How to use breathing to help you sleep and give you energy

Kick the caffeine habit — oxygen is all you need to recharge and de-stress. Katie Strick gets some air
25 March 2019

Taking a deep breath to calm down doesn’t sound groundbreaking, but most of us aren’t very good at doing it.

At least, that’s according to Stuart Sandeman, a former banker and DJ turned breathing coach, who’s the man whom stressed execs at Google, Nike and Dropbox call when they need to calm down.

Sandeman has spent the past three years engineering what he says is a revolutionary practice called Transformational Breath. It’s one part mindfulness, a few parts yoga, and designed to return you to a more “primal” way of breathing. When we feel stressed or anxious, we tend to breathe short and shallow using our chest, and “as this process becomes habitual, we lose the ability to breathe deeply and fully”.

From his Breathpod clinic in Harley Street, he teaches work-hard, play-hard Londoners to take a fully open, diaphragmatic breath, which means using the stomach rather than the chest, like a baby (he calls babies the “breathing gurus”). Sandeman says it’s normal to feel unnatural at first: tight clothing and sitting at a desk means we’re accustomed to short and shallow breathing.

I try a baby tantrum exercise, lying on a mat and banging my feet and hands against the floor, letting out a long, loud exhalation. Yelling at the top of my lungs is euphoric.

He calls transformational breathing a more accessible form of meditation that allows you to tap into a “deep state” more quickly than meditating. “Using Headspace [app] on the Tube will calm things down, but to access that source of energy properly, you can reach that a lot quicker using breathing.”

Besides his clinic, Sandeman also hosts pop-ups at The Ministry members’ club in Borough and at Blok gyms in Clapton and Shoreditch. Classes take an hour, and are designed to provide you with a “tool belt” of breath hacks.

For example, Sandeman insists you don’t need caffeine to kick-start your day — just use a supercharged series of short sharp breaths that will tell your brain to release endorphins, leaving you energised. He insists it’s as good as an espresso.

He also has routines to help you sleep better and recharge before a night out, and how to harness the full power of your breathing to ensure your muscles get enough oxygen during a workout. He says it’s crucial not to underestimate the importance of breath. “You’re doing it 20,000 times a day, so you might as well make sure you’re doing it right.”

Breathe in: How-to hacks

For stress or insomnia: 4-7-8 Breath

1. Place tongue on roof of your mouth

2. Inhale through nose for count of four.

3. Hold breath for count of seven.

4. Exhale through pursed lips for count of eight.

5. Repeat four rounds.

For a morning energy boost: Espresso breathing

1. Sitting up tall, straight spine, first practise panting like a dog, with an open mouth to get the rhythm and navel movement. Your chest will remain relaxed and slightly lifted.

2. Now close your mouth and continue this rhythm through the nostrils. Both inhaling and exhaling should be of equal duration.

3. Once you have nailed the breath rhythm, add some arm movement: inhale though the nose, engaging the diaphragm, filling from the navel, while lifting your hands up in the air above your head.

4. Exhale through your nose, engaging the core and pumping the navel in towards the spine, while bringing your elbows to your sides.

5. Repeat in and out of the nostrils, pumping your navel and lifting the arms up and down.

6. Repeat at your own moderate pace for 15 breaths.

7. Break. Then repeat three rounds

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