This firefighter training video provides mental health training designed specifically for first responders. Tactical Yoga breathing helps firefighters’ learn to control their mental state and nervous system in high-pressure situations. This breath work has also been proven to extend airtime on your bottle and air management.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

Your nervous system is just like mine. It’s just like everyone else’s. But, we expect people to go into public safety and see more loss, death and destruction in one day than the average civilian will see in a life time, and you’re going to be cool with it? You have the same nervous system as everyone else which means you have to have a higher level of training in your nervous system and mind than anyone else, and that’s missing in fire service. You’re lucky you got anything.

The number on golden nugget I’m going to teach you is your breath work. Yoga is all about the breath work. If there is nothing else you take, make it be this breath technique.

The breath, respiration, belongs to autonomic nervous system, or you don’t have to remember to breath, right? Thank God.

And it’s also something you can control. That means that is your portal into your own autonomous nervous system. Do you know what else lives in the autonomic nervous system? Your stress response. Your mental state.

“If you can get a hand into your own autonomic nervous system, you can move levers and press buttons to get your own mind and nervous system to do what you want it to do.”

Olivia Mead, CEO and Founder of Yoga for First Responders

So, if you can get a hand into your own autonomic nervous system, you can move levers and press buttons to get your own mind and nervous system to do what you want it to do.

Get your hands really low on like your waist band or belly. Breath through your nose only for now. Big inhale and then put one hand on the low rib here. We’re going to inflate both of these areas. Okay so press in, here we go. Inhale and the waist open. Exhale and the waist and the belly deflate. And when you’re wearing your pack, and its tight on your waist and shoulder straps breathe and press into that restriction. Now, form here keep the hand on the belly. Take the hand that’s on your low rib and take it up towards your ribs, and press in.

I’m going to wrap my arms around his rib cage and all you have is the muscles of your ribs to get me off. Okay so exhale completely, I grab around your ribs and push me off with your ribs. Do you guys see how his ribs are expanding? That’s the amount I want you to breath into the ribs.

Here we go exhale completely, inhale belly, ribs, exhale ribs, and belly.

One more time, inhale belly, ribs wide wide, good, exhale ribs, belly.

Keep the hand on the upper rib and put your other hand on the chest. Inhale belly expands, ribs, all the way to the chest, exhale chest, ribs, and belly. This is called 3 part breath controlling your breath amount.

So inhale from the bottom up, belly ribs, all the way up to the chest, hold, exhale chest, ribs, and belly. Keep this going we’re not going to stop.

Arms by your side and also its about how you stand so lay the fingers lift the head up, get ready for training.

Here we go belly, ribs and chest. Biggest breath like you’re pushing against your pack. Exhale chest, ribs and belly. Keep going, now as you do it you’re going to count.

Inhale for three counts, Belly one, ribs two, chest three. Exhale evenly for five, four, three, two, are you still breathing? Exhale out. This is called Recovery breath.

Try it again, notice any fidgeting. Because that’s your mind controlling you and we’re disciplining the mind.

Alright so now we’re going to add some movement, stick with the 3 and 5.

Open up the knees and toes, the knees are going to be directly over your toes.

Inhale for three, one, two, three, as you exhale we’re going to go down into a squat. Fist into the hand, bend the knees over the toes. Wide, wide, wide. All the way down, elbows in, chest lifted. So widen your feet a little bit more so your heels are on the ground. Lift the chest, who stopped there 3, 5 breathing?

Are you going to ever find yourself in this position squatting down in your work? Yes, so as soon as you get in this position and you’re telling me you’ve lost control of your breath? Already? So get in this position, wiggle your toes in for three.

Take the hands to the ground and find a high plank position like a push up. Look forward and lay your fingers. In for three and out for five.

You might be in a confined space where you cannot move. You cant even move your head or helmet. So don’t drop your head, look forward. It sucks you don’t want to be here but control it with your breath.

In for three, let the shaking happen, exhale for five, and control your breath.

What we are doing here is mimicking the stress you’re going to find today.

In for three. As you exhale, the next time you exhale for five. Elbows in like a tricep push up, lower to the floor until your chest touches the ground. Here lift the chest, just the upper chest lifts up.

From here body, ribs, chest in for three. Exhale for five, would you find yourself in this position at work?

“You’ve got control of your nervous system if you’ve got control of your breath.”

Olivia Mead, CEO and Founder of Yoga for First Responders

Yes, so control your breath here. You’ve got control of your nervous system if you’ve got control of your breath.

If your back feels ready for it, press on your hands, straighten the elbows, lift the knees, knees off the floor so you don’t hurt your back. Exhale lift the but to the sky, chest back to the thighs and give me three breaths.

Imagine your chest touching your knees. Don’t stop breathing, in for three, as you exhale for five walk your feet up to your hands. Take your hands to your thighs, press the thighs back and lift the chest.

Parallel to the floor and parallel to the feet too. Move the shoulders back and lift the chest. Pretend there is a pencil between your shoulder blades, and you’re holding it there. Good inhale so I can hear it, exhale forward, fall, take hold off opposite elbows, and exhale down.

And now let your head drop like a bowling ball, let the hands go down towards the floor now. One vertebrae at a time, roll all the way up. Head is going to come up last, when you get to the top, good taking your time, big shoulder roll.

Standing back this is called basecamp. Give me one three part breath. Exhale 5 together, 4 don’t run out of air, 3 don’t run out of air… 2… 1.

Last physical drill, inhale arms up towards the sky, as you exhale pull the elbows down, lift the chest, bend your back and blade the fingers.

You know why I want your fingers bladed? Proprioception. You guys know what proprioception is?

It’s knowing where your fingers and body are in space. You have to grab tools with gloves on, right?

So if I’m saying blading the fingers and you’re doing this, it means your brain is not connecting to your body.

Inhale reach up, big breath in, let me hear it, exhale forward fall all the way down.

Inhale take the hands to the thighs, half way up the spine is parallel to the floor, squeeze the shoulder blades back, lift the chest up and look forward. Exhale forward fully. Inhale reverse the swan vibe all the way up, reach up, stretch up, slow count of five lower the arms, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

When we get to the bottom do not touch your shirt, go straight to three part breath. Good breathing guys slow exhale, relax good job.

One hand on your belly, one hand on your chest. Same three part breath, bottom up, exhale top down.

They have shown that when you give yourself mental messages like this, your nervous system goes from the threat response where you want to rip off your mask and get the hell out of there, to the challenge response, where your body is like, “F!@k ya, lets do this”. All because of what you say to yourself in your brain.

Olivia Mead, CEO and Founder of Yoga for First Responders

As you inhale this time silently to yourself, I want you to repeat I am calm as you inhale. As you exhale, silently say to yourself, you’re in control.

They have shown that when you give yourself mental messages like this, your nervous system goes from the threat response where you want to rip off your mask and get the hell out of there, to the challenge response, where your body is like, “F!@k ya, lets do this”. All because of what you say to yourself in your brain.

So we’re going to repeat that, inhale I am calm, exhale I am in control.

You can use that in your training today.