MADISON TOWNSHIP – John Gibson doesn’t usually get stage fright.
But two minutes before he was scheduled to train 300 Madison Local School District teachers, he had a panic attack.
Luckily, Gibson is a breath coach and knew exactly what to do to get his body and mind back to normal. He took his phone out of his pocket, played 90 seconds of an audio breathing instruction tape and slowed his breathing down before telling himself, “OK, you’re ready. Go.”
Gibson has always tried to be mindful of how his emotions and stress levels affect his health. As he learned from being a casualty notification officer in the U.S. Air Force for 24 years, “you can’t be resilient against your anxiety if you’re not treating it right.”
When he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after retiring from the Air Force, Gibson wanted to find natural practices he could use to better handle his stress and sleep patterns. The answer to his search was an online certified breath coach training that Gibson now uses to lead others in breath exercises that helped him.
Gibson started his business, The Breath of Life11, last year and has offered guided breath sessions for large groups and individuals at introductory and advanced levels. He said there are five other businesses in the United States with “Breath of Life” in their names, so he added his favorite number to the name of his business.
“When you start doing this, it sells itself,” he said. “It’s mind-blowing because it’s health and wellness and you feel it in your body instantly and you’re like, ‘I needed this, I needed a three-minute breath just to calm down.’”
Gibson said he has helped trauma survivors, veterans, athletes, therapists and others learn how to breathe for different situations. During his first year as a practicing breath coach, Gibson said he offered many sessions free in exchange for feedback. Even now, he advertises a free 20-minute discovery session for people who are interested but don’t have the money or aren’t sure about the effectiveness of the breathing exercises.
Superintendent Rob Peterson said teachers told him they appreciated having the breath exercises and skills to manage stress throughout the day.
“Some stated that the presentation was one of the most impactful professional development sessions they’ve had in their careers,” Peterson said. “We really appreciated John coming into our district and providing our staff with a valuable tool to offset the stress that is involved in the education profession.”
The three baseline breaths Gibson teaches to everyone in his sessions are what he calls coffee, water and whiskey. Coffee breath is energizing, helping people wake up or prepare for exercise, while water breath is balancing and whiskey breath is relaxing.
“You just have to be in the right one in the right time of day,” Gibson said. “You don’t want to be in fight or flight, coffee breath, when you’re going to bed. When you can’t sleep and can’t turn it off, usually it’s because you’re in fight or flight when you need to be in rest and digest.”
Gibson’s baseline breaths each focus on a different ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide while breathing. The concentration of carbon dioxide controls how quickly someone naturally breathes — the higher the concentration, the slower and more relaxed the breath.
“Of course, everyone has to learn that your CO2 is healthy, external CO2 is bad,” he said. “When they get more in tune with their body is when they start going, ‘Now I’m trying to get my nervous system where it needs to go.’”
Gibson recorded videos of himself leading breath sessions to become a certified breath coach. He also uses three-minute audio recordings of himself leading different breathing exercises to give to everyone who takes a class with him.
“If I can listen to my own voice and fall asleep, you guys can do it,” he tells clients.
Gibson first turned to family members to practice guided breath sessions, including his children and niece. Tina Yarger, his niece, is on the leadership team for Avenue Church’s Celebrate Recovery program, which participated in a group breath session in July.
“For me, it was a recap of what I already knew but I think it was a good experience for us — just team bonding and trying something different. We got a lot of relaxation out of it,” Yarger said.
Yarger said she has been able to share the breathing exercises with her youngest brother to help him respond to his anxiety. Her personal favorite breath is coffee breath because of the burst of energy she gets from practicing it.
“I need a lot of energy — I’m in school, Celebrate Recovery and have kids,” Yarger said. “I think that was the breath that made the biggest difference for me. I can even do it throughout the day and I wouldn’t get the jitters of what coffee gives you.”
Yarger said the breathing exercises don’t take a lot of time, but she has to be intentional about practicing them.
“It’s not the first thought in my mind to practice breathing,” she said. “I would say if you’re interested in improving your bodily functions, you should look into breathing techniques because it’s holistic, it’s natural and it’s going to help you.”
Josh Hurrell helps lead the Celebrate Recovery program and he also works at Richland County Veteran Service Commission. Gibson led the Veteran Service Commission’s staff members in a breath session in spring 2022.
“Veterans of course struggle with a lot of mental health and other issues, so learning from him those techniques may allow them to have less stress factors,” Hurrell said. “The breathing experiences actually do help you get more relaxed, get the things out of your mind that shouldn’t be there while you’re getting ready for things.”
Hurrell said Gibson’s breath exercises have helped him sleep better. Gibson himself tells customers he often falls asleep two minutes after starting his whiskey breath recording.
Gibson said anyone who wants to make a noticeable change in their stress levels and breathing habits should practice the three baseline breaths at least once each per day.
“If they do it five days in a row, they will notice the change in their body after two or three days of stopping it,” he said.
Once Gibson’s clients understand the three baseline breaths, he said they can make their own up using the same principles he teaches with oxygen to carbon dioxide ratio. Gibson also has more advanced breaths beyond baseline he teaches in advanced sessions. He cautions customers against using extreme breathing practices that sustain coffee breath for too long.
“Coffee breath is like a reverse breathing — like someone throwing a football at your lower stomach and you sneezing out at a fast pace,” Gibson said. “When you do that, you’ll get a little bit lightheaded putting your body in fight or flight.”
Gibson said the breathing exercises have helped him manage his own stress and PTSD and he hopes he can help others do the same.
“What got me into it was my personal trauma, but it’s also that I’m an empath,” he said. “I want to help heal people and I love teaching and educating.”
Prospective Breath of Life11 clients can contact Gibson at 419-566-0687 or at thebreathoflife11@gmail.com.
