Breathe Less This Spring

Spring, is amazing, maybe my favorite time of year, it brings a lot of good with it.

More light.
More color.
More time outside.

But it also brings something many people struggle with:

Allergies.

Congestion, irritation, and inflammation can make this season feel like something to get through rather than enjoy.

But there’s a simple place to start that often gets overlooked:

Your breath.

The Nose Is Your First Line of Defense

Your nose is not just for breathing—it’s part of your immune system, in fact, it is where the immune system starts.

It filters, conditions, cleanses, and prepares the air.
It releases Nitric Oxide to combat bacteria, viruses, mold, allergens.
It protects your lungs from irritants.

When you breathe through your mouth, you bypass that protection.

More air enters.
More pollen & pollutants enter.
More stress is placed on the system.

Nasal breathing slows things down and reduces the overall load on your body.

Less Breath, Better Function

One of the most helpful shifts you can make is this:

Breathe less.

Not by holding your breath aggressively…
but by reducing the volume of air you move.

When you breathe less:

• You bring in fewer irritants

• You improve carbon dioxide balance

• You support better oxygen delivery

• You reduce unnecessary stress on the system

It’s a subtle change—but a powerful one.

A Simple Practice: Short Breath holds.

Try this:

Sit comfortably and begin to gently sway or rock side to side.

Keep your breathing soft and quiet.

Every few breaths:

• Exhale naturally

• Pause briefly at the end of the exhale

• Let the inhale return on its own

Stay relaxed.
Never force the pause.

Practice for a few minutes at a time.

This can help:

• Open the sinuses

• Reduce congestion

• Improve tolerance to carbon dioxide

• Bring the nervous system into a more regulated state

Supporting the System

You can also support your breathing and your body with a few simple habits:

• Prioritize nasal breathing throughout the day

• Wear a mask outdoors if pollen is high

• Use a neti pot to clear the nasal passages

• Try local raw honey as part of your routine

These aren’t complicated solutions—but they are consistent ones.

The Bigger Picture

Breathing is not just about getting air in and out.

It’s about how your body interacts with its environment.

When your breathing becomes more efficient, more subtle, and more intentional…

your system becomes more resilient.

Final Thought

The goal is not to breathe more.

It’s to breathe better.

And often, that starts with doing less.

Less air.
Less effort.
More awareness.

Breathe Less, Feel More

At first glance breathing seems so simple.

You Inhale.
You Exhale.
You Repeat.

But there is far more going and every breath we take can influencing our health either negatively or positively.

Breathing is subtle and very hard to really notice, but the way you breathe has a direct influence on how you feel, how you move, and how your body & mind function. Even a subtle change can create a massive shift.

The challenging part for many people is putting away any idea that we know how to breathe, you must unlearn what you know and approach with a beginners mind. Curiosity, awareness, perception, these are necessary skills that are further cultivated by practicing breathing,

Breath Is More Than Air

Breathing is not just about supplying the body with oxygen.

It’s an entire system that influences:

• Your physical body (structure and movement)

• Your Energy (life force ~prana)

• Your chemistry (oxygen and carbon dioxide balance balance Ph)

• Your nervous system (stress and regulation)

• Your Mind (focus and clarity)

Every breath reflects your current state.

And over time, the way you breathe can either support your system—or slowly work against it.

The Problem: Too Much Breathing

Most people don’t realize they are over-breathing. This is so hard to witness and change, but it starts with that, witnessing the pattern and knowing that it can be improved… indefinitely.

It is so easy to over breathe, it happens all day as many of our 20-30 thousand breaths re unconscious and part of an unconditioned habit. In fact, over breathing can be as simple as a yawn or any mouth breath.

It doesn’t necessarily mean faster or heavy breathing (which is absolutely overbreathing), it just means that we are taking more in than our metabolic demands, essentially— more volume than needed.

This can lead to:

• Increased tension & pain

• Reduced efficiency

• Nervous system imbalance

• Increased inflammation

More air is not always better.

In many cases, it’s the opposite.

The Goal: Less, But Better

Breath reeducation isn’t about forcing technique. I must strain this: You cannot force a change! Consistency, patience, persistence and positivity are the foundation which rests upon the bedrock of curiosity and awareness.

It’s about slowly refining the system.

Two key things begin to change (that are not nose breathing and diaphragmatic breathing):

• Your breathing becomes slower: the ideal rate is 6 breaths per minute

• Your breathing becomes quieter: ideally no sound or very minimal

Less effort.
Less excess.

More efficiency.

A Simple Way to Begin

One way to explore this is by slowing your breath down.

Try:

• Inhale for about 5–6 seconds

• Exhale for about 5–6 seconds

Keep it soft.
Keep it quiet.

Let the breath feel smooth, like a wave, gently transitioning between inhale and exhale and exhale into inhale.

Nothing forced, just rolling like a wave, smooth in and out, you’re letting go, and surrendering any bracing.

Bringing Awareness to the Breath

You can also introduce a light ujjayi breath—a gentle narrowing in the throat. It creates a light sound within and is usually practiced during the exhale, but can be done on the inhale as well.

This can:

• Slow the breath naturally

• Reduce excess air

• Improve awareness

• Help the diaphragm engage more effectively

Used lightly, it becomes a tool for sensing—not controlling.

Important tip with this practice: make your ujjayi breath subtle and quiet. No one around you should hear you, the sound is internal. It is also called “ocean’s breath” since the sound is like the smooth waves of the ocean on the beach. Imagine that while practicing your breathing and you will feel everything slowing down~ body, breath and mind.

Let the Body Follow

Instead of trying to control your breath, which, again, is very hard to do when your awareness is on your breathing, surrender to the breath…

Let your breath guide your body.

