Michelle Raines | Certified Breathwork Facilitator, Entrepreneur

Season 6 | Episode 13 My guest this week is Michelle Raines. She is a certified breathwork faciltator, entrepreneur, co-host of the Key Nutrition Podcast, wife, and mother of 2. We div Welcome to the platform podcast where we talk to coaches, athletes, experts, and real people to learn about their approaches to training, nutrition, mindset, and much more. I am your host, Jordan Kunde-Wright, founder and head coach of the Twin Cities Ketabel Club, and I'm on a mission to help others build sustainable, healthy lifestyles. Before we jump into the episode, I just want to remind you that registration is open for the second annual Twin Cities Ketabel Open on October 22, posted by our friends at the Athlete Lab here in Little Canada, Minnesota. Just like we did last year, we'll include an option for video submissions for participants who are unable to make the trip in person, and you'll be eligible for all of the same prizes as our in-person competitors. Just go to our website, Twin Cities Ketabel Club dot com for details. Now my guest this week is Michelle Raines. She is a certified breathwork facilitator, entrepreneur, co-host of the Key Nutrition Podcast, wife and mother of two. I was fortunate enough to be on the Key Nutrition Podcast with Brad and Michelle. And I had her brother Brad on earlier. You should listen to that episode. It's a really good story, but I connected with Michelle when I learned that she was going to be getting her breathwork certification, because I am very interested in breathwork. And as you guys probably know, breathing is incredibly important in Ketabel's fort. So it just seemed natural to me to have somebody come on that is a breathwork expert. And she really gets into how breathwork can be used to help you deal with personal trauma, get into your body, meditation. There are so many great benefits to breathwork, and Michelle really, really is a great resource on this topic and has used breathwork to really change her life and repair some past trauma that she's had in her life and deal with a lot of those issues. And I really found the conversation very enjoyable. And we do a guided breathwork towards the end of the episode. So I hope you guys give that a shot. I know for some of you, if you're like me, at one point in my life, I thought breathwork was pretty woo-woo. I thought meditation was woo-woo. I thought affirmations were kind of woo-woo, soft things. But with all of those things, they're all things now that I do. And they help me with stress management. They can help you in so many ways. So I would challenge you. If you think it's woo-woo, it might be something you need to try. Give it a shot, come to it with an open mind, and see what happens. Maybe you'll like it. And of course, if you find it useful, you can always reach out to Michelle for more work. She's at the breath within you on Instagram. And she was fantastic as a guest. So I really appreciated her coming on. So without further ado, let's step onto the platform with Michelle Raines. Welcome into this week's episode of the platform podcast. I am incredibly excited to have on my guest, Michelle Raines. She is a certified breathwork facilitator, entrepreneur, co-host of the Key Nutrition Podcast, wife, mother of two, woman of many facets, a beautiful diamond. So Michelle, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me, Jordan. I'm so excited. Yeah, I'm really excited too. So I've been on the Key Nutrition Podcast once, and I had your brother on my podcast, and he got to tell his story a little bit earlier, which is, of course, for people that haven't heard, that's a pretty inspiring and kind of crazy story. But I always like to ask guests about their origin story. So give me the Michelle Raines origin story. Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, so like you said, I'm a mom. I am a wife. I am a new, I would like to say entrepreneur, right? So I'm just jumping into this entrepreneurial journey. After COVID hit, like a lot of people kind of dissolved my job actually at Key Nutrition, which my brother owns, being that we just kind of went a different direction. So I, finding myself in a position where I had been in the fitness field since 2015. So from 2015 to 2020, that's kind of all I knew. 2017 Key Nutrition, we opened that, and I started to put everything into Key Nutrition to building this business, right? It was actually kind of funny that Brad and I, my brother, Brad, we decided to jump ship from a nutrition coaching company that was kind of falling apart due to, unfortunately, the owner had drug addiction demons of his own. And we clearly recognized them being that Brad has dealt with those demons. And I was the person witnessing. So I knew exactly what was going on. And we knew this company, unfortunately, was going downhill real quick. And at that time, I really was just, and I say just, but it was a really important job. I was the front desk person. And my paycheck stopped clearing. And so I had this leverage to be like, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm walking away. Brad had a full clientele clients. He couldn't just get up and walk away. Yeah. So I told him, hey, I'm out. I'm done. My paychecks aren't clearing. I can't do this. It's giving me horrible PTSD from when you use drugs. I've got to take myself out of the situation. So he said, well, what are you going to go back to? Now, Jordan, at this time in my life, I was a licensed cosmetologist, but had tried that on, precise, hated it. So I gave that up. So I said, I'm going to go back to bartending, bartending. Nice. Right? Because it's what I knew. It's something I knew I knew I was good at. And the reason I was so good at it is because I loved connection with people. I knew that. He said, no, you're not going back to bartending. You're better than that. You go start doing the legwork. Let's open our own thing. You go find the place, and we'll do this together. So that's what I did in 2017. And I became, I got myself this title of COO of Key Nutrition. And it was a really big title. Pretty much didn't know how to fill it. I literally started going to work every day, scrubbing floors, scrubbing out the fridge, taking out the garbage, because I had no clue what it meant to own a business, right? Well, very, very blessed, Brad Knight, the Key Nutrition name, the coaching, it grew really fast, really fast. So we started to hire nutrition coaches on, we became a team. We became a team really fast. And so I found myself really happy to step into this role of like a leader. And it was really a foreign concept to me. Because up until then, I don't feel like I had really led a group of people like I hadn't really been looked at as a leader. So I started to really, really struggle with this imposter syndrome. I was just going to say that imposter syndrome had to be super loud. Oh, loud, so loud. And anxiety was really, really prevalent. And the truth is I had dealt with anxiety. My very first panic attack was when I was 13 due to the loss of my grandmother. And I really had battled with that, but I had really gotten it kind of under control throughout my 20s, things like that via Western medicine, a lot of Western medicine, may I add to. And not that Western medicine is bad, but I'm talking like would never give it a fair chance and I'd jump ship to another one. And then I jumped to this one. And so I found myself in this role in life and going, how the hell do I run a business? It was very stressful, but I knew I loved it. I loved this feeling like leader. I loved the connection with people. I was the front end. So I was, when people came in in person, I was who they saw. People would start to say, you're the face of key nutrition. And I'm like, that's cool. And I loved this connection I was having with people. And working, anyone out there listening, working for a sibling, traveling with a sibling, being in a podcast with a sibling, that's a lot of togetherness with a sibling. Yeah. So as close as Brad Knight were and are today, that relationship was kind of getting a little bit strained due to all of that, right? And so when COVID hit, COVID is a very sad, it's a very real, but it was the biggest blessing for me because it was literally the only thing that literally stopped time, like stopped everything and made key nutrition, Brad Knight pivot a different direction. So I find myself in April, no March of 2020, like a lot of people going, okay, so that's no longer who I am. I built this for three years, but it's no longer who I am. And a lot of me was that Jordan, like a lot of me. I had put so much into that. My marriage was starting to fail because I had gotten so myopically focused on building this business and being this career woman and this business woman. And at that point, just the anxiety was there, it was there. It was really knocking at the door and I knew that I needed to start address it. So I was offered to go through a nutrition certification program and become a nutrition coach at key nutrition. Now, the truth is being a nutrition coach never felt in alignment with me. It never felt like this is what I want to do. This is my next step, but I was scared. I was scared when I no longer had that income. I no longer had a job. And most of all, I lost a lot of who I was. Like I no longer had a purpose I felt like, right? And so I went through the nutrition certification program. It was a weekend, a very, very, very intense long hours and came out on the other side and I'll send everyone's calling me a nutrition coach. And I was like, no, it still doesn't feel right. Still the, right? This dress doesn't fit. Exactly, right? Oh, this hat, no, I don't like it. And it's crazy because so many of us go through these certifications and we come out on the other end and we're like, cool, we're this, we're this, right? And I started to coach, I started to get clients, which I am very blessed to have the platform of the key nutrition podcast that I started to get clients pretty quick and became very, very aware of my binge eating disorder when I was nutrition coaching. So really starting to really feel that imposter when I'm helping people become healthier and behind closed doors, I'm binge eating. So it just really didn't fit. It just was, it was like I was constantly trying to, you know, fit a square peg into a round hole of just like this is so uncomfortable. Like I, but I loved so much this helping others. Like I loved helping them feel their best. And so I knew there was something to this. And so that was in 2020. So back up just a little ways into December of 2019. And this is truly when breathwork found me. I did not go looking for it. Breathwork totally found me. And in the way that it found me was as a team, as a key nutrition team. So myself, we're at the owner and the nutrition coaches. We all went away between Christmas and New Year's. We went to San Diego in 2019. And Brad had me do the whole itinerary. You know, being the COO, I did the itinerary. I planned everything. And as I was typing up the itinerary, I came to Saturday. And from one to four, we were doing breathwork. Held to the no, I was not doing breathwork. No. You want me to sit still and do nothing, but breathe. Have you been alone in my life? No, thanks. No. So I remember that. So clear. I remember going, we're going to do breathwork. Like what, first of all, I'm going what's happened to my brother? Like what, why breathwork? Like isn't that kind of like, semi, right? And so Saturday came where there were straight and Saturday comes. And I said, hey, you know how we have that nice dinner tonight? I totally didn't bring