Aug 10, 2020
There is such a thing as “good stress” but more people are struggling with overwhelming stress due to increased anxiety from COVID19. Valerie Moselle explains how you have the power to regulate your nervous system, the importance of becoming more aware of your emotions—both good and bad—and how to improve your overall well-being with just your breath!
In this episode, Cathy and Valerie discuss:
- What led Valerie to write her book about breathwork
- The impact of soothing, somatic practice on our sympathetic nervous system
- How to hack your nervous system by changing your breathing
- How our breath makes us more aware of our emotions by strengthening our psycho-emotional intelligence
- Recommendations for exercising your lungs to prepare for and manage an illness
- What a state of well-being really includes
- Advice for how to start a breathing practice
- An invitation to participate in a guided breathing practice
Memorable Quotes:
- “When the nervous system is stimulated towards fight or flight, your breathing changes. But change your breathing and you can switch your nervous system response.”
- “Breathwork as a somatic practice, as an awareness practice, helps us to develop a sensitivity within the body to the complex array of sensations and emotions there that a child perhaps can’t tolerate, but an adult can become more aware of.”
- “The internal surface area of the lungs, where oxygen meets your capillaries there, is as big as a tennis court; because of lungs that don’t get used in a robust way, many of us don’t have access to that entire surface area…”
- “You have the breath with you everywhere and in all moments; from the moment you’re born until the moment you take your last breath.”
Valerie Moselle is an advanced yoga teacher and founder of Luma Yoga, an award-winning yoga studio and wellness center in Santa Cruz, California. A 20-year veteran of teaching, Valerie’s approach to yoga and breathwork is informed by functional anatomy, biomechanics, and emerging theories in neuroscience. Valerie sees students as individuals each poised to derive unique benefits from embodied practice. She is known for sessions that inspire a playful exploration of breath, movement, strength, and surrender
A student of yoga for nearly three decades, Valerie has studied and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Holland, the U.K. and India. She works in close collaboration with international Breathe to Heal teacher Max Strom coaching teachers around the world.
Valerie lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and two children, where she serves as the Director of Luma Yoga, and of the Luma Yoga Teacher Training and Practice Enrichment program.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Breathwork: A 3-Week Breathing Program to Gain Clarity, Calm, and Better Health
Links to resources: