March Russell’s journey into breathwork began with a profound personal exploration of meditation in his early twenties, spurred by a meditation retreat in the Pyrenees.
Experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions, including bouts of depression, loneliness, and anxiety, March sought ways to improve his mental health, leading him to discover the transformative power of breathwork. His dedication to this practice has taken him to Buddhist monasteries and renowned teachers across India, Europe, and the UK.
In this interview with MysticMag, March shares how breathwork enriched his meditation practice and provided tools to manage anxiety and self-doubt, ultimately inspiring him to share this life-changing practice with others.
What inspired you to specialize in breathwork, and how did your journey in this field begin?
I was initially drawn to meditation in my early twenties. My brother took me on a meditation retreat in the Pyrenees, and I quickly realized in that week that there was far more to meditation than just relaxing. I’ve been exploring it as a personal passion and intrigue ever since. I wanted to be in a better place myself; I had experienced a rollercoaster of emotions with bouts of depression, loneliness, stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem and this instigated an interest in maintaining better mental health. My dedication to the practice has taken me around the world, from Buddhist monasteries to learning from some of the best teachers in India, Europe, and UK.
It was this passion and curiosity that led me to do breathing work. Breathwork has since had a profound impact on my life and brought new layers of depth to my existing meditation practice. To this day I am still in total awe of its efficacy and its simple yet incredibly powerful ability to regulate the nervous system and restore one’s health. It really has been such an anchor for me. It’s helped me across the board, both personally and professionally.
I suffered from anxiety and self-doubt in quite a big way at university. To the point where public speaking in a lecture or seminar with as little as five people would send my heart racing and was incredibly anxiety-inducing. On many occasions, this was quite debilitating. I now speak in person to 100+ people, and it is breathwork that has given me the tools to manage and overcome this. Since incorporating breathwork into my daily life, I have experienced very empowering shifts in my mental and emotional state. I feel more calm, centered, and grounded, and I am better able to manage stress and anxiety. I have also gained a deeper sense of self-awareness, which has helped me to make more aligned and authentic choices in my personal and professional life. This inspired me to study it in further depth and share it with others. Whilst I continue to always be a student, it is my mission to share this life-changing and very empowering practice with others.
Can you describe the specific breathwork techniques you employ and their intended benefits?
Everyone’s breathing pattern is completely unique. So depending on the client’s requirements, the breathwork techniques we use will be carefully determined by your needs. These techniques include the likes of Functional Breathing, Nervous System Regulation, and other deeper healing modalities of breath like Conscious Connected Breathwork.
Functional Breathing
Consider this: Every single cell and organ in our body relies entirely on oxygen and gas exchange to function. Yet, most people use a third of their respiratory capacity, suffering from shallow and constricted patterns. Have you ever considered the potential impact such a fundamental function can have on one’s body? A dysfunctional breathing habit will aggravate ill health while adopting a healthy breathing habit will promote optimal health.
In the course of a day, we take over 23,000 breaths a day, and each breath plays a crucial role in shaping our physical condition. Surprisingly, around 80% of us have dysfunctional breathing patterns, limiting the oxygen our bodies need to function at their best.
The practice of optimizing our breath through functional breathing techniques is aimed at enhancing respiratory health, increasing our oxygen intake and lung capacity, and bolstering our stamina during physical activities. This, in turn, leads to improved physical performance, quicker recovery, enhanced energy efficiency, and an overall sense of well-being.
Nervous System Regulation
The nervous system plays a critical role in the human body as it is responsible for transmitting, processing, and coordinating information and signals throughout the body.
A regulated nervous system is essential for overall well-being and health. A regulated nervous system is one which operates in a balanced and harmonious manner, maintaining the body’s stability and adaptability to different situations. This manifests in a feeling of safety and being at home in your body – flexible and resilient to the inevitable challenges of our daily life.
A dysregulated nervous system is one in which the normal functioning and balance of the nervous system are disrupted or impaired. This dysregulation can manifest in various ways and may result from a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Our lives are intricately intertwined with our nervous system, and the way we breathe significantly influences its operation. Our breathing is the one part of our autonomic nervous system which we can consciously control. This gives us a direct and effective hack into our nervous system.
By harnessing the power of intentional breathing, we can reintroduce equilibrium and safety to our nervous system. This transformational process can lead to profound and long-term shifts in our physical, mental, and emotional well-being, offering a pathway to a more fulfilling and harmonious existence.
Conscious Connected Breathwork
Conscious Connected Breathwork is a deeper healing modality that offers an effective approach to exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness – clearing emotional blockages from our system and becoming the catalyst for heightened consciousness and deep insights.
What are the benefits of this?
Clearing the emotional body: ‘Letting go of baggage’ and ‘weight’ that you feel you might be carrying around, releasing stress and tension. In doing so, leaving you feeling lighter and with a clear mind.
Embodiment: ‘Dropping into the body” and quietening the mind, leaving you feeling more connected to yourself.
