Breathing's Rhythm to Learn New Moves

That uncomfortable moment when you freeze and hold your breath because you didn't quite understand what you were supposed to do. That's the biggest opportunity for embodying something new. This happens in every single class I have been teaching or when I am a participant; and it's something that I particularly get positively excited about. Is when we are without any doubt present in the room. We are out of our automated behavior.

In the experience of the students, it can be frustrating at times. We as adults have the urge of being correct, and this closes the door for learning quite quickly, sticking with those situations where we thrive first hand. So this post is about encouraging you to keep trying that new move or activity that you fail 70% of times but you get 30% right.

The Challenge of Overloaded Senses

For truly master anything we set our minds to, we must activate the intricate body mechanism that allows us to receive information from the world around us. This process begins with our senses, which gather data, but it doesn't stop there. We must internalise this information to either retain, respond to, or discard it.

But how can we trust our senses when they are often overwhelmed by the chaos of overthinking? Or our minds wander, sometimes without us even realising it. This raises an important question: How do we cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters? The first step is take a long deep breath.

Synchronising breathing is controlling the mind

Millions of neurons are in synchronicity when we focus aided by rhythmical breathing. Increasing scientific research demonstrates that, when we control our breath, what we are actually doing is taking our brainwaves in hand and tethering the rate of their fluctuations to our breathing rate. There are different benefits behind diverse nose breathing patterns, but mastering them is not a relaxing task, the relaxing state comes afterwards. That's why dancing, meditating or any other activity that nurture our concentration with motor control system and paced demands are so beneficial for our mental health. Then when you notice during your session that you are uncoordinated or overthinking, pay attention to how are you breathing. The rhythm is key...

Begin simple with coherence breathing

Here I leave you one tool I use on daily bases to improve my breathing awareness during the day. The more you learn how to observe your breathing, the easier will get to learn with clear senses. The coherence breathing, also known as resonant breathing, is a slow deliberate breathing technique that has practical and positive results also in your HRV. Every 6 full inhalation-exhalation in equal durations is one minute. You can start with 5 minutes for example, trying to listen to your “inner ocean” (the sound that you create while nose breathing with mouth closed and exhaling through the back of your throath). For a reference watch the video below, try to aim for soft gentle breaths, take your time and enjoy.

5 Minute Coherence Breathing Visual & Sound Guideline

To learn, we must pause daydreaming

Those catatonic looks, or constantly blinking eyes in my classroom are signs that I have daydreamers and my job is to bring them back through some movement they are not used to and spark their curiosity. Can you recognise when and how long your mind wonders during the day? The Default Mode Network is a collection of interconnected brain regions that are more active when the brain is at rest or not engaged with an specific task. It's an important state where we have an internal dialogue, organise our memory and we plan ahead. According to recent Harvard studies made in US. The 47% of our daily time we are immersed in DMN, unconscious of what are we doing. The healthier rate and recommendation is 20% to 30%. The balance can be set if you recognize how many hours of your day you need to focus your brain in a task. If this task is mentally consuming, a physical activity that is less coordination demanded is a nice bliss, but if you keep always this type of trainings, again your senses will not be as sharp as they could be. Your body is your best tool to experience the world, so expose it to diverse environments and attempt new skills.

Find your strategies for Clarity

To finish this post about unlocking the power of learning new moves, I remind you that the first practical step is pay attention to your breathing pattern, and through this not just your senses will begin to sharpen but you can continue to figure out your own strategies for:

• Mindfulness: Practice being present, notice when and why you are daydreaming.

• Limit Distractions: Look for environments that enhance focused learning.

• Reflective Practices: Regularly assess what you’ve learned to reinforce retention.

  
  

By implementing these strategies, we can better navigate the complexities of learning and truly harness the potential of our senses. I wish you patience to fail enough, so when you do it correctly brings the right motivation to keep learning.

As the philosopher Seneca well said: "As long as you live, keep learning how to live"