Classes improve breathing techniques

Invited to Ceduna by Terry Moschos, renowned elite performance coach Nam Baldwin visited Ceduna this month to run two breath enhancement training (BET) sessions.

Two sessions took place at Ceduna Area School with all 24 spots filled by sporting people, teenagers and older community members.

Mr Moschos, who had previously undertaken the session, said the training was a mix of theory and practical involving improving breathing techniques.

“It was geared towards surfing stuff, but it’s all about stress control and so I thought people could benefit from it, and surfers could benefit from things like holding their breath underwater,” he said.”There was a theory session about breathing correctly and how our breathing is connected to the nervous system, the heart and brain to handle stress, then we went into the pool for training.

“The first day we had a lot of surfers and sporting people, but the second day was more of a mixed bag – some were there to help breathe better, reduce their anxiety and stress.

Mr Baldwin has worked with a number of elite athletes, from the Richmond Tigers to Travis Boak and world surfing champion Mick Fanning.

Mr Moschos said he contacted Mr Baldwin, who was happy to to come over to run the sessions, and he thanked the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel Motel for sponsoring Mr Baldwin’s stay and the school for use of the pool and a classroom.

He said the feedback from the session had been positive.

“People said they got so much out of it and Nam is such a great teacher, and it’s stuff they could use in everyday life,” Mr Moschos said.

“Not a bad word was spoken and it was excellent to see all spots were full.”

Mr Baldwin said while BET was “primarily for surfers” it helped to deal with pressure situations.

“It helps to breath under pressure, and how we breath affects how our nervous system behaves,” he said.

“By teaching how to breath, it helps provide a better response to stress.

“This session helps improve a biological function such as breathing with more depth and rhythm, it helps to understand how it affects the heartbeat and how it correlates to the brain.”

Mr Baldwin said people who did not breathe well were stressing their body and when they go into a stressful situation they are already feeling the stress.

Mr Moschos said a Streaky Bay duo who participated in one of the sessions were interested in hosting a similar session there, while he said he was open to organising another visit.

Mr Baldwin said he would like to come back to run another session.