Episode 308: Breathwork & Mindfulness For Entrepreneurship and Leadership | Sarah Hutcherson | Founder of Slo Breathworks
Sarah Hutcherson is a breath coach, founder of Slo Breathworks, and a former athlete who learned to slow down the hard way. In this candid conversation, she and Kara talk about recovering from long Covid, healing from burnout, and why understanding your breath might be the key to understanding yourself. They cover the science and spirituality of breathing, the invisible weight of chronic illness, and how to build a life with more presence, curiosity, and grace. This episode explores breathwork, body wisdom, and redefining resilience.
“I’ll just place both hands over my heart, close my eyes, take a few breaths, and wait for the answers. And sometimes, they’re right there.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:06) - Introduction to Breath Coaching and Its Impact
(00:00:40) - Sarah's Journey to Becoming a Breath Coach
(00:01:24) - The Role of Breathwork in Healing
(00:02:26) - Navigating Physical Limitations and Body Acceptance
(00:05:18) - Finding Balance Between Mind and Body
(00:07:43) - Practical Tips for Incorporating Breathwork
(00:10:19) - The Power of Breath in Daily Life
(00:14:50) - Closing Thoughts and Future Workshops
How has being a breath coach, breast facilitator impacted my life? It's just a perspective, like it's a lens. I really feel, and not in a serious, like profound way. I mean that definitely happens, which is cool, but it's just like this sense of playfulness.
That's Sarah Hutcherson. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast. Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Let's jump in by telling everyone your name, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Totally. I'm Sarah Hutcherson, and I'm based in Saratoga, New York. So upstate New York, and I am a breath coach and breath facilitator. I own the company slow breathwork. So I'm all about integrating conscious breaths into individual bodies and organizational ones. So what that looks like is really how can you breathe throughout the day. We have a respiration, we're breathing about 22,000 times a day, but when we bring that conscious breath into practice, it can really help with the stress and resilience piece.
How did you find yourself as a breath work coach and facilitator?
It came through an unexpected way, probably not the way I thought I wanted. I really came to breath before I, like for 10 years before I taught Asana yoga. So pranayama, that breath has always been present. In my life. And then when I was younger, I played basketball. And so breathing at the foul line was very big. Yeah. To have that reset. I didn't understand what was happening then. But then I got covid in July of 2020 and after that my body didn't bounce back the way I thought it would, where it had every time I'd been sick before and I started to have heart issues, I had cognitive issues, started to get migraines. So sorry. Yeah, it was, it was, it shifted my life immensely. Like I went from hiking, running every day to barely being able to make it up, like the eight steps that were in that townhouse where I lived at that point. So it was just, it was a moment of what does it mean to be able bodied? What does it mean to move through the world? And I really missed the movement piece that was like my release. And so I found myself just looking for answers. I went online and then I found this breath book that my mom had given me a few years ago and it was just like a cute little coffee table book. And I was like I'm gonna try an extended exhale. Let's see what happens. And I was on the couch and I just kept doing it and I liked it 'cause there was a sense of movement to it. Even though I felt very still, and so after doing it for a few minutes, I started to feel like in my body and also a release that I would get after I'd run or ride the bike. And I was like, Ooh, what is this? And then from there I started to study. I love, I'm a very curious person. And it was a way for me to start to figure out how to heal with long covid. With the other chronic pain, chronic illness I was dealing with. And then also through my breath study. I really believe that's part of why I decided to leave a 10 year partnership, move through divorce and just come back home to me. Yeah.
I. Relate to a lot of what you shared. After I got Covid, I have never been able to run the same way after I got Covid. And part of it has been, I also haven't put all of my capabilities into getting that back.
But every time I do, I'm like, my lungs do not feel the same since that experience. And it just kinda keeps getting pushed to the side because there's 80 other million things I'm doing and there's other things I can do instead. And also the leaving a long relationship. I left like an eight year relationship a couple years ago.
And when, going through the able bodied or not able bodied thing I think is so interesting. There's, we don't talk, I think a lot about what happens when you can't use your body the way that you are used to. In a, in an instant and we expect it when somebody has an accident and a spinal cord injury or you accept oh, I'm over 65 here. This is what life is. But I think there's something really different about, and maybe even more particularly for women deciding what able-bodied is in their own body and what is fitness and what is health? How have you been re. I don't know, establishing your relationship with your body, going through that transition.
That's a beautiful question. Yeah. Because it's an ongoing process. Yeah. I, what I find is it's a constant path of acceptance. And that doesn't mean, oh, it's all good. I love my body. It's great. Like it's accepting. The grief of what? Losing, how I used to move and I think the grief of having other people not necessarily understand.
I know within Long Covid before I moved fully into slow breath works when I was recovering and I left my job in corporate sustainability. I started a group that was all about writing and just like using writing as a way to express, and there was, the themes were like that invisibility of it.
Yeah. And that others did not experience it, so the belief was not there or they just couldn't wrap their head around it. And I think especially, for women. Sometime in, in the medical system or else I speak from my experience, there was a lot of is this more anxiety? Is this in the head?
