Ed Harrold and Emily Hightower discuss yoga pranayama as part of a Western conversation about fitness, healing, and breath-led practice.
Ed Harrold with Emily Hightower. Originally published on YouTube October 28, 2021. Watch the original conversation on YouTube.
Ed Harrold and Emily Hightower discuss yoga pranayama as part of a Western conversation about fitness, healing, and breath-led practice.
00:02.5 Hello again, friends. Really excited to be with you this week on our Life with Breath expert series. We have a great guest, Emily Hightower, with you, and she's just somebody you need to meet in your life. Hello again, friends. Hi. Always great to be with you. This week we have someone who has been around the block a few times, knows a lot of easy techniques, utilizes a lot of Western techniques. It's kind of a global approach to what's going on in our life. Welcome, Emily. Thank you. So good to be here. Oh, it's great to have you. I have this bio I'd love to read, if that's okay.
01:01.0 Sure. Emily Hightower is the founder of Intrinsic and an educator at Shift. Emily faced severe trauma as a teenager, including her mom's traumatic brain injury and her dad's suicide. At risk in her teens, she found a healthy outlet in outdoors and spent her 20s chasing rivers, skiing powder, and working in the wilderness as an EMT. In 2001, she discovered pranayama yoga and has trained in the healing arts ever since. She has dedicated 20 years and over 15,000 contact hours of teaching intrinsic skills like advanced breathwork, meditation, somatic yoga, and real food nutrition with people at their own edge of the capacity at- for healing. With Shift, she found a team that shares her language and stress around physiology performance and trauma healing.
02:00.3 There she hosts her Skill of Stress, Breath, and Physiology course, monthly webinars, daily training support, and private coaching. Emily works with combat veteran groups in the US and abroad. She coaches teams in adaptive care units and has trained in active duty front lines EMS services, substance recovery groups, and in athletes. She has worked in neurology clinic and lives, and lives to find the root causes behind modern disease. She blends Western medical background with her Eastern healing arts training and sees no distinction between healing and performance. Woo, catch your breath, ladies and gentlemen, on that. That is a life lived. That's going on all the rides.
02:52.6 I love that. So before we begin this dynamic dialogue and see where we can take it today, let's just get centered. Let's connect with our breath. Let's kind of see where the rubber hits the road today. I'm gonna be leading three different experiences all at once. You choose which one's right for you, ladies and gentlemen. It begins with posture. Feet on the ground. Men, feet parallel. Ladies, if your feet are on the ground, splay your toes out slightly, opening up the pelvic bowl. Press your feet firmly down into the earth and notice how you engage the lower body. The spine comes straight. Let your eyes close and become aware of your breath.
03:38.6 Ocean-sounding breath in the throat. Just a simple level one experience. It's extremely powerful. Slowing down the inhale with the ocean sound. Slowing down the exhale with the ocean sound, and just letting the exhale be longer than the inhale for now. Allow your mind to focus on the neutral sound in your throat while you're taking the in and out breath. If you want to stay with this level one for a few more minutes, that's fine. If you want to bring up a little more energy, after the inhale is complete and you can't inhale any more through your nose, purse your lips like a bird, take in a rapid inhale into the top of your lungs, hold the breath in, pull your chest open, drop the shoulder blades, and
04:49.2 after several seconds of holding, ocean sound exhale. Go through several rounds. Slow-motion inhale. When the lungs are filled from the nostrils, then purse the lips like a bird, quick mouth inhale, open the chest, drop the shoulders, hold in several seconds. Really amplify the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system of the spine and the brain. Let the energy reveal to you what it wants to reveal to you in its own time. If you're comfortable right here, great, or shift back into level one. For those of you that want to go to level three, keep the same technique on the inhale, 90% through the nose, 10% through the mouth.
05:46.0 Hold the breath in several seconds and focus your mind and your body. Then exhale slowly through your nose, and when the exhale is complete, hold the breath out and pump the solar plexus out and in rapidly like you're doing mini sit-ups. The nostril inhale. It's a mouth inhale. It's an internal retention. To nostril exhale, to completion, scrubbing the blood of toxicity, holding the breath out, going to the gut brain and the solar plexus and rigorously pumping it. One more round, ladies and gentlemen. Be extremely gentle with yourself in your internal narrative. And when you're pumping the belly on the exhale, try to find a rhythm
06:59.3 to it that just takes you deeper into your emotional intelligence, deeper into the feeling world, and become sensitive to its gift. And then wherever you are, come back to the level one, which is the most important one of all. Super smooth inhale, super smooth exhale, feet are pressing into Mother Earth, spine is straight, face is soft. And just begin to turn on your entire body. Settle the mind. And know that without any doubt, the best days of your life haven't occurred yet. When you're ready to leave the meditation, simply let the body breathe on its own. Let the upper eyelid come off the upper eyelid and reconnect with the external environment, and
08:15.0 notice if anything's different. How lucky we are to be in a body right here, right now in the fall of 2021. Mm. All of us stepping into our full power without the attachment of ego. My heart is so full today because I have an opportunity to share with everyone this amazing, amazing healing- being who inspires me on such a deep level for many reasons. Number one, the skill. Obviously, she's spent a lot of time in the lab, knows her stuff. Number two, super authentic. What you see is what you get. Walks the talk, and knows how to communicate difficult message with great care. Mm. And number three, sees the bigger picture spiritually of what we're all going through in the physiological and the psychological centers of the mind.
