[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Hey everybody, I'm Amy Chang, a nurse, a mom, and a health coach. And this is Healthy AF, where honesty and humor and heart meet real talk about feeling good again, inside and out. We're cutting through the noise, dropping the guilt, and reminding you, getting healthy isn't about perfection.
[00:00:30] It's about choosing yourself, one loving decision out of time. Let's get into it. Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Healthy AF. I am so glad you're here. My name is Amy Chang, and I'm a health coach here with Healthy Life Health and Wellness Coaching. And I have my friend Michelle Gallagher here with me today. Hey Michelle. Hi, good to see you. I know, I'm so glad to have you back.
[00:00:53] I really, I find that I want just a rotating cast of friends and guests that I just want to have on the show, because I want to talk to you all the time. Oh, that would be so great. And then that would guarantee that I get to check in with you and catch up with you and do life with you. So I'm fine with that. Right. Yeah. And it seems like whenever I have these friends who, you know, they're not the friends that are the good time friends. Right. I know you're a good time, guaranteed.
[00:01:23] But they're not those friends. They're the friends that will really challenge me and say the things that need to be said that sometimes I don't want to hear or don't want to address. And that's where all the growth happens. So, yeah, a regular conversation with that kind of friend is a good conversation to have. Yeah. Gold. It's gold. And this day and age, it's really, it feels like it's really hard to come by that.
[00:01:48] So when I have those people in my life, it is very apparent that I want them to be around as much as possible. Yeah. Yeah. You get a kind of a yearning for it. Yep. So, okay. So the reason I wanted you to come this time is because you started something really super exciting that I have done a little bit of in my life and found super helpful for so many aspects.
[00:02:15] And I wanted you to be able to share with all the people who listen to this podcast what that is, what the history of it is, how you found your way and all the good stuff. So first of all, can you tell us about breath work and the breath work that you're doing with people now? Yeah.
[00:02:36] So I do what is called 9D breath work, and it's a form of breath work that involves a heavy reliance on the quality of the sound that you're experiencing because you're wearing a headset. You can do group setting. I facilitate group settings. I facilitate one-on-ones or small group settings with maybe two or three people.
[00:03:00] But even in in-person or online or virtual experiences, you are wearing a headset because the music, the layering of the sound, the technique and the technology that we have today, the way that if you were to go into a movie theater, an IMAX theater,
[00:03:18] and experience like interception or experience avatar, you're kind of doing that in a headset and you're using your breath at the same time. So it's proving to be really powerful. We've been breathing. There's been we've been using breath as an ancient way to engage in our bodies in a somatic way. Somatic somatic just means like body experience. And it's like this has been around for a really long time.
[00:03:47] I think it's been kind of pegged as like, oh, that's like a new agey thing. That's a Middle Eastern thing. That's like it's in yoga studios. And it's people who wear tie dye and have dreads and wear beads. And I think it's lived there for a really long time. The value of it has been important, but it hasn't been super accessible to people until now.
[00:04:10] I mean, I started looking into 90 breathwork as a coach who is still facilitating classes and strength and conditioning classes. I was looking at the people that I was coaching. I was seeing the need for people to understand more about the power of their breath and how that connects to their nervous system because I'm seeing them move. And I'm seeing them in panic. I'm seeing them in flight. I am seeing them zoned out.
[00:04:37] And there's zero connection happening when there's a lot of things happening with the body. So we need to pin right there because that is actually a really there are tons of places we can start. But given our history and connection in that physical space, such a good place to start. And the conversation that we're having with like, yeah, you can watch people move and they're totally not connected to their breath or their body. People don't know this. Correct.
[00:05:07] People don't know this. OK, so you tell me. Tell me what you see. I'll tell you a short one. And then you tell me what you see when you're watching a person move and they are not connected to their body at all. What I see is pain face. Yes. That's what I was going to say, too. They got the pain face. Yeah. They are not inside their body anymore. Yeah.
[00:05:34] They're literally like fighting against. They are not with their body. They're not using their body. They are. They are fighting against. Yeah, totally. And I I know that we know that on such a visceral level as coaches because I I did that, too. That was. Yeah. It's just. Oh, I understand what that is, because I was I was there, too, at one point. And life sucks. I need to do something hard. This feels really hard.
