28: The Way to Breathe – The Oxygen Advantage with Patrick McKeown

The breath is the bridge between the mind and the body.

This episode with international best-selling author of The Oxygen Advantage® and master breath instructor, Patrick McKeown, will change the way you think about breathing.  How do you increase health, performance, resilience, mindfulness, fitness, and train the brain to be focused while lowering stress?  You follow the breath through your nose. But it’s more than that. Mastering your breath is the path to finding peace and potential, and this episode is the roadmap.

In our culture, we prioritize health and fitness with an emphasis and education on hydration and nutrition.  But, we can last days and weeks respectively with out either of those. It is air/oxygen, that we wouldn’t last minutes without. Without functional breathing, we do not have functional movement. But what is functional breathing? How can we most efficiently breath oxygen from the atmosphere and get it into the cells of our bodies? Why does that process matter to the health of our minds and bodies?

We answer all these questions and more.  Patrick and his breath work has not only forever changed the way I breath, but also the way I teach my kids about breathing.  I never thought I would be the one taping my mouth closed at night, but with an open mind I realized that it was my own mental boulder that was blocking my path. I am completely grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to sit down, face to face, with Patrick for this episode.  His knowledge, passion, and humility on this topic is fascinating.  Remember I warned you, you will forever be changed after this one!

Strength is a Choice,

Scott

SHOW NOTES AND TOPICS:

Intro: The Obstacle in our Path

5:30  Why is light breathing and nasal breathing not common knowledge?  Breathing less is more.

7:55  Advice to teenager: Find the job you absolutely love to do.

Your profession is not what brings home your pay. Your profession is what you were put on this earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling. -Vincent Van Gogh.

Looking at sleep to change resilience.

13:00 THE BREATH – How you breathe and how much you breathe matters.

Why do people end up chronic over breathing through the mouth?

16:35  If you mouth breath during the day or during sleep, you’re likely to gas out too soon during physical exercise, your mind is likely to be agitated, and your sleep is affected. 

20:18  How do you train the brain to be focused? You follow the breath. 

21:08  The Oxygen (Carbon Dioxide) Paradox and the Bohr Effect

How do you increase CO2?  You slow down your breathing. Don’t over exhale your CO2.

25:37  Light Breathing Exercise – and why it lowers stress and raises performance

35:00 Wim Hof breathing, box breathing, and “deep breathing”.

Wim Hof Method vs. The Oxygen Advantage

43:38  What I do is breath holding to change the brains sensitivity to CO2. I purposefully and deliberately increase CO2 in the blood. We hold the breath to increase CO2 in the blood to change the brains reaction to CO2. We reduce the sensitivity of the body to carbon dioxide and that translates to improved physical fitness. 

46:15  Diaphragmatic and nasal breathing – If you don’t have functional breathing, you don’t have functional movement. 

52:15  Combat/Warrior/Box breathing – Focus the mind through the breath.

54:14  The BOLT Score – Body Oxygen Level Test

1:02:40  The mechanical structures involved in breathing

Why mouth breathing isn’t as healthy as nasal breathing. 

Oxyhemoglobin Dissassociation Curve (OCD)

1:25:10  Breathing Masks

1:28:30  Nasal breathing and Taping your mouth closed at night.  Why, how, benefits, etc. 

1:36:30  Nose Unblocking Exercise. How to get rid of a stuffy nose naturally. 

1:42:30  The Mindful Warrior – Breath work, meditation, mindfulness – Finding the Zone

The mind dictates our quality of life. Thinking is a disease or a cure. 

Mastering your breath is the path to finding peace. -Scott McGee

LINKS TO WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

oxygenadvantage.com    https://sisustories.wordpress.com/

@oxygenadvantage @TheSisuWay @1scottmcgee

The Oxygen Advantage book

27: Julien Pineau – Discovering StrongFit

Burn the questions, burn your doubts, burn who you were, burn everything. See if you can make your soul bleed.