09:14.2 Mm. Good. Welcome, Emily. Thank you. Thank you so much, Eddie. I like to see- I feel the same way. I'm so honored to be here with you, and I so appreciate our friendship and the echo of the time we got to spend together here in this studio years ago when you came and stayed here with Harley and Wendy and gave us your gift. Helped Brian and I, you know, learn the breath as medicine approach, and share your skills with our community. You are deeply loved here in this valley. Well, thank you for that. You know, I remember that I was, uh, lecturing at the Aspen Brain Lab when I ran into Cheryl, uh- Barto ...
09:57.1 O- yes, owns the ranch. Yeah. And, uh, she said, "You were great, but you've gotta meet with Emily Hightower," who I know up in Carbondale, Colorado. And I'm like, "Yeah, that sounds great. You know, h- where do we meet this Emily?" So everything was connected after the conference, and the next morning, we, we come over to your house, and you just had the studio. B- Brian built the studio in the backyard, and we had this amazing group of, of people together that you guys had put together. It was a really special morning. Mm-hmm. Uh, it was something that I still remember. Just the yearning of the spirit, the, the yearning of the mind to learn more, and the willing to go, you know, be gained for all of it.
10:41.8 Absolutely. Well, you bring big energy, and, uh, I would say the same about you. Your authenticity and just ability to connect. I remember from that first meeting, um, being struck by the depth of your physiology knowledge. Mm. And you were the first teacher to really highlight for me the chemistry of the neurotransmitters in the lower lungs. Yeah. And really to make sense of that it's not just getting a deep, slow breath. You're actually shifting and altering the chemistry in your brain. Mm. I already had a lot of, you know, physical understanding and intellectual understanding of how breath and full, even deep breathing can support all kinds
11:27.2 of vital processes. But the, the chemical nature there in the neurophysiology, you were the first teacher to really show me that. And, um, it's been a gift for all the veterans I've worked with since. Mm. I wove that right into the program at CAMO, and just, it really helps us understand, like, this is science. This is something we feel, but it's also something we can know and understand. So thank you for that. Well, thank you. I, I, I appreciate that. You know, after that first Monday, we had that experience, and there was some synergy there. And I remember I came back next year, and, and you and Brian opened your house up.
12:04.6 And, uh, the first thing I remember is Friday night you had this amazing, uh, feast where you guys had gone out and, and, and had a kill. And then you brought in an amazing chef to do this amazing... 'Cause the breathing's great, but nutrition's a big part of it, too. Mm. And you could just really feel the love in that meal that, that you and Brian and Lacey had all put together for us. Yeah. Yeah, well, there you, there you have it. We're... Well, part of what I'm loving about this time is breaking through some of the stigma- Mm-hmm ... and evolving these practices for what we need today.
12:41.8 And I'm so eager to talk with you all the time, but especially on this topic of, you know, taking something like pranayama yoga, which was secularized, right? Mm. It was, it was shared with an elite few for so many thousands of years. People that could study this in India, men who could study it in India. And to recognize that we are evolving that study. And why I'm thinking of that with the nutrition piece is, you know, it's not conventional in the yoga world to harvest your food in the forest through hunting. We are hunters. Mm. And that's maybe very controversial for some yogis out there that I deeply respect for their practices around ahimsa.
13:27.2 Mm. That is our ahimsa practice, and, and that's a whole big, juicy conversation to have. But thank you for seeing our intention with that and receiving, you know, this is the way that we live and choose to live intentionally. I honor anyone's practice with food when it's intentional and conscious for them. Right. True. That's it. And if it's harmonizing in their way with the planet, um, then that's, I think, the direction that we... and the conversations we should be having, you know? I think it's very healing for the nervous system to be out in the nature, get your hands in the dirt, and connect deeper with all of your energy sources, uh, outside of you.
14:08.2 It's all provided, uh, for us. It's perspective, it's intention, it's love. And wow, it was, it was just great. And, uh, and then since then, I mean, I know your career taking off. I can never get ahold of you. You're always out saving the world. So that is so cool. Thank you. I mean, I've, I've... We've living- Yeah ... we're living a very full life. I try not to use the word busy, um, because truly, we're not feeling busy as much as full. We're trying to be real present with the things we've chosen and, and, uh, slow down the times that we wanna soak in, you know?
14:48.7 You know, everybody's caught up in this rat race in their mind, you know? And I'm like, "Dude, if life is a race, it's a race you wanna come in last." Just let everybody get out ahead of you, take your time, work with everything in a positive way with intention. There's no rush. You'll get to what you're supposed to get to. Well, I'll tell you, Oz is feeling that right now. He's a freshman in high school. Yes. And we, through the HHPF, the Health and Human Performance Foundation, have initiated programs to help teens with not only breath protocols, but breath research that they're a part of and that they learn through their own bodies- Mm-hmm ...
15:28.9 on how, how to collect the science behind it, how to be their own experiment. Um, and now that Oz is a freshman in high school, and just bringing it home, um, he's just so emotionally intelligent, and he's observing. You know, "Every day feels like I'm in this rat race to get grades that are gonna determine my life in four year..." You know, he's really starting to see- Mm-hmm ... the societal puzzle that we've created in our public schools. And, uh, it's really kindling my passion to get more involved with that. Uh, w- we get asked every week, you know, for more help with kids right now.