Is this and there are connections, right? The more I've studied with the nervous system and chronic pain, there are great teachers out there, Alan Gordon and others that have helped me in my journey where there is that connection. But it's an acceptance of okay, I need to. Listen to my body and if I'm not listening to the body, what does that even mean?
Because for me, I was like, I just know to push through. I know that athlete mindset. Yes. If I, oh, I'm tired. That's okay. I can push. I know how to do that. That's where my strength is. That's courage. You know all that. Just do it. And Yeah. And. Sometimes just doing it is just rest.
And I think it's, for me it's a constant check and my breath, work practice, my daily breath practice is a big piece of that to be like, okay, am I coming from a sympathetic that like fight or flight place, I need to get this done or am I coming from yeah, I can do this, I can move my body, I can go for a hike, I can go ride the bike.
Yeah. And learning what that nuance is and not letting the mind fully take over or the conditioning of, I need to do, I need to do.
I recently added therapy into all the modalities that are in my kind of wellness checklist, and I knew I didn't want someone who was talk therapy oriented because I'm a coach.
I have a coach. I feel like talking is not the issue. Like it was really about the somatic experience and. I, spent time looking for who is gonna help me reconnect with the body in that way, because like you as an athlete, I have decades of separating my mind from my body. I. And not like ignoring what the body says.
And it's, I do believe that like we, we already know, we know what we're supposed to do, like our intuition works, but it's so tied to, at least in my case, it's so tied to my body and what the, what parts of my body are saying that I just wasn't even using that tool for so long because I was so programmed, as you mentioned, to.
Ignore it. No, we can't keep going. No, I want to finish this. No, I want it's so bizarre that I can't believe that more people aren't talking about this, especially more pro athletes who have gone to like the next level of this mind body separation because it's such a hard thing to actually recover and it's just been.
For my own personal experience right now, it's been so mystifying and, I've done yoga, I'm, I am 200 hour trained. Like I, the, I believe in this whole space of what's available in the in breath work and in the different modalities. And yet there's always, it's like me rebuilding that part. Like I understand it theoretically I can teach it to somebody else, but there's like a depth that I'm breaking through with myself and listening to my body that I didn't realize was broken.
Yeah. That's so cool. Do you find. I'm just curious for you. Yeah. Is there, especially when you're talking about the lungs and the running and I'm sorry, that's that sucks. 'cause especially when we think of lungs too, within Chinese medicine, it's grief, right? Yeah. I actually, I do my flush.
I've been practicing my flushing of my lung meridian. So you like, you come up and down and pull, yeah, it's really I, the more I study the breath and the seasons of the breath, there's a lot of connection with the Chinese medicine there too. That kind of linger comes in. Cool. But anyway, to go back, I'm curious, do you find is there a certain area of the body that lets you know first?
That's alarm, but also a yes, like I find, like figuring out what my yes is just as important as knowing the no,
Ye yes, there are I think, different parts of the body that are. Able to be heard faster, if that makes sense. So even the simple practice of I'll just put my, both hands over my heart, close my eyes, do some breaths and just be like, just wait for answers sometimes.
And they're right there. And then other times things will sneak up on me like. Right now there's so much tightness in my calves and I'm like what? I, no, no physical thing that should be tied to that. So I'm like, okay, like whatever that, we'll go explore that. I'll go get a massage. We can do some, I can roll it out.
But I'm like, okay. Like I know that, I think I now know when my body is doing something. It's not. Just a physical strain or something else. I know I carry a lot of whatever my stuff is in my hips, so I could do a runner's lunch and pigeon and all those things for hours every day and I would probably have a lifetime of hip opening to still do.
So I definitely feel it there, but there's even I noticed screaming my throat. My chest. Like for me, a lot of the immediate stuff is closer to my head. I think because my body has realized, unless it's her head, she's not gonna listen. Like my foot could fall off. I'd be like, we're still going. So it's getting closer to the throat chakra.
It's getting closer to my heart. It's if it's up here, you're gonna listen to us. And so I think. I was speaking to a woman this morning who was talking about me remembering to visualize down into my feet. Yeah. And to actually be able to listen from, to head to toe. And so I think we are at level one 'cause we're like just getting into the heart.
That's as far as we've made it down so far.
Yeah. Which is huge. That's big though. If you think about all, not only the a skeleton that's occurring there, but also fascia that's really big. And then the frontline is talked a lot about with breath work, but when you think about that tongue, when you're moving it for that breath is connected to that big toe like, bound.
That's crazy. It's that movement is so important. But like it does take time. Yeah. And I was gonna say with the calf muscle, I was like, I'm just curious what energetically is coming down to ready to release, ready to go.
I I will let you know as soon as I find out.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
You know it. But it makes me think about, there's, I don't know, I think women are more tuned into it now than we have been. More people are talking about it. There's like layers of acceptance of the power of breath and what it can give us. And you've mentioned a couple different practices already that are interwoven and connected.
You know how powerful this is for people. Does it drive you crazy? That people aren't running to you because this would solve so many problems.
When I've breathed, I'm like, acceptance, right? Yeah. And when I'm not, and I'm like, then that's what I get. There's a judgment, right? Whenever I start judging, I'm like, oh, there we go.
