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Stimulating Breath Work Session with Chauna Bryant
1.2k Plays19 days ago
Chauna is a Breathwork facilitator, and founder of Breath Liberation Society, a radically inclusive training and community dedicated to transformation through the breath. With nearly two decades of experience, she blends movement, meditation, and energy work to help clients reconnect to their bodies, deepen intuition, and step into their personal power.
Breathing exercises can help stimulate the vagus nerve. We invite you to try this breathing session if you're looking to increase your energy and improve vagal tone.
As this is a stimulating breath work session, please find a sturdy place to sit or lie down before practicing.
This practice involves experimentation with an activating breath called the Conscious Connected Breath (CCB) — an open-mouth inhale into the body followed by an effortless exhale, with no pause between the two.
Even in short bursts, this breath can stir up emotions and produce psychedelic-like effects, including physical sensations like tightness or tingling. Because of this, do not practice the CCB while driving or doing anything that requires your full attention.
If at any point you feel uncomfortable, switch to a slow inhale through the nose and an even slower exhale. Give yourself permission to pause and return to the practice when you feel ready.
To learn more about the vagus nerve, head to our website. If you're interested in enrolling in a course on Vagus Nerve Stimulation, click here.
CONNECT WITH PVI:
@PolyvagalInstitute
polyvagal.org
CONNECT WITH CHAUNA BRYANT:
chaunabryant.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Today's episode of Wired for Connection features a stimulating breathwork session with Shauna Bryant. Shauna is a breathwork facilitator and founder of the Breath Liberation Society, a radically inclusive training community dedicated to transformation through the breath.
00:00:20
Speaker
With nearly two decades of experience, she blends movement, meditation, and energy work to help clients reconnect to their bodies, deepen intuition, and step into their personal power.
00:00:32
Speaker
Shawna has represented BLS at conferences and trainings across the
Trauma-Informed Breathwork in Traditional Spaces
00:00:37
Speaker
U.S. and U.K., most recently serving as facilitator-in-residence at Sounds True and presenting at the Polyvagal Institute's international gathering.
00:00:46
Speaker
Through these platforms, she brought trauma-informed, inclusive breathwork to stages that have historically centered more traditional voices.
Understanding Conscious Connected Breath (CCB)
00:00:56
Speaker
Before we get to the breathwork, this practice involves experimentation with an activating breath called the conscious connected breath or CCB, an open mouth inhale into the body, followed by an effortless exhale with no pause between the two.
00:01:11
Speaker
Even in short bursts, this breath can stir up emotions and produce psychedelic-like effects, including physical sensations like tightness or tingling. Because of this, do not practice the CCB while driving or doing anything that requires your full attention.
00:01:26
Speaker
Find a seated or lying down position where your body is fully supported before you begin. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, switch to a slow inhale through the nose and an even slower exhale.
00:01:39
Speaker
Give yourself permission to pause and return to the practice when you feel ready. Here's Shauna. All right, friends, welcome,
Accessible Breathwork Practices and Overcoming Overwhelm
00:01:47
Speaker
welcome. My name is Shauna, as has already been said, and I'm so excited to walk you through a breathing practice that I use with quite a few of my clients and also a breathing practice that I teach to my students.
00:01:58
Speaker
This practice is an excellent way to bring breath work within reach of people with most lived experiences. But what I will warn you in advance to say is that if you ever reach a moment where the breath feels a little bit like it's overwhelming or like it feels like it's too much too soon, i invite you to ease completely out of the breath. You're going to open your eyes if they're closed. You're going to give your body a little shake, maybe even some hands on body, certainly switching to nose breathing versus mouth breathing.
00:02:27
Speaker
That's what I'm going to recommend you do. And you don't need my permission. know that the second you choose yourself, I'm going to be cheering you on right away.
Benefits of Stimulating Breath
00:02:37
Speaker
With that, I want to invite you to try a more stimulating breath. And breath work has so many different applications. There are breaths that help us be more calm or regulated. There are breaths that can be more stimulating. And I'm going to show you a stimulating breath today because I think that it's one of the better ways, like I said, to bring breath work within reach. But also when we practice stimulating breaths, we are...
00:03:04
Speaker
giving our bodies permission to get a little curious, to try to be in a more excited space with control and by choice.
Breathing Techniques and Energy Focus
00:03:14
Speaker
So I want to invite you to try something called the conscious connected breath and we'll practice it a few times and then I'll explain the practice when we get into it. But we're just gonna start by taking some breaths into our whole body. And I'm gonna bring my hands to my belly because it feels good to for me to breathe that way. If it does for you too, then go ahead and try it. If not, don't worry about it. You can stay right where you are. But we're going to breathe into the nose and let your belly get nice and big.
