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The New Addition To My Morning Routine: Master Your Mind Through Movement and Breathwork with Erwan Le Corre #348

Mar 28, 2023 2h 23m 33 insights
Today’s guest is someone who I have wanted to talk to for many years. I first came across him around 10 years ago and was fascinated by his approach to movement and, in particular, natural movement. Erwan Le Corre is the founder of MovNat, a school of physical competency entirely based on natural movement. Since 2008, it has quickly spread globally, with certification courses, weekend retreats and instructors all over the world. One of Erwan’s core philosophies is that many of us have become 'zoo-humans' and as a result, we are suffering physically, mentally, and spiritually. In his ground-breaking book, The Practice of Natural Movement: Reclaim Power, Health and Freedom, Erwan outlines a simple process to help us all get back to who we are meant to be. As humans, we are incredibly physically versatile. We can walk, run, sit, stand, jump, swim, dive, throw, catch, climb and more. But how many of these movements do we typically do daily? Why have we become removed from these intrinsic, functional capabilities? And does going to the gym or lifting a few weights at home, really compensate enough? Erwan currently holds the US National Record in STA (static apnea) with a 7 minute and 8 second breath hold. Over the past few years, he has been researching, experimenting with and developing his own breath-work practice, now named BreathHoldWork meditation. He launched his method online and I completed the course. It was one of the best courses I have ever done and it really has had a transformative effect on me. So much so, that what I learned has found its way into my daily morning routine. At the start of the course, I could only hold my breath for about 1 minute. Within 4 weeks, I increased that to 4 minutes and 20 seconds! It was not because my body had adapted physiologically, it is because he taught me how to harness the power of my mind. Erwan’s technique is completely different from The Wim Hof Method. In Erwan’s method there is no hyperventilation, which in his opinion means you can gain deeper insights, achieve greater calm and more quickly access a state of inner peace. By learning how to quieten your mind and nervous system, when your body is begging you to breathe, you learn something quite profound about yourself - and it is a skill that transfers into other parts of your life. If you can stay calm in this kind of environment, most things in life afterward appear relatively easy in comparison. This was a really enjoyable conversation, about inspiring you to rediscover who you really are - an innately capable and resilient human. I hope you enjoy listening. Enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. All other platforms https://fblm.supercast.com. Thanks to our
Actionable Insights

1. Master Mind Under Stress

Learn to quiet your mind and nervous system during extreme physiological stress, such as breath-holding, to develop a profound skill that reduces reactivity and stress in all aspects of life.

2. Practice Nervous System Down-Regulation

Actively practice the skill of down-regulating your nervous system to achieve tranquility, recognizing this as a crucial ability to counteract the constant pressures of modern life.

3. Cultivate Inner Trust

Intentionally establish and magnify an inner experience of trust through impeccable intention and prolonged attention, as this feeling is the supreme source of peace, patience, and clarity.

4. Shape Your Inner Experience

Take charge of intentionally shaping your inner experience, recognizing this ‘meta skill’ as the way to recondition yourself and gain power over your internal state.

5. Practice Mindset Resilience

When facing impatience, doubt, or negative thoughts, use these moments as opportunities to intentionally practice patience, self-confidence, and clarify your mind to foster a positive outlook.

6. Embrace Discomfort for Growth

View discomfort as a crucial learning opportunity, especially in practices like breath-holding, as mastering your response to it is the direct path to achieving deeper comfort and mental control.

7. Manage Self-Generated Stress

Acknowledge that much daily stress is self-generated by your perceptions; utilize practices like breath-hold meditation to create and then manage internal stress, fostering inner freedom and bliss.

8. Practice Daily Inner Regulation

Dedicate time daily to self-care by intentionally turning inward, attending to your emotional and mental state, and practicing internal regulation to reorganize, clear, and pacify your inner world.

9. Prioritize Experiential Learning

Focus on learning through direct experience and doing, rather than just reading, to build powerful inner reliance and self-confidence.

10. Cultivate Real-World Capability

Focus on developing practical physical skills like running, swimming, or climbing, rather than just looking fit, to build inner confidence and a sense of capability for unexpected real-world challenges.

