Unlocking Somatic Experiencing: Healing Pain and Stress with Laura Haraka

Ever wondered how tuning into your body can help alleviate chronic pain and manage stress? This episode of the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast promises to enlighten you as we welcome the insightful Laura Haraka, a seasoned somatic experiencing practitioner. We break down the essential difference between somatic tracking and somatic experiencing, highlighting how the latter serves as a transformative therapy for trauma and chronic discomfort. Laura even guides me through a simple yet effective exercise to demonstrate the power of body awareness in reducing the brain's fear response. Tune in for a wealth of knowledge and practical tips designed to help you lead a healthier, pain-free life.

Laura’s website: https://www.feeltoheal.live

Laura’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSgrR7km3RkLEsOGGtHInsw

Breath work on Insight Timer: https://insig.ht/xkzXBxIlHKb

Laura’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/feel.to.heal.wellness/

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Podcast Disclaimer:

The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain-free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain-free, then subscribe to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast today.

Speaker 1: 0:34

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Pain-Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. Today, I am joined by Laura Haraka, joined by Laura Haraka, and you know I fell in love with Laura because I saw her on Instagram and she is specializing in somatic tracking, and that was the first thing. But then, when I clicked her profile picture, I saw that she was from Bloomfield, new Jersey, which is the neighboring town from where I grew up, and I was like, oh, this is kismet, we have to talk and we have to do things, and so I stalked her, and then I sent her an email and she responded. So here we are, so welcome Laura.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Thank you so much for having me. I really am looking forward to being here.

Speaker 1: 1:18

That's great. So the reason why I stalked you is because I've had several clients of mine that have said what is this somatic tracking stuff? It's popping up on my Instagram feeds. I'm seeing it on YouTube. Some of it just looks like yoga and whatever. So they're not really sure if what they're seeing is real somatic tracking or if it's somebody calling it somatic tracking. But it's not really that. And then for the TMS people they know of somatic tracking through Alan Gordon and I think you know he's actually probably legit in doing it, but we're, like I said, we're getting pummeled with it in the fitness arena right now. It's it's a hot button topic. So can you explain it to everybody?

Speaker 2: 2:05

Absolutely. You know, I'm really glad you identified it as somatic tracking, because I'm not what I consider a somatic tracking expert. What I call myself is a somatic experiencing practitioner. What I call myself is a somatic experiencing practitioner, and clients call me all the time and say I need someone that knows somatic tracking. Well, there's so much more to somatics than just tracking.

Speaker 2: 2:38

Now, somatic tracking is basically finding the symptom that comes in your body and noticing it, being with it, maybe giving it a color, a temperature, and describing it and watching it. Now you can do that with your symptoms and you can also lean into other sensations in the body that are pleasant and neutral and track those as well by again identifying them. Are there, is there any tingling? Is there pressure? Whatever you describe the sensation is as. However this is, there's such a bigger world out there that people are missing. So what I do and what I'm trained in I have a certification from traumahearlingorg and I'm considered a or I am a somatic experiencing practitioner.

Speaker 2: 3:49

A somatic experiencing practitioner and what somatics really is? It's an alternate form of therapy aimed at treating trauma and stress-related disorders, as well as chronic pain that don't have an underlying structural cause in the body. Okay, so when I say that everything that happens to us has a felt sense in the body, and what somatics helps us do is learning to feel the sensations in our body, every emotion, such as anger or sadness, shows up in the body. Even our body right now has sensations in it that don't have pain, and what somatics helps do is it reduces the fear response in our brain, and it's really cool and I want to give you, if it's okay, an example so people really can understand what it is to feel sensations in their body.

Speaker 1: 4:54

Oh, I'm down, let's go Perfect.

Speaker 2: 4:57

Good.