We reflecting. No, I, yeah, I get it though, because there is this. I personally, I've had to work really hard and I still do every day. Especially running a business of if it's hard, that means it's earned. It's like that's more success, right? Again, going back, I really do think that athlete mindset playing in college, having the three sports in high school, like it just, it's there.
Yeah. And. The breath is accessible throughout the day, throughout the night for most people, right? It's essential for that to be alive, and I think we are so tuned, and that's our bodies. The system is tuned to let it be automatic, which is beautiful, right? Like that diaphragm, the respiratory diaphragm has the least amount of the sensory receptors, because if we felt it, we couldn't do anything else.
But that diagram's constantly working for us so we can breathe. So I think it's like that piece of the invisible when we were talking about what before with chronic illness, with the chronic pain, when. Like I think about when I was in the throes of long covid and really struggling to just do basic life things, decreasing hours at work.
I remember I hurt my ankle along the way. Who knows what happened there. And I was, I put my, I got put in a boot just to heal. And I remember I posted something on Instagram. And I had these dms from friends oh my goodness, your ankle. Your ankle. 'cause they could see it.
Yeah.
And while they were there for me, for the other parts, they, 'cause they couldn't see it. They were, it just, it didn't resonate. And I do think there's something to that as well with breath and breath work and conscious breath where it's not as visible and you don't need tools like you can do it and you don't need to get dressed up, you don't need a mat, you all those things. And so it's just changing the idea of what does support mean? I don't need to buy in order to help myself with the breath. Yeah, those are things that I think about a lot, right? Because
yeah.
But once people try it and feel that shift that's when there's a beautiful recognition. And like the book I have here, James Nestor, he wrote the book Breath.
And I think that's done amazing things for the world of breath because people like that was all out and about and it still is, and people like, oh, I read that and now I get it. I now I'm gonna try. I'm ready.
I was having just a stressful day and I had called my mom just to vent and be like, I just need to get this outta my space.
Let me speak it out so it can dissolve. And we're talking and she's did you meditate? Did you do your breath work? Do you need to count to 10? I'm like. Do not give me any instructions right now. And I was, it was, I was not in a space to receive that generosity. And I was like, she's did you do all these things?
I'm like, mom, I am trained in these things. I know to do these things. It doesn't mean that I haven't gotten to the, I needed to say it out loud and yes, I will go and do the practice. But it was such a funny experience for me where. My mother, who, this is not her world, but now that she is knows how to list things to reduce stress and reduce anxiety, I'm like, we, this is, no, we have gotten to that mainstream component now.
Yeah.
Of. She might not know how to teach you how to do it or how to guide you through it, but she knows you should. I think that's such an interesting place for especially the US culture to be at right now. The fact that we're having this rising of. Consciousness and connecting to breath and like having the pause.
And it's normal to meditate now and in contrast to some of these old systems that are clear, like hanging on for dear life, and you're like, okay when do we get to go? When to in this balance out A little bit more?
Yeah, totally. When can we honor the, like in and out, the inhale, the exhale.
Yes. In terms of. Like I think a lot about around ecosystems and cultures, like how do you have a breathing culture? How do you have a breathing ecosystem? And it's a question that I keep asking, people. And when I go to a workplace and lead a workshop, or I'm talking to you're speaking like therapists where they're bringing breath in.
I'm like, what does that mean to create a space that's breathing, right? Like not only in the individual body, but in the collective. Then I it's the question that I want, keep looking for an answer, right? But I think it's the holding of the question that then starts to shift it. As a teacher of mine would always talk about Casey as like calling that question.
So I think that. It's how can we just continue to look for the breath around us? Like not only, in nature, you look at the tree, you're like, okay, they're breathing for me. I'm breathing for them. But also reminding yourself that if you look at, I don't know, a stop sign. Before you cross that street where before you go, that's a reminder to stop and breathe.
And so that to me is like a step towards that idea of building. More of a collective breath. Like how cool would it be if like people are like, all right, we're going to go on a breath break. Think of like a coffee break. It's let's have a coffee break and breathe, and it's happening like you're saying, it's totally there.
I think it's just continuing to. To have people practice and play with it and say, okay, like how can this accessible something that's simple, not necessarily easy, like how can we keep bringing that and living it and being in the day-to-day with it
It makes it, there's two things that pop into my head on that.
One is I was having a conversation with a friend last night over dinner, and we were talking about the need to have. Space for the universe to, show you the magic space to let things surprise you, space to just let things be. Sometimes, I think there's an easy correlation between being trained as an athlete and then being trained as a high producer, and if we live exclusively in a performance and efficiency space.
There is no breath, there is no pause. But then it also makes me think about, so my minor was in urban anthropology, which is essentially like how communities work and flow and how our physical space goes back to how we feel individually and as a community. And it's really interesting to think about the implementation of Pause Spaces in a neighborhood.
I don't, I'm sure someone's working on that somewhere, but, yeah, because there's been so much removal of like the benches because we wanna, deter homelessness, but Okay. We took benches away from everybody else too, now nobody can sit and appreciate the view or, yeah. Where are the parks?
