The Code: A Guide to Health and Human Performance

168. Breathing First: Mastering the Fundamentals | Dr. Andy Sabatier

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Most of us breathe more than 20,000 times a day without realizing how much it's working against us, fueling stress, wasting energy, and keeping us stuck in survival mode.

 

Dr. Andrew Fix sits down with Dr. Andy Sabatier, a physical therapist who left behind a high-performance sports and ICU background to focus entirely on one thing: helping people breathe better. Together, they unpack the difference between functional and dysfunctional breathing and why this one act, done unconsciously all day long, has a ripple effect on pain, posture, stress, endurance, sleep, and more.

 

Dr. Sabatier explains why mouth breathing can push us into chronic fight-or-flight, how nose breathing activates the diaphragm and downshifts the nervous system, and what happens when we retrain our breath to work for us instead of against us. He breaks down his “14 words of functional breathing,” shares a client story that reshaped his entire practice, and offers a simple framework for how to begin.

 

This conversation isn’t about hacks or techniques. It’s a call to take ownership of something we already do, and use it to feel better, move better, and live with more ease.

 

Quotes

  • “Breathing is the single most impactful action any human being performs more than 20,000 times every day.” (03:47 | Dr. Andy Sabatier)
  • “How we breathe is how we feel, and how we feel is how we breathe.” (06:31 | Dr. Andy Sabatier)
  • “Conscious breathing trains subconscious breathing.” (35:47 | Dr. Andy Sabatier)
  • “Breathing is a privilege, it’s a play, it’s a practice, and ultimately it’s a performance.” (42:27 | Dr. Andy Sabatier)
  • “There is no perfect breathing. Your breathing is your own. You’re the only one that can do it. You’re the only one that can get fascinated by it. And building a relationship where you feel like this is something I enjoy is another way of trusting yourself and loving yourself that previously just hasn’t been explored.” (56:52 | Dr. Andy Sabatier)

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    Links

    Connect with Dr. Andy Sabatier:

    https://www.academywestperformance.com/about


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    Connect with Physio Room:

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    The Code: A Guide to Health and Human PerformanceBy Dr. Andrew Fix