The New Addition To My Morning Routine: Master Your Mind Through Movement and Breathwork with Erwan Le Corre #348
Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, discusses natural movement for real-world physical competency and confidence. He also shares his unique BreathHoldWork meditation, which teaches mind mastery under stress without hyperventilation, leading to profound self-insights.
Deep Dive Analysis
14 Topic Outline
Defining Functional Fitness and Real-World Capability
The Psychological Benefits of Physical Competence
Critique of Mechanical Gym Training vs. Natural Movement
The Innate Human Drive for Versatile Movement
Societal Conditioning Limiting Natural Movement
Physique vs. Function: Prioritizing Capability
The Importance of Mindfulness and Enjoyment in Movement
The Connection Between Movement, Brain Function, and Mental Health
Introduction to BreathHoldWork Meditation
BreathHoldWork vs. Wim Hof Method: Key Differences
Mastering the Mind in Extreme Situations through Breath Holding
The Path to Comfort Through Discomfort in Breathwork
Regulating the Nervous System and Cultivating Inner Trust
The Transformative Power of Consistent Inner Practice
6 Key Concepts
Functional Fitness
Functional fitness, as defined by Erwan Le Corre, is about being 'fit for life' and capable in the real world, rather than just looking fit or being fit for a specific sport. It emphasizes the ability to perform natural movements like climbing, running, lifting, and carrying effectively in unpredictable environments.
Physical Morality
This concept describes an innate sense of duty to maintain a baseline of physical capability that applies to the real world. It stems from a desire to be able to protect oneself and loved ones in unexpected situations, providing a deep sense of self-confidence and inner reliance.
Zoo Humans
A term coined by Erwan Le Corre to describe modern humans who have become removed from their intrinsic, functional physical capabilities due to civilized society. This detachment leads to physical, mental, and spiritual suffering, as our natural movement potential is limited.
BreathHoldWork Meditation
Erwan Le Corre's unique breathwork practice that involves holding one's breath without prior hyperventilation. It's designed to create a self-induced physiological stress, providing an opportunity to practice mental qualities like patience, self-confidence, and clarity, leading to deeper insights and inner peace.
Physical Plasticity
This refers to the body's ability to adapt and transform in response to the type of physical activity performed. Different movements and environments lead to specific physiological adaptations, influencing not only physical appearance but also strength, flexibility, and overall functional capacity.
Down-regulation Skill
The ability to intentionally and deliberately calm the nervous system and tranquilize the mind, especially when under stress. This skill is crucial in modern society to counteract constant arousal and find a sense of safety, peace, and restoration, which is practiced and enhanced through BreathHoldWork.
9 Questions Answered
Looking fit often refers to the aesthetic appearance of the body, while being fit, or functionally fit, refers to the body's capability to perform real-world movements and adapt to various environmental challenges, regardless of its shape or muscle size.
Practicing natural movements builds self-confidence and capability, preparing one for unexpected life situations where they might need to run, jump, lift, or carry to help themselves or others. The knowledge of being capable is a significant source of inner confidence.
Modern gym training often involves mechanical machines that dictate and restrict movement patterns, isolating body parts and focusing on quantifiable results. This can lead to specialized strength but may lack the versatility, adaptability, and whole-body coordination developed through natural movement in varied environments.
From an early age, we are often denied the freedom to move naturally through verbal and non-verbal cues, being told to 'behave' or 'sit.' This limits physical expression, leading to a reliance on structured, often mechanical, exercise later in life as a 'supplement' rather than a natural way of being.
The brain's original evolutionary purpose is for adaptable movement through complex, changing environments. When physical expression is extremely limited, the brain lacks the necessary stimulation to perform optimally, which can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety.
Erwan's method involves no hyperventilation beforehand, unlike the Wim Hof Method. This means the urge to breathe comes more quickly, requiring the practitioner to master their mind and nervous system in a calm state, leading to deeper insights and a greater sense of inner peace without 'tricking' the physiology.
The primary learning outcome is mastering one's mind in an extreme, self-induced stressful situation (the urge to breathe). By learning to quiet the mind and nervous system when the body is begging to breathe, one gains profound self-knowledge and develops a skill of down-regulation that transfers to other parts of life, making everyday stressors seem easier.
Yes, while it involves navigating discomfort, the practice aims to lead to deep satisfaction and even bliss. The discomfort serves as a path to understanding and mastering comfort, allowing practitioners to find a state of timelessness, peace, and freedom from concern by intentionally choosing their inner experience.
Without actively trying to slow down breathing, consistent practice of BreathHoldWork naturally lowers one's resting respiratory rate. Many students observe their breath cycles per minute decrease significantly, often falling below 10, indicating a calmer and more efficient breathing pattern.
33 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.
8 Key Quotes
If you can stay calm in this kind of environment, most things in life appear relatively easy afterwards in comparison.
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
Looking fit and being fit are two different things. They are. And they are not contradictory. You could be fit and look fit. You could also look fit without really being fit.
Erwan Le Corre
Nothing, nothing builds that inner reliance, that inner confidence better than actually being able to do something and know that you can do it.
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
We don't need data. We don't need evidence. We don't need any tracker. We don't need any quantification of what's happening in your heart, in your brain, in your body, in all of that. Forget about that because the most important is how you perform, not just physically, but mentally, how you overcome, that's what is at the core of the experience.
Erwan Le Corre
Your body, the way I look physically, is a consequence of the movements I choose to do.
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
The reason why we have a brain, and neurologists will confirm that, explain that actually, is that we have a brain for movement.
Erwan Le Corre
When you do find that place, time is suspended. There's no worry. To not be worried, to not be concerned, how priceless is this?
Erwan Le Corre
My mind is ultimately dictating most, if not all, of how I feel, and I actually have more power over that mind than I previously thought.
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee