The benefits of gym, yoga and coherent breathing

hannagillving
Sep 14
10 min read

To me, the practices of resistance training in the gym and Ashtanga yoga on the mat, are like getting the best of two worlds. I started doing both in my mid-twenties, and soon came to truly love them.

The more I have learnt over the years when diving deep into the world of evolutionary-based science, functional medicine and holistic health, the more I have come to realise just how powerful they are when both implemented in one's lifestyle, rather than doing just one practice or the other.

And, together, they are like yin and yang amongst health-promoting, physical endeavours.

For the love of it

Funnily enough, I haven't been on my yoga mat in quite some time. As the saying goes; sometimes life happens (and sometimes, you get distracted). But since I miss and crave my yoga immensely, I am getting myself back on my mat, to create a new routine of practice.

And if I know myself, this most likely also means that I will start teaching yoga classes too, in one form or another and parallel to my guidance of purifying breathwork sessions. Because I do love teaching, guiding, holding space. It is one of my elements, and so it comes naturally, the joy and love for it. And if you have the ability to somehow help other people, then why not do it?

Vagus nerve stimulation

Yoga is about consciously breathing, whilst synchronising movement (asanas) with your inhales and exhales. The breathing technique in Ashtanga (my go-to yoga practice), is called ujjayi. It's a form of connected breathing done through your nose, making a wheezing Darth Vader-like sound from the back of the throat and elongating each inhale and exhale, slowing down the tempo of the cycles of breath.

This induces tranquility from within and de-clutters thoughts and worries. It enhances the mood, helps you get in touch with your heart and in tune with the body, and releases stress, stored-up emotions, and dissolves anxiety.

One of the reasons for some of these factors, is that ujjayi, like many other breathwork practices, stimulates the tenth cranial nerve a.k.a. the vagus nerve (more on this later is an upcoming post), and because it increases your levels of carbon dioxide in the blood stream.

Carbon dioxide is fuel for life

Carbon dioxide is a key ingredient for oxygenation, health, and life. If levels are low, you aren't able to utilise the oxygen you inhale, which means that your cells and mitochondria (your little cellular powerhouses) can't produce enough energy for you to function fully, or thrive, as you are evolutionary designed and built to do. I wrote it in my first book KETO-licious, in regard to food and breathing; most people in modern time do not yet know how great they are supposed to feel, function and do. Because due to modern life's processed foods, high amounts of sugar, and dysfunctional breathing patterns, most people these days are inflamed, chronically ill on the inside, and carrying brain fog rather than properly oxygenated cells and cognitive clarity.

Through real food, breathing exercises and by consciously doing what we can with the tools we have to align life with the human evolutionary blueprint, holistically, we all have the power to change this. Little by little, day by day.

An antidote to anxiety

Improving carbon dioxide levels is an antidote to anxiety, too. As Dr. Singh, also a yoga (and thereby breathwork) practitioner, once wrote;

"Carbon dioxide is very important for our brain. When we have CO2, we have logic, common sense, reason. When we do not have it, we can experience panic attacks, we can be depressed, angry. This is possible when CO2 is the factor of stability of our nerve system. Because of this very fact, CO2 is called tranquilizer and sedative of brain."

Coherent breathing

A simple yet powerful breathwork technique to be used in everyday life, is coherent breathing. Breathing in a 5.5 or 6 second cadence, through the nose and silently, are the basics and while doing so, you will engage your whole diaphragm. It's an easy way of reclaiming your natural breathing patterns; most people today breathe dysfunctionally, from the upper chest, shallowly and most often through the mouth rather than nasal breathing. We do so since around the entrance of the industrial revolution, and as a consequence of modern fake foods, chronic lifestyle illnesses, and the nowadays somewhat constantly switched on stress-responses (the sympathetic branch-activation) in the environments of big cities, and with lots of digital, artificial lights-exposure.

Returning to the body via the breath, can be a gentle remedy. It teaches your body to relearn functional breathing patterns. And what I love about coherent breathing, is its simplicity.

The breath-related mystery of music, mantras and prayers

Historically, humans from many cultures have been practicing it for many, many years. It is an intriguing mystery; that the chant of Ohm, the buddhist mantra that goes Om Mani Padme Hum, the original latin Rosary prayer, the Catholic prayer Ave Maria and other known songs and sounds...

They are all sung or recited in a similar cadence and symmetry, with breathing patterns of a 5.5-6 second inhale followed by a 5.5-6 second exhale.

And doing so takes us humans into a state of "peak efficiency". Innate calmness and balance where our systems and organs enter homeostasis. This is a very healing, or should I say health-promoting, state to be in.

The gym and gut health connection

It is well known within that functional medicine field, that resistance training improve gut health. To include 2 or 3 weekly gym sessions to your self love habits, will not only make you stronger, healthy and vibrant on the outside. It will boost your microbiome, too.

By building a stronger hormonal environment in your gut and increasing gut barrier permeability (your gut's ability to control what goes into the bloodstream from your intestines), you will build a stronger immune system to keep you less prone to get sick, inflamed or infected. This also means less brain fog and fatigue, and more mental clarity and energy.

Resistance training will also...

Improve your insulin sensitivity (a protector against type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases)
Reduce the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines (especially positive for those who wish to reduce or reverse the risk of arthritis and other age-related conditions)
Increase your 24/7 fat-burning ability (positive because: visceral fat drives inflammation in the body, increases the risk of fatty liver, metabolic syndrome and earlier-than-necessary-mortality)
Increase your lung capacity by increasing oxygenation uptake (more muscle means greater chances of oxygenation, and the better the lung capacity, the longer the life)
Increase your chances of hormonal homeostasis (which is key for health in men and women)

Gym and yoga promotes brain health, learning skills & memory

A pic from one of my bootcamp trips to Scotland

A meta-analysis of 36 studies published in April of 2025, compared six types of exercise, and found that three kinds significantly beat cardio (e.g. running) when it comes to boosting the protein that goes by the name Brain-Derived Nootropic Factor (BDNF).

Decreased levels of BDNF are associated with conditions such as dementia, Alzheimers disease, multiple sclerosis and other neurological illnesses characterised by neural loss.

By engaging in resistance training such as lifting weights, and doing yoga and occasional bursts of High Intensity Interval Training, you have the ability and power to increase BDNF and thereby transform your health and well-being, both in the now and preventatively. And who wouldn't want to improve the chances of living life being able to keep learning, with a highly functioning brain and massive mental clarity?

Greater muscle mass is also about bone health

I would recommend anyone, regardless of age and life season, or gender, to increase their muscle mass through resistance training in the gym. Especially for building better bone mass, with a long-term impact and gaining autonomy in later parts of life. Good bone health gives greater mobility and improves the chance of aging gracefully, allowing you to be physically self-sufficient when you reach your latter life seasons. For instance, being able to use the restroom independently.

It is good to live in the present, but it it also great to glance at the aspects of getting older.

Increased focus, dopamine and joy

Just as breathwork and yoga bring meditative benefits, you can use gym sessions to increase your focus and find a meditative flow. You will certainly not be able to move between different states of consciousness, like when for instance lying down and doing the practice of lovely Tummo breathing, but you can indeed use it as a focus-enhancing anchor.

I find meditative flow in my own gym sessions, and they too are a break from what Buddhists call "the monkey mind". Just in a different way than when working solely with the breath, or when bending and breathing in yoga.

Other perks which all of these practices have in common, is that they induce mood-improving chemicals such as endorphins and dopamine, resulting in naturally induced pain-relieving chemicals and joy.

How to breathe when resistance training

Bringing a bit of conscious breathing into your gym sessions, is of course a key component. For improving your physical capacity, endurance, minimising chances of fatigue, and gaining greater ability of recovery. One great way of doing so, is to primarily breathe through the nose (with lips closed) during the training. And to synchronise your movements, muscle contractions and the inhales and exhales of your breath.