11. Develop Physical Morality

Embrace a sense of ‘physical morality’ by developing a baseline of real-world physical capabilities, enabling you to protect and assist loved ones in emergencies.

12. Adopt Real-World Capability Mindset

Cultivate a mindset where your primary desire is to be physically capable in the real world, ensuring your body is prepared to operate effectively should unexpected situations arise.

13. Build Natural Movement Base First

Prioritize building a strong foundation of natural movement capabilities before specializing in specific sports or fitness, ensuring comprehensive physical adaptability.

14. Maintain Broad Physical Capabilities

Actively maintain a diverse baseline of real-world physical capabilities, including running, climbing, swimming, and environmental resilience, as a core part of your identity and well-being.

15. Move More for Brain Health

Engage in more varied and adaptable movement to combat mental exhaustion and depression, as the human brain is fundamentally designed for complex movement in changing environments.

16. Exercise Outdoors for Holistic Health

Choose to exercise outdoors in natural environments to benefit from fresh air, varied terrain, and diverse sensory stimulation, which provides holistic physical, mental, and emotional health benefits beyond indoor gym workouts.

17. Practice Non-Hyperventilation Breathwork

Engage in breathwork meditation that does not involve hyperventilation to gain deeper insights, achieve greater calm, and more quickly access a state of inner peace by focusing on mental mastery rather than physiological tricks.

18. Integrate Simple Natural Movements

Begin by incorporating simple natural movements like moving on all fours, balancing, hanging, or lifting and carrying objects into your daily routine, or join your children in their play.

19. Practice Natural Movement Anywhere

Incorporate natural movements like jumping, deep squats, or crawling into your routine, even at home or in a park, without needing special equipment, and give yourself permission to move freely.

20. Reconnect with Playful Movement

Approach movement with the same curiosity, playfulness, and willingness to experiment and fail as a child or young animal, repeating actions to master your body naturally.

21. Prioritize Enjoyable Movement

Choose physical activities that you genuinely enjoy, as this significantly increases the likelihood of consistent practice compared to activities that feel like a chore.

22. Practice Mindful Natural Movement

Engage in natural movement with full mindfulness and presence, focusing on the intention and efficiency of each action, which fosters deep satisfaction and enjoyment, even during difficult moments.

23. Seek Varied Natural Environments

Actively expose yourself to diverse and unpredictable natural environments to enrich your movement experience, build versatility, and enhance adaptability beyond familiar, controlled settings.

24. Connect Outcome to Natural Process

Do not separate desired physical outcomes from the natural, enjoyable processes that lead to them; instead, focus on engaging in natural movements for their inherent satisfaction.

25. Move First, Get Fit Later

If you’re feeling depressed and unmotivated, start moving first, even minimally, as this will lead to fitness and improved mood, rather than waiting to feel fit before initiating movement.

26. Test Basic Functional Movement

Practice sitting down from a standing position and getting back up without using your arms to assess your basic functional movement and identify areas of stiffness or imbalance.

27. Address Physical Incapabilities Directly

When you identify a physical incapability in a real-world context, such as open water swimming, actively seek lessons and practice to gain competence and build confidence.

28. Encourage Outdoor Play

Promote and engage in outdoor play in natural environments, allowing for free exploration and development of versatile movement skills, as opposed to limiting activity indoors.

29. Access Deeper Meditative States

Engage in intense meditative practices, such as breath-hold work, to enhance your ability to quickly and easily access deeper meditative states in all forms of meditation.

30. Lower Respiratory Rate Naturally

Engage in breath-hold work practices to naturally reduce your resting respiratory rate, aiming for fewer than 10 breath cycles per minute, which improves overall physiological and mental well-being.

31. Try Free Breath Hold Exercise

Access the free 10-minute breath-hold initiation exercise at breathholdwork.com to practice slow breathing and breath-holding, which can significantly improve sleep quality.

32. Access Breath Hold Course

Get 30% off Irwin LeCour’s online Breath Hold Work meditation course or live program by visiting breathholdwork.com and using the code LIVEMORE30.

33. Value Unquantifiable Experiences

Focus on the pure, unquantifiable experience of overcoming challenges and building resilience, rather than getting caught up in tracking data or external metrics.