Let the ribs expand.
Let the body respond.

Allow the breath.

This creates change at a subtle level—what we call in yoga the pranamaya kosha.

And subtle changes, practiced consistently, create meaningful + lasting results.

Final Thought

Better breathing isn’t about doing more.

It’s about doing less—more intentionally.

Breathe less.
Feel more.

And always…

Stay consistent, patient, persistent and positive.

Breathing Basics: Why Less Is More

Breath Is Movement

Breath is not just something you do—it’s something that moves you.

Every movement in your body is influenced by your breathing. Your ribs expand, your spine responds, and your tissues shift with every inhale and exhale.

Breath is the body’s internal rhythm.

When breathing is restricted, movement becomes restricted.
When breathing is smooth, movement becomes fluid.

If you want to move better, it starts with how you breathe.

Breathing Is More Complex Than It Seems

At first glance, breathing looks simple: inhale, exhale, repeat.

But beneath that simplicity is a system influenced by:

• Biochemistry — how your body uses oxygen and carbon dioxide

• Biomechanics — how your ribs, diaphragm, and posture move

• Psychosocial factors — stress, habits, and environment

Every breath reflects your internal state.

And over time, inefficient breathing patterns can reinforce tension, fatigue, and dysregulation in the body.

The Problem: Too Much Breath

One of the most common issues is not a lack of breath…

…but too much of it.

Over-breathing—moving more air than your body needs—can lead to:

• Increased tension

• Reduced efficiency

• Nervous system imbalance

The solution isn’t to breathe bigger.

It’s to breathe more appropriately.

The Goal: Reduce Rate and Volume

Breath reeducation is not about forcing technique.

It’s about refining the system.

Two key variables:

• Respiration rate (how fast you breathe)

• Respiratory volume (how much air you move)

When both begin to decrease—naturally and without strain—the body becomes more efficient.

A Simple Exploration

Try this:

1. Count how many breaths you take in one minute

2. Then slow it down:

• Inhale for ~5.5 seconds

• Exhale for ~5.5 seconds

Don’t force the breath.

Let it become quieter.

Let it become smoother.

Let the Breath Move the Body

Instead of trying to control your breath…

Allow your breath to guide movement from within.

Let the ribs expand.
Let the body respond.

This creates change at a subtle level of the body—the soma.

And subtle changes, practiced consistently, create powerful results.

Final Thought

Better breathing isn’t about doing more.

It’s about doing less—more intentionally.

Less breath.
Less effort.
More awareness.

Breath Basics: Why Less is More.

Breath Is Movement

Breath is not just something you do—it’s something that moves you.

Every motion in your body is influenced by your breathing. Your ribs expand, your spine responds, your tissues subtly shift with every inhale and exhale. Breath is the body’s internal rhythm.

When breathing is restricted, movement becomes restricted.
When breathing is smooth, movement becomes fluid.

If you want to move better, it starts with how you breathe.

Breathing Is More Complex Than It Seems

At first glance, breathing looks simple: inhale, exhale, repeat.

But underneath that simplicity is a complex system influenced by:

• Biochemistry (CO₂ tolerance, oxygen delivery)

• Biomechanics (ribs, diaphragm, posture)

• Psychosocial factors (stress, habits, environment)

Every breath reflects your internal state.

And over time, poor breathing patterns can reinforce tension, stress, and inefficiency in the body.

The Problem: Too Much Breath

One of the most common issues is over-breathing.

Not necessarily faster—but more volume than the body actually needs.

This can lead to:

• Increased tension

• Reduced efficiency

• Dysregulated nervous system

The solution is not to take deeper breaths.

The solution is to take more appropriate breaths.

The Goal: Reduce Rate and Volume

Breath reeducation isn’t about forcing technique.

It’s about refining the system.

Two key variables:

• Respiration rate (how fast you breathe)

• Respiratory volume (how much air you move)

When both begin to decrease—naturally and without strain—the system becomes more efficient.

A Simple Exploration

Try this:

1. Count how many breaths you take in one minute

2. Then shift your breathing to:

   • Inhale: 5.5 seconds

   • Exhale: 5.5 seconds

Don’t force it.
Don’t make it big.

Let the breath become quieter.

Let the body move with it.

Let the Breath Move the Body

Instead of controlling your breath…

Allow your breath to guide movement from within.

This creates change at a subtle level of the body—what we might call the soma.

And subtle changes, over time, create profound results.

Final Thought

Less breath.
Less effort.
More awareness.

That’s where real change begins.

Breath Therapy: 6 Pillars to Wellness Through Breathing

Most people think of breathing as automatic.

Something that just happens in the background.

But over time, through my own practice, I’ve started to see it differently.

Breathing is not just a passive function—it’s something that influences nearly every system in the body.

How you recover.
How much energy you have.
How your body holds tension.
How you move.
How you respond to stress.

To make this more clear and practical, I’ve started organizing Breath Therapy into six pillars.

1. Recovery

The Biology of Breathing

Recovery is not just about rest—it’s about how efficiently your body repairs itself.

Breathing plays a key role in:

• circulation of oxygen and nutrients

• lymphatic flow (your body’s detox system)

• activating the parasympathetic nervous system

When breathing is restricted or shallow, recovery is limited.

When breathing is deep and controlled, the body shifts into a state where repair can happen more effectively.

2. Energy

The Chemistry of Breathing

Energy isn’t just about taking in more oxygen.

It’s about how well your body uses it.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) plays a major role in this process.
It helps release oxygen into your tissues where it’s actually needed.

When breathing is inefficient:

• oxygen delivery is reduced

• energy levels drop

When breathing is trained:

• oxygen is used more effectively

• endurance improves

3. Pain

The Neurology of Breathing

Pain is often tied to patterns in the nervous system.