16:07.2 Um, and there are amazing programs out there. I know you're doing some amazing things I'd love to hear about with, uh, with Goldie Hawn, right? Are you doing- Yeah ... the MindUP stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about that. Well, it, it, this fills my heart so much to help folks at, at each end of the seesaw. You know, the kids that are coming int- coming into life, and the elderly who might not have, you know, the same speed on their fastball that they had years ago. You know, supporting those bookends is what really turns me on. I mean, I love what I do with everybody in, you know, in the, in the center of their life.
16:41.1 But taking care of the kids, it just makes us feel like we're really planting some stronger seeds in these children at a younger age, where they can harness their sensitivity to bullshit and, and try to transcend it at a younger age, rather than host it or be a hostess to it through your teenage years. Right. And to be honored for their physiology. If they're having- Yeah ... anxiety, and, uh, feeling tension, and frustration, and depression, and stress, that that's not because they're broken, that those are mammalian reflexes that they're given. Mm-hmm. They're a gift that they can tune into and use. And to honor, really ask them what they're feeling.
17:24.7 What it's telling them about the situation. Are they, are they uncomfortable? Why? Not, "Can you make yourself comfortable in this crazy situation that we've put you in?" Yeah. But listening to them. Yeah. That's where I'm, I'm really curious, and that's where, you know, I, I... There's planting seeds, but there's also a real need for us to listen to them. They have some insights for the rest of us. They're, they're like a hall of mirrors, you know- Yeah ... that we're looking through going, "Gosh, what message am I giving you? Am I telling you to just buckle down, do this breath practice- Mm-hmm ... so that you can win the rat race, or am I listening to you?
18:06.3 Really listening to what you're experiencing, honoring your body's messages, and then responding to give you some support to make your own decisions through this?" 'Cause they need to lead a new world, and we've gotta prepare them for that. Yeah. You know, conscious listening is an art form, and I didn't know anything about it until I was 35. You know, when I grew up, when, when I was growing up and being competitive in the '70s, you know, there was no mention of the word energy. Right. You just did it. There was no mention of the word awareness of feels. You just did it, 'cause somebody else told you.
18:48.2 You never questioned it. Right. And when we look at how fast the evolution of our awareness of, and ener- effective energy distribution, along with a skillful personal awareness set- Mm ... of boundaries, it really allows the next generation, because it's generational. Like, we're really the next generation of kids that come up after this is gonna be so dialed in to the purpose of their birth, and, you know, really just be in that flow state their entire life. I, I feel you. I hope so. They're disrupting some things right now. They're incredible. I, I really see my limitations when I listen to them, and hear myself speak to them to try to help.
19:33.9 I realize my own limits of the way that I was raised, you know. Yeah. I'm 47 now, and, and I can feel the generational change, and it's a fun challenge, you know, to take on. But there's a lot of wisdom rising up right now, and bubbling up, and wanting to break open, uh, some of these molds. Yeah. You know, we might be different in chronological age to our children at the physical level. Underneath it all, we're all souls the same age. Yeah. And we all should treat each other with the same respect. So cool. I totally believe that, and kids respond differently when they're respected.
20:15.9 You know, they still- Yeah ... need to be guided. They're, they're in new bodies- Right ... and they're growing and learning culture and boundaries and respect and different things. But, um, I think that a lot of modern disease and disconnection to the body come from that lack of skill as parents and teachers and elders of active listening. When we shame somebody, um, we cut them off from their own bodies, and breath is such a doorway to the body. Uh, and I think that's why it's become so popular is that it can meet people in so many different realms- Yeah ... to touch what their pain is or their goal, right?
21:00.6 It's like- Mm-hmm ... whatever it is. But the breath, whether you're coming into breath to learn how to row faster, um whether you're coming into it to deal with anxiety, um, or to be a better mom or learn meditation techniques through the breath, whatever your entry point, it is carving awareness of your body- Mm. Right ... that gives you access to the full spectrum of your wisdom. It's almost like the breath itself, this invisible air, is self-aware, and it's like personal to me, and it knows where I'm holding excessive tension in my life, and it knows exactly where to go to go in there and break up that kink in that garden hose, and get that water flowing again.
21:43.6 Yeah. That's awesome, man. You're welcome. I'm curious about some things I wanna talk to you about with your, with your, um, practices you've shared. I just thought of it with the rowing, right? So you used to teach, um, breath to col- collegiate level rowing teams. Yeah. And you did a bunch of research- Mm ... on them, right? Yeah. And once you gave me, um, an idea to do alternate nostril breathing during recovery, and it was super challenging. Yeah. And what I'm curious about is when you learned these pranayama techniques, um, in some of the old schools, there's a lot of rigidity around how they're practiced, when they're practiced, postures.
22:27.5 Mm. I think part of the evolution we're seeing with exercise physiology is like, "Let's, let's play. Let's push it a little." Right. Are there any dangers with that, and what have you seen that's, um, an opportunity for those of us in the breath space to learn from from your experience- That's a great question ... and what you're doing now? That, that's a great... Thank you for that. The, the result, the results athletically when you add Eastern pranayama into typical Western training, it, it blows away all research that has taken place up until this date. In other words, if you have a skillful pranayama teacher who's taking this into Western athletics on one team, any sport,
23:14.7 and then you have another team that's being trained the same way they were being trained in 1980- Mm-hmm ... the team that's training with the breath today in 2021 will always eviscerate the 1980 team. Oh, there's no doubt From an energy perspective, you will get stronger as your event unfolds. You will not get weaker physically, which means you will not get weaker mentally. So you're dialing in deeper and deeper into yourselves as your event unfolds with a lower heart rate, which constantly keeps that mind tied onto the body and the body tied onto the mind, where you can be in control. But for me, the teacher ...
23:53.0 My primary teacher was a man named Yogananda, and he was extremely powerful. And one of the things that I took from him early on was that this pranayama needs to be super respected. Mm. You don't do it to show off. Mm-mm. You don't, you don't do it for greed. You don't use it for any nefarious reasons at all. It is the most powerful source of energy and awareness evolvement that's available to us in human beings, and distributing it with great care, and knowing that less is more as you bring up prana levels- Yeah ... and physiology levels drop, and the sensitivity of prana levels begin to take on the brain's ear and eye.
24:34.4 So I was always really laid back in regard to how I presented things to people. You know, trying to be as gentle as possible with it because I knew it was super powerful. Mm. And we wanna build the psyche in a healthy way. We don't wanna get it to, you know, one step forward, two steps back. We want it two steps forward, hit the brakes- Mm ... two more steps forward, hit the brakes. There's no stepping back. Yeah, just integration time and sensitivity. And I love the way you talk about that, and this is what we're doing at Shift every day with athletes. And- Yeah ...
25:09.5 I think that, um, every day the results are just profound on, on people's personal practices and training, but also athletes that are testing themselves in realms where they have a metric that they can look back, whether it's team sports or individual, to say, "Wow, this is the difference maker." But- Yeah ... um, to respect it like that is part of the bringing pranayama to the West piece- Mm-hmm ... that's really, really essential, is to say like, just the way you said it, less is more. Let yourself feel. It's not about the outcome. It's about the, the learning and the connection, and what you can curate within yourself through this tool that requires sensitivity, it requires time-
25:54.4 Mm-hmm ... and it requires a real presence, which is the practice, right? It's presence. Right. And that's what I want to really share with people that are here to learn more about pranayama in the West. is like it's going to work on you. Right. It's going to do its magic. You don't need to force it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and yeah, you don't need to sell it. You don't need to show, show some result from it in order to feel it. You just have to- Yeah ... work with it patiently. That is so well said. You know, it's about creating communication, and keep improving that communication even though all of your benchmarks and boundaries
26:39.6 might be falling away in a split second. But you still have your hands on the wheel, you're in control of where you're going, and you have complete command over the accelerator and the brake. Mm-hmm. So you tap the brake from time to time so that you don't hit the wall at 90. You know, no one's gonna learn then, 'cause you're gonna have to spend so much energy to rebuild your infrastructure- Right ... 'cause temporarily you're gonna be separate from yourself, and it's very scary- Yeah ... uh, when you've gone too far. You know, and the pranayam itself, when you think about it, no matter what you're doing, at the deeper level what you're really asking is, you're asking
27:19.9 different questions about our normal subconscious perceptions that we use as benchmarks as we move through the day. Rather than constantly searching for answers and hanging on to those answers, "'Cause that made me feel good last year," the pranayam will take you beyond the answer, and it will lead you in a different inquiry- Mm-hmm ... or different questions. And sometimes you just wanna know two plus two's four. I get it. You know, my energy's low, I just need to hang on to that today. Yes. You know? But other times you're like, "Why am I here?" Yes. "Why am I with my partner? Why am I working with this man or woman?
27:55.5 Why is this person in conflict with me?" You know, the whys are great, 'cause the pranayam is all about the hows. That's awesome. That is awesome. Well, we've been, as a family, recovering from a breakthrough COVID infection in early September, so it's been a couple of months. And it's humbled me in my practice, in my breath practice. It's not been terrible. We- we're very lucky we didn't get super sick. Mm-hmm. Um, but we've had lingering symptoms. And so many people have reached out for help- Mm-hmm ... with respiratory long COVID symptoms. And it's the first time in a long time that I've needed my breath practice for my own deep healing that wasn't psycho-emotional, right?
28:46.1 Mm-hmm. There's been performance ... working with breath for performance gains, and elevating consciousness, and- Mm-hmm ... moving energy, and reconnecting to my metabolism. There's been all this great stuff, and then COVID, and then all of a sudden I've got these symptoms. And what ... Every time that I feel a new thing in my body, I instantly feel for the people that I've worked with- Mm. Mm ... who have had much worse conditions, where I've tried to help them, and it just humbles me right to the ground of like- Mm ... "Man, I can't believe I tried to help somebody who had tissue damage from burns." And yes, it's helpful, but the, the compassion that I feel with breath
29:30.6 limitations, I'm st- I'm at about 80% now- Mm ... of my lung p- capacity and my expiratory speed- Mm-hmm ... anyway. Um, I think that when we can learn breath skills at that edge of trauma healing, physical or emotional, it, it's such a helpful tool because it asks us to be with what is. You- Mm-hmm ... you can't be anywhere else- Mm ... if you're really in the breath. And once you're with what is, there's much less suffering- Yeah ... is what I'm rediscovering for myself. It's just humbling. Yeah. It's interesting when something comes out of left field and we b- we begin to become temporarily, uh, in that toxicity remove- removing mode, and we have
30:20.8 to slow down a little bit out- out of our normal pace that we go through during the day. And how much the ego vehemently, you know, hates that, you know, 'cause it likes to move at a certain pace. And it's like, hey, when you strip it all away, the body's in charge, and the body's gonna get what it needs first. And the ego can come kicking and screaming and do all it wants, but at the end of the day, it's not like you can stop this. It's going to get out on its own. And it'll tell you if you don't listen- Right ... really, really quickly.
