The Spiritual Necessity of Deep Breathing: How Nine Breaths Can Shift Your Body, Mind, and Soul

The Modern Challenge We All Face

We live in a fast-paced world right now. Wars are being waged, negative news cycles pop up daily, there is work stress, family demands, and relationship challenges to name a few of our daily pressures. I can open my phone right now and look at what is going on in the world and probably create a sympathetic response within my body within seconds. That is the world we are living in. More than three in five Americans (62%) experience stress at least weekly, with money, health, and work being the top contributing factors.¹ Nearly 90% of U.S. adults report losing sleep at night because of worries about health and the economy.² This constant state of stress suppresses your self-healing mechanism. Your body’s innate ability to heal becomes blocked when you remain in fight-or-flight mode day after day. Research confirms that while acute stress can temporarily enhance immunity, chronic stress suppresses the immune response.³

How Most People Experience This

Most people live in a sympathetic state most of the time and rarely experience the parasympathetic state. The sympathetic state is the fight or flight response and it sucks as much energy as possible from your body. Your digestion stops, your immune system weakens, and your liver becomes overworked breaking down stress hormones like epinephrine, norepinephrine, and excess cortisol. Meanwhile, most people have shallow breathing where they just go through the motions without ever filling their lungs completely. We have lost the art of breathing.

Your Body’s Intelligent Design

Your body already possesses everything needed for healing and spiritual connection. Research has shown that one of the best ways to bring your body into a parasympathetic state is with deep breathing. Exhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows down heart rate and has an overall soothing effect on the body.⁴ Studies have demonstrated that brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal more effectively than mindfulness meditation alone.⁵ Nine deep breaths can switch your nervous system from stress mode to healing mode. The parasympathetic state is very calming, healing, regenerating, and energy-producing. This is where digestion happens, where your self-healing mechanism activates and this is where spiritual connection becomes possible.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Nine deep diaphragmatic breaths scientifically shift your body from sympathetic (stress) to parasympathetic (healing) state
• Deep breathing activates your self-healing mechanism and supports spiritual connection through the pineal gland (your third eye)
• Breathing techniques can transform negative emotional states into balanced, high-vibrational states within two to three minutes

WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED

After 30 years of research and working with thousands of people worldwide, I have found that deep breathing combined with meditation is the most powerful free healing modality we have been given. It costs nothing, it activates your body’s self-healing mechanism and it opens your spiritual connection. And the cleaner your body is through proper detoxification, the more powerful your breathing practice can become. The 6 Secrets to Total Body Detox provides a foundation for understanding how cleansing supports deeper spiritual practice.

HOW YOUR BODY IS DESIGNED TO HEAL

Your body operates in two primary states. The sympathetic nervous system activates during stress, creating anger, frustration, impatience, and anxiety. The parasympathetic nervous system creates contentment, fulfillment, ease, peace, and enlightenment. Staying in the positive parasympathetic state increases your energy, and as well, renews your energy.

The Science of the Nine-Breath Shift

Research proved that one of the fastest ways to switch your body from a sympathetic state into parasympathetic state, is doing deep breaths. Clinical studies on heart rate variability confirm that coherent breathing patterns rapidly shift autonomic nervous system balance.⁶ Deep breathing is breathing through your stomach, from the diaphragm, not shallow breathing. Picture your lungs as two big tubes on either side of your body. When you breathe in, your chest should expand and the air should go in the bottom of your lungs first, then breathing all the way into the top.

The Spiritual Connection

Your pineal gland has more blood flow per cubic volume than any other organ in the body. It contains rods and cones just like your physical eyes, the pineal gland is your third eye. Every religious text, the Bible, the Koran, the Vedic texts, Buddhism, they all say the kingdom of heaven is within. Deep breathing combined with meditation is a scientific method of going within and activating your third eye.