How you sit, move, and breathe creates habits in the body.

Over time, these patterns can lead to:

• chronic tension

• stiffness

• discomfort

Through breath and somatic movement, you can begin to:

• interrupt these patterns

• retrain muscular systems

• restore more natural movement

4. Strength

The Physiology of Breathing

Breathing is deeply connected to your core.

The diaphragm works together with:

• abdominal muscles

• pelvic floor

• spinal stabilizers

When this system is coordinated:

• strength improves

• movement becomes more efficient

• stability increases

Breathing becomes a foundation for functional strength—not separate from it.

5. Stress / Anxiety

Regulation Through Breathing

Your breath directly influences your nervous system.

Fast, shallow breathing is often linked to stress and anxiety.
Slow, controlled breathing signals safety to the body.

Over time, practicing this builds:

• resilience to stress

• awareness of your internal state

• the ability to shift how you feel

6. Digestion & Overall Health

Agni & Internal Function

Breathing influences internal systems in ways many people don’t realize.

From a Western perspective:

• diaphragmatic breathing supports digestion

• nasal breathing improves sleep

• oxygenation supports cellular health

From a yoga perspective, this connects to agni—your internal fire.

You can think of agni as:
👉 your body’s ability to digest, process, and transform energy

When breathing improves, these internal systems tend to function more efficiently.

Closing

What I’ve found in my own practice is that breathing is not simple.

It’s something that has to be learned, practiced, and refined over time.

But when you begin to work with it intentionally,
you start to notice changes across all of these areas.

Not all at once.
Not instantly.

But consistently.

And that’s what this work is really about.

What’s Next

In the coming weeks, I’ll break down each of these pillars more deeply,
and share the specific practices I use and teach.

Why Your Back Holds Tension (And How to Reset It)

Most people think back tension is a muscle issue.

But in many cases, it’s not.

It’s a pattern driven by your nervous system.

The Activation Response

Your body is constantly responding to your environment.

One of the primary patterns it uses is the activation response—often referred to as “fight or flight.” This response prepares your body for movement, effort, and protection.

In short bursts, this is useful.

But when it becomes chronic—when your system stays slightly activated throughout the day—it begins to change how your body functions.

Your breathing becomes faster and more shallow. Your posture shifts into a more guarded position. Your muscles begin to hold tension as a default state.

The Superficial Back Line

This pattern is closely connected to a band of fascia known as the superficial back line. As we stay more activated along this band, these muscles will become rigid and guarded. They will pull the back line tight and pain in the neck could be originating from tension in the foot. It is all connected

This line runs continuously from:

• the bottom of your feet

• through your calves and hamstrings

• into your lower and upper back

• and up through your neck

It plays a major role in maintaining posture and managing tension.

When your system is in a constant state of activation, this entire line becomes more engaged.

Over time, this leads to:

• chronic back tightness or pain

• reduced mobility

• stiffness through the hips and spine

• increased fatigue

• a heightened stress response

The body isn’t just tight—it’s preparing.

Why Stretching Isn’t Enough

Stretching the back may provide temporary relief.

But it doesn’t change the underlying state of the nervous system.

If the system remains in “go mode,” the tension will return—because the pattern hasn’t changed. 

The tension is learned and will always be remembered. This makes tension a memory and you cannot stretch out a memory, it has to be observed and unlearned. 

A More Effective Approach

To reduce back tension, you have to shift the system itself. Training yourself to observe and to release patterns in your system so that you gain conscious control, and can finally let go of “unseen” tension. Allowing the muscles to let go of their guarding takes patience and practice, but opens up a whole new world of understanding yourself and your inner brilliance. 

This begins with:

Breathing

Slow, controlled breathing signals safety to the nervous system. It helps move the body out of a constant activation state. Agitation and anxiety live in this response. Our breath is the best way to begin to resolve the tension patterns causing this at the subtle layer. Breathing will turn down the dial on internal stress and can shift our awareness back to our body for repair. 

Somatic Movement

Gentle, aware movement helps retrain coordination and reduce unnecessary muscular effort. Pandiculating muscles ~contraction/release~ is how we can reactivate lost pathways in the nervous system, and establish communication between muscle and cortex.

Positioning and Awareness

How you sit, stand, and move throughout the day determines how much load your body is carrying. Small changes here can have a significant impact over time. If our pattern is in the superficial backline then tension here will show up in our daily tasks. Building awareness throughout the day of where your body is overworking and returning to a neutral balanced state will help to resolve the pattern.

Resetting the System

This work is not about forcing the body to change. It’s about creating the conditions where change can happen.

When the nervous system begins to regulate, the body no longer needs to hold the same level of tension.

Over time, this leads to:

• less pain and tightness

• improved movement and posture

• better energy and recovery

• a more balanced system overall

Where to Start

If your back constantly feels tight, it may not be a mobility issue—it may be stress and learned patterns. Observing without judgment and slowing down will help balance the issue.

The body and mind can heal when we: slow down, breathe with intention and move with awareness.

Let your system come out of constant activation.

That’s where real change begins.

👉 Try a nervous system reset: Back Pain Relief

👉 Book a session: https://breaththerapymn.com

Why Your Shoulders Are Tight

Most people try to fix tight shoulders by stretching them.

But tightness is often a response—not the root problem.

When your breathing is restricted and your nervous system is under constant low-level stress, your shoulders take on extra load.

Stretching may give temporary relief, but it doesn’t last—because the source of the tension is in the nervous system, not just the muscles.

In many cases, overstretching can actually make things worse, leaving tissues more sensitive and reactive.

A more effective approach is to gradually reintroduce movement and awareness.

Slowing down and observing how you move helps reconnect the mind and body, allowing normal function to return.

Simple, gentle movements—like arm swings combined with breath—can help restore glide in the tissues and reduce unnecessary tension.

It’s important to work within your current range of motion, rather than forcing it, so the body can rebuild mobility and hydration over time.

Breathing is the key. When the breath becomes more natural and less restricted, the shoulders and ribs can finally relax—and the tension is less likely to return.

If you want to explore this further, you can start with these practices:

Somatic Shoulder Reset

Breathe to Energize and Reset

What the Body Reveals in Stillness

I was standing still this morning. I love doing this, and I practice it often. I get lost in it — standing, breathing, just resting in Mountain Pose.

I’m continually amazed by how much is revealed when I stop moving. How much I’m bracing, without even realizing it.

As I stand, I begin to feel how much tension is contorting me — in my torso, my legs, my shoulders, my neck. It’s not dramatic or obvious at first. It’s subtle. Layered. Quiet. And it makes me wonder: How long have I been ignoring this?

I’ve always known I carry tension. Pain. But for a long time, I resisted simply being here with it. I practice stillness in many ways, but something about standing reveals so much more. When I allow myself to pause, time seems to soften. My breathing lightens. My attention sharpens. I become deeply interested in sensation — every ripple, every pull, every holding pattern.

Standing still becomes anything but still — a complex story of the past woven into unconscious contractions, ebbing and flowing.

The Body Tells Its Story

As awareness deepens, I can feel layers of contraction spiraling through my body, subtly bending and twisting me into awkward shapes. When you pause long enough, you begin to sense that every tissue carries a story — a history written into muscle, fascia, breath, and bone.

This morning, my body began to draw forward and twist — a familiar cringing, protective shape. I noticed a leftward pull, a subtle leaning and rotation. I didn’t resist it. I didn’t try to correct it. I followed it with curiosity.

The pathway felt magnetic — like every fiber knew exactly how to take that shape. It was powerful. Natural.

And suddenly, I wasn’t just in my body.
I wasn’t in an accident or out of surgery.

I was back in the kitchen.

How Work Shapes the Body

I could feel it clearly — I was working at our family restaurant, Mr. Pizza in Rochester, Minnesota. I could sense everything: the sounds, the smells, the intensity, the pace. My body subtly adjusted as if reaching across the counter, pivoting, turning.

My mind whirled through memories of throwing pizzas into the oven, pivoting back and forth. Pivoting again. Cutting. Boxing. Moving.

Over and over.
The same pattern.
The same posture.
Year after year.

I had shaped my body to be efficient.

Leaning forward.
Twisting.
Reaching.
Reacting.

My nervous system learned every detail of that environment — how to move quickly, how to respond instantly, how to stay in overdrive. Add in past injuries, illness, stress, and exhaustion, and over time pain became normal. Burnout became normal. Drinking became normal — a way to cope with pain I didn’t yet understand.

I stretched. I exercised. I rested. I sought help.
But the pain always came back.

Because I was never addressing the pattern beneath it all.

Learning to Feel What Was Hidden

It wasn’t until I discovered somatic yoga and breathwork that I began to understand what was actually happening inside me. And even then, I had no idea how thick the layer of resistance was — the resistance that prevented my mind from seeing the tension that was holding me so tightly.

It’s so difficult to sense our own body. Profoundly difficult.

Somatic practice taught me something humbling:

I didn’t know myself nearly as well as I thought I did.

Six years later, I can honestly say something surprising — I feel like I know even less now. Not because I’ve gone backward, but because awareness has expanded. The deeper you look, the more complexity you discover.

Life is like that.

A leaf looks simple… until you study it.
An ant seems small… until you observe it closely.
Everything unravels into infinite detail.

Turning inward is no different.

The body is like that.
The breath is like that.
The mind is like that.

The more subtle the awareness, the more layers reveal themselves.

A Universe Within

That’s why Mountain Pose continues to feel so fresh and alive for me. The stiller I am — the longer I stay — the more truth reveals itself: there is an entire universe within.

And the more I unravel it, the better I feel — not because I’ve “fixed” anything, but because I’m getting out of the way… because I am finally listening.

There is always more to discover.
Always more to refine.
Always more to feel.

And instead of that being discouraging, I find it deeply exciting.

A Mirror for You

If you’ve ever felt stuck in one posture, one pattern, one way of holding yourself — physically or emotionally — your body may be telling a story too.

You don’t have to fix it.
You don’t have to stretch it away.
You don’t have to force change.

Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is pause… stand still… and listen.

We are not meant to break down as we age.
We are meant to refine, enhance, and deepen ourselves.

That is the heart of this work.
That is the dedication behind Pneuma Yoga.

Simple practices.
Honest awareness.
Turning inward.
Reshaping health and vitality — not by force, but by presence.

Sometimes, all it takes…
is standing still.

Ahimsa: My First Step into Yoga Philosophy

There is no yoga without nonviolence.

I stumbled into yoga almost by accident… or more accurately, by injury.
I tore my pectoral in a jiu-jitsu sparring match, and since I couldn’t lift weights anymore, I looked elsewhere. My earliest yoga “practice” came through infomercials and biceps—P90X with Tony Horton. That was my gateway into western yoga, and honestly, I loved it.

From there I dove deeper into YouTube flows, DVDs from the library, and random classes—still mostly focused on the physical: stretching, sweating, pushing myself. I had no idea yoga held anything deeper. I was barely scratching the surface.

Stumbling Toward Something More

Eventually I reached a point where I knew I needed something different. My health was falling apart. My nervous system was burned out. The restaurant job was crushing me. I felt stuck in a loop of illness, stress, and the terrifying sense that there was nowhere to go for real resolution.

Inside me, something was aching to come out. I knew it had to do with holistic health. I suspected yoga was involved somehow, but I didn’t yet understand the depth of yoga or how much wisdom it carries about the human mechanism. I remember wondering, Do I really want to teach yoga classes? What could possibly be so special about yoga?

Back then, I had no idea.

Stuck in Survival Mode

My life at that time felt like one long, stressed-out shutdown response.

I was working long hours in a chaotic restaurant environment. My body was in too much discomfort to keep going, yet I didn’t see a way out. Simply surviving each day was a battle. Running a business on top of that was another battle I had no capacity to fight.

I felt skill-less, empty, like I had nothing of value to offer the world. My health was declining and my sense of self collapsed with it. Shame, exhaustion, self-judgment—they were my constant companions.

I believed deeply that the body could heal itself, and I believed nutrition was the key. I followed what I thought was a “healthy” eating lifestyle to fix my gut pain. But nutrition is confusing, and everyone claims their way is the right way. I ate whole foods and followed paleo because people I trusted told me it was the answer.

Still, my body kept failing.

Later, Ayurveda would completely transform my understanding of food, digestion, and what “healthy” actually means—but that wisdom came much later. At the time, all I knew was this:

I was not okay. And I couldn’t fix it with willpower alone.

My First Real Step Into Yoga

When I eventually enrolled in a yoga therapy program—right at the start of COVID, entirely over Zoom—I was completely ungroomed as a yogi. I knew nothing except poses. Yet there I was: signed up for a 1,000-hour training, committed to seeing it through.

That program cracked something open in me.

I began to actually study yoga—not just the shapes, but the philosophy. The depth of yoga was overwhelming at first. The sages who shaped this science were some of the most intelligent minds to ever live. Their teachings were dense, intricate, and profound. Hard to grasp at first… but captivating.

Slowly, the philosophy began to seep into me.
And what hit me the hardest was Ahimsa.

Ahimsa: The Foundation of Yoga

The first concept I truly met was Ahimsa—nonviolence.
It is the very first yama, the first branch of the first limb.
It is literally the beginning of yoga.

At first it seemed simple: Don’t be violent.
I wasn’t hitting anyone. I didn’t think of myself as harmful. I had no awareness of the subtle ways I punished myself, the frustration simmering inside me, the harshness I directed inward. So I thought:

“Okay, cool—what’s next?”

But as I sat with Ahimsa, something shifted.

I began to hear the violence that lived inside me.

Seeing My Own Violence

As I reflected on Ahimsa, I saw how deeply I was harming myself:

• the way I talked to myself

• the shame and self-blame

• the comparisons and judgments

• the constant inner criticism

• the pushing past my limits

• the overworking, the drinking, the refusal to rest

I realized that the deepest violence in my life wasn’t external.
It was internal.

Yoga teaches pratipaksha bhavana—cultivating the opposite.
When negative or harmful thoughts arise, we consciously shift toward their opposite: thoughts that are true, kind, supportive, aligned.

The mind is incredibly powerful.
It shapes our experience of reality.
It colors everything we perceive.
It can create us or destroy us.

If we repeat violent stories inside our mind, the body will live inside that violence.

Learning Ahimsa meant finally seeing this clearly—
and then slowly choosing a different direction.

Creating a Nonviolent Inner Environment

If healing is the goal, we must build an inner world that supports healing.

The body is unbelievably intelligent and wants to move toward balance.
But it cannot heal if the mind is constantly attacking it.

Ahimsa is not just “be kind.”
It is a radical commitment to:

• dropping shame and self-punishment

• interrupting cycles of judgment and comparison

• noticing where we are sharp, cruel, or impatient

• choosing thoughts and actions that support life, not harm it

Yogi Swami Rama said:
“Love all and exclude none.”

That includes ourselves.

If we want true health, we must become love within—not as sentimentality but as alignment with our true nature.

Violence is everywhere in the world. But it doesn’t have to live in us.

Ahimsa in Practice: Food, Animals, and Daily Life

For me, Ahimsa showed up in a clear and unexpected way: food.
I’ve been vegetarian or plant-based for years, but through Ahimsa, that choice deepened. It helped me see the subtle violence not only toward animals, but toward my own body and the earth.

Ahimsa became a practice of:

• nonviolence toward my body

• nonviolence toward other beings

• nonviolence toward the planet

And no, this doesn’t mean perfection.
Negativity still arises. Old patterns still surface. The mind still reacts.

But the practice becomes:

Notice. Breathe. Choose differently.

We can learn to stay grounded enough inside that we are not so easily pulled into reactive violence—whether in thought, word, or action.

No Yoga Without Ahimsa

Yoga is not about flexibility or strength.
It is about creating a mind and heart that can hold life without causing harm.

Ahimsa is the very beginning.
It is the root.
The ground of yoga.

Without nonviolence, there is no yoga—only performance, ego, or spiritual decoration.

Ahimsa reminds me:

• to speak more gently to myself

• to give my body time and space to heal

• to step out of self-destruction

• to move through the world with a little more care

If you want to explore your truest health, start here.
Notice where violence lives in your thoughts, your habits, your choices—then cultivate the opposite, little by little.

Healing is not just physical.
It is mental, emotional, and energetic.

Create a nonviolent inner environment, and the body will know what to do.

The Twist and the Cringe

How a Split-Second Trauma Shaped My Body for Twenty Years

My body reacted before I even knew what was happening.
One instant I was racing down the road on my Triumph Daytona — the next I was tumbling across the asphalt. My head tucked, my shoulders shrugged, and my entire body curled sharply to the left. I didn’t choose any of this. My nervous system did.

I remember the world spinning: sky, fields, asphalt, gravel — over and over.
I felt myself rolling like a stone skipping across water. I wasn’t resisting; I felt nothing, but saw everything. I was witnessing it happen as if it were a dream playing in the background.

My only conscious thought was, “Just stop rolling. just stop rolling…”

When I finally came to a stop, I stood up in shock. My shoes and socks were gone. My shirt shredded. My pants torn. And my motorcycle — the one I had so many close calls on — lay twisted on the ground in front of me. I had rolled directly behind it the whole way, watching it flip through the air as I tumbled after it.

I couldn’t believe where I stopped rolling — and that I did — for that matter. It was endless, I rolled so far, how I lived, I have no idea.

The Place I Crashed Was the Place I Once Found Peace

As I stood there shaking, adrenaline flooding my system, I looked around and realized exactly where I was.

The crash had happened right at the entrance of the Isaac Walton Wetland and Conservation Area — the place where I walk my dog, Murphy, almost every single day. I was here all the time, I loved this space, and would get lost there for hours. As I stood in the parking lot I looked back, the curve where I whipped out, was a long way away. How far did roll?

I knew that area so well.
I knew the fields, the river, the forests.
I had walked that path countless times.

Every time I drive there I come from the east, always entering the lot from the opposite direction — never from the side I rode in from that day. The curve was sharper than I anticipated, I hit gravel, and my bike disappeared from underneath me.

I was surprisingly unbroken, barefoot and trembling, I stood in the parking lot where my daily walks used to begin… except this time, my motorcycle was lying wrecked beside me, and my body was buzzing with shock, and ripped with road rash.

A place that had once been part of my routine, a place of familiar comfort, suddenly became the scene of a violent trauma.

And after that day —
after the rolling, the tumbling, the impact, and the month in the hospital —
I never returned.

It wasn’t a conscious choice.
My nervous system made that choice for me — drawing a boundary around the place where danger became real. Even years later, I stayed away without fully understanding why.

It would take two decades before the deeper significance of this accident, finally revealed itself.

The Imprint That Never Left

It wasn’t until twenty years later that I began to feel the echo of this trauma.
One day, while practicing Mountain Pose, I felt a subtle internal pull. I let it happen — curious, patient, open — and my body moved on its own:

My chin tucked left.
My shoulders spiraled left.
My abdomen cinched and braced left.
My entire left side curled inward.

And instantly, the memory of the motorcycle accident rushed back.

I had completely forgotten how violent the crash was. I always focused on cancer as the major trauma of my life. I never considered that this accident had shaped my posture, breath, and health just as much — maybe even more.

But in that moment, it was undeniable.
My body had been remembering all along.

Trauma Changes Posture

The protective shape I curled into during the crash became the pattern I lived in for decades. It became the hidden blueprint for how I stood, moved, breathed, and coped.

That twist became:

• chronic low back pain

• shoulder and neck tension

• emotional heaviness

• fatigue and depression

• digestive issues

• breath restriction

• a constant sense of imbalance

Working in a kitchen amplified it.
Cancer amplified it.
My lifestyle amplified it.

I believed that training hard, eating paleo, and pushing myself mentally would heal me.

It didn’t.
It made the trauma pattern stronger.

I didn’t understand that trauma lives not in memory but in shape.
I didn’t understand that the nervous system stores protection in posture, and breathing.
I didn’t understand that the body keeps reenacting the moment it braced — until it feels safe enough to unwind.

The Nervous System Never Forgets

Even when the mind forgets, the body doesn’t.
When trauma goes unresolved, the nervous system keeps replaying the event — not through conscious memory, but through:

• tension

• posture

• reflexes

• breath

• emotion

• movement patterns

Mine replayed as a leftward spiral.
A kink.
A guard.
A cringe.

A shape learned in a split second and practiced unconsciously for twenty years.

Somatic Awareness: A Way Back

When I finally let my body show me its truth, something shifted.
Somatic practice taught me to:

• feel the twist instead of collapsing into it

• follow the pull without fear

• explore the protective shape gently

• unwind the trauma pattern slowly

• retrain my breath and posture

• rebuild a sense of internal safety

It’s not easy to sense misalignment when it’s all you’ve ever known. Even after a tremendous amount of practice. It can veil itself from our focused awareness with ease, and requires patience, persistence and positivity to shine the light into our darkest areas.
And, as awareness grows, the body reveals its story.

And with that story comes the possibility of change.

We can reprocess old experiences.
We can rebuild safety.
We can retrain the nervous system to let go.

A Shape of Protection, Not Failure

That twist — that cringe — was not weakness.
It was survival.
It saved my life. And is deeply ingrained in my being.

But survival mode is not meant to be permanent.

Yoga therapy, somatic movement, and breathwork helped me release the imprint, retrain my system, and come back toward center.

I’m still working on it.
Twenty years of a trauma pattern doesn’t disappear overnight.
But with consistent, dedicated work I continue to learn a new way, a way that not only feels great, but is reshaping the entire fabric of my well being. I know I will only continue to improve up until the day I die.

Healing isn’t magic. Your body IS the magic.
And every step — every breath — every moment of awareness can reshape your existence.

Living in Fight-or-Flight

When “Go Mode” Becomes a Way of Life

For the longest time, I lived in constant go mode.
I couldn’t slow down — not mentally, not physically — no matter how loudly my body cried out. I had just come out of a brutal motorcycle accident, and instead of rehab or any real recovery, I went straight back to work. No rest. No therapy. No pause. Just back into the chaos of restaurant life as if nothing had happened. I did as I always did, bury it. I was in pain, so what, keep going, you have work to do. I never recovered.