Speaker 2: 4:57

So what I'd like you to do is, if you can take your hand, and you're going to put your palm down and you can take your other arm to hold, suspend your hand up like this, exactly Okay, and just let your hand kind of hang there.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Or if you have a desk in front of you, you can put your elbow on your desk, whatever it is. And I'm going to ask you just to take your attention and put it on your hand and start leaning in to any sensation that starts to arise, noticing if there's any weight on your hand, if it feels heavy or light, noticing if there's any temperature, if it feels warm or cool, maybe noticing the palm of your hand, if it feels different than the top of your hand, and then sensing into each finger, your thumb, your second finger, your third finger, your fourth finger and your fifth finger, and just starting to notice what arises if you're feeling a weight, maybe any sensations, any tingling that show up and whatever's there, just noticing it. And if you're not noticing anything, even noticing the muscles in your arm that might feel more tired or tense, just supporting this hand. And then I'm just going to ask you to rest your hand now and just if you can Dana, just tell me what you noticed.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Dana, just tell me what you noticed. Um well, when we first started, um my fingers were hot, so I can actually feel the pulse in the last three fingers. And then, as we settled down, then it just kinda you know it was hanging out. I did like observe, like I couldn't understand why my pinky, my pointer finger, wouldn't go down, like everybody else is up and are down and that one's like no we're not going to relax or whatever.

Speaker 1: 7:50

I don't know why it didn't go down. It's kind of funny. And then I can. I felt like my palm. I could feel the air going underneath my palm and there was like more moisture in my palm as opposed to the top of my hand, and then eventually, like I can start feeling fatigue in my shoulder just from holding my arm up and doing that.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Right. So it's interesting before we even started and before anyone was even listening, you probably weren't even paying attention to the fact that you had a hand Right. But when you lean into the hand and when you pay attention to it, sensations start to arise. So you can lean into any part of your body at any time and sense into what starts to show up, right, that's a little bit about what somatics is just leaning into sensations in your body.

Speaker 1: 8:53

So this is probably one of the most challenging things that I had to deal with once I acknowledged that I had TMS, because you know, obviously I felt the very strong sensations, right, you know the pounding in the head or the pulse in my temple or you know those kinds of things, but when it came to the healing aspect, I felt like I could not feel anything else.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Like I was so hyper tuned on. You know everything from my neck up that I wasn't paying attention to. I don't know. You know whatever my toes moving in my shoes or temperature changes or any of those things, which is like I couldn't really express emotions because I really didn't know what I was. I was so out of my body. I mean, part of it is drug related, right, is you know? When you're taking all the pain medications um, you know it's you start to float. You know some people talk about having a sensation of like being above their bodies, and I wasn't in there at all. So all of this is all new information for me, because I've been so detached from. You know simple nerve endings and you know all those things that and I didn't know how to identify them, right? Yeah, so how did you get into this? Like you know what is your like, why pain? You know what is your like, why pain, why you know somatic experiencing, why breathing? Because you're also a breath coach.

Speaker 2: 10:32

Correct. Well, in 2015, may 2nd, I developed pelvic pain and I traveled all over the country to tons of doctors and I had 10 different diagnoses, all under the umbrella of pelvic pain. I was given oxycodone and morphine. I went under multiple procedures, surgeries, and I was struggling to find a source of my pain. I wanted to get out of pain and I said to myself I am going to figure this out. So I went all over the country looking for an answer and I couldn't find one, and all I received was an addiction to oxycodone and morphine and benzos medicine and somatic experiencing and breath work. And I healed from having chronic pain, and I'm very clear when I say that, because I'm a human being. The human experience is to have pain. So do I get pain? Sometimes Absolutely, but I don't have chronic pain anymore and through those modalities of somatics and breath work, I was able to heal, which was something that now I share my story so that other people can get hope that they can heal too, because they're no different than me.

Speaker 1: 12:30

Well, and pelvic pain for females is like ridiculous, the amount of women that suffer from some type of pelvic pain. And you know, I mean some of the information I've had even clients come back to me and talk about and it's like, no, that's not it.

Speaker 1: 12:48

You know, like because you know we're just not getting good information and it's sad you know that we're in the state of that where, you know, women's bodies are kind of still a mystery for a lot of things, and pelvic pain seems to be one of those. That is just like this magical thing that has kind of arisen that nobody knows what to do around it.