Where is the walking trail? Like the things that allow us to both connect and to breathe? My head's running down that rabbit hole now. Yeah. That's so cool. So urban.
Anthropology, . Yeah. Okay. Very neat. I love that. I took an anthropology course in college and I loved it.
It was awesome. I still think about it. Yeah, and I imagine with 'cause I think about like from my background with sustainability, it was a lot about how our built spaces or cities designed to encourage more of that eco-friendly behavior. But I know that what's, sometimes those can conflict with like social behavior and connection.
And like thinking about taking away of benches, taking away of different gathering areas. The commons. Places that are free that you can come to, how that shifts. Then even that exchange of breath with people who may have different viewpoints, may have different backgrounds. And then that leads to like more of those echo chambers that we see in the digital space. And yeah, I think like the built environment or the lack thereof like really plays a role in that living. And then if you think about it from the breath perspective, whether that's from the area breathing right, like Being in Colorado for when I was, I mean it would, and it's constant of like where is ash in the air?
It, I can't breathe. It's the smoke. And that's when you start to really think about you can see that's a visible res representation, but when you can't necessarily see it and it's because of these other environments that's when you can be like, all right, how, what element would cause me to take that long inhale in or that long exhale out
When we had the fires here in California in January, I'm outside of the danger zone.
Okay. But then a week later when the wind shifted, I'm wor usually my doors are all open year round. The windows are, and I'm working. It's four o'clock. I'm like, why do I have the worst headache ever? Oh yeah. Why is it, why does it feel like I am? Like there's allergies and I was like, oh my gosh, it's all the stuff from LA is blowing this way right now.
And it was very unnerving. It felt very sci-fi to realize. Normally you, if you're having a panic attack or you're stressed out, you're like, okay, just go outside. Go for a walk, go outside sunlight, some deep breaths, it'll be great. And to then suddenly not be able to do that because it was dangerous out.
There was such a mind trip about, oh my gosh, like we can't see it. We can feel it. Yes, but like the whole relationship of how much we take for granted when, every day in the US anyway, most of the air is fine. And what it means to breathe and how it just, it made me think about all the layers of breath and air and when it's clean, when it's safe, how much we need it, how much it just aligns with do we feel safe or not?
Do we feel calm or not? It opened up a Pandora's box. Yeah. And it's given me a new sense of gratitude for what that is. But it's also made me more afraid as well for how quickly our clean air can go away. It's not a gradual oh, the pollution's crept up. It's no, in an instant it can be a bad idea.
Yeah definitely. And the connection piece too, there, right? Thinking about just like when breathing together, right? Breathing in a group, breathing in space, you like, you start to understand that interconnection that exists of yes, okay, it was in la, or I'm not in that zone, but this is affecting me too.
And like how we're living is affecting, we are a part of that ecosystem. It's, so it's, yeah. I know we had the same thing with the Canadian wildfires last summer. So I remember I moved back from Colorado and I was like, oh, I'm free from wildfires. Like very naively. And then I was like, no, Sarah.
That's not how that works. You know that. So
I think sometimes being an entrepreneur is in conflict to being mindful and. I coach a lot around bridging that gap. But how do you balance being mindful and doing the work that you tell people to do and also knowing that sometimes there are sprints, there are pushes. I. It can't be the zen vibe all the time. That feels really good because that's not the current structure of business.
No. No, it's not. And if we look at our breath and our bodies, it, we're not ever full. It's like we wanna be in that homeostasis or that allostasis.
But it's always we're ebb and flowing, right? And moving from, I think for me, actually, it's funny, today I posted on LinkedIn about have I been healing from perfectionism? Is that rooted in perfectionism and the fixing energy or is it from this place of love? And that to me, isn't.
Question to answer your question of, yeah, it's very easy to, it goes between the two for me in a given day, but then that's when I start to feel that breath starts to creep up the body. I start, you talk about like that throat chakra for me. Yeah. It's a big like constriction there and it's learning how when in that sprint, like you said how you can trust and know you have the stamina, which especially as someone who's lived with.
This long covid now for a while of trusting that I can get through it and I won't crash, like showing my body that I'm actually indeed safe. It's a practice, right? I think that's the biggest thing and I. Like, as you've talked about too, it's like the bridge of having compassion and like when we were talking about your mom, my mom will say the same thing of relax don't you do breath work?
And I'm like, we're fixing right now, mother. We're fixing like, this is let me vent. Let's emotionally at tune here. And it's I think it's like having that talk, that self-talk of this is. This is the day, right? Maybe it's not necessarily what I want, or maybe I really feel like just breathing, being outside, doing a breath walk.
But how the gratitude, how fortunate and lucky am I that I get to do this and be building a business around for me for breath. That's what I returned to because I think about, over the past four years, that journey and how there were days that I didn't think that I could even. Look at this screen for 30 days.
30 minutes. And I couldn't where I get a migraine. And now I can be doing this and not be fatigued. That tonight I can go out with friends. So it's that beautiful gift of, how lucky am I and able to do this versus Oh, I have to. And then knowing too, it's some days you're just gonna be actually kj, I remember she told me this she had a beautiful thing.
