Fitness Girlies: Just Because You’re Breathing Doesn’t Mean It’s Breathwork
Guest article contribution by Flow Breathwork Facilitator Rosie Chuong
“Why would I do breathwork when I’m already heavily breathing while working out? What’s the difference?”
PSA: Fitness as a recovery tool isn’t the same as a healing modality like breathwork.
Keep reading to learn two important differences including the major fitness shadow to look out for.
Sustained, Rhythmic Breathing
Have you ever found yourself in a Zumba class panting out of breath because that choreographed scene you’ve been repeating for the last three minutes was perfectly challenging? Notice the way you breathe during these workout types.
When you’re out of breath due to high intensity intervals, you may find yourself doing short, diaphragmatic breaths. A short breath into the chest, a short breath out of the mouth and repeat until the heart rate reduces comfortably.
In breathwork, you’re engaged in sustained, rhythmic breathing. Usually for extended periods of time. Although breathing techniques and pace may differ per facilitator, song and session, you can trust that you’ll devote a good portion of the container using the active 3-part breath. Inhaling down through mouth, breathing into the belly, then again breathing into the chest and then exhaling out of the mouth.
Conscious, Connected and Intentional
LET’S BE REAL. You’re likely not heading to the gym daily thinking, “Tonight, I’m going to do HIIT and during the next 60 minutes, I’ll sprinkle in some inner child healing…” PLEASE.
Yes, you might process some issues during that time. However, the intentionality of being held within a container crafted to nurture you isn’t the same as showing up to that 6 a.m. boot camp class.
With a certified Flow Breathwork facilitator, you can trust you’ll be guided to receive what you need most. Not only do your intentions matter, but utilizing breathing techniques specifically for healing results in something more profound than burning calories and flexing muscles.
Transmutation or Regeneration?
The shadow of addiction tends to hide in physical activity and hyper-aroused states. Consider this illuminating question: are you able to healthily contain your energy WITHOUT involving your beloved fitness regimen?
Lack of access to someone’s routine could lead to a relapse back into substance use. Or a regressed, highly dysregulated nervous system. Sometimes, it happens instantaneously.
The reality is that some folks are still hiding from themselves through physical activity. Replacing one escape with another.
Physical energy depleted by exercising regenerates itself therefore keeping you in a cycle. Not the same as healing. Through breathwork, you transmute your energy so that you return to your baseline or normal window of tolerance.
This means your energy won’t feel as frantic or uncontained. You won’t go unhinged because life got in the way and you had to skip a workout.
It’s not that one practice is better than the other. Your workouts and breathwork can both complement your well-being once you understand the basics of nervous system regulation and the powerful results of each. It all comes down to intention, your body’s intelligence and the breath as medicine.
Rosie Chuong is a healing artist guiding curious communities to connect with their sense of flow and play. Her Flow Breathwork journeys are crafted in spacious, ceremonial and intentional containers where the collective can work with the medicine of the breath and the intelligence of the body.
Learn more about her offerings at www.rosiechuong.com
