In this episode 8 chapters
- The Window of Social Engagement
After a year when everything is at an 11, Corey and Keith set out to explore breath and flow, drawing on James Nestor and Mark Divine.
- Breath as Integral Mindfulness
With practice, breath training becomes automatic and grounds an integral mindfulness that lets us choose our next move.
- Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast
Keith teaches the long exhale as a reset button, along with box breathing paired with gratitude and building carbon dioxide tolerance.
- The Self-Reinforcing Flow State
Drawing on Csikszentmihalyi, Keith describes flow in art, sparring and dance, and the contemplative aim of making all of life one flow state.
- The Universe Dream Waking Up
Keith suggests that consciousness pulled humans out of the animal's constant flow and into past and future, so we have to move forward through integral mindfulness.
- Happiness Chemicals and Evolving Ground
A viewer question leads to dopamine, serotonin and other happiness chemicals, the dose that separates medicine from poison, and supplements for a depleted, toxic environment.
- Healthy Personality or Dissolving It?
A trainee psychotherapist asks whether to change his anxiety or simply be with it.
- Layering Your Practice
Alternate nostril breathing prompts Keith to explain how it links the brain's two hemispheres.
andemics, fires, mass protests, riots, rampant unemployment, post-truth propaganda, Presidential elections, murder hornets… and we’re not even all the way through 2020 yet.
Wouldn’t it be nice to catch a breath?
When the stress of our lives becomes too much to manage, it helps to return to simplicity by returning to the breath. This sort of self-soothing helps us maintain our capacity for empathy, self-reflection, and self-guidance whenever our nervous system gets highjacked by stress, fear, anger, and other hyper-aroused states. This practice of simply returning to the breath gives us the opportunity to pause, to expand our awareness, and to find our seat so that we can meet the challenges of our life with our fullest presence, patience, and skill.
And not only does a simple breathing practice help you find your peace, it also helps you find your flow.
We all love flow states, those moments of total absorption and acceptance, that blissful and seamless melding of interior currents and exterior realities. We often taste these flow states while creating art, performing music, making love, athletic exertion, etc. And for most of us, it is difficult to replicate — these states typically seem to arrive spontaneously, and the very act of trying to will ourselves into flow states can often take us further away from them.
It’s difficult to achieve flow through effort — but all efforts can be achieved through flow.
Your breath is a direct channel to the flow state. Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey explore this elegantly simple practice, one that can bring you more joy, more fulfillment, and more anti-fragile strategies to manage and master the outrageous pressures of our lives.
Music by Justin Miles and Stuart Davis
Previous Episodes of Witt & Wisdom
Suicidal Empathy
Dr. Keith Witt
September 10, 2026
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About Keith Witt
Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara, CA. for over forty years. Dr. Witt is also the founder of The School of Love.
About Corey deVos
Corey W. deVos is editor and producer of Integral Life. He has worked for Integral Institute/Integal Life since Spring of 2003, and has been a student of integral theory and practice since 1996. Corey is also a professional woodworker, and many of his artworks can be found in his VisionLogix art gallery.