She was like, I have a cloudy day folder. In my inbox and I fill it with all beautiful notes, different things that bring me joy, bring me light. And when I'm having a cloudy day, I go and reference it. And I love that framing. 'cause I like, I have a bulletin board where I put thank you notes or different thing, quotes, pictures that inspire me.
And whenever I'm having that sprint or that cloudy day and it's feeling a little heavy and I go check those out, I'm like, okay, I got this. How lucky am I?
Yeah the gratitude component really changes perspective on everything. People will ask me like, what are the common things I'm working with clients on?
And it's like giving people permission. And then reframing. Those are probably the two things. 'cause underneath that is everything else, the structures, the boundaries of communication. But we. Tend to not just close our breath, but close all of our perspective in, and suddenly we're like, oh, there's only two choices.
And I'm like, no, there's not like it. We can really have whatever we want. And I learned the. Coolest thing from a friend two nights ago we were talking, the word abracadabra?
And like for I, if you translate it into English, it means I speak, so therefore it is. And it's in, it's a great reminder that we are creating our world with our words and we can create whatever we want in that space.
But then also the word spelling. Like we think of spelling a word, but it's really tied to spell casting the same way Abracadabra is from a sense of. We're spelling and creating the words that create the world that we want to have, and I've been sitting on that for the past couple of days, just like we do, not just we do not pay attention to our breath, we do not pay attention to the words we use to correctly articulate what we want and what we're feeling and what we're going through.
How do you think being in the breath working space, how has it changed other parts of your life that you did not expect it to touch and change?
Before I answer, I have a question when you're talking. Yeah. What are some of the spells then? The words that you tell yourself to set the day, set the tone.
When we're talking about that sprint, the hustle. How do you reframe that in terms of that self-talk that. Yeah, I'm curious.
Yeah, it's a great question. So I do a couple of different things. Before I'm gonna go into a meeting a coaching session, a podcast like this, I will always take a few seconds at least to clear myself and to recreate who I'm going to be.
I love the word dazzling, so I'll be like, okay, I'll close my eyes, do a couple breaths and say. I'm going to be a great listener. I'm going to be curious and I'm going to be dazzling. And there's the clearing of it, separating whatever was dealing with before. Okay, we'll come back to that, but right now I'm gonna be present.
Now that helps me a lot. I. And then whenever I'm overwhelmed, like my whole life I've created, yeah. So if I'm stressed out, it's my own fault, but it's also means I like I've set the deadlines, I've decided, so if it's really not what I want, I can come back and change it. So what big reason why I have a coach is to keep coming back to is this schedule I'm making are these things I'm saying yes to, are the things I'm creating actually in alignment with what I want.
I believe so much that our businesses, they were able to double revenue quickly when we are in alignment with what we're sh we should be doing. And so I'm constantly coming back to that and adjusting it. On the, you mentioned the perfectionism side and something that I. If it is in my calendar, it's going to happen.
If it's not in my calendar, it's not going to happen. But the next level I've been, so I have really good integrity with my calendar and what's on my schedule. Yeah. But the new level I'm playing with now is just because it's on my calendar, doesn't mean I have to do it. Ooh. And this breakthrough of do I wanna cancel something?
Should I reschedule something? Should I delete it? That's been really interesting to play with because. Just 'cause I had yes to it a month ago, three months ago yesterday, may not mean that it's what I'm supposed to do today. Yeah. And that's been a funny thing to process because my schedule impacts the rest, all everyone else in the companies.
So that's been interesting. But it's, I'm reframing what do I have? So if I'm really freaking out. I sit and I go, do I have food? Do I have a house? Do I, am I okay right now? Like I have to really get hyperfocused on the bubble I'm in right now.
Totally.
Totally. That's my, so those are my three techniques.
I love that. I love that. Yeah. Reminding your nervous system that you're here, 2025, whatever, and noticing where you're jumping to. And I love the dazzle. That's really cool. The dazzle is beautiful. Yeah. Because it is, it's yeah. That beauty, right? That is there. I don't know. I, but I like that.
And it's fun. Like it's a little sparkly, so it doesn't have to be so serious yeah. What would a dazzle breath be? Oh, a hybrid between like a, it's a little powerful and it might have a little hissing sound to it, maybe. Ooh, okay. Little snake sound. I don't know. When I also hear I can hear what a dazzle breath would be, and it sounds a little bit breathing with like chimes or something like, which I can't necessarily create myself, but when I think about a dazzling breath, it's there's some, yeah. Some we're both making, for those of you who aren't watching us, we're making like wave sparkle motions with our hands. I see.
Like a, like a wind chime almost, and then there's like the light hitting it, and then it, how there's like the fractures of the light Exactly.
Kind of coming out.
Love that. It could be off of an ocean if you wanted to with waves and spray, and there's, but there is, there's a light component to it, the actual refraction sparkle.
I love to think about that of if there's certain things we love.
Like what, how you could match your breath with it. Because it's just, especially with kiddos, like they have the best time and then you're like, they get it. They're on a different wavelength. So it's pretty cool. But okay, to go back to your question, I was like, to answer like how has breath work?