Something had happened.
A lot had happened.

I never healed after the motorcycle crash.
I never healed after cancer.
I never healed after years of pushing, grinding, and living under stress.

I just went back to life as if survival was the only path forward. And in many ways, it was — but not in the way I needed.

The Slow Descent

Deep down, I was in pain.
My body was deteriorating, and I didn’t even realize it. I tried to push through it — physically, mentally, emotionally — but my system was slowly collapsing under the weight of unresolved trauma.

I dissociated from my body because it hurt too much to feel it.
The subtle signals were there all along, warning me, begging me to stop, to rest, to listen — but I had no awareness of them. My mind was noisy. My breath was tight. My body was bracing in ways I couldn’t perceive.

To sleep, I drank.
To get through work, I drank.
Numbing became easier than feeling.

Everything became daunting.
Everything became a battle.

I tried every exercise routine, every diet, every “wellness strategy” I could find, hoping something would fix me. But my stomach kept getting worse. My energy dropped. My body felt heavy, toxic and exhausted. My mind never settled. My back pain was endless. And the tension… the tension became my baseline.

I looked healthy enough from the outside.
I ate “healthy” (or so I believed). I “exercised” (and greatly over did it).
But inside, I was hurting.
Inside, I was slowly shutting down. My candle was burning out.

Years of this — bracing, gripping, pushing, overriding — created deeper patterns I couldn’t see. My thinking, my breathing, my posture, my digestion… everything was shaped by stress. Everything was shaped by fear.

The Turning Point

It wasn’t until I found SomaYoga that something shifted.
Something cracked open inside me.
For the first time, I felt like I had found something that could actually help me — something that made sense, something that wasn’t about forcing or fixing, but about listening.

Slowly, through yoga, somatics, and breathwork, my body began to open. My mind began to lighten. A sense of ease — something I hadn’t felt in decades — began to return.

But healing isn’t a straight line.
Some days I would feel major breakthroughs.
Other days, I would fall backwards into old patterns.

Healing is a challenge.
Coming out of twenty years of pain and suffering doesn’t happen overnight.
It happens in waves.
It happens in spirals.
It happens through repetition and patience.

It has taken me years — years of practice, awareness, stumbling, learning, and trying again — to begin unwinding the deepest layers of tension and holding in my body. And honestly, I’m still unwinding. I’m still learning.

The Paradox of Awareness

As I became more aware, everything became more complex.
People think awareness makes things easier — but it doesn’t.
It reveals the truth. And the truth, is challenging to face.
It reveals the subtle bracing, the unconscious habits, the hidden fear, the ways we’ve been moving through life on autopilot.

The more we observe something, the more refined it becomes, thus more complex.
The inner world is no exception.

When you truly dive in — when you feel deeply, honestly, without numbing or distracting — things get confusing before they get clear. The somatic landscape is layered, intelligent, mysterious. And when you start paying attention, you realize just how much you’ve missed.

But this is where the real journey begins.

This is where healing shifts from “fixing” to “experiencing.”
From controlling to sensing.
From striving to allowing.

This is where you learn to get out of the way of the mind and perceive from the deeper, quieter place within — the observer.

Breaking the Spell of Fight-or-Flight

Living in fight-or-flight had been my normal for so long that I didn’t even know there was another way to live. I was always tense, always vigilant, always bracing for something — even when nothing was wrong.

To heal, I had to break the spell.
The spell of stress.
The spell of memory.
The spell of trauma that had been shaping my every breath and movement.

And to break it, I had to practice one thing:

Safety.
Creating it.
Feeling it.
Returning to it.
Again and again.

When the body feels safe, it can surrender.
When the body feels safe, it can soften.
When the body feels safe, it can heal.

This is the work.
This is the path.
This is the journey I’m still on.

And this is the journey I now help others walk — slowly, gently, with awareness and compassion — out of fight-or-flight and back into their lives.

The Body Remembers

How Trauma, Stress, and Habit Shape Our Inner World

The body remembers everything.

In many ways, that’s what the body is: memory. Every sensation you feel today—your posture, breath, tension, and reactions—was learned, stored, and repeated until it became your normal.

Trauma, injuries, and stress don’t just happen once and disappear. They leave impressions in the nervous system that change how we breathe, move, think, and protect ourselves. Every shock, every surgery, every moment of fear or overwhelm shapes the way the brain communicates with the body.

How the Body Stores Pain and Stress

When something overwhelming occurs—an injury, surgery, accident, war, assault, loss—the nervous system responds immediately:

muscles brace

breath becomes shallow

heart rate spikes

blood pressure rises

the mind shifts into survival mode

This is the body trying to keep you alive.

But if the system never fully discharges this survival energy, it gets stuck. What began as a moment of protection becomes a pattern running in the background. Muscles forget how to release. Breath stays tight. The mind stays on alert.

Even small triggers begin to feel dangerous.

Over time, this chronic activation contributes to:

neck and back pain

digestive issues

chronic anxiety

sleep disruption

headaches

emotional instability

burnout

depression

In modern life, this inability to “let go” of stress is one of the major root causes of physical and mental illness.

Thomas Hanna & Sensory-Motor Amnesia

Somatic educator Thomas Hanna described a phenomenon called sensory-motor amnesia—a loss of voluntary control over muscles that have been bracing for too long.

These muscles aren’t tight because they want to be.

They’re tight because the brain has forgotten how to relax them.

This creates chronic holding patterns we don’t even notice:

Green Light Reflex — living in constant “go mode”

Red Light Reflex — collapse, rounding, withdrawal

Trauma Reflex — twisting, asymmetrical bracing

Somatic work helps reawaken these forgotten pathways and restores the conversation between brain and body.

