EP33: The Gift of Life Force Breathwork With Nicole Nykolaishyn

This is winning with wellness, a podcast about inspiring the wellness warrior in you. If you're feeling lost or alone in your wellness journey, or looking for new ideas and inspiration, you are in the right place, a place you can learn about all things wellness, in business life and living your host Jenny rice, we'll be bringing you inspiring stories and practical tools to improve your overall wellness, personally and professionally. Imagine what living a life of wellness would be like. Thank you for joining us today.

Hi, everyone, welcome back to another episode of winning with wellness. I am absolutely thrilled to be here with Nicole and she is the the plethora of knowledge when it comes to breathwork. And I can't wait to dig into it with you. Welcome, Nicole.

Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.

Oh, it's gonna be so great. So I want to share with the audience who you are a little bit, give them some background and then we're just gonna dig into some juicy conversations sound good? Sounds good.

Yep. All right.

So you guys, Nicole is a proud mum, Best Selling Author and breathwork facilitator on a mission to support women through breath work to find their way back to who they are truly meant to be for inner peace, confidence and freedom. She is a certified health coach, a meditation instructor and a conscious connected breathwork facilitator. Nicole started breathwork because of a powerful, profound experience of her own and now shares her passion learnings and experiences with other women for inner peace, confidence and freedom. So they can rise up and feel the true beauty and joy of life. And honestly, I have to say Nicole has done I've been to many events when the cold doing the breath work, and it's a game changer. And I want to share before I really introduce you, Nicole, you guys I know her focuses is women. But what she's about to share with us, I've seen her do with men. So men, you have to listen, you have to step in. Just because her focus in her niche or women doesn't mean this doesn't pertain to you as well. So Nicole, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much.

Ah, so let's get started. I really want to talk about a, you know, breathwork? Can you explain just really quickly for people because there are some people on the show that are listening, that really might not understand what breathwork actually is? Or what it means?

Mm hmm. Yeah. So breathwork simply is breathing with. So you're doing it for a purpose, you know, really having you're doing it for a purpose to get a benefit out of it.

So, when we talk about breath work, and can you explain the difference between Breath, breath work and meditation? Or are they similar? Are they different,

they're actually in one way very similar in they provide very, in some respects, similar results, right, you're, you're still calming your system, or you're energizing from your breath, but you're getting very similar results. Just breath work takes you there a lot faster. Mm hmm. And is also oxygenating your body at the same time. So it's really fueling you.

What I love is you refer to the breath work as you know that focal point and get to where you need to go quicker. And when we think about wellness. Okay, so in your bio, I shared that you had a personal experience. And I would love to know what is something you've learned on your wellness journey that you would love to turn back time and share with your younger self? What is something that you've learned through this whole journey of stepping into I mean, you're a certified health coach, you're a meditation instructor and a conscious connected breathwork facilitator. If that doesn't say wellness, I don't know what does so what would you tell a younger version of you

be because everything's in hindsight, so many things, Jenny, but the you know, there's a couple things coming up first of all to trust and belief in myself because that's, I need to take care of me I need to I already have that within me. I just really need to hone in on that. And you know, to treat me as my best friend as if I was somebody else because there was so many times I didn't talk nice to myself, I didn't treat my body or myself the way that I, you know, needed to to be my best self. So just to really have that belief and honor myself and treat myself good. But then also to know that, that breathwork, you'd like that my breath was actually a tool for me to heal to support me in my growth. And in that moment, rather, rather than just be something that was automatic, I didn't put any attention, any awareness, anything behind it, because I didn't know. And so I really wish I knew about it then so that not only could I help myself to be the better person, better mother, but better everything in that time, but then to also teach my son that, you know, he could use his his breath as a tool into really keep him into if he was feeling anxious or upset or angry or to come back to his breath. But we don't know what we don't know.

Well, and that's a powerful, so I bet you there's some parents listening right now, when you explain this to a child, how do you explain it? How do you explain what breathwork are the benefit? Because, honestly, what a gift to give your kids, right? Like I in hindsight, we would have loved it as, as children to get, you know, a practice. So could you share that with me.

But I would probably explain it as it's gonna be a healing tool to help you calm down in the moment. And there's, you know, we can keep it fun. And there's like, you could make it like a, I don't know what or there's some some sort of breaths that are actually fun to do. So you can make it as a fun, energizing breath that you could bring in, in the morning. And, you know, to start your day or, you know, even just taking a breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth. And just say that this is every time you feel like, you know, you really need to just take a moment to yourself, you know, do do that breath or something sorry, I'm not very savvy with explaining that are

nerdiness kids, I got some really great nuggets from that, like, realistically, we need to engage kids. That's what I'm getting. And when you say, because I immediately go to how do we you know, get them to use it when things aren't great. But if you actually what I loved is sharing, you know how to energize yourself how to be excited how to. So if you can get them on the fun side of things. Get them to tap into it from from the area where it's a little more exciting, then it's easier to shift them into the mindset of using it as a tool, you know, when they're needing to pause? Because when we're kids, we're not well, oh my goodness, nevermind kids as adults. We're in such a reactive mode so many times in our lives that we don't take the opportunity to do the breath work to slow down and you know, really see what that looks like. So I'm really curious, what is something that in your wellness journey that you've learned about that you maybe haven't dove into yet that you're curious to try?

I think for me, I really curious about hypnotherapy. Hmm, and tapping to but hypnotherapy is really something that I really find interesting. And would love to have a session of my own. So.

Okay, I think I know someone who can hook you up. Oh, I'm pretty sure I've got people remind me we can make that happen? Behind me, right? Yeah. Because there

one that you that you are interested in that you haven't delved into?

Oh, my gosh, that's such a good question. There are so many oh my goodness, every single day, I am learning about a new modality that I didn't even know existed. So the one thing I haven't that come the first thing that came to mind if I had time to write the whole list out there's probably a 101st thing that came to mind is astrology. Like really digging into my numbers and my charts and all I find it fascinating that there's you know, so much ancient wisdom tapped into that whole like, just grasping grasp, trying to grasp all that and understand it and I'm always fascinated when when we're given you know, I'm a Gemini so when they read the Gemini, you know, traits, etc. I'm like, Oh my goodness. That's right. I know. So it's one of those things that I, yeah, I would love to do a little more work around. And I don't know that I want to learn the process. I think I want to be someone to do it for me, I think that's what I, I'm probably going to dig into next. Because there's a lot of knowledge there. And I don't know that I have the time.

Just to get the information for yourself. Yeah, you, right. That's why I'm very much into that too. I want to just learn it all so that I can you know, better myself and get that a lot of times, I just want them to give me the information so that it's like, okay, this is why this is why

Yeah. And I love that you bring that up, Nicole, because truthfully, so many times, many of us and I you know, I might be the only one in the room sharing this, you know, ultimately, I'm, I'm, I'm addicted to learning. That's just my nature. And when I step into something, I'm like, who I want to learn all the things and all the things, but there's something refreshing and self healing and putting self first to just receive, to not have to be the one that's giving all the time. And I think that's what I love about breathwork is that you're focusing on you. There's you don't need a lot of you know, there's not a lot of outside resources that you need is you work with yet yourself. I mean, we start with you, you teach us the things we we get educated. And and then it's very self driven, which I think is an amazing thing. So when people want to work with you in breath work, what does that look like? How did like what does do you? Do people meet you in person? Do you? Do you do online? Like what does that look

like? Yeah, I do, I can do both. I have a little studio here at my house. So if they're in the red deer area, um, they're definitely I'd love to do in person. It's a very different feel that online. I do both though, and I do groups and individual sessions. So yeah, I'm very open to all teachings. And just another point there on the breath is that it's with us wherever we go everyday all the time. We can utilize it in any moment we need. So that's just another gift that, you know that healing can can be in that exact moment that we needed.