Being a breath coach, breath facilitator impacted my life. Outside of that. It's just a perspective, like it's a lens. I really feel and not in a serious, like profound way. That definitely happens, which is cool, but it's just like this sense of playfulness.
That I forgot that I had access to, after just years of. Like kind of making myself small, not expressing as much in really subtle ways that then became who I was. And the breath is a reminder to express, to get big. Have that expansion that you have in that inhale, but also allow for that fluidity and knowing that it keeps moving forward. But it doesn't have to be this like.
For momentum of with stiffness and the Sternum Mall, tight and everything. Like how can you have some fluidity to it? Because like you talked about space and I'm trying to remember who it was. I think I. I'm in this thing called the Breath School right now with our Breath Collective over in California.
And one of the teachers was talking about how the diaphragm is like the muscle space, right? And I loved that 'cause I was like, yeah, I mean like that. And it's the primary, breathing muscle, how space is. That's it. 'cause when you have that moment of space, both in the body and in the mind, you just can take in new things and enjoy more of that curiosity and that inquisitiveness. Or inquisitively, whatever yeah.
But it also makes me think of the balancing that masculine and feminine energy too, because there's so many women who I speak to who are like, I'm not powerful. I'm like you were born powerful. And to me. Different breath work techniques show you how you can use that power how you want.
Do you wanna use it to blow out a fire or blow out candles, or do you wanna use it to push a paper boat across a lake? Like it's a different, it's the same source. It's the same in intentionality, but like we can control, like we can control so much of it.
So I think it's a nice reminder of how you are, and plus also just the process of getting so warm. With some breath techniques. Yeah. Like you're like, wait, oh super. Like I am generating this with I don't need a battery or solar power or this is just me breathing, doing this. I haven't even gone for move the rest of my body to start generating this, I think is really powerful too.
Totally. Totally. And just, I mean depending, breath work can mean a lot of different things to different people. I think that's the biggest thing. People are like, what technique do you teach? And I'm like, yeah. To me it's about, breath is like a principle. Breath. Like I say, live the breath. It's like figuring out just what your breath is, what you like, and knowing that's gonna shift 'cause. We all live in different seasons. Like I think back with with the extended exhale. Now I like it, but I'm like, Ooh, I'm craving a little bit more of those inhale holds and I wanna just sit in them and stew and just like how that body, then it's oh, we need some CO2, like CO2, right?
And then your body starts to do the magic and that CO2 signaling that it wants that air, but then you can use the mind to push through that air hunger. It's fun. But then there are some days where I'm like, I just wanna chill. Like you said, watch that boat over the water. And getting curious about what you like in breathing, right?
Like what are the styles you're. You're interested in and you're drawn to and being curious about huh, why that feels really good to me. And then what are these ones that I keep avoiding? How can I play with discomfort? And keep exploring what that means with me in a space that feels like a little bit, maybe you don't wanna go and take that next step of speaking out at work, but like playing with that breath hold.
Maybe that's a way to start to then bring that practice where in your job and your company you're like. I gotta do some outreach and I could get rejected by 50 people or not hear from 'em. But let me play with that, that feeling feels like in this breathwork technique so that when I go out there, I. It's not, my body's not woo.
High alert.
And I think also we so often think about power being away from us, like pushing away. And I think also the breath or mind is that we also pull things in. Like we can use both the inward magnet of our power or we can use the outward force of our power and. It is, it's so different if you're holding an exhale versus holding an inhale.
Just that difference is oh, wait, like it's almost like when you do weight training and you do it isometrically, like one side versus independent on the other. You're like, oh, my left arm can do this. My right arm is really struggling. It's just the. How comfortable are we holding in versus holding out I think is also a whole Yeah.
Like empty versus psychology degree.
Yes. Yeah. You're like I really don't like taking up space that inhale hold. No, thank you. But I'll hang out and exhale. Hold any time, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's kind, it's very interesting. It is. Yeah. Definitely. Do you have a preference?
Inhale. I'm better at an inhale.
Yeah. Yep. I'm an exhale for me. I love it. Yeah.
And I catch myself judging so hard on myself. 'cause I can inhale for a very long time. Oh, I wish. But it's hard for me to exhale for a very long time.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, then I get into this whole thing of Ooh, it should be balanced, and I need to work on that. I'm like, no, don't.
And then you're like, hello, perfectionism allow you. I just, I wanna breathe. Just keep breathing. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny.
Yeah, I get that. For someone who has not explored breath work and is really intrigued about what we're talking about, but they're wondering like, where do we start?
What can we do? What are things we should be Googling and finding? How would you tell someone to start and then to expand? Oof.
I would say grab it depends on how you like to learn is always my number one. So really think about that with the breath. I believe it's, you gotta practice it, right?
And it's, and make sure there's a play element involved with that. If there's a have to or should in front of it, it's probably not gonna be the best experience, just notice that. But yeah, I love, so how I started again, like I said, I found a couple books like Breath by James Nestor's.
Great. But also YouTube, you can go on there. There's some great ones that really focus on more of the slow breath, more of an entry into the breath awareness. Dr. Ariel Schwartz is a really good resource. Jill Miller's great as well. Those are two people I've really learned a lot from and I think that are great for, especially for.
