There are a lot of new-age wellness techniques touted that make even the least cynical among us roll our eyes – yes, we’re looking at you jade eggs. But on the flip-side, in times of unprecedented uncertainty, there are useful, yet often overlooked approaches that deserve more of the limelight. Breathwork is one of them.

Take one big inhale that expands in your belly. Hold it. Now exhale deeply.

Congratulations, you've just engaged in breathwork, an ancient practice that's quickly gaining popularity. If you're thinking, "Wait, I've been inhaling and exhaling continuously since the day I was born. Does that mean I've been practicing breathwork this whole time?" the answer is, unfortunately, no.

Breathing may seem pretty intuitive — breathe in, breathe out, continue until, well, death. An increasing amount of people are hyping up a more involved form of the practice. They claim that breathwork — breathing with intention and with certain rhythms — can help blood pressure, digestion, stress, and even mental health. Research on breathwork, however, reveals that while there's definitely some benefits to breathing therapy, it's a long way from a cure-all.

Kelly and Ryan learn breathing techniques on this episode of JanNEWary. Dr. Belisa explains breathing muscles, Kelly talks wardrobe malfunction, and both get to do Cat-Cow on stage.

During the episode, we dive deep into the psychology AND the biomechanics of breathing, how that applies to performance, information on her BREATHE class and new book Breathing for Warriors that will hit the shelves.

How’re your breathing right now? I’d wager it starts somewhere around your chest and makes your shoulders rise and fall.

Listen in as we talk about proper breathing, it’s health benefits, how it can improve your athletic performance, health, stress and more.

The average human takes 20,000 breaths in a day, but some healers say you're doing it wrong. A peek inside the woo-woo world of breathwork, which Meghan Markle endorses.

Dr Belisa Vranich is a Clinical Psychologist who teaches breath work for both physical and mental wellness. Dr Vranich is also the founder of The Breathing Class. We discuss healthy relationships, sex myths, diaphragmatic breathing, mental health and much more.

What if I told you that, in order to relieve stress through something as simple as your breathing, all you have to do is make yourself look pregnant? Yeah, you heard me: I'm not talking about literal pregnancy, though, so don't freak out just yet.

For something so basic, we sure do get it wrong sometimes. "Breathing is the most important thing we do, but the thing we pay the least amount of attention to," says Belisa Vranich, a clinical psychologist and the author of Breathe.

You do it more than 23,000 times a day, but are you breathing properly? From a rebirthing session to holotropic breathwork, Richard Godwin inhales the latest wellness craze

“Breathe in,” says Poppy Jamie, a 27-year-old doe-eyed former TV personality who is regularly spotted alongside Suki Waterhouse and Cara Delevingne. An odd request, but nevertheless, I inhale. “You’re not doing it right!” the Brit squeals giddily, pointing out that I’m raising my shoulders rather than expanding my stomach.

As founder of The Breathing Class™, Dr. Belisa has taught and lectured nationwide on topics related to dysfunctional breathing patterns and stress. Unique in its straightforward approach, The Breathing Class™ addresses both physical and psychological problems related to oxygenation that is out of balance, and teaching people to breathe in an anatomically congruous way that maximizes balanced inhales and exhales.

Are you doing anything right now? Of course you’re not—you’re reading wellness articles on the Internet. Why don’t you take a moment out of your rigorous afternoon of self-improvement and indulge in a long, deep breath? Inhale for six whole seconds, expel that air, and record, very specifically, what your body is doing while this is happening.

Now we do it up to 20 times a minute, around 30,000 a day... so you would assume that we would be experts at it by now... but think again - according to Dr Belisa Vranich, breathing is something we could all improve on. The correct breathing by an athlete can give the 0.1% increase in performance; the possible difference between gold and silver.

Mike Parry and Ray Parlour debate the top sporting issues, including Manchester United's difficulties under Jose Mourinho, shocking penalty misses, Gordon Taylor's huge wage packet and much, much more. 

Take a deep breath, because we’re about to introduce you to an early contender for 2018’s most out-there fitness trend: The Breathing Class. Currently sweeping across the US, classes in how to breathe right are inevitably on their way to the UK soon.

Breathing better isn't just for yoga any more, with top gyms across the US adding classes all about your breathe to their rosters. Slowing down and controlling breathing has long been accepted as one of the best ways to lower the heart rate and keep us calm. 

While we would all benefit from pressing pause and taking a much-needed break, jam-packed holiday schedules don't always allow it. Since taking a break isn’t always possible, having a 60-second trick up your sleeve to release that tension (and get a breather from your family) will be a life saver.

Belisa is also the Director of Breathing Science at The Ash Center for Comprehensive Medicine in New York City. Listen in as we talk about proper breathing, it’s health benefits, how it can improve your athletic performance, health, stress, and more.

Yes, we all do it; we breathe. But most of us take shallow breaths. In time, Vranich says, this can lead to an array of problems with seemingly no connection to dysfunctional breathing: trouble sleeping, irritable bowel, depression, fibromyalgia and more.

Whether once a day or once a week, take five minutes to do some deep-breathing exercises.