shoes. I know I got to go get shoes. So I think the perfect time is during this, this three hour window of breathwork. And yeah, exactly. He looks at me. And he says, I paid a lot of money for her to come. She's a very, very known facilitator. A lot of people respect her. Like, can you just listen to what she has to say? And I said, yeah, OK. I will, I will, I will, I will listen to it. But what I'm going to tell you is I'm not going to lay here. And like, do any weird like say ounce breath stuff. And like start to fill my emotions and cry with everybody. OK, so not not doing that. And he just sure I'm sure he recognized that type of behavior before. I'm sure he's demonstrated that behavior himself before. Yes, you are exactly correct. So he, you know, gives me a good eye roll. Says you're being ridiculous. That's not what it is. Just give it a chance. So she shows up at the house. I open the front door. There she stands with seven yoga mats. And I'm like, here we go. This is where we're all going to lay down and get really weird on the yoga. And. Long story short of that day. She begins to really, really talk to us about our bodies. And how as a society, we have disconnected from our bodies. And how we are in such a stressful society. And this is before the pandemic. This is in 2019. And talking to us about how we start to disconnect. And we disassociate from our bodies. And our bodies are almost like this thing we're looking at from across the room. And we're picking it apart. And we're going, I don't like that. And I don't like that. Oh, yeah, I don't like that. And we're in a culture that is such a dieting culture that we are. We're not even listening to hunger cues. We're not listening to anything that has to do with our bodies anymore. We almost have like our mental side. And then we're looking from a distance at our bodies. And I started to go, okay, I hear you. I hear you. And then she brought up the word. Who in here is anxious. And I'm like, Brad has talked to her. Brad told her. Brad told her to say that. I've totally been sold out. Yeah. I've totally, totally. And I'm like, this like hand raised of like, I felt it. Oh, just a little bit. And I'm just like a little bit. And she's like, who here is. Feels like they aren't permission to feel their emotions. And I realized at that time in December of 2019. I did not remember the last time that I cried that I shed a tear. I could not remember. And I started to realize that actually wasn't totally the norm. And I started to think, okay, I think I do maybe need this. Like when she started to talk about how when we lay down and we start to breathe. If you don't feel safe. If you feel like you're making a connection with your body that doesn't feel safe. Stop the breath. There's the front door. You can walk outside. So as soon as I got that permission to like leave and not have to do the thing. I was like, okay, okay, I'll give this, I'll give this a shot. And what I can tell you is that I lay down and I started to breathe. And this woman held such a sacred and safe space to continue doing this breath pattern. As my mind is literally telling me, this is a little bit silly. Like, you can ditch out on this anytime you want. Okay, tonight for dinner, do you have the reservations made? You did. I'm like, you know, all in my mind. And she kept saying push past the limits of the mind, push past the limits of the mind, drop into the body, drop into your body. And I realized I was having such a hard time because my body was not safe. I realized that I had disassociated for so many years, so many years from my body that I didn't even know how to make the connection. And we breathed. And we breathed. And when we came out of it, we had breathed for 52 minutes. And it felt like maybe 15 minutes. And I cried. And I felt. And the very first time in, at the time I was 37, it was the first time that I felt what it felt like to actually fill my heart space to actually feel that space in your body that holds so much wisdom and so much love. And this like magnetic feeling of connecting to these other individuals that I was laying there breathing with. And so from there, I was like, okay, okay, okay, I will definitely be more open to this because. For the first time in a long time, I had felt relaxed, I had felt free and permission to feel my emotions. I had felt immense sadness, but I had also on the other side felt such joy and bliss when I came out of it. And fast forward again to 2020. My life kind of feels like here I am nutrition coaching this doesn't feel right. I'm binge eating. I'm disassociating again from my body. What am I meant to do? What am I meant to do in this world? I have two beautiful children and I knew one of my purposes is to be a mom. I know that hands down, but I also knew that there was more for me. I could feel it. I could feel this like tangible pull of you are supposed to help people. And my husband said, if you want to give up nutrition coaching, you can because there's something bigger for you. And I said, what? What? What? Like what else is there for me? I've tried cosmology. I hated it. I've done bartending. I'm not going back to that. I've now done nutrition coaching. Don't like that. I was a COO. That got pulled from me. Like I. What? What is there for it? Like what? And he said, there's something. There's something. If you. If you allow yourself to totally. Open. Open to receive. So I did that from about November of 2020, tell the first part of 2021. And found myself in April of 2021 signing up for a large ticket item to become a breathwork facilitator. And I didn't know. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. Great. I'm going to teach people to breathe. I mean, you should hear my kids rattling me about it, right? You're going to teach me something like to do it. My brain does on its own. Exactly. So I'm always long winded about that because there's kind of a lot that goes into it of like this. Oh, and there's still so much to unpack in there too. There's. There's so many things. I have so many follow-up questions, but I really want to let you to let you talk. So. Well, thank you so much for sharing that first of all, because that's. I mean, it's not easy. It's not easy to go. To go through all of that. And to through these moments of epiphany, you know, but. I want to, I want to pull on the thread first of, of you said you disassociated from, from your body. When did that start happening for you? Like, and, and do you, you've, you've obviously reflected on a lot. Do you, do you have a sense of, of when and why that, that started to happen? I love that you asked this because just last night, I did a journal prompt of when and where did I start to disassociate from my body? When did this happen? And it happened as young as elementary school. What happened was I was one of those females that I developed really early, really fast, really early. So my, I got height. And I went through puberty really young. So I felt super alone when that happened, because everyone around me, at least my group of friends, that wasn't happening. So things were happening to my body, you know, any female listeners out there understand what I'm talking about. You start to get the boobs. You start to like your height. You get height and you just kind of feel big as, you know, and, and I, and I hate to like direct it towards females, but as females, we don't like that. We don't have social permission to be large in our society. I mean, so that's right. You already have been conditioned whether you realize it or not to feel like you're not allowed to take up more than your fair share of space as a female, you know, more than more than the socially acceptable amount of space. Right. Right. And keep in mind, I am the only girl I have four brothers. So I don't even have like a sister or a female in my house that I can compare like what's happening, right. So I was just very quietly, I'm very, very mad at my body at that young. I was just mad that I was getting this, these things that other people weren't that I was getting tall. And so I just remember trying to hide my body that young. Because I was really reflecting back on it. And I was like, oh, yeah, we're really big shirts. And I would really try to hide behind things. And I got made fun of. I do remember one instance where these two boys made fun of me. They made fun of me that I was the, the bohemus is what they called me. And so I started to really just think my body wasn't safe. And then as years went on, I took my first drink of alcohol at 15. Now, again, my brother, yes, he's an addict alcoholic. I fortunately, I don't think I got. The degree that he did, but at 15, I drink and I remember feeling this feeling of. Oh, my gosh, I can like dance and not care what people think and I can get so, you know, it's also liberating when really it wasn't. It was, it was another one of my matters. It was nothing. Yeah, it was nothing. Yeah. And so started to do that, you know, drinking and stuff through there and then into my 20s. You know, not something I'm proud of, but it is part of my story that just. I really became like permissivity became part of my story. And put myself in some rather gnarly situations that today, I'm thankful that I have modalities that I can heal from my past. But I really started to use my body in ways that were just really destructive. And I was very reckless. You know, and ended up 24 years old pregnant with my daughter, which is she's my biggest blessing, but. And the biological dad was gone. And it was kind of a wake up call for me when that happened. You know, OK, I've, I've got to. I've got to reconnect with my body like this is not OK, like especially being pregnant. Like I've got to reconnect with my body. I've got to nurture my body. I've got to love my body because I've got this baby inside of it. And so that was, that was some of my turning point was there. I'm starting to associate back with my body, but really just into my late 30s is when I found breathwork is when I was really able to take it to depth of like healing through the power of my own breath. Thank you for tuning into this episode of the platform podcast. We'll get back to it in just a minute. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I am incredibly grateful that you listen to this podcast. And the best way you could support me is to go register for the Twin Cities catabell open on October 22 and maybe tell a friend or two. Just go to our website Twin Cities catabell club dot com for details. If you haven't already, be sure to leave a rating and review of the platform podcast in your app of choice and support my work by supporting our sponsors, who's affiliate links you'll find in episode notes. And of course, if you want help reaching your goals without wasting time, please fill out the coaching interest form linked in the show notes. I help athletes of all levels using my integrated coaching approach. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube at Twin Cities catabell club or email me at Twin Cities catabell club at gmail dot com. Now let's get back to the episode. So question on the when you when you're going through the through the phase where you were you were drinking and then and then later on in college, how did that dovetail with what was going on with with Brad and I'm is there is there a connection to his story to his story as well. Yeah, I'm actually really glad you brought that up. Yes, so Brad is three years younger than me. And he and I have always been the closest siblings. So we have I have three older brothers and then Brad's the baby. And my three older siblings are really close and age and then there's a gap and then there's me and then there's Brad. And so we've always been really close and so when Brad started to use drugs, I was in my like, well, okay, when it came out that it was like a problem. Brad was 18. So I was like 21 and I just remember the first time we got him into his first rehab. We were like, oh my gosh, wash our hands. This is great. He's fixed. This is amazing. And it wasn't it was a decade. It was a decade of Brad using drugs. And so when he was causing such destruction in our family, just so much chaos. So much turmoil, so much. Just really scary, scary moments, episodes of, you know, overdosing. And I really started to try to distance myself from what was going on. And I always tell people this, I got to a point where I would not have a relationship with him because I didn't want to be sad when he died when I heard that he had passed away. You were protecting yourself from that pain. Yeah, yeah. And so I, at that point, as far as like connecting and not connecting with my body, I was so numb. I was so incredibly numb. I would do things like restricting my food. And that had nothing to do with Brad, but it had to do with I had to control something. I couldn't control him, but I could control my food intake. So I start I remember that really. Oh my gosh, I remember what I would eat on a daily basis. And I was just like, but I have control of it, but I have control of it. And so I started to do destructive things like that with my body. And that was really honestly when my, when I was being promiscuous and I was going into situations that I think back to now that I just, I, I weren't safe, weren't safe, but I just, it's like I had this lack of give a crap. Because I was so disconnected from my body, like, and the anxiety was so bad. It was so bad. It was 24 seven. He was causing chaos at 3 a.m. He was causing chaos at, chaos at 3 p.m. It was constant. That my anxiety was so strong. And I had zero tools at that time. I keep in mind, keep in mind, this is, you know, 15 years ago, I had zero tools except for Xanax, I'll just say it. Like, I didn't know how else. So I would numb with that. And not to a point of like, not healthy, but like just to a point where I'm like, I don't want to feel this. So take a pill. And at that point, at that point in your life, would you, would you yourself have even labeled it as anxiety or had, or would like, had you had you had you accepted that that was that that was part of part of your existence was was was needing to manage your anxiety, or was that, or was that were you not there yet? I don't even think I was there yet. I mean, I was aware that I had this, this thing, but honestly, I thought it was caused by Brad, I thought if Brad got sober, I would be better. Mm hmm. Oh, yeah, it's so funny. I almost can't even say that now today because I realize how backwards that is of So when was the moment that you realized that that wasn't true? You know, it was really honestly towards the end of his addiction when he was, you know, bottom of the barrel, like I have to say, and, you know, he was living on the streets. And I just remember one day he was living in his car at the time and I had left my parents house and I was driving down the street and I looked down one of the side streets and I saw him. I saw his car and I saw him sitting on the curb and he was so dirty and so thin and I pulled in and he said, my car broke down and I said, listen, I'll take you back to my apartment with me, you can take a shower and then you have to leave. And I remember that day so, so vividly because I was so calm, I finally realized I cannot, at this time, my daughter was born. So I had this baby and I started to realize I cannot constantly carry around this anxious energy and be the best mom I can for her. I took him and he showered and I made him leave my apartment on foot and I remember as he was walking away and he had to put his dirty clothes back on and I just was like, I no longer can allow his addiction what he's going through to affect me and my child. And that was when I decided I'm going to be okay with coming to terms with the fact that he won't make it that he I'll get the call that he passed away and I really tried to work through that and I tried to work through like if that is the story and because of a God above a God that I believe in he isn't six feet under today. Yeah, that's fantastic. Wow, that's, that's a, you know, it's, it's an incredible moment. You said, you said something in your, in your, in our email, in our email, you said, well, my story, my story is not that, not that, you know, interesting or whatever is as, as Brad says, you know, but, but there's, I think that's a disservice, though, because you're, yours is such a, yours is such a thing that so many people can identify with. Right? Like, like, Brad's story is inspiring don't don't get me wrong, but not many people can identify with with going that going that far, you know, being that far gone almost. I can't think of very many people that can't identify with well, I was anxious or I've lot like I lost a major part of my identity and didn't know what to do. Like, there are so many pieces to your story that I feel like resonate with with so many people. So like, thank you very much for, for sharing that like that's, that's incredibly powerful. We, I want to make sure that we have time to, to get to the breathwork, because we're going to do, we're going to do a breathwork, five minute breathwork exercise here at the, at the end of the episode, but I want to give you a chance to, to tell our listeners, you know, what, what is it as a breathwork facilitator, what, what are the benefits of breathwork and I know this is a big question. I'll let you, I'll let you, I'll let you talk, but what are like the benefits of breathwork and how does, how do people, how