Learning how to do it in a way that feels more approachable, more accessible. And then the other thing, like I was mentioning before is start with your environment. So pick either a, an activity, a habit, or a thing that you like to have around the house or at work. So for me, I love tea. I'm a big tea person.
And so a big time for me when I remember to breathe is when my tea is steeping. And so I know that like I'll be going, and now after doing this for some years, like when Im IT is steeping, that's when I'm breathing. I'm practicing, I'm playing with it. You can breathe on the tea. You can, yeah. Whatever comes to you.
But having something that's an anchor, if you will. That's a fun way to get started and just see even bringing awareness to the breath. Getting curious about what's my relationship of awareness of this breath versus control because. Could be a little telling about what you're, where you lean, because I know for me, I'm like, awareness.
Oh, I don't need that. I'm just gonna control my breath. And then I'm like, Ooh, that's a year. Hello. So yeah, again, and another thing I would just say is I did this a lot last year, was drawing my breath. So if you're more into like the arts and into kind of doodling and you're not like necessarily a writer, like I love to write, but sometimes you're just like, I wanna use another part of my brain.
Doodle it. Like especially before something big or a meeting or hard conversation doodle and see how that breath is. Move through it. Look at your breath again. Or practice that slowing down of that exhale and see what happens.
I love that idea. Yeah. So for who is a dream client for you? Who are you looking for? Who would you love to help? A recovering athlete.
Yeah. Guilty. Yeah. Yes. And raises yeah, I really, I think for. My ideal is someone who really has defined themselves because I've been there by their success, by external validation by the number of metals, how fast they're going, and just are curious, like what would it look like to release that grip a little bit?
How do I wanna define what is enough in life? How do I wanna define what success is? And that may seem a little bit. Out there from the breath. But what you start to realize is you start to breathe what your tendencies are in your breath, in your mechanisms, in your body, very much are related to how you're moving and going.
Because I do look back on my journey. I. And I just see the role burnout played in Yep. In my chronic illness pain. And I like if there's someone that I could help get to before that happens we all need those moments. And it's not about saving, but it's just about bringing a little bit of awareness so you don't have to go all the way down into into that space.
No. Yeah it's interesting to think about burnout as a teacher a little bit versus something to have to avoid and be afraid of. I also think we use that word a lot. Yeah. And I don't know if it's because we are just experiencing burnout at that extreme level. But I, going back to the words part, I Brene Brown wrote Atlas of the Heart.
I love that book. And I listened to it on audible, but I bought a hard copy because I'm like, this book has so many great definitions Yes. Of how to use these words to effectively communicate what we really wanna talk about. And there's. I feel like there are correlations between the words we use and the intentionality with our breath and oh yeah.
The burnout word gets used so much and I'm like, but is it burnout? Is it something else? Because we can't, I don't know if we can always solve it if we don't have the right terminology. Yeah, totally. Because I'm sure you would give,
go ahead. I was just gonna say, I think too, would it beyond the words too, right?
Like using that and then being like, what? Talking about it through feeling sensation thought. And letting it not have to always, like the words are to get you there and then being like, oh, I don't have a word for this. But I don't know, I don't want that feeling inside me anymore where it's time to break free of that constriction right there in my chest, but I agree. 'cause I think this idea of. I think a lot about with narcissism too, and just thinking about what is it we're trying to get at and can we slow down enough, whatever that means, but slow down pause to be like, what is it that I'm not liking? What is it that I'm feeling that overwhelm and I.
Like when we think about this term burnout, where is that coming from? And like the more that I've studied the nervous system and just learned about being in this heightened state of the on, on, on all the time, it's super powerful, right? Like you can get a lot done. There are many entrepreneurs that are rocking that sympathetic suit.
I go into that state, too many, it's a lot, but it's like loving that state too, of I see you. If I didn't have that sympathetic piece, I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did in my sports. But like knowing now, like maybe that's not what I need to live. What can be my new word, right?
What can be my new spell?
And there's so many different, just like we have differences in. How loud we like the volume of something. Yeah. I think there's also the same of what balance we appreciate between the different states. There's even, yeah. It's been interesting to see some high powered entrepreneurs feeling guilty about how much they love doing what they're doing and how fast they're moving.
And I'm like, if you're, if you feel good, if you feel great, you don't need to slow down necessarily.
Totally. We're, I think just giving everyone room to know that all things are a spectrum. So like where are you fitting and what does that flow look like? For me personally, I, I. I can do sprints, but I don't, I can't live in sprint mode all the time, so to know and to plan. Okay, like February's gonna be crazy. We've got a lot of launches happening in March. There's gonna be a lot of, working more hours than normal. I can prepare for it and clear everything else out. Yeah, definitely. But I also know okay, and then come March 1st, what am I doing to make sure that I'm getting the balance back that I need?
Yeah. Otherwise we'll just keep going.
Yeah. And like I, that's a really good point too, because I think there's a lot of the critical or this, like you continue to bring this sense of striving Yeah. To regulation of your nervous system or whatever it is, and it's take that out.