When it I really want to, you know, put a beacon of light on that exact statement, you know, our breath is everywhere. And that's why this work and working with someone like you is so important is it's a tool that goes everywhere. We don't have to pack it in your suitcase. We don't, you know, we don't have to, you know, get through security to take it with us. We you know, we literally we possess it and own it and and have access to it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I mean, it's our life force really? Absolutely. Yeah. So that's really incredibly powerful. So when people work in breathing work, okay, so I experienced group sessions with you. And we did it in a large scale, we were at a conference. And it was incredible. And the impact that people shared was how invigorated they felt, how centered they felt, how focused they felt. So when someone works with you one on one, and mostly because I'm also curious as well, is it long sessions? Are they short? Like, what is your standard timeframe that you recommend for breathwork for people,

okay, so you, you can do very short breathwork sessions on a daily basis. And that's, you know, to get yourself centered to calm down, reduce your anxiety, your stress, you know, really focus on your daily practice. For myself, what I do is when I teach a group or individual sessions, it's there longer, so they're about 90 minutes, very different from what you've experienced. And you because you're breathing for about 45 minutes, you would lay down actually, and just have your whole breath session laying down. So it's more of a transformation and healing type of breath, rather than, you know, a five minute practice where you're really in the moment trying to settle either from task to task or, you know, bring down that anxiety or that stress in the moment. So it's a very different

experience.

Yes. and it doesn't experience it's, it's kind of hard to explain actually. Because breathwork literally is, is in your body, like your breathing, and it's in your body. And that's so until you actually feel it. And have that experience yourself. It's kind of hard to explain. But yeah, very powerful and profound.

Well, I want to highlight. So what I am getting, and now correct me if I'm wrong, because of course, I'm paraphrasing. What I'm hearing is from those smaller doses, or those smaller experiences is really about resetting. It's about centering. It's again, being conscious of your thoughts. Controlling, controlling is probably not the right word, but managing your surroundings and your own being in a certain situation.

Correct? Yeah, yeah, to really bring yourself into a place where you can begin to be aware of your own breath and how you're feeling in the moment. Because the more you're aware of how you're feeling in the moment, whether you're breathing in your chest or in your stomach, or both, right, you're actually because if we're breathing up into our chest, we're more in that stress state, we're more in that fight or flight. And if we're breathing from our belly and are using our whole chest and belly, then we're more in our parasympathetic. So we're in that rest and digest. And that's one of the things when you come when you breathe, like deeply into your nose, out through your mouth, you really centering and getting into that parasympathetic and calming down the nervous system. So that's really what you want to do for in that moment of just relaxing, and being aware of your body and taking note of where you're feeling it.

So when you've got somebody that's listening, right now, they're listening, and they're, they're not sure if they want to fully step in is there two or three things you could set somebody up to win, that want to just start dabbling in breath work at home? And they're like, Ah, I like what Nicole was saying, I'm not really sure if it resonates with me, is there a couple steps that you could give people to get? Get started? I mean, I think there's more to it than that, obviously, but to just give them some tangible takeaways,

um, like a breath, you mean, or just like a

Yeah, or a process, like, you know, should they be in a quiet room should you know what, what's the best way to set yourself up to win, if you're stepping into dabbling into breath work, you can do

it anywhere you feel comfortable, you can do it standing in the line at the grocery store, you know, if you just take a breath in, through focused and aware, release it out the mouth, or in and out through your nose, you can do it anywhere, doesn't matter. But I'm going to leave you with a breath that it's very simple, same breath in through nose out through your mouth, it's just very calming and relaxing. But if you want to increase it with the depths of your breath, and you can increase it, just a touch with the tempo, but if you do it slowly, you're going to really relax your body. And if you increase it a bit, then you're going to get a little bit more energized. So I'll just show you just real quick, yeah, that would be great. So the longer the exhale, the more relaxed you're going to be. And then if you speed it up

then you're going to get a little bit more energized and heightened and the trick is that with this particular breath, you want to keep it connected. So it's a circular breath. So keep it connected and consistent. So it's it flows, it's always been a circular motion, then that's really going to where you're going to focus and feel the shifts in your body. Just the two minute time out.