Speaker 2: 13:14

And you know, I think it's always been there, but people really didn't talk about it so much and when I was on the internet searching in 2017, there wasn't many people that spoke out about it. Because, let's face it, it's a vulnerable part of our body and it's not easy to talk about. So I made a vow to myself that once I got better, that I would be open and honest and vulnerable and share my story with anyone that really wanted to hear it.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Well, and I think that's important because last week or two weeks ago, I was talking about hormones and how, being a woman in your fifties, how I really didn't receive a lot of information, you know, nobody like it was kind of a faux pas to talk about it. So your mother didn't talk about your grandparents definitely didn't talk about it, and so, as these things were occurring in my body you know the hemorrhaging to death and all the other stuff that happens as you start getting toward the tail end of your period A lot of it was a mystery and, of course, because I'm a TMSer, I was like I can power through this and it is okay that you know I don't have an ounce of iron in my body. I will find the energy other places to get these 25 things done before three o'clock so that I can go pick up my kids or whatever it was, and you know. So again, you know, information is definitely knowledge for everybody and I think, the more that we have these discussions, then somebody may be sitting in their you know kitchen or going on their walk with their dog or whatever, and listen to us and go holy crap, I didn't know that. You know my doctor told me pelvic pain was this, and now you're saying it could be, you know, helped, and that's a wonderful thing to to hear, or to know.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Um, I did want to ask you because of the fact that, um, we, um, you know, were so you, so you worked on your somatic, your somatics for yourself and did your thing and then. So now where are you in terms of you got this information and now you're doing breath work stuff, and so how does the breath work, like work in, I want to say like hand in hand with the somatics, or cause I didn't't like. So the other thing that I noticed is, as we were doing the hand drill, I also started feeling warm and fuzzy and and I don't know if it was your voice, because you have a very soothing voice, or if it was just that I was, you know, more inward and so I started to feel like my breath got deeper and I started to feel like the warmth of my chest and started to be. I was soothing myself.

Speaker 2: 16:12

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because what happens is that actually happened and people tell me my voice is soothing, but it's more to it than just my voice. What happened is you started paying attention and leaning into a part of your body that felt neutral or good or pleasant. I'm assuming your TMS was not hand pain at some point. If your TMS and your listening is hand pain, I wouldn't suggest doing that exercise with your hand. I would suggest doing it maybe with your feet, and it's so interesting when we can see all our body parts as parts and say hello to them and I know that sounds kind of silly, but let's say your feet are not a part of your body that have your TMS symptom and they feel good and grounded. Imagine just even looking down at your feet and saying hello feet. And I know that sounds silly to your listeners out there, but nothing silly when you're in pain, you'll try anything.

Speaker 2: 17:18

So honestly, give it a try saying hello to that part of you and sending it gratitude and love, and then start noticing what happens in your body. Like you said, you just felt a little calmer, your breath started getting a little deeper, and it's just such an interesting concept when we lean into positivity, how our body responds, and you know if it's okay. I just want to touch on one other thing too. You know, somatics, like I said, is just not about tracking. What happens is we've had a trauma happen to us sometimes in life and we've all probably had traumas, you know and things happened too quick, too fast and our body didn't have enough time and space to process it. So an action that needed to complete couldn't complete.

Speaker 2: 18:24

So I'm just going to give your listeners an example, because sometimes it's the easiest way to understand. So, for example, I had a woman with restless leg syndrome and restless leg syndrome is really no difference than pelvic pain, except another part of the body it's almost could be like restless pelvic syndrome, could be like restless pelvic syndrome. And she had a problem with her son. She was abused by her son and she was threatened by him. He was addicted to drugs and abused her and she came to me and said Laura, my legs, they won't stop moving and I've never had restless leg syndrome. Laura, my legs, they won't stop moving and I've never had restless leg syndrome.

Speaker 2: 19:05

But when we were able to go into her body and she was able to identify and be with the legs, we asked her legs and spoke to her legs, like I said, we're going to speak to this part of the body and said what are those legs? Have the urge to do? And they had the urge to kick, they had the urge to run and when we were, when she was able to visualize, so she didn't have to really kick anything or really run anywhere. But when she gave her legs permission to have the action that needed to be completed, complete. Her restless legs are gone.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Huh, it makes sense.