[00:06:04] It feels so hard that I may even disconnect a minute. And that's OK, because life sucks. Yeah. That is what that. Yeah. And and we're like mad that our bodies are injured and we're mad that we're in like chronic inflammation and we're pissed off that we can't lose the five pounds on the scale or 20 or 40.
[00:06:26] And we don't know why and we don't know why our back keeps, you know, we keep bulging discs and we don't know why, you know, our shoulders keep, you know, like losing that mobility. We don't know why we're completely confused about that. Completely flabbergasted. And we haven't noticed it for five years. And now we're getting like, gosh, this nagging thing. I just can't get rid of that or or this is my life now. Why can't I get past 200 pounds?
[00:06:56] Yeah. Yeah. Like, oh, this is my life now. I guess. I guess I just I guess I just live with this. Take more Advil. Or or I can't do that thing anymore. My doctor told me I it's too dangerous. I can't do it anymore. So what am I like? What am I supposed to? I guess I can't lift anything over my head for the rest of my life. Yeah. Including, you know, like the laundry basket. Or my grand kid. Yeah. Or the paddleboard. Yeah.
[00:07:22] So this this awareness, this awareness for me really was my own journey of realizing like I started out in kind of the CrossFit world. It changed my life. It was incredible. It's where I met you, a community of people. It's where I met our mentors. And you develop your skill and you learn how to coach people better. And you get deeper and deeper in that. But I started in this really, really crazy, awesome, intense world that put a high value on give it your best.
[00:07:51] Like every day, just give what you got. Every day, just give what you got. Do your best. And that's supposed to be relative. But the chances are if you're not a gym that prioritizes relativity, then you're going to be looking across the way or looking at the super ripped chick off to the side of you and being like, I should probably do it like that. Right? Like, I've got stronger legs than her. I should be able to do more than that. And I'm not bleeding on my hands. I haven't worked hard. Totally.
[00:08:19] If I don't feel like I'm in cardiac arrest, I guess I didn't go hard enough. If I'm not sucking on a metal penny at the end of this 10 minute AMRAP, like, gosh. So there, I mean, both things can exist at the same time. This quality of life, the health benefits of doing your best, trying your hardest, like being in a community of people who are all, it is supposed to be you against you. Right? Like you against the clock.
[00:08:45] But then as I started learning more and more, and then my journey found me like, oh, I pegged myself as the strong girl. I was doing everything right. I was putting my bodies in the correct positions, and I was still getting hurt because I still wasn't connected to myself. And we were taught how to teach people how to breathe and brace. Okay. Take a deep breath. And then, but we didn't, we didn't realize people were bearing down and like feeling like
[00:09:12] they're pooping as opposed to like literally feeling like their entire center was engaged everywhere, top, bottom, and then all around their, their center. And so these, these were the things that I found myself experiencing. And then it was that humbling journey of like, okay, I guess I have to go back to square one. Okay. Okay. I guess I have to just air squat because my low back will blow up if I don't. Okay. And so it just led me down this path of like, well, what, why is breath really important?
[00:09:41] And the stress management that I recognized that I needed in my life. It was just this like seven year journey of like for my back specifically. Yeah. Great. Me too.
[00:10:07] And what, what part of the foot are they putting their weight into, you know, how are they walking? How are they breathing? And this dude had massive spinal erectors. And I'm like, Oh, he is most likely in his back all the time. And I had another friend who actually she called and she was having a really, really, really, really, really hard day. Okay. Lots of anxiety going on.
[00:10:33] And, um, I just sat down with her and we started breathing and, um, we started doing a four, six and, uh, I put my hand, she, I, I, I saw her sitting so upright, pelvis tilted back. And I said, Hey, how's your body feeling right now? Well, my back has been hurting since I got up. I was like, yep.
[00:11:00] And so I just put my hand down at her back and said, how about you breathe into my hand a little bit? Just, just breathe. And man, that thing was so just, you know, holding her together for everything it was worth. And I can remember those days and I can remember squatting back with my pelvis tilted so forward and my back, those erectors hold it. There was no bracing except for right there.
[00:11:27] So yeah, that's, and I could get my body like you in the right position, but she wasn't all working together. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. It's, it's wild. So learning how to pay attention to these little small, smaller details. Um, and it was the hardest thing wasn't doing the work. The hardest thing was slowing down the heart. And when I needed to, I didn't.
