sharing that. Wow. All right, guys. So we are 47 minutes in. I think like we already said we can talk forever about this, but we did make a promise that we-

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (47:34.617)

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.

Nienke Nina (47:49.654)

would like stop at one point, but I think we should have a few more episodes together.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (47:56.573)

I mean, I'm always here for you and for your community, always.

Nienke Nina (47:59.91)

Amazing, amazing. So at the end of the episode, I always ask my guests if they have a question for me.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (48:11.549)

Hahaha

Nienke Nina (48:12.947)

So, da da!

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (48:17.861)

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

Nienke Nina (48:20.958)

Wow. That was a difficult question because I, I am, I'm unpacking this question right now. I recently made a really big decision to, um, to actually, uh, step away from my fully location independent lifestyle and be here in Vienna. Um, and now as I'm doing that and going through that process, I'm actually, uh, I'm actually unpacking that. And.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (48:29.793)

Mmm

Nienke Nina (48:49.398)

one of the things that I have been, and this is also very connected to breath work that I'm realizing is that I'm like, like shifting sort of like paradigms, right? And it's a lot about

How do I see myself? How do I see my body? How do I feel myself? How do I feel my body? But also like, what is my work? Who do I, who are my clients? How do I wanna express myself? How do I wanna express myself in full alignment? What the, like all of these questions. So at this point, that is not clear to me, but I'm working towards creating clarity. And that's why I love conversations like this. I love, you know,

adding new tools in my toolbox, like Brasswork, my human design is amazing tool for me as well. There's so many of these things, so I don't know yet, but what I do really hope to create is something that is in full alignment with who I am and what matters to me and what I can give to this planet, but I'm still on that journey of discovering that, so. I don't know.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (49:55.218)

Mm-hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (49:59.877)

Beautiful. I mean, listen, I, and you know, I, I didn't have this question prepared, but it just came out. And, and the way you answered, anyway you would answer would be beautiful. But I love how you tapped into the awareness bit behind that question. Because I would say the same thing in regards to like a year, five years, 10 years, if I'm just aligned, and if I'm aware and I'm serving the planet and humanity for just making it a little bit.

healthier, better, wealthier, successful, and spreading that love, then I am complete.

Nienke Nina (50:30.147)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (50:35.382)

Exactly. And I love that. And it's like, it's like, for example, if you would ask me a year from now, I am, I have a little bit more clarity around that because I made the decision to make huge changes in my marketing agency. It's going to be rebranded. There's a new name. It's all about like alignment. But the most important thing is what I learned this year is that, or now where Q1 is like over in a few days, you're going to have your final day of the month in a few days, right?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (51:05.241)

Yes, indeed.

Nienke Nina (51:05.322)

So, and I, and I, right? Like, and I was, I was looking at mine and I was like, wow, Q1 is over, but what do I really want to do this year? I would, I would want to have full alignment in my signature core offers in the marketing agency and also like look at the other marketing efforts and the other sort of like ways I express myself online and just have alignment. And that's it. I, yes, of course we need to make money and I have financial goals as well.

but it's not so masculine energy kind of like, bomb, bomb. It's more like if I can find alignment and be like, wow, like, oh my God, like how amazing is that? And then money will flow down like.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (51:45.209)

Absolutely, no, 100%. Yeah, and it's all about the fluidity with the energies and balancing it all out. And I believe also in balance being 40-60 and 30-70, truly, like, I mean, there is no 50-50. So let's just get out of that mindset of 50-50s. No, no, but the alignment is crucial. And having people like us.

Nienke Nina (51:54.734)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (52:00.982)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (52:06.166)

Wow.

Nienke Nina (52:11.618)

Hmm.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (52:14.377)

seeing and watching us and supporting each other on our paths and always here for each other, which I know you are for me and I am for you, you know, knowing that we can always reach out to each other and with anything at all, we know how we will be the supporting voice and hand and hug and you know, it's just so powerful to know that this is a beautiful world that we live in.

Nienke Nina (52:31.064)

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (52:37.306)

Exactly. And it's even more beautiful when you're expressing yourself in alignment. And for that, you need to unpack yourself. So if you want to unpack some of these things in your life with Pjotr, like where can people find you online? What's the best way?

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (52:47.768)

Yes!

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (52:57.121)

Instagram and LinkedIn, I believe that through Instagram is the best way to connect with me and send me a message. Am I fit underscore coach? So am I fit? So it's also, it's like a question, right? Am I fit? And whatever fitness means, am I? But it's am I fit underscore coach? That's on Instagram and on LinkedIn, my full name, Piotr Cepiel, because I do work with.

Nienke Nina (53:11.438)

Okay.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (53:21.837)

organizations, businesses, corporations as well, on mental health, wellbeing, on physical health, on bread work awareness, in office spaces. So you can contact me on all these platforms. Feel free to reach out as well on Facebook, if you're on that and the website, www. where you can also find my services. And please connect, send a message and let's make this happen. Let's unpack ourselves.

Nienke Nina (53:23.2)

Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (53:49.158)

Love it. All right, well, we're gonna pack this up in also in the show notes So if you just look in Spotify or wherever you're listening right now, or you just go to our website Digi slash podcast you can find this episode you can find all the other episodes But if you click on this episode then at the bottom of the page you see all the all the details

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (53:53.71)

Yeah

Nienke Nina (54:11.298)

Peter, thank you so much for joining today. Like I really enjoyed it. I feel so calm now, even though we didn't really do breathwork, but like just the energies are like.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (54:16.893)

Mmm. Hahaha.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (54:21.769)

And it's so possible to do it online as well. You see the calming presence and absolutely thank you. Ninka, you are a gift. I'm so grateful that we have met, that we have met, that we've connected, that we shared our hug as well at the Minoma Festival during the fire. Not sure whether we were all burning. That was so beautiful. And I remember you were next to me. It was so beautiful, so inspiring as well. And seeing you blossom and coming.

Nienke Nina (54:24.389)

Yeah, yeah.

Nienke Nina (54:30.859)

off.

Nienke Nina (54:40.37)

Yeah, that was so pretty.

Piotr Ciepiel - The MiFit Coach (54:50.961)

to terms with your gifts and talents and how you're unpacking yourself and how you're coming together with all of your gifts, it's just beautiful to watch. So thank you for allowing me to be in your circle.

Nienke Nina (55:02.783)

Oh, thank you.

Alright, I'm gonna stop the recording. Let's.