30:50.1 That was probably our biggest symptom, is every time that we pushed our bodies, it would flatten us, and we ... It would just pull us way, way back. So gripping to that outcome or that answer, or trying to find the right breath. Mm-hmm. You know? What's the right breath that I could prescribe right now to, like, fix this? All that is ego also, and it all gets stripped away, and then there's just this, like, deeper listening to what the body's telling you it needs. And, um, yeah. So that's, that's where I think we're gonna learn a lot about breath in meta-analysis as more, you know, data comes through about different cases
31:31.1 with this thing. I think there's a lot of research that needs to be done, and a lot to learn about how breath can support healing through this virus. It's funny, you know, all the programs we've done since, you know, for the last two years, and, uh, you must have had the same experience, you know, where people, they, they, y- they come into your program and you teach them your wisdom, and you share the experiences with them, and then when they get done, i- it's like, "Well, how come any of this isn't on the national news, where people can instantaneously learn how to take care of themselves?" I, I, I don't get it.
32:07.2 Right. No, it's, it's, uh, really frustrating that the conversation hasn't shifted towards health on a lot of levels. You, you know I live to disrupt that disease model- ... of healthcare and fitness, you know, this external model of, like, doing fitness for, for certain external gains or going shopping for your health. Mm-hmm. The disease model archetype that's just gonna find, you know, quick fixes and dependent solutions. Um, so yeah, it's, it... All of this disruption and discomfort, hopefully we can wake up and say, "What can I do? How can I participate in my healing?" And- Right ... what's my body telling me that I need?
32:53.9 Yeah, I, I really hope that that's... It's happening at some, in some circles, but we need a mega- megaphone. It's funny, there's an old spiritual saying, when you're doing transformational work that the mind will be the last to know. Mm. And, you know, it's like you're doing your work, and I know that your phrenic nerve and your thoracic diaphragm are huge. I know you're doing this work, and your vagal tone is super high. And I know that when you improve respiration, you're gonna have better digestion and elimination. And when that becomes more efficient, you can't help but to have huge immunity. Yeah. So, I mean, this is like at the 101 level with the work that we do, and it's like you're trying to lift the Titanic to get this message out to the masses.
33:44.1 But, you know, I guess that's what the struggle is right now. Can we get the information out? Can you get the feeling out? Yes. Beautiful. Well said. You know? I know, 'cause we're reaching with the brain first to solve all this stuff, and, you know, when- Yeah ... when it comes to something like food, we have to feel a certain way to eat well. It's a chicken and egg thing. Right. But if it's only coming in through the brain, then we're still in that disease model or commodity model of fitness, of like, "I'm just gonna follow this external plan to feel better, to get those results, to fix this weight problem or this health problem," instead of like...
34:29.0 You know, the enteric nervous system is the third branch. Yeah. We talk about the parasympathetic and the sympathetic all the time, but the enteric nervous system is its entire third wing of our autonomic nervous system. Mm-hmm. And it has a huge vote in how we feel. Mm-hmm. Right? So- I, I'm really, like it would be beautiful- Mm-hmm ... if we could share that feeling of nourishment, like if people could feel. Man, when you're nourished, things relax in your brain. Mm-hmm. When you eat food that doesn't trigger inflammation- Yeah ... and tell your brain that you're not in a safe environment. Isn't that a funny thought?
35:11.7 Like, eating Skittles- Mm-hmm ... sorry Skittles, but anything with food coloring and tons of sugar and whatever. Eating crap will... It's not, it's not just calories and sugar and, and different chemicals, it's the fact that that enteric nervous system gets information from that. Mm-hmm. And decides, "Wow, we're not really that safe. This shit-" Mm-hmm ... "is toxic." Mm-hmm. Right. And that's gonna impact your breath, your heart, your brain, your choices, your window of tolerance. And, uh, so yeah, there's that dual side of information and feeling, where people have to feel better to get better sometimes. Perfect, and well said. You know, when people are psychologically stressed and they're attaching their awareness to fear and insecurity, the last thing folks wanna do is feel anything more
36:04.2 than what they're already feeling now. But that's really the only gateway or the only bridge that eventually you will cross, either today, two months from now, or two years from now. You will cross that bridge, 'cause you have to feel your way out of this hole. Mm-hmm. You're awesome, Ed. Well, we're all great feelers. You know, we're all great, but we- we've kind of forgotten it a little bit, and we're kind of re-remembering that we are great feelers because we can see the psychological stress. Because the mind is feeling threatened by all these beautiful emotions trying to come up, and reengage ourselves with the purpose of our birth.
