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Summary
On episode 583 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Jill Miller, co-founder of TuneUp Fitness Worldwide and creator of Yoga Tune Up and the Roll Model Method, with more than 30 years studying anatomy and movement and known as “the teacher’s teacher” for training thousands of movement educators and clinicians.
They talk about her book, Body by Breath: The Science and Practice of Physical and Emotional Resilience, and why she considers the diaphragm the single most important muscle in the body, above even the heart.
The conversation covers how breath works as a switch between stress and recovery states, how to “turn on your off switch” using the vagus nerve, and specific breath and self-massage techniques for sleep and stress.
Links
- https://bodybybreath.com
- https://tuneupfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- The diaphragm is the most important muscle in the body. It sits directly beneath the heart and massages it with every breath, yet most people, including lifelong asthmatics, have never been taught where it is or how to use it.
- Breathing is a switch you can consciously use to shift your state. You can breathe in ways that ramp you up for performance or breathe in ways that pull you out of a high stress state, because unlike most autonomic functions, breath is one you can directly control.
- Turn on your off switch by stimulating the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve governs the parasympathetic (rest and recover) nervous system, and Jill outlines five ways to activate it: perspective (a welcoming mindset), place (a calm environment, or an imagined one), position (getting the head lower than the heart), pace of breath, and palpation (self-massage).
- A longer exhale than inhale calms the nervous system. A simple way to shift out of a stress breath is to make the exhale longer than the inhale, similar to blowing out extra candles on a cake.
- Heart rate variability reflects how well your vagus nerve is working. Highly trained, well recovered athletes often have a resting heart rate below 60 because strong vagal tone lets their heart rate swing naturally between stress and recovery instead of staying locked in a steady, amped up rhythm.
- Cyclic sighing can help you fall back asleep. Popularized by Stanford researchers including Andrew Huberman, the technique is two inhales stacked on top of each other followed by one slow, extended exhale, done without moving or counting.
- Do not miss your melatonin wave. Pushing past the body’s natural nighttime melatonin signal to finish an email or a show sets up a rockier night of sleep, so it pays to notice the wave and go to bed when it hits.
- Self-massage of the face, jaw, and neck can downregulate stress before bed. Gentle work on the jaw, temples, and sides of the neck near the carotid artery stimulates vagally mediated muscles and helps change the resting tone of a clenched jaw.
- Jill’s three strategies to get and stay well: become aware of which zone of respiration you breathe in day to day, move your body in a way that engages your curiosity and focus, and use self-massage to regulate your emotions and your body.
“The diaphragm is the most important muscle of the body.”
Jill Miller
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 608 – Meditation made simple with Ariel Garten
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 583
Published: 2023-03-28
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): Jill Miller, the co-founder of TuneUp Fitness Worldwide and the creator of the self-care fitness formats Yoga TuneUp and the Role Model Method, Body by Breath
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)