Insights and memories: This can be effective in shifting your perspective, breaking free from negative thought patterns or perspectives, and inspiring creativity and new direction.
How does this work?
When we hold back or bury our emotions, we store this emotional energy within our bodies. Failing to deal with these emotions can lead to mental, emotional, and even physical distress. Many of us have encountered moments of trauma in our lives, and this can push us into a state of heightened reactivity, where we may experience overstimulation (fight or flight) or withdrawal (freeze). In these states, we can feel disconnected from our bodies and react strongly to triggers.
During this practice, a remarkable shift occurs within the brain’s default mode network (DMN) which is located in the frontal and prefrontal cortex. Extensive research indicates that the DMN plays a crucial role in shaping our ego and sense of self. It governs the brain’s control mechanisms and contributes to our fixed, repetitive thinking patterns and obsessions. Essentially, it becomes active when we reminisce about memories, envision the future, monitor our surroundings, or contemplate the intentions of others. It is understood that after roughly 20 minutes of Conscious Connected Breathing, the DMN is deactivated and the egoic mind begins to dissolve, inducing states of relaxation and letting go of any negative thought patterns. This leads to experiences where time flies and people tend to feel a profound sense of connection with themselves, the earth, and others around them. It is in this moment, that people seem to release stress and tension that they carry in the body, clear the emotional body, and leave feeling lighter and more connected to themselves.
How do you adapt your sessions to accommodate the individual needs and experiences of your clients?
I draw on a variety of traditions and approaches to create a unique and personalized practice for each of my clients. The techniques we use depend on the client’s requirements so it totally depends what the intentions are. Prior to working with my clients, I request them to fill out a detailed form and we speak over the phone to discuss their current position. This helps me to get a greater understanding of where they are at so that I can carefully curate a program to meet their needs. Clients can expect a safe and supportive space.
What common outcomes do participants report after engaging in your breathwork sessions?
Tangible and noticeable shifts in the state of mind; feelings of calm, groundedness, and clarity. Here it might help to list some testimonials:
– “It has taught me a lot, changed the way in which I recognize stress and emotion, and given me profound clarity to confront my grief.”
– “I have been working with March for a couple of months now and the change is quite profound. I feel a deeper sense of calm, clarity and I am generally more present.”
– “I recently did my first ever breathwork session, facilitated by March. It was pretty mind-blowing. I felt intense levels of relaxation that I had never really experienced before and felt great for days afterward.”
– “March’s teaching style is both relaxingly informal and assuringly informative. My session with him was quite literally electrifying and left me feeling incredibly balanced.”
– “I feel like you have introduced me to something quite extraordinary, my clarity of thought since our session has been on point!”
– “I had a wonderful breathwork session with March, he has such a calming presence! His recording has really helped me transition to sleep, something I’ve struggled with recently.”
– “March is a total professional who made me feel at ease from the minute my breathwork session started. He took me through a comprehensive yet accessible introduction so that I felt at ease, and therefore was able to understand the shifts happening in my body and mind. He is able to clearly articulate and guide you in a calm manner which really allowed me to get the most from the session. After my 1 to 1 90mins, I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and contentment having been amidst a fast-paced, stressful week.”
– “Breathwork has made the greatest impact on my day-to-day.”
– “I absolutely loved March’s breathwork session; it brought me an incredible sense of calm and clarity that reminded me to stay grounded. The guided techniques were so easy to follow, leaving me rejuvenated and deeply connected to my inner self.”
– “Having never done breathwork, or anything like this before I was unsure what to expect. After 40 minutes or so it became obvious that this was more than just a calming pause but a profound and otherworldly experience. March is a confident and attentive teacher and his love for this craft is infectious.”
Can you share an example of how breathwork has significantly impacted one of your clients?
One client – in his early 30s – works as a stock trader in the city which is high intensity. He started to find it overwhelming, stressful, and anxiety-inducing. This stress led to frequent colds, illnesses, and exhaustion.
He communicated that this affected his relationship with his friends, and girlfriend and his enjoyment of social gatherings too. Leaving him both anxious at home, and stressed at work, he started to not perform as well as he had hoped at work and noted that he had poor concentration. He noticed that he didn’t want to keep going down this trajectory, which is when he reached out to me. I worked with this client closely for 3 months and he now has the right foundations and tools to self-regulate and manage his own stress and anxiety. After working with me, he has expressed that he now has the space and ability to find calm in the chaos.
He’s very effectively integrated breathwork into his daily life and has a more resilient nervous system as a result. He noted that he now feels a lot more confident and adaptable to stress and now experiences less extreme ups and downs and generally feels a lot more balanced. He also wears a Whoop band which, for example, tracked a 63.6% reduction in his stress levels from one 10-minute breathwork session.
This was a part of his ‘homework’ and daily practice on my breathwork app. You can find this here – MOOD360 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mood-360/id6480098383.
Find out more at: www.marchrussell.com