Speaker 2: 19:54

It's kind of crazy, though it is kind of crazy, but it actually works, because the brain doesn't know the difference between a visualization and what's really happening. So those legs were able to get that action out that needed to be completed and it works. So that's why I say somatics isn't just somatic tracking. There's so much more to it.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Well, I was thinking, as you were saying that, because I can't remember who started it, but it was, I don't know. I was watching the Olympics and you know they had the skiers and they're like, oh, watch, you know so-and-so and you could see them that you know they have their headphones on, they're in their stuff and you watch them and they're ducking and they're moving and they're and they're literally going through their run. And I can't remember what. I read somewhere where somebody was talking about the fact that if you engage in that run, like mentally, you get the same signals in your body. So you feel the pressure in your legs when your knees bend and you know you got to push off to go into this corner. You, you know your heart rate changes based off of where you are and you know how you feel during a jump, or you know all those things. So why wouldn't it make sense to transfer over into this woman having essentially the you know, this incomplete sensation right of the fact that she probably didn't run or didn't kick her child?

Speaker 1: 21:22

because you know all the things right, you know, either through size or just the fact that she's a mom and you don't want to hurt your child, even though you know that. You know this is a survival thing, right? So so talk about, you know, fight or flight. It's like she put herself in freeze, except her brain didn't know it.

Speaker 2: 21:43

Right.

Speaker 1: 21:43

So now the brain wants to keep moving Right. So you're just talking about really completing that cycle and completing the loop and giving her brain a break.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Exactly, and her legs didn't need to move anymore after she was able to process it. And her legs didn't need to move anymore after she was able to process it and it took a few months through it. I don't want people to think that things happen immediately, but it did happen within a few months and she was able to do some of the processing at home after each session. So there was work that she did on her own and now she does not have restless leg syndrome anymore.

Speaker 2: 22:18

That's great, hopefully she's safe, or, yes, she is safe. Her son has actually passed away, but unfortunately, however, it doesn't mean she'll never get a symptom again and it's okay. It's just noticing that oh.

Speaker 2: 22:38

I'm getting a little sensation in my legs. I'm wondering what's going on and just starting to focus on the emotional component instead of oh my God, what's happening in my body. Again, it's looking at your symptoms through the eyes of an observer, through the eyes with curiosity, kind of like a detective, eyes of an observer, through the eyes with curiosity, kind of like a detective. And when we don't react to our symptoms and we just respond with oh, I wonder what's going on, then it can also bring down the fear response in the brain.

Speaker 1: 23:11

And that's a big piece, because you know I've talked about it before where you know I would have a sensation and immediately I'd freak out right, because it you know I've talked about it before where you know I would have a sensation and immediately I'd freak out Right, because it's like what's this going to do to my day? Am I going to be stuck here forever? You know I ran out of medication so I'm going to have to play, you know, mixology over here. You know all the things. And then, as I started to heal, I noticed there was a little bit of like there's a crack of space, right, a crack of light in between the symptom and the response. And then the crack kept getting bigger and bigger.

Speaker 1: 23:45

And now, you know, I do have that ability and I was thinking I was kind of thinking about, as you were talking about, the hand drill, because the other day I felt crappy. I can't remember why, but I had a headache and um, you know, and I thought my finger feels fantastic, like that finger, like there is nothing wrong with that finger, it moves, I can feel the air on it. You know, like I just started focusing on the finger and completely the head went out the window and I don't think I thought about the head. You know, maybe a couple hours later I did something and I was like, oh, it was still a little stiff, but I just decided like I was just going to dump all my gratitude into that finger and it not hurting and it just and maybe it's the finger that stands up, so maybe you know, like I'm number one, I have no idea, but but that's, I think it's just. You know, it's information that your brain needs to know that it's okay, and so I think that's very important.

Speaker 1: 24:45

So you talked about the voo breathing. What is that?

Speaker 2: 24:49

The voo breath is also from my somatics. That.

Speaker 1: 24:54

I have learned.

Speaker 2: 24:56

And it's one of the ways that we activate the parasympathetic nervous system in our body, which is our rest and our digest part of our nervous system, which we want to be in more often than most. We need our sympathetic nervous system, okay, because that's our fight and our flight. That keeps us safe as well. If you're going to accidentally walk out into traffic, you don't wanna be in your parasympathetic nervous system and be like, oh okay, a car's coming.

Speaker 2: 25:33

We wanna be like, get out of the way, right. So we want both. But we wanna be in our parasympathetic more often. And this breath stimulates our vagus nerve. And if you don't know what your vagus nerve is, it is just, it's one of the main nerves in our body. It's they call it the wonder nerve or the wanderer, and it starts at your brainstem and it goes all the way down through your chest, down all the way into your pelvis, and it has branches to all your vital organs. And I will tell you, they call it the vagus nerve, but it is a set of two nerves. So I don't know why it is called the vagus nerve, but that's what it's called. So when we stimulate this nerve, it creates this parasympathetic response in our body, and I'm happy to show you how to do it and give your listeners some instructions.

Speaker 1: 26:28

Oh, that sounds good, let's do it.

Speaker 2: 26:30

Okay. So before we start, just take a moment and ask yourself, on a scale of one to 10, one being really calm to like kind of sleepy, to 10 being, oh my God, I'm so anxious I'm ready to crawl out of my skin. So, just before we start, just let's identify where you are and you can share it or not. Share it, dana, it's up to you.

Speaker 1: 26:58

I'd say I'm about a three or four.

Speaker 2: 27:01

Okay, great. So just notice that that you're about a four. So when we do this breath, what we're going to do is we're going to have our feet on the floor for our practice today. Now, you can do this breath standing up and you can do it lying down, so it can be done anytime, anywhere. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a nice gentle breath in through our nose and we're going to fill our belly, and then what we're going to do is we're going to I like to purse my lips. You don't have to purse your lips, but you're going to make the Voo sound as V, as in Victor, o, o, and you're going to expel all the air until all the air has left your belly, but you're not pushing anything. Everything's nice and gentle. When all the air is out, it's out, and you're going to feel that vibration come from your belly, just pulling that vibration out into your lips. And then, once all the breath is gone and the sound, you're just going to simply return to your normal breathing, keeping your.

Speaker 2: 28:19

I like to keep my eyes closed when I do it, and I don't open my eyes right away. As soon as I return to my normal breathing, I keep my eyes closed and I notice what I feel in my body. Now, if this is the first time you're doing this breath, a lot of times you notice it from the like chest up. You might feel like a little bit of a tingling, you could feel a little bit of a lightheadedness. Now, personally, because I've done this since oh my god 2019, I can get the vibration, after doing it a few times, to go all the way down to my feet. So it fills my whole body. But sometimes it takes practice. And the other thing is, you don't want to match my octave, you want to do it at the octave, that's right for you Makes sense.

Speaker 2: 29:10

Yep, okay, you ready to try? Sure, okay, and you can put your hand on your belly if you like to direct the air down there. So, and I'll talk you through it. So we're just going to relax, feet on the floor, take a nice gentle breath in through your nose, filling your belly, purse your lips and make the sound VU, vu, vu and let the breath return naturally on its own, keeping your eyes closed and just taking a moment to notice what you're feeling in your body, if there's any wave of relaxation, if there's any tingling, if there's any lightheadedness, if there's any feeling of being more grounded, and then, when you're ready, just gently and softly opening your eyes and returning back.

Speaker 1: 30:32

I got lightheaded. You got a little lightheaded yeah. And it wasn't a big, you know, like I didn't take a big breath or whatever, but just the. You know there's something about it that was a little soothing, that kind of got me.

Speaker 2: 30:47

And you know what's interesting about the VU breathing is, if you try this breath, let's say, in another hour, you could get a completely different reaction. You could get tingling, you could get a sensation of calmness, so it can change the reaction that you've gotten with this, doing it once. And you can also ask your body and say would my body like another? And allowing your body to answer the question. So, just going back for a moment, would you say you're still at a four, a three and a half four, or would you say it went down? Or did it stay the same? And it's no big deal if it didn't change.

Speaker 2: 31:29

It went down a little bit, yeah, so just noticing that that with that 30 second practice you moved maybe from a three and a half to a two and a half with one time, first time doing it.