00:03:41
Speaker
And then exhale all the air out. So take a big breath into the nose.
00:03:50
Speaker
and exhale all of the air out. And notice that my breath might be faster or slower than yours, certainly because I'm talking. So if yours is a little faster or slower, that's fine, just take your time. But we'll take a couple more breaths in like this, just letting our belly push into the hands if you're using them. Imagine that the low back is opening, maybe the rib cage gets a little bit wider, and then we release all of the air.
00:04:14
Speaker
So that's the soothing breath that we're going to practice. The conscious connected breath is more stimulating, more energizing. So instead of breathing into the nose, we're gonna breathe into the mouth. So just let your mouth open and then breathe air through the mouth into the whole body.
00:04:31
Speaker
And then at the end of that inhale, we're gonna exhale out of the mouth.
00:04:38
Speaker
Again, into the whole body. Let your rib cage fill. Notice how Different the breath can feel just when we make that tiny change between the nose and the mouth. Big breath in And all the air out.
00:04:57
Speaker
So the conscious connected breath involves breathing into the mouth and we do that with a shorter exhale than normal. So the breath that we just practice is a big breath in and then a nice long breath out. But instead of that, we're going to take a slightly shorter breath. So we'll breathe into the body and you can do it with me.
00:05:17
Speaker
And then we treat the exhale almost like it's just a forgettable thing. You just let it go. Yeah. Take another breath in.
00:05:27
Speaker
And then easy breath out.
00:05:31
Speaker
And that's how we'll practice the conscious connected breath. And as we go through our building of the breath, I'll invite you to add to that, but know that at its root, that's all. We're taking a big breath into the mouth. We're taking a really easy exhale out. and we'll see how we feel.
Active Breathing Practice and Emotional Awareness
00:05:49
Speaker
So the way this is going to work is we're going to do some deep breaths into the body, followed by deep breaths out of the body. And then we'll try that stimulating breath for about one and a half minutes.
00:06:02
Speaker
And we'll go back to the nice slow breaths, and then we'll take a moment to notice how we feel. And since you and I aren't together, I'm going to invite you to grab a notepad or something like that, or even just if there's a way for you to find some internal reflection, it might be nice in between our breath practices to just notice what you feel and how you feel and also to make the decision each time to continue. And know that again, if you get to a spot where you're like too much too soon, or this is probably enough for today, please know that I am celebrating you. I'm cheering you on from right here.
00:06:34
Speaker
So let's go ahead and get started on our first round of breath. So we'll start with that slow breath into the nose, filling up the body.
00:06:44
Speaker
And then we'll do a slow breath out of the nose. And remember, my breath might be longer or shorter than yours, and I'm just grabbing my timer. If you see me looking down, know that's why. so we're breathing in and out, taking those slow breaths in.
00:06:58
Speaker
And we want to take these slow breaths in to start our stimulating breath and to cap it. Because we're reminding our body that this stimulating breath isn't forever. We're reminding our body that we are capable of going back in to those more soothing, more calming breaths. So know that that's kind of the method behind this practice. Take another deep breath slowly into your nose.
00:07:23
Speaker
And then and slowly out of the body. And notice if you're squeezing any of your muscles, what you feel. If you can just relax those muscles just a tiny bit, like 10% more. And then we're going to open the mouth. And we'll start to take our breath into the body with an exhale.
00:07:40
Speaker
Big breath in with a short exhale. Big breath in short exhale. And we're going to try that for like a minute and a half. letting the breath go in, short exhale out.
00:07:56
Speaker
And notice that breathing through the mouth can feel a little more energizing. It can feel more stimulating. Maybe the mouth might feel a little dry at first. It will re-lubricate, but if you get uncomfortable, you can always just pause and give the lips a nice little lick and keep going.
00:08:13
Speaker
But we'll keep that breath opening into the body. Gentle breath out. Big breath in Gentle breath out. Keep that going. You're doing great.
00:08:26
Speaker
ah Oftentimes the question is how fast or slow should be we be going with this breath? I recommend, especially if you're like me and you have a busybot busy brain, i recommend that you take just a go slightly faster than what feels like a normal walk down the street. Just slightly more engaging. And we have about 20 seconds left. So let's see if we can get the breath even bigger. Letting the rib cage expand, letting all of the air in.