Like it, it's a cool tool. It's like any tool, right? You wanna have a large array or a large garden full of different, of those healing plants, those healing tools. And also we're human. We wanna move, we wanna be dynamic. That's what the breath is always doing. And it's if we get, no matter where it is, if we get stuck in that inhale, stuck in that exhale, anywhere in between, like we, you wanna flow, it's that cyclical.
It's the. The movement forward. And I think that is like a big teacher because it's so easy. Even too, like when I'm talking, I can easily be like, oh, we just wanna slow down. My company's called Slow Breath Works, right? Yeah. And again, that is a big tenet for me, right? Like I do truly believe there's beauty in the slowness and.
How do we get away from this good, bad narrative? The binary thinking? Yes. Take, just embracing the all right? The both and knowing that there isn't necessarily the answer, the one, it's it's the process of just being curious, inquisitive.
Yeah, a sloth and a hummingbird are both extraordinary yeah. Totally. And what
does it look like to move from both? And what, like, how, what can you learn about yourself through that process of wearing that sloth suit versus putting on the hummingbird wings and, like in loving that, embracing that. Again, the seasons, like I talk about the seasons of breath a lot, like right now we're in that exhale hole. And just thinking about what do I like about it? What don't I like about it? Isn't that interesting? What that brings up? Who, what memories, what smells like, playing with it and being like, next, exhale, hold season, it's gonna be. Completely different or and I'm gonna breathe this different ways and it's gonna have a different impact on the system. And just that ability to hold the bull hand I think is really cool.
So we have a couple of rapid fire questions as we wrap up today. The first is, where do you put yourself? I.
Where do you put yourself on the powerful lady scale? If zero is average everyday human, and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you rank yourself today and on an average day?
Ooh. Today I'm feeling a solid 8.5 and I would say every day seven. Yeah.
Okay. Great. What is something that is on your wishlist or to-do list that we can put out to this powerful community that we have?
On my wishlist, I am going to be launching come the season of the inhale, so that's spring. Oh, so the spring equinox. A beautiful love your breath zones virtual workshop. So love for people to join.
Very exciting.
Or series. Yeah.
When you are not teaching, guiding coaching, reading, researching all things, breath work, what else are, how else are you spending your day?
Walking my little ewok pup which looks like an ewok. Makes noises like that. And I am a big I love college basketball, Kentucky basketball. And I love to make ice cream.
Ooh, okay.
Yeah. Any flavors? I love to play chopped ice cream. So what's that if you know the show Chopped where you have some different so you have four ingredients and a picnic Bassett, and you open it up and you have anything from like wasabi to like Cheetos, vanilla, and maybe some sprinkles, and you'd have to figure out what to make with that.
It's like that, but with ice cream. So you always have the components. And so I enjoy to do that, but in general, I would say anything with a good nut butter. So that always makes the consistency really nice, which is always good.
Yeah, you it's a lot. I think about my palate when I think just wasabi, Cheetos, sprinkles.
And what was the fourth thing? What was the thing that I said? Wasabi sprinkles.
What was the other one? I was so in the present. Cheetos.
Cheetos. Yeah. What? Whatever list you made. I was like all that. I would put all of that in ice cream and not think twice about it. Yep. Together though, would you? Yes. Like I, I really, I like combining all the I like the that's why Wasabi is the spice. Yeah. I could totally, yeah. I like spice. I like spice and sweet together. I like a lot. Yeah. Spice, sweet, salty together even better.
The best I think I've made that I really liked that was fun was a sour patch.
So I used that as like this. Syrup. And then I added in and then we did those like crisp, they're like these STE crisp tortilla chips so they're super salty. And then you had the sweet and then we did the color. It was like this green broccoli, like it was like the bro broccoli, this be steamed broccoli.
And then you put in how you can have broccoli tea. It was like that. So it was those three things together and it was really strange, but. It was because of the salt and the sweet kind of masked the broccoli. But I highly recommend it. It's a very weird experiment. Otherwise, stick with the lovely basics of anything from Nutella to, but
yeah, for everybody who would love to work with you, hire you, bring you into their companies, where can they find, follow and support you? Yes.
First place would be the website, slow Breathwork, so SLO without the W. And then I'm also on Instagram and on LinkedIn and highly recommend to sign up for my newsletter.
I love to write, and that's my favorite way to communicate, and always includes different breath breaks and techniques to try. So you can start breathing.
Amazing. I am so thankful that you are doing this work and that we now have someone to call on as our breath work experts. Yeah. I'm already percolating with some fun ideas to collaborate and do bring some other things, this community with you, which we can talk about later, but just thank you for being a yes.
Thank you for Yes, thank you. Finding time for us this Friday and for doing the work that you're doing. We need more people to be. Tuned in to all of your knowledge and wisdom for both themselves, but I think the plan at a bigger level too. So thank you so much.
Thank you. I really appreciate it. This has been lots of fun.
I've learned a lot too. And now I know the dazzle breath. Stay tuned.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with a friend. Head to the powerful ladies.com. We can find all the links that connect with Sarah and slow breathworks, as well as learn more about powerful ladies. Come hang out with us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and you can find me and all my socials@karaduffy.com.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Website: slobreathworks.com
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Email: sarah@slobreathworks.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