Speaker 1: 31:47

Yeah, and I'm a big Vegas nerd person, because I did, I don't know, I heard about it and I did some exercise where you turn your head and then look up and did whatever.

Speaker 1: 32:02

And I did it one day I was so nauseous and I was so triggered and this is before I even did the TMS work, and this is before I even did the TMS work and I was freaking out because I was going to be teaching a class, a fitness class, and I thought, oh, I can't go to the fitness class because, for whatever reason, I was always around fitness, that all these symptoms would always pop up.

Speaker 1: 32:22

And so I found this woman, suki Baxter, on YouTube and she did this one. It was like a five minute drill or whatever. And I remember I did it and I, you know, turn my head and looked up and focused and and then I thought, okay, I feel a little better. And then I sat up and I burped and then all of a sudden everything just dropped and I just released and then I felt so much better. So generally, if I'm in the correct mindset, I can go back and do somatics If I'm too off the rail, or not somatic sorry, vagus nerve stuff If I'm too off the rails, then I have to find something else that helps me.

Speaker 1: 33:01

You know, if I'm too, panicky, then I'm not going to hear it. And it's a good, that's a good point that different.

Speaker 2: 33:07

You need different tools for different times. And just to tell you a little bit, the exchange of gases and the burping, that is a good sign, that was a release that your body had. It felt that way, which means yes, which did, which meant your parasympathetic nervous system a yawn sometimes, which can mean your parasympathetic nervous system has now just kicked in. But some days we need different tools and it's not going to be the same tool every day.

Speaker 1: 33:38

Yeah, it's, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 33:39

It kind of blows my mind that, you know, when I look back and I also think about other people and just, you know, around the world and I'm watching you know these world and I'm watching you know these students, as I'm raising them and doing everything and we're all in fight or flight a large majority of the time.

Speaker 1: 33:58

And you know, I remember when I was a little kid and we talked about it was like oh, this little spurt of energy that you have to save you and then you're good. And it seems like because of either if it's the bombardment of information from news media or our phones or you know whatever. You know, when we were kids we didn't get information in three seconds. Now it seems like information is just flowing in and but my kids are pinned all the time and sometimes you could feel it Like when they in a room they're just ready to like, you know, snap and I just a lot of us are walking around like that, and so the need for these types of things is just crazy to me. You know it's because we do. You know, our toolkits probably didn't have to be this big and now it's like I need like a huge truck size toolbox for all the different things that I'm exposed to.

Speaker 2: 34:55

Exactly, but the more tools that we have in our toolbox is great. We know which one we're going to need at different times. At least we have the ability to pick that right or that correct tool out.

Speaker 1: 35:06

Right, so you have stuff on Insight Timer. Yes, I do and you want to explain a little bit of what that is of pick what feels good for us, what?

Speaker 2: 35:36

works for us, so I do something called conscious connected breath work, which I actually do that once a month. I'll be doing one in July, I believe and it's a different way that resets the nervous system. I also do something called somatic breath work. Those are the breaths that are on insight timer and what these breaths do is they move the energy in the body, and our body is made up of energy and there's parts of our body that have pain. So when we allow flow in our body and movement of this energy, the pain and the sensations can either move or diminish and we can actually start looking at our sensations without fear and without worry and without concern. So if you go on Insight Timer and just put my name on, I am on the free version. I didn't want to charge anyone for my breaths and there are three different somatic breaths that I use and a lot of my clients tell me they really like them. Now there are multiple different types of breaths. I also teach yoga breath work, which is extremely helpful.

Speaker 2: 37:04

I will not be teaching that course again until the fall. I just taught it this spring and I recently just passed the test for my oxygen advantage certification, which is a completely another way to start breathing. So there's so many different techniques out there that you can look for and so many people practitioners like myself have different things online and you don't even have to pay for them, and I will be offering different classes throughout the summer to some somatic breaths. I'm also going to be teaching this new breath that I'm doing through Oxygen Adv advantage, which is called breathe light, which is a completely another way to breathe, which has kind of blown my mind and it's really another way of activating your vagus nerve and really putting you into a parasympathetic state, sympathetic state which I have been really interested in and it's so interesting.