do people start, you know, because it can seem intimidating for, for some people, it can seem, we're, we're for some people, depend, you know, it's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of people bring a lot of baggage to it, I think, right. When you say, when you say breathwork, so why should people give it a chance, what are the benefits like, obviously, you know, you've, you've talked a little bit about how it helped you, but how can it help others. Totally so totally it can sound woo woo so many people are like like I was the first time breathwork, you know came about to me and breathwork is is a way to drop out of the mind and into the body. So really simplifying it down is getting back into your body into your heart's wisdom and that's what I'm talking about that first time I breathed and I felt my heart's wisdom. I didn't realize that it's so has it holds so much more love so much more wisdom than our heads ever do. And so we are in a society where we have constant stress right you think about it we have kids we have iPhones we have traffic. You know we have computers we have high stress jobs we just live in a really high stress so a lot of people walk around so stressed out they're literally holding their breath. Like they're not taking deep breaths and it's when we become there's there's really two parts to breath there's breath awareness and there's conscious breathing so when we're just aware of our breath I dare anyone out there anyone listening right now as soon as I bring up. Stop right here how are you breathing. People most likely nine out of 10 people that I just just they just stopped our shallow breathing there they but because I said become aware of your breath that's what they've done. They're now deepening their breath because you become aware of it so breath awareness is so important and it's like it's second nature to me now because I've been doing it for so long. But that's really where we need to get most of the world is being totally aware of where are they breathing because literally your breath has the capability to change your energetic state. The energy that is in and around your body always there's an ever present energy and that's not just me saying it that is science there is energy you can see brain brainwave patterns change to like when you get into different breath patterns like they've done they've done scans and you can actually effectively change the the brainwave patterns that you're in through through breathwork as well meditation meditative practices like breathwork yeah. And so just becoming aware of your breath right and then the conscious breathing is actually bringing a conscious like quality and depth and pace to it, which is what guiding breathwork essentially is is bringing conscious breathing to the body where you start to manipulate it. But then the body kind of takes over in this new way of breathing this new pattern getting a depth to it getting a speed to it and that is where when you breathe for you know an extended amount of time and extended is like eight minutes or more you can really kind of go into like a trance state where you are accessing a little bit of your unconscious mind. And you know so being able to heal from trauma being able to relax your nervous system all of these things with a breathwork practice to me is so much better than having to drink or have to go out and be promiscuous or the choices that I made to access that stuff or to access a state of peace. If I had known about breathwork if I had known about meditation if I had known about gratitude at that time, I would have absolutely feel like my life would have taken a little bit different you know turn and maybe not cause so much. So much. Recklessness in my past things things that you needed to heal from maybe maybe avoid some of those things yeah so but it brought you here in a place where you can you can teach other people who are going through those things hopefully before they go through those things. Yeah and so breathwork really is a way to drop into your body it's a way to be so ever present to I tell people a lot of times I always say the world around me hasn't changed my inner world has changed and that's due to being so consciously aware of the way that i'm breathing that i'm. I my goal every single morning and what I pray to the God of my understanding is allow me to be ever present today and living in a state of pure presence it does change your inner world. Sometimes nothing around you is changing but the way that you are perceiving it the way that you're viewing it does and let me tell you the quickest way in my opinion and some other people's opinions to come back to the present moment is your breath. Your breath is going to land you right back into the present moment alright i got one more question and then we're going to experience it we're going to go through it so i've one more question and it's it's around it's around types of breathwork or types of breathing patterns do you do is there is there like one fundamental pattern that that you that you start with and then progress people to other patterns or is there just one. Major like I don't know enough about breathwork to really even formulate this into an intelligent question but tell me tell me a little bit more about the types of breathwork and and you know i'm assuming there's because obviously there's a lot of training that went into it so so i'm curious you know how do you apply it. Yeah so I love that question so many people have that question because there is a lot of different types of breathwork like there's you know the Wim Hof style really that heat you know he trains the body to to resist really cold temperatures with the breath or I mean I mean lean into really cold temperatures by using the breath there's hall of tropic there's re birthing breathwork