Developing the Felt Sense

As we build the felt sense—the ability to feel internal sensations with clarity—we start noticing:

where tension lives

how stress shapes breath

what thoughts cause bracing

where fear sits in the body

how old habits show up automatically

This awareness is the first step in unwinding chronic patterns.

Through gentle movement, breathwork, and re-education, we teach the nervous system how to release old tension and return to ease. The body begins to understand that it is safe again.

Breath & the Fear Circuit

Stress changes breathing instantly. The breath becomes shallow, fast, choppy—signals of fear and unsafety.

A dysregulated breath keeps the fear circuit activated.

When breath becomes slow, soft, low, and quiet, the whole system begins to shift:

vagus nerve activates

heart rate lowers

muscles soften

thoughts slow down

clarity returns

the body learns safety

Breathing is one of the most direct ways to influence the nervous system.

The Mind as a Habit Loop

Every physical pattern begins as a mental pattern.

Our thoughts shape our breath, posture, and movement.

If we constantly react from old trauma, we strengthen a negative feedback loop:

fear → tension → pain → fear → tension → pain

This becomes our default operating system.

Shifting this loop is the heart of yoga therapy.

Yoga teaches us how to reshape the mind into a supportive, compassionate presence.

My Realization: Pain as a Learned Response

I didn’t realize until almost forty years old that much of my pain was a learned response to trauma. For decades I believed my back pain, digestive issues, and emotional struggles were separate problems. I didn’t understand that they were connected—and that they were patterns my body had learned.

Somatic work changed that.

The practices were gentle and intuitive. They brought relief I had been searching for my entire adult life. Most importantly, they gave me hope. I always believed the body held answers, but I never knew where to look.

Yoga therapy showed me how to finally listen.

Healing Takes Time

Pain doesn’t appear overnight, and it doesn’t disappear overnight.

After twenty years of suffering, I realized that healing was going to be a long, patient journey.

The body remembers what it knows—especially the painful things.

Old patterns return not because you’re failing, but because the nervous system is trying to protect you in the only way it has learned.

Healing is repetition:

release

relearn

repeat

Over time, the nervous system adapts to a new way of being.

The Path Forward

Build your felt sense.

Nurture your breath.

Train your mind.

Stay patient, persistent, and compassionate.

Healing is not a miracle.

It is a practice—one that transforms you from the inside out.

The Awakening — Remembering the Body

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to help people live healthier, more connected lives. I imagined myself doing something holistic — guiding others toward balance, vitality, and purpose.

There was just one problem.
I was suffering deeply.

For years, I lived with debilitating stomach issues, intense back pain, and a heavy depression that drained every bit of life from me. I was broken — working in a high-stress industry that demanded everything and gave nothing back. I could never find the time to heal. I only found ways to numb it.

I felt trapped.
Trapped in a job.
Trapped in a body that hurt.
Trapped in a cycle that I couldn’t escape.

The Early Wounds

My body’s story of trauma began when I was seventeen.

A mysterious mass was discovered in my pelvic floor. It turned out to be a sarcoma, a serious cancer that immediately sent my life into a whirlwind of tests, surgeries, and treatments. My senior year of high school ended before it even began.

That was the fall of 1999.

Four years later, another blow — a carcinoma in my jaw. Thankfully, it was resolved with surgery alone, but the recovery was brutal and left lasting scars.

Not long after that, a violent motorcycle accident shattered what was left of my body’s sense of safety. I spent weeks in the hospital and months in agony.

All of this — the surgeries, the cancer, the crash — happened within a short span of years, right as my family was building and expanding our restaurant. I buried the pain, pushed through, and worked harder. The restaurant became my life — long hours, constant stress, endless motion.

My body didn’t forget any of it.

The Slow Decline

By my twenties, my health had begun to unravel. My digestion failed me. My bowels were a constant battle — often blood and mucus, no real relief, just waves of pain. Doctors offered little clarity.
I had colonoscopies, endless tests, and was told to take pills “for life.”

But something in me refused to accept that.

I began exploring holistic health on my own — diets, supplements, therapies, anything that might make me feel human again. I spent thousands of dollars chasing answers, following bad advice, trying every alternative approach I could find. But nothing seemed to address the root cause of my suffering.

Deep down, I was sure it all went back to my cancer — the trauma, the surgeries, the years of pushing and suppressing. My body was still holding the score, still fighting battles long after the war had ended.

Breaking Free

By my late thirties, the restaurant — the place I had grown up in, given my life to — was sold. And suddenly, I was free.

For the first time, there was space.
Space to breathe.
Space to ask who I really was without all the noise.

I knew one thing for sure: I could never go back. The restaurant world had consumed me. I couldn’t face another kitchen, another shift, another cycle of exhaustion and pain.

I thought about new paths — maybe working at the Mayo Clinic, maybe returning to school — but none of it stirred anything in me. Nothing made sense… except for one thing.

A yoga therapy program in Duluth, Minnesota.

I didn’t even fully understand what it was. But something in me — maybe the part that still believed in healing — knew I had to go. It was less a decision and more a calling.

So I jumped.

The Beginning of Remembering

That program became the turning point of my life. It was where I started to feel my body again — not just as a collection of symptoms, but as a living, breathing memory.

For years, my body had been screaming through pain and illness. Now, I was finally listening.

Through yoga therapy, breathwork, and somatic practice, I began to understand that my body wasn’t my enemy — it was my teacher. Every contraction, every ache, every knot of tension was a story I had never been allowed to tell.

This was the beginning of my awakening — the start of a journey inward.

A journey toward remembering the body.
A journey toward the breath.
A journey home.