Speaker 2: 38:17

If I can just share with you for a minute, we have these instructors which are great, that are all interested in the speed of the breath. Right, we bring things down from four by eight breathing and four by four breathing and box breathing, but it's not just about the speed, it's also about how much air you're taking. So the oxygen advantage I'm doing like a little, I'm not trying to do a promo for them, not trying to do a promo for them, but it's about how fast and how much you're taking in, not just regulating how fast you're doing it. And the way I like to explain it is like if you had a plate of food. You're not just slowing down how fast you're eating it, just slowing down how fast you're eating it, Because if you have five pizzas and eat them all very slow, you're still going to gain weight. So it's also about how much you take in, and that's what this new breath that I'm hopefully going to put on Insight Timer as well in the next few weeks. So try that.

Speaker 1: 39:30

Do you track yourself? And you know, like I have an Apple watch and so sometimes I'll look at you know, obviously there are times when I'm agitated that I think I'm doing like 20 breaths a minute or something like that, which is kind of ridiculous. And then there's times, you know, if I'm meditating or even sleeping, that'll drop down to like 10, 12 breaths a minute Is there? Have you tracked with yourself to see, like, since you've been doing all this work, like, what are you seeing in terms of your bodily advantages to you doing this breath work, aside from the pain relief?

Speaker 2: 40:06

You know, we all think that we have to have some big formal practice in order to do breath work and we think, oh, I don't have the time to do that.

Speaker 2: 40:15

Now if you're going to sit in one of my conscious connected sessions. Yes, you have to lay down and you have to take the time to do it. But what your listeners don't know is, every single time you have been speaking and I have been listening I've actually been doing two forms of breath work. I have been doing breathe light and I have been doing yoga breath work. So I haven't taken out any extra time in my schedule. I have been doing so.

Speaker 2: 40:44

You don't have to change your life in order to implement breath work. You can do breath work while you are doing the laundry, while someone else is talking. You can do it while you're driving. It is not dangerous just to breathe and make it a little lighter and a little slower and to concentrate on your breath. So I've made what I recommend people do is make a habit out of it. So I made a habit out of every time someone speaks, go to my breath. So now I don't think about it. It's like driving to the store that you know like. If you have a ShopRite or a Kohl's, you don't think about it. If you go there often, you know how to get there.

Speaker 2: 41:33

So now because automatic pilot, so because I made a habit out of it. It then sticks. I also started doing it every time I wash my hands which we wash our hands a lot during the day, usually when we go to the bathroom, when we cook. And I made another habit, so I'm picking cues, basically If I walk through a doorway, oh, go back to my breath, drop my shoulders. So I started picking cues and now they became such a habit I don't even think about it anymore.

Speaker 1: 42:10

So make things a habit and you don't even have to create a special time to do it, right. So, but have you? What have you noticed in terms of it? Like, um, I noticed one of the things with the nasal breathing versus the mouth breathing because, um, a few episodes ago, we reviewed um james lester's uh nestor's book about uh breath, and so one of the things I noticed is that, you know, brushing my teeth like I wasn't feeling a lot of the residue, or you know the stuff that, just as a result of breathing with my mouth shut and the last time I had gone to the dentist, the cleaning was a lot nicer than it had been in the past because of the fact that my mouth is shut a lot of times now, instead of me walking around breathing like a dog that you know is out of breath. Um, but have you like, or is there anything like that that you've noticed for you that is coming up, or you know.

Speaker 2: 43:05

You know it's so funny that you say that, because I've always been prone to cavities. I have an addiction to licorice, I love Twizzlers, I can't help it, they're my thing. I can't go by the aisle in the store without grabbing them and the last three times I've went to the dentist I've had no cavities. And that's kind of like a big deal for me, I think. And I think it's because I breathe through my nose. And you know, I've also noticed a difference in my sleep patterns. I do use mouth tape not every night, but I do use it and by breathing through my nose I have actually started sleeping better which is to me amazing.

Speaker 2: 43:55

I also do not take any type of Klonopin or Xanax anymore. I used to take them all the time and I do not take them anymore at all since I've done my breathing techniques. So my anxiety has been much lower. I'm able to get my focus a lot better due to concentrating on my breath.