THE HIDDEN ROOT CAUSE

Why Most People Struggle with Spiritual Practice

The root cause of lowered vibrational frequencies is nothing more than the toxicity and accumulation of chemicals and toxins. Through the air that you breathe, through the food that you eat, through the beverages that you drink, all the chemicals and heavy metals in your body, the electromagnetic radiation, pharmaceutical medications, even synthetic supplements. Any type of synthetic or substance, if it is manmade instead of nature-made, can lower your vibrational frequencies.

The Calcified Pineal Gland

There was a planned effort over many years to calcify the pineal gland and take away spiritual connection and consciousness. Fluoride, bromide, and chlorinated compounds accumulate in your system and calcify your third eye. Research confirms that fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland at concentrations higher than in bones and teeth, the mean concentration found in human pineal glands was 297 mg/kg, with some reaching as high as 875 mg/kg.⁷ This accumulation may affect melatonin synthesis and pineal gland function. Your pineal gland becomes blocked, and thus your connection to God weakens. Your ability to see your inner self and open the inner heavens becomes diminished. This is why cleansing is so important. The cleaner you are, the better your meditation is going to be.

The Gut-Mind Connection

Your gut is connected to your mind, and if your gut is not healthy, it is hard for you to relax. All the chemicals we are exposed to in the water, the air, and the food actually affect our mental abilities. A toxic, congested body creates a toxic, congested mind. Spiritual growth requires a clean internal environment.

RECLAIMING YOUR BREATH AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTION

STEP 1: RECOGNIZE (Understand the Shift)

Your body has a self-healing mechanism that activates when you enter the parasympathetic state. The Free 2-Day Liver Cleanse PDF will show you how to easily cleanse your liver so  your body’s ability to process stress hormones will become easier, and a clean liver creates optimal conditions for deeper breathing practice. Your liver breaks down cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. A clean liver means better stress management and easier access to calm states.

STEP 2: REMOVE (Clear the Blockages)

Start removing the toxins that calcify your pineal gland and block your spiritual connection. Iodine is one of the most effective substances for pulling out fluoride and bromide and decalcifying the pineal gland. Reduce exposure to synthetic chemicals in your food, water, and environment. Stop consuming tap water with fluoride and choose organic foods. These actions open the pathways for deeper spiritual experience.

STEP 3: RESTORE (Practice the Nine-Breath Technique)

The Proper Deep Breathing Method:

• Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose
• Breathe from your diaphragm, deep into the bottom of your lungs first
• Let your chest expand as air fills all the way to the top of your lungs
• Focus on your third eye, right between your eyebrows, picturing a black screen
• Eliminate all external noise and calm your mind
• Complete nine full deep breaths to shift into parasympathetic state

This technique has been used for thousands of years in different methods of breathing to calm you down and take you from a sympathetic state into a parasympathetic state. Breathing techniques like the Wim Hof method allow you to control your breathing, your stress levels, and even your immune system with your mind.

STEP 4: PROTECT (Build a Daily Practice)

Meditation is a free, powerful medicine that everybody should be doing on a daily basis. You can pull up real clinical, published research on what meditation does to your blood cells, to your immune system, to your mind, to the production of dopamine and serotonin, for anti-aging, to relieve symptoms of practically everything. Make deep breathing and meditation a non-negotiable daily practice to maintain your spiritual connection.

MY PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH DEEP BREATHING AND MEDITATION

I want to share something personal with you. Years ago, I was like many people. I would say, “I just do not have time to meditate. My day is packed.” I started with just five minutes a day for the first week. It was really hard. My mind wanted to go a million miles an hour and I could not quiet my thoughts. Sometimes I would even fall asleep and my head would nod.

I went from five minutes a day to ten minutes, then fifteen, then twenty. By seven months, I was meditating about an hour a day. Sometimes I would meditate in the morning and again later in the day. It became addicting to me because I was feeling so good.

What Changed Everything

Meditation makes you feel so good. All of your stresses for the day go away. You are energized,  you feel healthy, you feel alive. It really changed my life. And to this day, I continue to meditate and aim for two hours a day when possible. One of the strange things I noticed is that answers to problems I had been working on for a long time would automatically come into my mind during meditation. Solutions to challenges or new ideas, or things that would benefit humanity. When your body and mind become still, answers start to come to you.

Then I realized the importance of taking care of your body, your spiritual connection, and your mind. Deep breathing combined with meditation is the most powerful free healing modality we have been given. You do not have time NOT to meditate. Even if it is only five or ten minutes a day.

LIFESTYLE AND PRACTICAL ACTIONS

Building a sustainable breathing and meditation practice requires intentional daily habits woven throughout your entire day.

Morning: Begin each day by practicing nine deep diaphragmatic breaths before touching any electronics, grabbing your phone first induces a sympathetic stress response 90% of the time. Start with just five minutes of meditation daily and increase gradually over weeks and months. During your practice:

• Use shooting range headphones to block external noise
• Focus on your third eye, right between your eyebrows, picturing a black screen

Throughout the Day: Take five-minute breathing breaks during stressful moments and practice mindful communication. These brief pauses help maintain your parasympathetic state even amid daily pressures.

Evening: Win the evenings to win the mornings. Prepare your sleeping environment as an oasis with no sound or light, and aim for eight hours of sleep to reduce cortisol levels.

Environmental Changes: Create optimal conditions for deep spiritual connection by making these adjustments:

• Eliminate fluoride from your water to support pineal gland health
• Reduce exposure to electromagnetic frequencies, especially before meditation

CONTINUE YOUR LEARNING: FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Free Resources to Support Your Journey:

• Begin with the Free 2-Day Liver Cleanse PDF to guide you in supporting your body’s stress hormone processing and create optimal conditions for meditation
• Discover the 6 Secrets to Total Body Detox course to understand how cleansing the body supports spiritual practice (the cleaner you are, the better your meditation becomes)
• Watch Group’s YouTube channel for videos on breathing techniques, meditation, and raising your vibrational frequency
• Explore additional educational content on the Global Healing Institute website

“Meditation… best time to give gratitude, best time to pray.”

The power that made the body heals the body. Your healing begins now.

With love and light,

Dr. Edward Group, DC Global Healing Institute

REFERENCES

¹ ValuePenguin. “62% of Americans Feel Stress at Least Weekly, and It’s Severely Disrupting Sleep.” Survey of 2,026 U.S. consumers, March 2024. https://www.valuepenguin.com/stress-sleep-survey

² American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “Financial and health-related worries keeping Americans up at night, survey shows.” 2022. Referenced in SingleCare Stress Statistics: https://www.singlecare.com/blog/news/stress-statistics/

³ Segerstrom SC, Miller GE. “Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.” Psychological Bulletin. 2004;130(4):601-630. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1361287/

⁴ Stanford Medicine. “‘Cyclic sighing’ can help breathe away anxiety.” Based on randomized controlled trial published in Cell Reports Medicine. February 2023. https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2023/02/cyclic-sighing-can-help-breathe-away-anxiety.html

⁵ Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, et al. “Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal.” Cell Reports Medicine. 2023;4(1):100895. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9873947/

⁶ International Journal of Psychophysiology research on heart rate variability and breathing; Clinical studies on coherent breathing referenced in “How Breathing Techniques Help Calm the Nervous System.” https://www.thesupportivecare.com/blog/how-breathing-techniques-help-calm-the-nervous-system

⁷ Chlubek D, Sikora M. “Fluoride and Pineal Gland.” Applied Sciences. 2020;10(8):2885. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/8/2885

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This content is for educational purposes and represents Dr. Edward Group’s professional insights gained through more than three decades of clinical practice as a Doctor of Chiropractic. His specialization in natural healing, detoxification protocols, and the body’s innate healing capacity has been developed through working with thousands of individuals worldwide. The protocols and principles shared here reflect his clinical observations and expertise in supporting the body’s natural restoration processes. Individual experiences vary significantly based on numerous factors including current health status, toxic burden, consistency with cleansing protocols, environmental exposures, lifestyle choices, and each person’s unique biological healing timeline. This information empowers you to make informed decisions about your health journey.