00:08:53
Speaker
and we'll do 10 more seconds.
00:09:04
Speaker
And then slowly start to take some breaths into the nose.
00:09:10
Speaker
And slowly breaths out of the nose or the mouth, whichever feels better. Slow breath into the nose.
00:09:20
Speaker
And slow breaths out of the nose. So take a moment to notice how you feel or what you feel. You might notice that your heart rate's a little bit lifted. You might notice that maybe you're feeling a tingliness in the body or even a tightness in the body. All of that is completely normal. It's completely natural. But remember, it's also optional. So you're still participating in as much or as little as you want with this breath.
00:09:46
Speaker
can pause the recording or we're going to go into our second set where we're going to do the breath for about three minutes so we'll start again with those slow breaths into the nose followed by slow breaths out of the nose Couple more times.
00:10:04
Speaker
And as you're doing those slow breaths in followed by slow breaths out, I want you to remember that a lot of times this breath can build. That is why it's called the build the breath method.
00:10:15
Speaker
So it might feel like we're picking up right where we left off and that's okay. But with that might come some emotion. Maybe you might feel a little bit teary eyed even some rage or grief boiling up. And all of those are normal emotions. All of these are welcome in this space. Just be really kind to yourself. as you're doing the breath all right let's go into our second round of this breath we're gonna try three minutes so we're breathing into the body with an open mouth and an exhale out into the mouth with
00:10:47
Speaker
and an exhale into the mouth with an exhale into the mouth with an exhale and as you're breathing notice that there are sometimes little pauses in between the inhale and exhale And if you're up for the challenge, I'm going to invite you to start to take those little breaks out of the breath. Imagine that you're just combining the breath. I like to imagine a swing sometimes. if We're swinging on a, you're going back and forth. There are no pauses at the top, no pauses in the back. but we're breathing in out and out letting the breath hold hands letting the inhale lead to the exhale and the exhale lead to the inhale and we'll keep that breath going letting the ribcage open letting the breath expand breath in big breath and out breath in and out remember that this can feel really energizing it can feel a little intense So wherever you're landing on that level of experience, that's okay.
00:11:55
Speaker
We're going just keep doing what we can. You can take breaks if you need to. But if you're going all in, I'm going to invite you to not only get the breath a little bit bigger, but maybe even increase your speed. So just go a tiny bit faster. And let some curiosity boil up. Like, what happens if I try this? What happens if I do it? What do I feel in my body?
00:12:15
Speaker
This is such a dance of our energy and our breath and really inviting our bodies to see what's possible. to stretch our edges to notice how we feel what we feel and to do it all with the control to do it all within our own permission with all within our own ability to be present and again ease in and out as needed but we've just got another 60 seconds so we're going to keep that breath going a big into the body Easy exhale.
00:12:47
Speaker
Big into the body. Easy exhale.
Concluding the Breathwork Session
00:12:51
Speaker
Big into the body. Easy exhale. We are going slightly faster than a casual walk down the street.
00:12:59
Speaker
That's the point, but it's also by choice, so keep your breath going. might even feel nice to soften your face. It might even feel nice to give the shoulders a little wiggle, but we'll just take a couple more breaths in.
00:13:23
Speaker
And then from there, we're gonna take slow breaths into the nose,
00:13:29
Speaker
followed by slow breaths out of the nose.
00:13:35
Speaker
Slow breaths into the nose,
00:13:40
Speaker
followed by slow breaths out of the nose.
00:13:45
Speaker
And maybe you might be feeling a little tingliness or even seeing colors or anything like that. Some somatic touch is often nice.
00:13:56
Speaker
So just some gentle wrist rubs if that feels good. little circle on the wrist. Another one of my favorites would be like a butterfly tap. So opposite hand to opposite shoulder, tapping back and forth.
00:14:10
Speaker
And once again, notice what you feel and how you feel. Notice your body. Notice your shoulders. Notice your feet, either physically or energetically.
00:14:22
Speaker
And you can always take a break before we go into our third round.
00:14:30
Speaker
Okay, friends, let's go into our third round of the breath. We're going to practice about three and a half minutes of the active breath, and we'll start it off just the same.
00:14:41
Speaker
And this time I'm really going to invite you to lean into the practice. So notice just like what you're feeling, how you're feeling, and give yourself permission to feel it all. So let's just start to take some slow breaths into the nose.
00:14:55
Speaker
And we'll take slow breaths out of the nose or the mouth.
00:15:01
Speaker
Taking those slow breaths and once again, giving the body a little check-in. Noticing what you feel or how you feel. Notice if there are any muscles that you're squeezing. Notice if there's any part of your body that you can either energetically or physically just relax just a little bit.
00:15:21
Speaker
Maybe that means your hip bones get a little heavier. Maybe it means your shoulders soften out of your ears, but just find that. And then we're going to go in to our conscious connected breath for the last time. Three and a half minutes are longest of the day. So we'll take breaths into the mouth.
00:15:39
Speaker
Easy exhale, right back into the breath. easy exhale back into the breath easy exhale and remember we started in the last round connecting our breath so i almost want to think about like the breath being a glass of water and rather than going all the way to a full glass we're gonna go just short of that and then flush it out big breath in exhale out so we're not going all the way to full we're not going all the way to empty and we're just letting the breath hold hands letting going back to that swing analogy
00:16:22
Speaker
remembering that the breath can build on itself. So notice if you feel like you've been doing a lot of breath work, even though we've done these short bits, let that be okay as well. If you want to let the eyes get a little heavier, maybe you find a downward gaze, or maybe even you want to close your eyes, that's up to you. We'll just keep the breath going in and out.
00:16:47
Speaker
opening the body, opening the rib cage, sending the air deep into the hips, down the knees, down the shins, into the toes, allowing for the air to go up the legs, up the spine, out the shoulders, top of the head. Imagine that as you're breathing, your body, your energetic body is just expanding with light, expanding with breath,
00:17:11
Speaker
And you can also think about all of the different things that are being stimulated and invited to participate in this very alive life that you're enjoying.
00:17:23
Speaker
Breath in out. Breath in out. Breath in and out And remember that if you do hit a spot where it feels like too much or too soon, i invite you to just ease out of the breath. You'll do that by taking breaths into the nose rather than the mouth.
00:17:43
Speaker
And then if when you feel ready, you can join back in the practice. That's fully up to you. So we're just going into the breath for our last half of our breath here, letting the shoulders relax, but letting the belly get big. letting the tailbone feel heavy, but letting the rib cage expand. All of the air goes in, all of the air goes out.
00:18:05
Speaker
And we're breathing into the body. Just another minute here.
00:18:17
Speaker
Breathing in and out.
00:18:23
Speaker
And I'll be silent for the last 30 seconds as we do it together. Just let the breath go in and out.
00:18:32
Speaker
Notice where the body feels what it feels.
00:18:56
Speaker
Almost there.
00:19:07
Speaker
And we'll take our last six or so big breaths. See if you can take in just 10% more air.
00:19:16
Speaker
Letting the air go, 10% air. And then we're going to take a big breath in and hold at the top.
00:19:29
Speaker
Holding at the top until you feel like you would like to release and then we'll slowly blow all of the air out.
00:19:45
Speaker
And from there we will slowly take a breath in
00:19:52
Speaker
And slowly and exhale out.
00:20:00
Speaker
And it might again feel good to give the body a little shake, maybe shaking out the hands, maybe the shoulders. Anything that feels good to you, you can do that.
00:20:14
Speaker
Notice that this is an exploration of a more expanded or almost an altered state. So if you are feeling a little bit woozy, that's okay. Just let yourself sit or stay laying down wherever you are for the next 20 or so seconds. That will fade.
00:20:33
Speaker
Have lots of water and write things down that you may have thought of or realized during the practice The best way to know the difference between what is an action point, what is a realization versus what is like a breathwork dream is a little bit of time. So I recognize that you recommend that you give yourself a day or so um before acting on anything that that you've that you've realized or that you know.
00:21:01
Speaker
And other than that, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share breathwork with you.
Episode Conclusion and Further Learning
00:21:07
Speaker
I can't wait to hear how you experienced this practice. And I'd love for you to connect with me and let me know if you have questions about breathwork whatever want to talk about bringinging bringing it into more of a personal practice. I'm happy to chat with you about that as well.
00:21:25
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of Wired for Connection, a Polyvagal podcast. This show is produced by the Polyvagal Institute, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a safer and more connected world.
00:21:38
Speaker
Polyvagal Institute provides education, resources, and community to those interested in learning more about polyvagal theory and applying polyvagal principles in personal and professional contexts.
00:21:50
Speaker
To learn more about Polyvagal Theory and other offerings, visit us at polyvagal.org, where you can join our online community space and access our free learning library. You'll also find information about upcoming courses and community events.
00:22:05
Speaker
Connect with us on social media, on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.