the breathwork that I was certified and trained in is transformational and healing. Healing okay so really being able to shift those energetic states being able to heal past trauma and and so there are breath patterns that I learned now there's really no correlation between somebody comes to me and says I have anxiety and depression so I go cool we'll breathe in this pattern it takes way more of learning that person's trauma what are their triggers what what have they been through right so that I know. There's a pattern called the triactive and it's a little more activating can it's the first one that I ever did when I did it in San Diego and it's breathing in through the belly in through the chest out through the mouth so it sounds like okay so it's a little bit intense and when you do that for like 45 minutes right what happens is about five to seven minutes in you realize your body takes over. And it will do the breath for you it will really if you really allow your body yourself to drop into your body it's a little bit more of an activating one I will tell you that it has you know that one a lot of times has people really feeling emotions it has people really like I always tell people it's like taking a four wheeler or a razor and ripping it through some dust and it bursts up but then it settles as you look back it starts to settle. That's a good visualization we get this like chaos almost to where we find this stillness we find where we can access some of our unconscious mind we can access some of the that I people always tell me it feels like a real like there's a real going on in my head. And then coming out of a breathwork session being able to ground you back into your body ground you back into the present moment ground you back into your physical body your skin and people come out of it totally calm so it's like this this kind of curve of chaos like. But then there's some that are really really transformational in the way of relaxation so just very deeply and intentionally breathing in through the nose followed right out through the mouth okay so like. Now a lot of people think okay how silly that's just like intentional breathing it is but tell me the last time you breathe like that and extended amount of time yeah you probably taken some deep breaths. But you've never breathed like that and extended amount of time and then you know there's also I use someone I'm at the gym to get myself hyped up for a lift i mean like when I used to PR and stuff i'm not i haven't done that a while but like or people like runners who are getting ready to run right doing what's called the blow breath which is just all done through the mouth really short inhales but you really get not exhale it's going to totally energize your system yeah right so there is different like. wallities to it but it's not like oh because you had that trauma let's breathe like this it's just finding out more but what I am going to tell you because you asked where do people start that's the question I get all the time all the time the what you want to do is you want to start it like two minutes just like meditation people always say start really you know start it two minutes with breathwork sit down sit back wherever you are. And just start to pay attention breath awareness where's your breath where's your current breathing pattern how are you breathing. Start to bring conscious breathing to that by turning the dial up so the volume by going. In through the nose let it drop out through the mouth okay so starting to have a pattern a quality adept to it. Turn on a song go for two minutes at the end shake any parts of your body that feel like it needs to like release some energy come back into the present moment the next morning or a week later do three minutes do four minutes until you're breathing for an extended amount of time. Awesome all right well we said start with two minutes we're going to do a five minute exercise yeah we're going to do a five minute guided exercise so Michelle has graciously agreed to to do a guided breath exercise here so what type of breathing are we are we going to do and I'll let you frame it up and we can we can get started. Okay so thinking about the time that you and I are actually recording this podcast I was like i'm going to do something that's going to benefit you and I right for a little relaxation but who can't use a little relaxation any time in their day right. So anyone out there listening as long as you are not driving and feel free to stop and do this exercise but what we will do is we're going to breathe we're going to bring the first inhale through the nose but come but I want you to focus on your belly doing that breath so. And then the next one in through the chest. And then out through the mouth. So in through the nose twice out through the mouth, but I want you to picture your belly doing the first breath your chest doing the second one and the exhale completely and empty it out through the mouth so. Yep, but just very slow for relaxation because we don't want to activate something right now, at least that's just not the point of this breath when it's just for full relaxation so pulling that first breath in through the belly slowly up into the chest out through the mouth and that's how we will breathe but beginning by just. Feeling into your space. Alright awesome thank you very much alright so i've got the music cute up i'm going to press play we've got a five minute song here i'll turn the i'll fade the level in so just give me a give me a little signal on the video here when it's at the level that you that you like and and I will put myself on mute and you can lead us through this i'm really looking forward to it perfect so dropping in into this moment. Into this space just becoming aware aware of the ground beneath you whether it's a chair. Maybe it's