36:47.8 Mm. So, when you think about the pranayama, and you think about performance, fitness training, or just therapeutic application of health, and then we have this healing, these three things are so important. And what you're teaching, and what you're guiding for folks, is an advanced level of 101 training that you can carry all the way to the end of your life. Mm. Carries through. Definitely carries through for, for many. But, you know, as a youngster, we, we were taught, you know, all education between our ears. You know, memorization, repetition, and you were judged by that based on the numerical grade that you had. And, you know, that's great.
37:40.2 I, I love my brain. You know, I don't know how intelligent I am, but I kinda work well or smart with the hand that I'm dealt. That's because I allow my body and my breath to hold my mind on true north, more than I used to 10 years ago. Mm-hmm. You've developed that. It's... Yeah. We... And it's, we all can do it. Well, let's talk about something like ADHD with breathwork. Oh. Yeah. You know? Again, most the solutions are between the ears. Mm-hmm. And I'm trained in biofeedback and neurofeedback, and there's exciting- Yeah ... research and exciting things that you can do with those pieces of equipment.
38:25.5 But really, they're just guiding you to prove to yourself what you're feeling. Biofeedback is, is- Mm-hmm ... helping you connect the state in your body with what the machine is showing you you're attending to, right? Mm-hmm. So, if you, if you access certain states of attention, good things happen on the screen. The flower blooms, the fish become more colorful and bright in the aquarium. Whatever the game is, um, it's cool. It's fun. It's a little gimmicky. Most of the people that I do it with end up just wanting breath coaching. Once they feel it, they're like, "Oh, now I just wanna train." Mm-hmm. Right? But with ADHD, there is such a prevalence of that in our culture right now.
39:09.7 Obviously, technology is, is good and bad. It's obviously training us to be more impulsive. Mm. Um, how do you think that we can get people to feel in the body and harness breath in ways that will promote more functionality in the brain so that we're not constantly, impulsively, hyper-vigilantly, addictively distracted? Great question. Many layers to that, isn't there? Yeah. We're gonna have to use really skillful guided visualization, along with really gentle breathwork, to reconnect folks with their heart, the intelligence of the heart. On some degree, the brain is great, but the brain isn't awake. It's not self-aware. Mm. In other words, if I, I might have a drinking habit, and I know I need to stop, but I can't overwhelm the part of my brain
40:19.2 when that craving come. Or you have some sort of other autotelic or addictive type of behavior. The brain just keeps bringing me this information, and I act on it based on my perception of what I'm going to receive. Mm-hmm. I've noticed that if we can just get folks down into here- Mm ... and just get those little bumper stickers of support from the brain, like, "I got this. Hang in here for one more breath. Ride this feeling without expectation." Instantaneously, if we can stay neutral here- And breathe slow and just listen for the kind of the goalposts that the heart communicate in a way that only you can understand.
40:59.2 It's unique to you, even though the language is universal. Then we kinda create that pause before we ac- we ask for what the brain is suggesting. And it's a healthy therapeutic pause just to make sure that your intention in the head is clear with the same intention that this thing has for you. Beautiful. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Living more connected to the body, to the heart. It's... I'm just remembering that B.K.S. Iyengar- Yeah ... in one of his books, I love all of his o- his books, but I think it was Light on Pranayama- Mm ... was talking about, um, how the brain isn't consciousness. Consciousness is in our entire- Right ...
41:43.1 being, in every cell of our bodies, and that the brain can be observed like an object, like the arm, wrist, leg, foot. Mm-hmm. And that in some pranayama practices, you can practice shrinking the brain into the back of the skull like an object- Mm ... and feeling the breath move like a straw past the brain right down into the heart. Mm. Like, just let it be this little, little object that's not ruling everything, 'cause that's really what ADHD is like. It's like you've got different parts of the brain competing at the same time, and it starts to get really da, da, da, da, da up here, and most of our solutions tend
42:22.4 to be up here with, like, timers and focus and neurofeedback and great, but can we just live more from the intelligence of consciousness in the body? Yeah. Um, not to oversimplify it, but I just think that that is a profound opportunity for people that might be struggling with that or have kids struggling with that, to pull ourselves out of this just mucky, um, place that is endemic to our society right now. I don't think that's simple at all. I think what you just put out there is beautiful, and it covers a lot of ground, and I think what people are searching for around the A- ADHD is simplicity,
43:10.0 not complexity. Right. And if they have a, a simple three-step process that they can practice for a week and then come back and see you next week and get another three-step process, in 90 days we've made a substantial shift in how the mind's responding to the nervous system stimulation. Mm. I feel like ADHD- When I read the symptoms, uh, I have it, right? Like when you read the symptoms, it just feels like modern life. Right. And the coping, you know Gabor Ma- Mate, I think is how you say his last name. Mm-hmm, yeah. I'm reading his book on Scattered Minds, and truly profound contribution to understanding this stuff.
43:51.8 Um, but phew, I do think that modern life, um, one of the symptoms of ADHD is actually just healthy coping. Right. One of the symptoms is rearranging your furniture or taking on a huge project instead of the work that's in front of you that you don't wanna do. It's like going back to the beginning of this conversation. Do we wanna teach kids and people you can use breath in order to accomplish this task that your entire body's telling you not to do? Or could we use breath to get to the heart and question how we're spending our time? Is this important? Is this metric I'm seeking for the grade or the whatever, is the job that I'm doing aligned with my heart?
