- Tim Wagner, a former hospitality professional, transformed his life by embracing proper breathing techniques to manage stress and anxiety.
- After quitting his stressful job, he discovered that nasal breathing acts as a natural tranquiliser, helping to calm the nervous system.
- Now a professional speaker and mentor, Wagner teaches others how to harness the power of breath to improve mental clarity, reduce stress, and achieve a better quality of life.
Nemo’s Dory believes one should just keep on swimming, but Tim Wagner believes we all should just keep on breathing . . . in the correct manner.
As a self-proclaimed breathing alchemist, this professional speaker, mentor and guide is not alone in believing today’s hectic lives demand one doesn’t take time for oneself, and sometimes there isn’t enough time to ensure one breathes deeply enough.
Wagner’s first tip to reducing daily stress? Shut your mouth and breathe through your nose.
After 27 years in the hospitality industry he was a burnt-out professional who, six years ago, packed up his personal belongings from his office and just quit. A situation he would probably have handled much better if he knew how to think things through more calmly by taking deep breaths.
Wagner remembers sitting behind his desk on a chilly Autumn night, looking at all the papers on his desk. “I was so flipping tired of being stressed and just saw problems when I should have been supplying solutions. I just thought ‘I can’t do this anymore. This is not what my life was meant to be like.’”
Because of constant stress at work his family life was also in disarray.
One of the most difficult decisions of his career
So Wagner made the dramatic decision to change his situation. “I had to get out. I picked up my bag, and walked out of my office, out of the building. I was done.”
He never went back.
This knee-jerk moment was one of the most difficult decisions Wagner had to make in his entire career, but it enabled him to discover breathing three years ago while training to climb Kilimanjaro. He learnt breathing could help with anxiety if one did it through the nose. “Breathing then acts as a natural tranquilliser to one’s nervous system, which automatically calms you if you are stressed and anxious.”
Wagner found this fascinating and started to focus research on the benefits of breathing techniques, which led to transformational breathwork journeys.
“I found it interesting that breathing in a certain manner could transform my mind and spirit.”
He became stress- and anxious-free, with a clarity of mind he hadn’t had in years. “Correct breathing can elevate you if you are feeling tired and help you sleep better.”
Wagner slowly began to understand what had happened to him that day he walked out of his office. “When you are stressed you breathe poorly, and that elevates stress and anxiety levels causing ongoing physical and mental issues. If you don’t deal with your underlying issues it ultimately leads to burnout.”
He then decided he needed to take this information to people working in high-stress businesses so they could limit the negative impact stress had on their business, family and personal health.
“There are many things you can’t control in business and in life, but there is one thing you definitely can control, and that is how you react to stress in the first place. You don’t have to be so dramatic as to walk out of your job; it isn’t necessary.”
But through proper breathing people get to know the deep-seated reasons that drive them.
“Once you learn to harness the power of breathing you get clarity that will influence how you feel and how you react to stress. That is why it is called the breath of life.”
According to Wagner controlling one’s breathing means controlling one’s life and, in turn, controlling one’s destiny.
Reach out to other people
He advises that people drop their egos and reach out to other people.
Most people don’t realise they are like cartoon characters with built-up anger, and when something happens the steam comes off the top of their heads.
When a small thing happens people explode, and one little thing becomes a big thing. “So we suck it up inside because we can’t let it rip,’ said Wagner. “But if you don’t explode your body implodes, and you crash, and that is burnout!”
He believes breathing exercises helps put the thinking mind to sleep. By breathing deeply for an hour people get the chance to clear their subconscious minds. Wagner has lived on the West Coast for just over a year now. Sunrise will find him walking on the Langebaan Lagoon, breathing the crisp morning air.
“I am now free from anxiety, see life for what it is and tackle problems from a point of calm.” Wagner can be followed on Facebook and Instagram.