Curious when you say circle, I'm just gonna just pop in just so that people are grasping because some people can't see what you're doing. Obviously they can hear. So are we were talking that we don't pause to release or inhale. It's like in our in flow and there's no pausing. Is that what you mean by insert?

Yes, there's no pausing between the inhale and the exhale. So you want to keep a continuous and flow as like a waterfall. There's, it goes up and not a waterfall. Fountain rate goes up and down, up and down. Love it.

Okay, because I'm realizing as I was watching you do it. I'm like, Oh, I so pause.

We all naturally do. Yeah. And that's why that's why when we're putting our awareness on it, we're putting the attention behind it. We're actually have a we actually have a what is the word? Like? We're putting our intention to actually keep it consistent and connected and not have that pause. We're aware of where Our breath, we're in our body, we're feeling it from our belly from our diaphragm, which is our breathing muscle up into our chest and then letting it flow again. So that's, I know in it, you can't see me, but we're super

mindful then. Oh, yeah. I mean, I can see you. So, but that's what I think. So for those of us that are listening, those of you guys that are listening is really key, it sounds step into this, you guys can do this anywhere. The key like Nicole is saying is follow the flow of your breath, don't pause in any stage of it. And just keep that momentum. I mean, pitcher, you know, it could be a spinning top, it could be, you know, a water real moving. It could be whatever it is that like, everything is continually flowing, and there's no pause. And it's a very different, it's interesting, it feels very different when you do it. It's very intentional. And of course, if you're focusing on your breath, your mind can't wander. That's the ticket people.

That's why it's in your body. Right,

right. Oh, my gosh, I love it. Okay, I, I want to ask you. One last question. Before we dig in. And and say goodbye. Tell me Is there anything you wish that I've asked you that I didn't?

In this moment, nothing is coming to me.

Awesome. I just think for the tech for the host. Because you know, it's so I get so caught up in what I want to hear sometimes I want to make sure that you share what you want to share. So if you feel that we haven't missed anything. And what I'm excited about Nicole, you guys has offered a way for you to get some free connection with her through her website. All of that is going to be in the show notes. So just know right now she's doing some amazing work and redesign your website, but it's active. And under construction, I'm close. And she would love to invite you there to sign up for some free gifts on how to actually get into doing some breath work. And I know she does incredible workshops. And I'm not sure if you do post this, but it will help find what she's doing where she's doing it by visiting the website. Is there anything else Nicole, you'd like to add? Are you feeling good?

I'm just very grateful and honored that I could be a part of this with you. And thank you for inviting me. Oh,

thank you for doing the work that you do. Because, you know, so many of us is breathing is we do it. Absolutely. Without conscience we don't even think about it. And for you as a as a, you know, a wellness practitioner as a guide to bring to again, one of our major life forces bring our attention back to something so intentional, is such a gift. And it's so simple. Why is it you know, this is the thing, anybody that's listening, I invite you to connect with practitioners that do these things. Because if we were doing it, we wouldn't need these people. But the ultimate thing is, we're not doing it. So you need people to help guide the way. So I invite you to connect with Nicole. I cannot thank you all so much for listening, I encourage you to try the breathing technique. Remember, flow, no pause. I invite you to step into it and see what that looks like. Obviously connect with Nicole, if you want to dig deeper and do the healing work. It sounds like those hour and a half sessions. I would be climbing out of my skin. I think if I did that by myself, I would definitely need support. Yeah. And that's

why you do have a guide or facilitator coach with you. Because yeah, you need somebody to hold that space and guide you through.

I am fully aware that I would be the whole time going I could be doing this. I should be doing this. I know I know. So. Oh Nicole, thank you again so much for being here on behalf of the listeners and myself really appreciate you being here.

Thank you again very much.