44:44.5 Is it contributing to society? Is it getting me somewhere? If yes, fantastic. I'm... Now I have my why from the heart, I'm gonna use breath now to connect to that why and set a timer, use the tricks, and focus for a half an hour, 10 minutes, whatever. But these behaviors of taking on huge projects to ignore the thing in front of you, sometimes they're coming from a really smart place inside of the body- Mm-hmm ... that's resisting something that we should be listening to. Yeah. And I think breath can in- illuminate that in a way and hold people into their bodies, uh, in this Western modern
45:28.3 world. Yeah. You know, there, there's many ways to deal with these, these types of, uh, disorders or gifts or wha- whatever we call them. But no matter what technique you're using, if you add pranayama technique and wedge it into the other technique, you become twice as powerful with that old technique by adding the wind of the breath to a platform that you know already works. Mm-hmm. So we can get folks from point A to point B faster with less wear and tear. And more joy. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully with more joy in the process and more trust in yourself. You know, folks that get into the breathing, like yourself, like me, we love energy.
46:21.9 The more, the more the better. You know, it just makes us feel alive. Mm-hmm. And w- because we like to feel everything as a potential helper, as a potential teacher, as a potential evolution of an old archetype energy into a new one. And, you know, i- if you, if you've been bitten by that bug and you have that pranayama genie- I just lost your audio for some reason. Wow. I was just talking about how breathing folks, pranayama- I still can hear you. It's so funny. We got so excited that we... A few cues. My speaker still works. I just tested it. You sound great. Right during the pranayama genie,
47:21.4 pranayama genie jumped in and pushed some buttons telling us to breathe. So if you guys are still listening and watching while we fix audio, let's take a couple of Ujjayi breaths. Feel your spine. Relax your jaw and the bridge of the nose. We're just gonna do two rounds and then check in with Eddie. So whenever you're finding yourself at the bottom of your next exhale, allow an ocean sound to fill you while you thread the breath through the back of your nose. Allow the collarbones to lift and spread with the shoulders soft and the face soft. And then as you exhale, keep the heart shining and allow the air to reluctantly and gently lead you to the bottom.
48:15.5 And just repeat that one more cycle, listening to your own cues from your body telling you how and when to breathe. And then I'll check my audio. How is yours, Ed? Yeah. Okay. I can hear you now. Can you hear me? I, I, I can. Oh, we, oh, we have, we have you. There we got a chance to just demonstrate what we were talking about. No matter what's going on, you can breathe. And see, that was so well led. Did you... Folks, did you see the way Emily led that? The pace was perfect. There was time to take in the information, absorb the information, execute the information.
49:12.1 Next instruction. So pace is so important when we're learning something new, and that was just so well done. Hmm. Thanks. Good to take a breath break. Yeah. It works every time it's tried. Yeah. It's a, it's a funny thing. Well, it's, it's really rewarding to see people who may never have found it otherwise in these communities I get the privilege of working with, like combat veterans, and teens, and neurology patients, and, and the athlete group is so keyed into it right now. Mm-hmm. That's really fun, that I'm learning so much from these just powerful athletes that are willing to play with this stuff and share.
50:05.3 Um, but again, to, to really share it with people that might never have found it, um, just because they probably wouldn't go to a yoga class. At least that's what they've told me. Like, "I never would have done this." Mm-hmm. Or, "I breathe all day. I don't have to learn how to breathe." How many times have you heard that? Yeah. It's, uh, it's an epidemic of opportunities missed. You know, our athletes, unbelievable willpower, genetic gifts, uh, grace, willpower, but they're wounded too. And, and how do we tap them in to the wounds so that they can see themselves fully in the compassion and competitiveness merging together each time that we train and compete?
51:07.1 That's the conversation. That's the conversation that, um, our daily training coach at Shift, Danny Yeager, always is asking people to have. Like, have a conversation with yourself at that edge. Um- Yeah ... so, and I always think of this with Brian, my Brian Hightower, with rugby athletes that, uh, I'm blanking on the team right now, but a team in the UK that has finally tipped into the breath world, and what they're getting out of it beyond just that touchstone to themselves is this team hive consciousness. You know, they breathe before the match on the pitch. They breathe and down-regulate whenever they have the opportunity, and it's just, I, I really wanna see this crack into, um, the international
51:58.8 rugby space, just selfishly, 'cause I love those teams and watch them huffin' all the time. And, uh, anyway, they have a chance in these team sports to connect breath to each other in a way that's powerful. Boy is a huge individual. But the team, as the event unfolds, will work like a metronome. All as one, all breathing and their heart beating together. So they're super aware of everything, even the stuff they can't see with their eyes, they can intuitively pick it up. So it's just super cool to be able to add breathwork to both men's and women's sports. You know, a lot of the women's sports, you know, they have a really high injury rate because a lot of the training, they do the same drills
52:49.3 that men do. Hmm. And you'll see low back injury, or you'll see trauma in the knees. You know, the pranayama is a great support system for the feminine structure because the bones aren't quite as big. You know, the muscles and everything are, are toned and beautiful and strong, but removing injury from sports is one of the big things that I, that I think both of us really enjoy. You know, I, I haven't honestly thought of it in that, in the gender roles in that way. I appreciate that insight a lot. Um, I've thought of it more as just human consciousness and metabolism and energy. Um, but I do-- I can appreciate that.
53:35.4 I think that, uh, we'll see where it goes, right? There's a tipping point that we've- Yeah ... I think crossed with, with a lot of this stuff, and I'm really excited to see where it goes. Well, I think the great part about pranayama and athletics is that you can't cheat. In other words, if you stick to your breathing pattern in the intensity of your workout, and you don't break the protocol that you set in motion prior to getting into the event or the training mode, your body then can't have its energy stolen by the ego with the hyperventilation of the mouth. That's amazing. So- I love how you put that ...
54:16.3 you know, just respecting what the body's doing, knowing that it's always doing its best. It, it, it is, it is not even... It doesn't even know what not doing its best is. Every moment it shows up. And using the breath as a preparation tool for the mind to accept the fact that the body is gonna go through progressions. And respecting those progressions is key to efficiency, peak performance, not getting hurt. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, I hate seeing athletes get hurt. Yeah. It's, it's so frustrating and, well, you're right. It's a, it's a natural internal limit that allows everybody to improve at an honest edge. Right.
55:00.4 The body's never gonna let you lie. I just felt that yesterday. I did one of Danny's trainings where you'd appreciate every minute we held the top of the inhale for the last 10 seconds at, say, um, nasal only pace for eight minutes. And it, you know, mentally, the first three minutes are hard. Right. And then something surrenders, and you, you have to tune so deeply in that you just... And you can't cheat, like you said. I'm sorry, there's some kind of pinging going on. Do you hear that? No, you sound great. Okay, good. You know, I think people in that training mode just have to understand that the hardest part of it is the beginning.
55:43.2 Mm. The first few minutes of it. And if you can just hang in there psychologically with it, you'll go through progressions, and what was hard two minutes ago is now simple, and you have a super low heart rate. Yeah. Totally dialed in from the inside out. Yeah. So hitting the ground- It's, it's amazing. It's just amazing. Sorry to interrupt you, but it's exactly what happens. And that's where having the Western meet the Eastern with our machines and our, you know, we've got metrics and data, wattage cadence, all of that. You get feedback in the moment that can show you, "I'm still pulling the same wattage, but everything's changed." Yeah.
56:28.1 "And instead of huffing out my mouth or being stuck in my head or just grinding through this for an external outcome, I'm in it. I'm completely in it right now, and it's getting easier, and I'm improving on, on all of these cellular levels." It's awesome. So, so good. So how can people get a hold of you in, in 2022? What's going on in your world? How can folks get your wisdom? I lost audio, Eddie. Did you ask me what I'm-- what's going on in 2022? Yes. 2022 is a big year. Um, Brian McKenzie, who I work with at Shift, has moved here to Carbondale, so we are working more closely together, and we've been, um, building
57:14.2 through Shift this N equals one exposure experience that's so much fun. It's such deep work. Um, it's a real fusion of what I've been doing with trauma healing and deep pranayama work and yoga nidra, and Brian's work with elite athletes and corporate leaders and thought leaders, and just really pushing into exposing ourselves intentionally to stressors. Um, not like Navy SEAL training, but more like, you know, we're, we're gonna push some intentional edges and coyote teach and be creative to get people to feel and meet themselves, and then use the tools to, um, enhance their connection to their response. So we've led a couple of those retreats that were just deeply, deeply rewarding.
58:02.3 Um, and beyond that, Skill of Stress course and monthly workshops and private clients. Just loving... My private clients are, like, just my treasure time where I get to do that one-on-one, you know, deep work with people and see the transformation on a more intimate level. So that's that piece, and then my boys are just like . Big Brian Hightower, he is regenerative farming now. Um, so he's deep diving into healing the planet through food. He's an outdoor education coordinator for the farm where he works with the land trust here. And so he'll be teaching students in our public schools about soil health and regenerating the land and carbon capture.
58:49.0 Um, and Oz Man is just, you know, riding his bike to school and figuring out modern life one breath at a time. That's where we are. So there's a lot of ways people can work with you in 2022, and I wholeheartedly want people to di- to dial into what's going on with you guys and your teams that you guys have created. You're just doing world-class wor- work with folks across the board, whether it be athletics or whether it be healing, uh, training. So there's a wide base there that folks can work with you with. And who doesn't wanna go to Carbondale, Colorado? It's one of the great American treasures.
59:32.8 And, uh, if you ever have a chance to go down the Roaring For- Fork Valley, you stop down to Carbondale, and you see Emily and her amazing team. Thank you. And you will be grateful. Thanks, Ed. Any- anything else you, you feel like you wanna put out to the universe today on this great day? Hmm. Just thanks for everybody that's here that we can't see, for your practices. If you're here, you're committed to evolving your health and, and probably teaching somewhere, and I really, really thank you for the work that everyone out there is doing. Um, we are all evolving by showing up for this, this work.
60:17.3 We are evolving consciousness and breath, and just appreciate everybody so much. Well said. So there'll be links on this as it goes out into the social media world and the internet world, so folks will know directly how to get ahold of you and your team of experts. Sounds great. Thank you so much. If I sneak, if I sneak over to Colorado to ski, I'll reach out to you and let you know when I'm driving by. You better. Let's go make some turns. I love you, honey. Thank you so much, Emily. Thanks, Ed. Love you too. God bless. Thanks, brother. Anytime