Speaker 1: 44:20

That's crazy. See, that's good stuff, right, it's like that's drug-free. Right, it's for free. Right, air is for free. We got it here. I mean, you know certain areas have better air than others, but right, but in the whole, like that doesn't cost you. You know, it's not a doctor's visit, it's not. You know, you don't have to go to a special place, you don't have to do anything. You can just take the time you know for two minutes and gather yourself where you're sitting and you can change a lot of things.

Speaker 2: 44:51

Exactly, Exactly. It's something that we have control over and we think when we have chronic pain, we don't have control over anything. But it's not true. We always have control over our breath and we can always go back to it and try and focus on it. Sometimes it's harder than others. I acknowledge that.

Speaker 1: 45:13

Right.

Speaker 1: 45:14

Because I know how hard it is when pain is, you know is higher than normal in that fight mode and so there's not a lot of information that is going to be received while you're panicking because you don't want to feel the way you're feeling or you know whatever meaning you attach to it exactly. And you know, I've noticed, because that's one thing I have worked on is that during those times when something has come back or whatever, that I do breath work and it, if anything, lessens the intensity. And then, of course, you know the goal is always to resume a normal day. You know, not overextend myself. You know, like if I possibly had a workout going and I'm not feeling a hundred percent, I'm not going to go do the workout, but maybe I'll come home and I'll do a little yoga at home, as opposed to going and throwing weights around or running on a treadmill or doing something like that at the gym. But it always does come back to the breath and I think it's really interesting because I don't know if we're ever taught that, like I never had a clue how important the breath was.

Speaker 1: 46:31

And you know a little bit in the military right because, um, you know we, we've had discussions over whether or not you hold your breath or you release your breath when you're shooting a weapon, um, those are times or when they're, uh, gassing you what you should do with your breath, right, those, those are the only times, but I mean literally like I don't think I was ever, you know, dealt with it in school.

Speaker 1: 46:57

You know, around athletics, nobody ever had. You know, now everybody has conversations, but nobody ever had conversations with me about breath and just, you know how to calm yourself or how to get yourself in a more focused state, and when you're participating in sports especially, there's a benefit to being focused. You know when you're hitting a ball or you're, you know, trying to run and get to something or whatever it may be. So I'm glad that it's coming up now and I'm so grateful for you for doing this work, because I think, like you said, everybody needs a different tool and their toolboxes and you know, the more we have, I think, the better we'll feel as humans, and that's something that you know. I want to change stuff, you know. I want people to feel better and I don't want anybody to ever have to go through the crap I went through.

Speaker 2: 47:55

Me either.

Speaker 1: 47:56

Yeah, yeah, it's kind of crazy. So what else is coming up for you?

Speaker 2: 48:00

Because I believe we had talk about something about bagel toning, that you were doing a workshop or yeah, I'm going to hopefully do a workshop this summer, in July, a conscious, connected workshop, which is that other breath work that I do. I'm also going to do a workshop on the oxygen advantage breathing and it'll just be one day hour workshops just to give people a taste of it Exactly. And then I'm also working on which that's probably going to get pushed off a little closer to the end of the summer, and I'm going to try and do a workshop on just different ways to reset your vagus nerve and with somatic practices so that they can pick and choose what they like. So, and anyone that is listening today, if they choose to come on one of my breath works or and it doesn't have to be in the next few months, it could be in six months from now, a year from now just use the code free breather and you are more than welcome to come experience one of my breath works that you like.

Speaker 1: 49:19

That is very generous. Thank you so much for that. Yeah no problem. So how do we get in touch with you?

Speaker 2: 49:25

Hmm, so you can email me at M as in Mary B, as as in boy, coachlaura, at gmailcom. You can find me on my website, feeltoheallive, or on my Instagram, feeltohealwellness, or on Facebook, feeltohealwellness.

Speaker 1: 49:46

Okay, laura, thank you so much for joining us today and I feel like I got a lesson, like I got stuff added to my toolbox and I appreciate it, but it's kind of neat, like I really appreciated everything you did.

Speaker 2: 50:00

Thank you so much. It was really fun being here, all right.

Speaker 1: 50:04

Thank you Bye.