Also, practicing coherent breathing in between sets will give you greater recovery. And I would recommend creating a post workout-ritual of three, 5 or 10 minutes of this way of breathing, while listening to soothing music in your earphones, or tuning in to a guided breath recording. Or do a non sleep deep rest session (a fancy name for yoga nidra, or body scan).

How to get started if you are new to the gym

To get started, a nice initial step is to hire a personal trainer or connect with somebody who knows what they're doing in the gym, to teach you the techniques of the functional strength training basics. Ask for guidance, share your goals and devote time to do sessions with your trainer, and you will soon possess the confidence and knowledge on how to train independently. If you're a newbie to resistance training, you will need proper, hands-on guidance and time to learn (by doing). So I recommend choosing a person to help with the technique and a selection of whole body-exercises to create a solid foundation and a tailor-made program for you.

Proper technique is your solid foundation

Learning the technique is key, as it will ensure that you are activating and properly working with your muscles, in a safe way. The body remembers through repetition, and so in time you will have grasped how to perform your selection of exercises both correctly (technique-wise), efficiently and sans risk of getting injured, so that you can feel and be ready to independently go to the gym.

Training while travelling

Having a gym routine is also great when travelling. Most hotels have gyms equipped with the necessary basics of barbells, kettlebells and ropes, or machines. And starting the day early with a 50 min session before breakfast, sets a really good tone for the day.

Combining your own training with personal training sessions

There is also the opportunity of combining your own, independent sessions with semi-regular PT sessions. Do what feels best for you. There is expertise, and human connection, to be found in training with a teacher or trainer, and you can return to that practice for the joy of it.

To switch up your routine or continue building your program. To keep the fire of inspiration going.

Or perhaps gain a different or new perspective on wellbeing, with possibilities of building other new, healthy habits and gaining mindset-related expansion, too.

A note on training and nutrition

Low-carb-high-fat food a.k.a. proper nutrition

If weight loss is part of the reason you wish to get started with gym training, I would recommend taking dietary advice from a nutritionist who knows the aspects of our evolutionary blueprint (which includes knowledge on the addictive brain and its biochemistry). Unfortunately, there is still a lack of knowledge within te gym industry on how nutrition works, and specifically how it can also affect individuals differently and with regard to the three general brain biochemistries from so called normies (who can eat most things), in between'ers (who tend to use addictive foods as an intermittent, abusive anxiety drug) and addicts (individuals who need to abstain from certain foods in order to live a healthy, balanced and worthy life).

Many gyms today still offer nutritional weight loss guidance in forms of "deff" diets such as the sorts which competitors of body building contests engage in, and chances are you'll end up starving both your brain, body, hormonal inner environment as well as your spirit from the healthy fats and volumes of proper food which you need in order to function, feel, live well and thrive – holistically.

"Quick fix" strategies are doomed to lead you astray

A healthy, fit and strong body is best built and nourished through real food, in alignment with your specific needs (in terms of individual allergies, brain biochemistry, inner hormonal health status, blood type, metabolic and genetic blueprint).

Depriving yourself of proper nourishment or going on low-calorie and low-fat diets will most likely just lead to a messed-up metabolism, meaning you might get fast, physical results in regard to weight loss, but you'll gain those pounds or kilos lost, once you go off the diet.

And as a consequence, your body's ability to burn fat will slow down. Add to that the physiological suffering of possibly having developed a broken relationship to food and perhaps an obsession in regard to counting calories or monitoring your weight, and chasing ways to burn fat rather than to enjoy life and be present. Or the blood sugar-related rollercoaster rides and diabetes dilemma, due to the sugary or high-carb-low-fat diets of the fitness industry.

There are far better and more joyful ways of reaching your goals, through fun and functional workouts, proper food tailor-made for your needs, and other important pieces of the puzzle.

And as always, having a holistic and wholesome approach, is the way.

With love,

Hanna

#holistic health #ancestral #wellbeing #functionalmedicine #nutritionist #ketolicious #wayoflife