[00:11:56] So then my body forced me to until I started recognizing what my body was trying to communicate to me and then being able to make that choice to slow down from a, from a more conscious, intentional way. Um, but that is, I mean, that's, it's a, it's a hard lesson. You either learn it or you don't. Honestly. Yeah. Well, for, I think I first bulged my desk, my L4, L5 in 2018 and I herniated it.
[00:12:26] I mean, in 2010, I bulged it in 10 and I herniated it in 2018. And that eight years looked like, uh, me spending a lot of time and money, like three times a week, you know, time and money on massage and acupuncture and Reiki and chiropractic care. And not, um, not living inside my body. Yeah. I was not inside my body.
[00:12:55] I was fully inside my head and I could see what my body could do for me performatively. Like, oh, she could squat, you know, back squat 185 pounds. She could deadlift 220. She could, you know, but, um, not really being in there with her. Um, and there's no wonder now I can say like, well, there's no wonder why, uh, you know, we couldn't make that work. Ding dong. But at the time I just wasn't aware.
[00:13:24] And when I herniated, uh, that was the time that I switched up some of what I was doing and, um, started going into some woo woo and started getting into my body. Yeah. So yeah, I too had to have a two by four. And when I herniated that my right leg swole up, I mean, it was like an elephant leg and it still stays swollen. You know, it took a lot for me to finally just really.
[00:13:54] And it's not that I got out of the CrossFit gym. I've stayed in the CrossFit gym. I love the CrossFit gym. Yeah. But I CrossFit a lot differently now. Yes, totally. Totally the same. So I, I was experiencing all these things for myself. I was searching for myself. I wanted more deeper answers to the questions I had. So becoming aware now of my body, becoming aware of, um, if I squatted too low and if I wasn't
[00:14:20] actually breathing when I squatted, then I was like squatting in a range of motion that was not okay for my nervous system. So learning how to engage my breath and my movement at the same time allowed me to move without pain, which sounds crazy, but it's real. So imagine that imagine if we're actually staying inside of our bodies through our breath, our breath is actually letting us know all the time when it feels safe, when it feels, when it doesn't feel safe.
[00:14:50] And so if we start incorporating that awareness into our like squats, pushups, or, you know, all the things in the gym, look at, look at us being able to stay without pain. And so I've been able to do that with my personal training clients. Now, this is kind of solely where I am. I'm not coaching group classes anymore. I'm coaching like one-on-one being like, Hey, let's, I'm having the people who are like, I can't do classes because there's so much going on with my body that I don't want to ask the questions.
[00:15:17] I don't want to be the broken person. Who's always being like, I need a modification. I need a modification. So I'm training people who feel like they're completely broken. They feel like they, they just, they just need to know a couple of things. And then once they know those things, then I send them off back into, you know, strength and conditioning jungle class. And they're able to participate because now they know how to use their own voice.
[00:15:44] Now they know how to say, okay, I'm, instead of doing this, I'm going to do this. They become their own coach. They become their best friend. They become their own cheerleader. Their own protector. Yes. You know, okay. So, um, all right. So we started with what does it look like when someone is not connected to their bodies and we're watching them work out? We talked about the pain face.
[00:16:08] Um, I think breath wise, I also see a lot of breath holding, um, or if they are doing like any kind of cardio is stuff, it's, it's like up in here. Yeah. They're up in here. They're, they're, uh, you know, from boobs up. Yeah. Or that shoulder. And I'll see a lot of neck. I don't see a lot of neck happening. I see a lot of trap happening. And that's how I kind of know, like, okay, this is not a nervous system.
[00:16:37] Is safe and calm. And we're choosing to be here. This is where on automatic pilot, or we are literally disconnecting. Yeah. Life is too much. Yeah. For sure. That's what that looks like. And when you bring in breath, when we bring in breath, what does that look like? It, it looks slower. It looks, um, humbling for some women. They've just felt, I mean, and it's just the two of us training inside of my garage gym, but it feels humiliating for these women.
[00:17:07] They're like, they're like embarrassed that they can only squat like four inches, um, because that is all that their breath allows them to do. And so it's real wild, um, to notice what that looks like. It looks for me too, to add onto that, it looks like a lot of mouth breathing. Um, so just kind of like that real big fight or flight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
[00:17:33] Uh, so that, that makes sense with the big, all the chest, the heavy chest break breathing, the up in the traps, up in the neck. It's just all of that. There's, there's no like breathing in or out. And I think a lot of times you can see the pain, the, the, like, I can't wait to be done. Oh, for sure. Oh, for sure. Looking at the clock, like how much more time? Yeah. For me, it was always like, Oh, please, let, please make the clock go down because in my
[00:18:02] head mentally, it felt way better for my, for the clock to be running down as opposed to the clock to go up. Run it up. Yeah. And you know, I remember when assault bikes first came out, this was, I don't, I don't even know what year it was. I don't know. It was pretty early on, but assault bikes came out and one of the main little CrossFit dudes at, um, HQ, who was a phenomenal athlete was like, the assault bike makes you want to
[00:18:27] just rock it over on its side to break your ankle so you can get off the assault bike. And while that is hilarious, if that's where we're exercising, probably we are not, we're not doing actually the good nervous system things with the stress relief and whatnot that we think we're doing for our bodies. Yeah. And so we're not going to get the other things too. We're not going to get the fat loss. We're not going to get the muscle build.
[00:18:54] We're not going to get the healthy range of motions that actually feel good with joints that are lubricated and work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that was funny and very accurate when that came out. So accurate. So accurate. So before I stopped training group, group sessions, this is what I was doing. I've seen all that stuff happen right in the gym. I've seen all these people that I like have trained and coached, trained and coached and loved for years and years and years. And I started incorporating down regulation techniques.
[00:19:24] So, Hey everyone. Uh, I w I would be really pretty good at running everyone through a mobility routine afterwards. Um, but it wasn't until I started like switching the music to like chill, chill music. That wasn't like the, like stuff that we were like getting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I started switching the music. I started, uh, mobilizing, uh, people a little bit longer, a little bit better, a little bit more detailed.
[00:19:52] I started asking people to pay attention to how they were feeling. I asked people to start paying attention to how their breathing was. I started, um, to literally just have people lay down and then not do anything because we can still be doing too much while we think we're relaxing, but we're just trying to just check the box. And so even just laying people down on the floor, closing their eyes, body scanning and
[00:20:22] like, it was, it was just game changing, but to have, to have the balance of those two things to have the go and get after it. And I'm going to see what I got today, but have there be some kindness at the whiteboard to themselves, the invitation of like, Hey, this is what the whiteboard says you should do today. But also how are you feeling? Have you eaten enough today? Or were you just snacking off your kid's plate? Have you drank enough water? Are you coming from work? Are you really, is there something like over? Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah.
[00:20:52] And you hit it hard on Thursday. A hundred percent. I also leaned into, and I know you did this to the gratitude. Like after that, you know, I'd start with the goals, like, Hey, what's your goal for today's workout? Yeah. Um, and I found that people couldn't even answer that. They didn't know it was checking it off. Sometimes they'd say, I just want to survive. That's, you know, clearly if you're living your life to survive, it's not really awesome. But you know, I didn't try to argue with them at the whiteboard, but then leaning in at
[00:21:21] the end, like what really surprised you about your body today? What, what, what did your body do today that you were like, wow, she, she really tore that up. Or I was surprised that I, I breathe so well on my wall balls or, you know, whatever that was. Yeah. And you're right. Just, just asking people to acknowledge that there's a body down there is like a little tiny itty bitty, um, crack open in the doorway. Uh, disconnection. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:51] Giving, giving people those moments to pause and to actually ask themselves the question. I think there's a lot of value there that a lot of coaches don't realize. Um, and for women too, it's so easy for us to tune in once we're being prompted to, because our bodies are speaking to us every day of the month, every day of the month, something's happening in different voices in other, in other ways. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's real, it's a real thing.
[00:22:19] Um, and so my 90 breathwork, uh, certification, all the, the way in which there's, there's so much breathwork out there. I do not consider myself a breathwork expert. I consider myself an expert in the field of creating and facilitating space for people to connect to themselves with their breath. Okay. We, we are going to have to pin right there because two things, a, we're pushing like 20 minutes. Yep.
[00:22:43] And, um, B, I want, I want to slow our roll so that we can let them hear something for next week. Okay. I, I really, um, before you went 90, you started opening the door to, um, reconnection in your body with people, with your own self first, and then with your clients.
[00:23:13] You mentioned that your people come in and sometimes they're humiliated and embarrassed because they can only squat four inches. I know what that means. You said squat with their breath would only allow them to tell us, um, what that actually looks like. When you say your breath only allows you to, will you please tell everyone listening how
[00:23:38] you modified that woman who came in and how you coached her on how to squat and why that is important for her body. Yeah. So when we, when she comes into my space, we check in, we start moving, um, with a warm up. We start doing what, what I call kind of breath and basics, which is just kind of the real simple stuff that holds a lot of value. But a lot of people is just like the super boring, non-sexy stuff.
[00:24:08] It's, it's glute bridges laying down on your back. It's dead bugs. It's side planks. It's bird dogs. And all of those movements that are happening because they're so stupid, simple. I'm asking my client to breathe with those movements. So the movements are simple. The breathing intentionally with those movements sometimes is not so simple.
[00:24:35] So that's, that's where we find, oh, okay. I, yeah, I literally can't breathe when you're telling me I should be inhaling. We, we close our mouths. We are breathing in and out through our nose. We are noticing if our rib cage can expand wide on the inhales and then come back on the exhales. We're noticing if we can breathe front to back and feel expansion through the center of the body.
[00:25:01] So we're starting to like put little pins in, oh, okay. I can feel a little bit of movement when I'm breathing side to side. I'm not feeling any movement expansion in my back at all. I can feel my belly expand away from me on the inhale when I breathe in through my nose. But on the exhale, I just let it fall away. And when you're breathing slower, when you're breathing deeper, you're accessing your diaphragm. It's a different kind of breath.
[00:25:29] You get lungs expanding deep and low, which is where that expansion comes from. It's a totally different way to breathe. And so when women are experiencing that for the first time, we have to continue to make those connections, get the reps in. So that way, when I ask you to breathe in through your nose, as you descend into your air squat, when your breath stops, you stop moving.
[00:25:58] And then as you, that is your depth. I want to say that louder for the people in the back, because when we first did that years ago, complete life changer. And you know, I'm hypermobile. So my butt goes to the grass every time, right? Unless I am controlling this descent. So you can kind of check in with yourself by inhaling as your fanny bottom goes down.
[00:26:25] And when your breath stops coming in, your butt stops going down. Correct. And you can hold there and exhale on the way up and then repeat that rep. And what I've found with me and my clients is that it's not very low. It's like a quarter squat first go round. It can be. Yeah, 100%.
[00:26:48] And even the second rep or the third rep gets a little bit deeper, depending on how connected and safe that person is feeling at the time. Yeah. So people practice breathing. They practice learning how to breathe through their diaphragm, as opposed to just staying really high and chesty and in and out through the mouth.
[00:27:14] It's a game changer for people because people can squat without pain in their ankles, knees and hips and back when they move in that way. So it's like game changing, right? Well, you can imagine too, if you have created all this atmospheric pressure in your lung space, because you've taken this big, deep breath. There's nothing in your abdominal space.
[00:27:40] But if you've taken a nice, deep diaphragmatic breath, there is pressure in that abdominal, that core area to do your bracing all around 360 degrees. So it's a complete game changer. You know, when you look at just your ability to lift whatever you want to lift and do it safely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's just how we see it in the gym.
[00:28:08] We see the panic, pain face, mouth breather. I just need to be done. I don't like this, but I don't like life either. This is horrible. And I'm horrible. And I'm not working hard enough. I must need to push a little harder. We see that. And then we ask people to look at their body and they start that. And then you come in and add breath. Yeah. Yeah. And that totally changes life. Yeah.
[00:28:36] And that's, yeah, that's pretty. And it have, how many times? I mean, you can, you can watch it. It's really cool. Yeah. And that leads us to non deep breath work. And I want to talk to you about that next episode. I'm making all of them wait. Okay. Sounds good. Don't hold your breath. It's a whole week. It's a whole week. We will see you next time on Healthy AF, where we talk about non deep breath work with my friend, Michelle Gallagher. See you then.
[00:29:06] Thanks for hanging out with me today on Healthy AF. I hope something you heard helps you take one small kind step toward your healthiest self. If you love this episode, hit subscribe so you never miss a conversation. And if you want more support, head over to myhealthylife.coach to connect with me. Remember, you don't have to do it perfectly. You just have to start choosing you. See you next time.
[00:29:36] You've been listening to The Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community. All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube. Check us out online at themesh.tv.
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