Two Powerful Breathing Techniques, One Routine: Wim Hof Breathing & NSDR

Welcome to this Earthy30 video which is a little bit different to what you might be used to from this channel.

Wim Hof:

You guys want to do it?

Jordan Peterson:

Yes

Wim Hof:

Keep on going. Deeply in, and let it go.

That was Jordan Peterson and his daughter doing some Wim Hof coaching with Wim Hof himself. Andrew Huberman is another big proponent of Wim Hof breathing or its variations, he often calls it a cyclic hyperventilation or tummo breathing.

On this channel, I have three professionally produced breathwork videos, each with their own charm. One has a melodic electro soundtrack, one has tribal beats, and one is set in nature. 

What I'd love to cover in this video is how I like to layer the Wim Hof breathing technique videos, which are about 10 minutes long with another type of relaxation practice called NSDR, which is championed by Andrew Huberman. I like to lie down do my breath work and then do my NSDR as a break in the day if I'm feeling stressed, if my energy is a bit low, or if I feel like I'm fighting off some kind of a bug or something like that.

The three breathwork videos follow the rough template of Wim Hof breathing, which is characterised by 30 big, deep, forceful inhales and exhales followed by a breath hold of around about a minute.

I personally found this kind of breathing when I was living in LA in 2017. I did the online Wim Hof breathing course, I went to some breathwork practices in LA, I've encountered something similar in yoga classes, and I've even been to the Ministry of Sound in the daytime and done yoga followed by breathwork. And it's, it's really sublime.

I guess the question is, why would you do it?

What are the benefits of Wim Hof breathing?

The reasons are kind of twofold. There's a sensory part and then there's more of an immune system, stress response part. Let's start with the sensory stuff. You do this intense breathing, and you feel quite lightheaded, you can feel a bit tingly in your fingers. Sometimes if you do a lot of it, they can feel like they're turning into lobster claws.

And then you do the breath hold and you feel very floaty and you feel very relaxed. And it's really nice, with especially with the music that you've got on these Earthy30 videos. It's really nice just to lay back and relax.

Now on a more scientific note, this rapid breathing, what it does is it super oxygenates your blood and it also causes the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is really good for fighting off infections. But also when you choose to voluntarily expose yourself to stress, in the same way getting into a sauna or ice bath is stressful, these voluntary exposures of short term stress help your body understand how to deal with stress. And then when actual stress comes along like working stress or traveling stress or some emotional thing, your body is actually better able to deal with that stress.

Andrew Huberman on cyclic hyperventilation

What we find is that if people do cyclic hyperventilation, so for about a minute, then exhale, hold their breath for 15 to 60 seconds depending on what they can do. And just keep repeating that for about five minutes. Afterwards, people report lower levels of triggering due to stressful events. They feel comfortable at a higher level of autonomic arousal, cognitive focus, a number of improvements that are pretty impressive.

Wim Hof breathing promotes the release of epinephrine aka adrenaline

There is some evidence for Wim Hof breathing. So there was a study that was done where 24 subjects (12 control, 12 breathing) were trained in the practices of Wim Hof. And then they went into a laboratory and they were injected with E. Coli. And they were then doing their breathing techniques. And they were able to fight off the effects of E Coli by doing this breathing technique. So that's the adrenaline fighting off these invading bodies into their physiology.

Explained by Andrew Huberman

It's actually the release of epinephrine aka adrenaline, that's causing this reduction in inflammation. If you've ever worked, worked, worked, worked really hard, or you've been carrying a caretaker for somebody else or studying for exams, and people around are getting sick and you're just powering through it and you're not getting sick but then you stop and then you get Sick. Well, you've just experienced the effect that adrenaline epinephrine can have in activating your immune system by way of the nervous system in order to keep fighting and combating infection.

Earthy30 breathwork videos

In this video, I should mention that this particular vlog that I'm recording now is actually set to the music from one of the breathwork videos. So if you like the sound of that, expect to find it on the breathwork video. You'll be told to lie down and relax. And then when you're ready, do 30 big inhale, exhales. These are set to the sound of someone breathing in and breathing out. So you just need to synchronise yourself with the with the audio and relax.

Hopefully that gives you a bit of a taste for what you're going to get out of this video. Afterwards, what I love to do is this NSDR, which stands for Non Sleep Deep Rest. Now Andrew Huberman really pioneered this acronym, which is very similar to yoga nidra. You're essentially shifting your perception to different areas of your body. And in a way, this is a meditation because you're not so much thinking about the thoughts in your head, but you're actually concentrating on feelings, such as the air on your nose, or the tingling on your fingers or where your your calf muscles are resting on the mattress. This in itself is a way to disconnect from whatever's going on.

The science behind NSDR

What the science is saying about this is if you're having a frantic full on day, you kind of need some downtime to process the thoughts and just to let them unwind, which normally happens during sleep. But this NSDR is a shortcut. So you can if you've had a frantic morning and you want to consolidate, do some NSDR and, and you're more likely to calm those thoughts. And when you get to the end of the day, I would wager that you will feel more able to fall asleep because you've had time to triage some of those thoughts.

Andrew Huberman has got a 10 minute NSDR that you can get on YouTube and it feels very scientific in the way you are walked through it. And he kind of at the end cements it by saying that “you are in control of your body.”

NSDR or Yoga Nidra?

There are two yoga nidra teachers that I also listened to if I fancy something a bit less sciency and a bit more spiritual. Those are Ali Boothroyd and Rosalie Yoga. One of them by Ali Boothroyd, she's got these singing bowls that sound really good. She also talks about the physiological sigh, which is a double inhale, exhale, which helps your body relax if you're feeling a bit stressed. And again, that's something that Andrew Huberman talks about quite a lot.

That’s a wrap

That's all from this video, and I've made a playlist with this introduction, followed by the three Earthy30 breathwork videos. I'd love you to give them a try. Let me know how you get on.

If at any point you feel like you need to breathe, if you're holding your breath, of course, breathe. Safety first! But it’s quite normal to feel a bit lightheaded. If this is something that you're listening to and you're kind of thinking, “Well this sounds interesting, but I'm not quite sure about it” then I encourage you to look at other videos online or even sign up for the Wim Hof breathing course. 

He even does retreats where you can do one in the snow or one on a mountain, where you go and learn his ways of breathing so maybe if you want to try it in person, have a go at that.