the bed maybe it's the floor just becoming aware of the support that is underneath you. The space that your body is currently in and just bringing that breath awareness. Just bringing awareness to where the breath is now don't try to change it just becoming aware of how your body is breathing dropping the shoulders away from the ears placing your hands softly in your lap and just beginning to turn that dial very slowly and gently bringing the breath in through the nose. And letting it drop out the mouth just beginning to bring intention to the breath feeling the way that the air enters the nostrils how does it feel when letting it go through the mouth. Just really landing here in the present moment giving yourself this time to breathe transitioning over when it feels right for you into the three part breath breathing in through the belly through the chest out through the mouth. Breathing in through the nose in through the nose out through the mouth bringing that breath through the belly through the chest and out through the mouth. Staying with this breath going at a depth and a speed that feels good to your body breathing in through the nose soaking it in through the belly bringing it up into the chest and letting it go through the mouth. Seeing if you can slow that inhalation down by bringing so much intention so much awareness so much conscious effort to that breath as you bring in the energy that you want to breathe is it love that light compassion where do you need to give yourself more grace. Bring that in on the inhalation bringing that breath in through the nose and then letting go what is not serving you that's it continue to breathe letting your body do the work you are so safe to feel you are so safe to breathe. You are so supported letting your body feel connecting back to your body with the breath breathing life force energy as you breathe in through the belly in through the chest. Exhaling through the mouth continuing to just be present with the breath feeling in to all of the energy that is available to you by just your breath. Beautiful that's it feeling the aliveness within your body feeling into that space that heart space that there is so much wisdom. So much love taking three final deep full breaths breathing in through the belly in through the chest out through the mouth releasing what no longer serves you. Breathing in breathing in through the mouth and one last time soaking it in through the belly in through the chest. And on that exhale allow it to be an audible exhale as you fully allow that breath to go coming back into your natural way of breathing. Dropping the pattern and just feeling in your body into this current moment what is available for you now what is here for you just rolling out the wrists and the ankles and just allowing yourself to be in your body because your body is enough not my friends is the best way to tune into your breath. Thank you very much you are welcome you're welcome. Yeah shake it out yeah. So that was that was a new I've done some breath work before but that was that was a new experience trying to do breath work work the levels on the. To the time but that was that was really that was really great thank you very much I really I really enjoyed that all right so I want to be respectful of your time we've just got a few minutes left so if people want to learn more about about breath work or if they want to follow you they want to connect with you. Obviously they already know about the key nutrition podcast but how do they follow you for for breath work how do they get in contact with you if they want to learn more they want to work with you how do people get at you. So I am most active on Instagram which is the breath within you is my handle and on there is where I talk about most of my upcoming things so once a month every single month I offer what's called my community circle that is a free breath work session show up it is a community of amazing people that typically show up. Usually about 20 of us and I guide a really deep meditative session which is about 35 minutes of active breathing. Real good use session awesome playlist just a really really cool experience to breathe with people all over but yet watch this connection that happens this energetic connection so I offer that once a month and like I said I talk about that mostly on my Instagram. And also be looking out for in May June I am hoping to launch an experience that is a course has breath work put into it for those who they love and add it so if they have an addict in their life and you know shopping food sex drugs whatever it is I'm hope I'm creating a beautiful course of all that I wish I had known going through what I have so hopefully that will launch mayor June but for now I also do one on one sessions if you want something a little crafted more to you to what you're going through what your past experiences are. I do one on one sessions as well and those are in my Instagram bio awesome yeah well Michelle thank you so much for coming on I really I really appreciate the time and this is this is a really enjoyable conversation thank you so much I can tell that breath work. is is your thing like it I can tell it I can tell it lights you up so yes I'm glad I'm glad you found your thing and the world is better for it so thank you for coming and sharing that with with me and with my listeners so I really I really appreciate it yes thank you for having me I appreciate you have a great night bye bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the platform podcast we'll be back with a new episode soon please be sure to leave a rating and review of the platform podcast in your app of choice support our work by supporting our affiliates and of course if you have questions or you want help reaching your goals reach out to me till next time thanks for listening.