Julien Pineau is a Humanist, Movement Specialist, and Founder of StrongFit, an intellectual and physical gym that has transcended the actual workout into an education. It’s a culture and a tribe of people who seek to apply force better. Julien is trained to visualize and correct proper human movement patterns.  He has a fascinating ability to diagnose imbalances, find the root of problems, and provide knowledge so you can become stronger, more fit, and a more resilient human.  To me, Julien is scientific philosopher who has chosen human movement as his art.  But he is also more than that.  He is the master of his fate and the captain of his ship.   When he is not busy traveling, podcasting or changing the world he is raising his daughter in an environment of love and curiosity. He is a man on a journey inward as much as he is outward. 

This is a beautiful conversation I get to have with my friend. We discussed the life and death moments that forced Julien (through stress/pain/intensity) to discover his strength.  It was here where he decided who he was going to become.  Like life, it’s not about technique, it’s about how you handle yourself in difficult situations. It’s in those moments where you are introduced to yourself.  Lucky for us, Julien decided to build StrongFit and become one of the smartest people I know. Now he is teaching how to build better humans, but it’s up to us.

Thank you for choosing to listen!

Strength is a Choice,

Scott

SHOW NOTES:

Intro: Drowning is not for Me

9:15  A conversation about Julien’s late brother, Jerome. 

17:36  Do you have to go through pain to grow?

Comfortable is the opposite of safe. To grow you need to be in a safe place. When you are comfortable you are unsafe. 

21:30  Main influences in life, the moments, and how Julien has used them to develop who he is. 

Are you going to relay on talent your whole life? Or are you going to build something? The thought of this changed the shape of his life.

27:30  What did Brazilian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teach Julien about life? 

To face the world. Navigating with autism. 

28:50  Facing intensity, pain, and stress.  Needed for growth.

I think therefore I am…. or should it be I am therefore I think?

36:40  The study of human beings by putting them in stress.

It’s not about technique. It’s about how you handle yourself in front of difficult situations.

40:00  The greatest battle field is in our mind. 

Task Negative Network and Talk Positive Network. (where flow state is)

46:12  The Vagus Nerve and how to use to be in control of your nervous system.

How to shift yourself to the flow state.

51:37  Does Julien struggle with people?

55:04-55:47*  The price to pay for entry.

55:06  How much is going into Julien vs StrongFit Julien?

1:00:00  How does Julien learn?

1:04:05  What is the intent of the StrongFit Seminars?

1:07:40  How does Julien package information in a way that is satisfactory for him?

1:10:00  The eye of the Storm – Suicide – A defining moment on a Bridge – What his brother didn’t do.  Burning his sense of self.

1:13:42  There is something to scaring the crap out of yourself that introduces you to yourself.

1:15:40  Other moments that changed his life.  

1:16:30  Can you apply the lessons of internal/external torque to your thinking and dealing with emotional stress?

1:20:45  The nervous system as it relates to behavior.  Being able to apply force in a healthy manner.  What are the signs?

1:27:18   3 ways to stimulate vagus nerve to bring us back to parasympathetic state:  Movement, Breathing, Nutrition

How to train your soul.

1:39:30  Regulation in ice. Physical stress to mental relaxation. 

1:41:51 Self-Control – Auto regulation and self correction – self awareness and self regulation

You are not a passive victim of your system.

1:44:10  The Arch Theory 

1:49:50  Training Method WES: Weight bearing, Eccentric (lowering the weight), lower Skill

The quality of stress matters. Not quantity.

2:02:02 Chris Moore – Barbell Buddha 

SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBSITES:

@strongfit1   @1scottmcgee   @TheSisuWay

StrongFit.com     TheSisuWay.com   

StrongFit youtube channel

BOOKS:

What is Life – Erwin Schrödinger

12 Rules for Life – Jordan Peterson 

Brain’s Way of Healing – Norman Doidge, M.D.