Mel Arenas is a respiratory therapist, personal trainer, healthcare consultant and Principal CoFounder at BreatheFit Training. Harry Chau Stafford is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, Principal Owner & CoFounder at BreatheFit Training.
Today, Harry and Mel join the show to discuss the work they both do at BreatheFit Training, rehabilitation cases they’ve worked on recently, and the connection between mind and body.
Key Takeaways
01:39 – Mel Arenas speaks to his experience as a respiratory therapist and Harry Stafford shares his experience working in law enforcement
04:54 – The services Mel and Harry offer at BreatheFit
07:48 – The connection between the mind and the body
11:41 – Proper breathing and Qigong
13:34 – Mel and Harry reflect on a few cases they’ve worked on recently
24:21 – Dr. Flowers thanks Harry & Mel for joining today’s show and lets listeners know where they can connect with them and learn more about BreatheFit
Resources Mentioned
JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com/
JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655
Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
Harry’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrychaustafford/
Mel’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-arenas-204b6a16/
BreatheFit – https://www.breathe-fitness.com/
BreatheFit Office Number – (713)-487-9811
**The views and opinions expressed by our guests are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of J. Flowers Health Institute. Any content provided by our co-host(s) or guests are of their opinion and are not intended to reflect the philosophy and policies of J. Flowers Health Institute itself. Nor is it intended to malign any recovery method, religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
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Harry Chau Stafford & Mel Arenas – Creating Life-Changing Development [Episode 75]
Career Journey
Welcome, everybody, to Understanding the Human Condition. I’m your host, Dr. James Flowers. I am so excited to have Mel Arenas and Harry Chau Stafford with us from BreatheFit, who we utilize every single day in this practice with every single one of our patients. I’m honored to have you guys in the studio.
Thanks for having us, Dr. Flowers. Thank you.
Honor is ours.
You bet. Mel, I want to start with you. Tell me about yourself, if you would. Tell the audience about yourself and BreatheFit.
Thanks again for having us. Number one, a little bit about myself first. I’m a respiratory therapist by trade. Been one since almost 30 years now. I’ve been in health care for about 25 years, either with some type of an executive position or, more than anything else, really part of the health care continuum. A little bit, again, I was a personal trainer earlier on. I actually had a chance to work with the Houston Rockets at a very early age. Became a respiratory therapist afterwards and really found my niche in consulting in health care. I think that’s how BreatheFit was actually born. As we go to learn more about that during our conversation, you’ll see how we brought in the medical side with the fitness side.
That’s right. Many of our patients ask us, “What is a respiratory therapist?” How would you describe a respiratory therapist? Because I think everybody has a visualization of a respiratory therapist being in the hospital and COVID and things like that. Talk to us about being a respiratory therapist.
It’s funny you said that. Respiratory therapy actually came out more in the limelight after COVID. The necessity for them, being a more niche type of ancillary provider, has become more upfront with the breathing conditions. I think you expanded it well. Respiratory therapy goes on to many different facets of health care, not only from the acute care side but also the post-acute care side. You see them in the world of durable medical equipment, innovation, and technology. My background has been the world of pulmonary rehabilitation. I used to own 40-plus rehabs across the nation. Utilizing my talents as a respiratory therapist with fitness is how, again, BreatheFit basically came around.
“Respiratory therapy goes under many different facets of healthcare, not only from the acute care side, but also the post-acute care side.”
That’s great. Harry Chau Stafford, so nice to have you too. I didn’t know this about you, but just before, when we were introducing you to everybody here in the room, you said, “I’m a former Houston police officer.” Tell us about your background and being a police officer. Thank you for that.
That’s correct. My pleasure. Thank you, sir. I served fifteen years at the Houston Police Department from 1992 to 2005. I was a line unit officer. I was in uniform patrol. I worked at several different major command stations, Westside, Beach Nut. I was also part of the gang task force. I was undercover in vice, undercover in narcotics. I did the department’s tactical response team.
Loved what I did. I enjoyed it. There’s a stereotype amongst a lot of law enforcement that they’re wildly out of shape and love eating donuts. While I cannot confirm or deny that second one, being in shape, fitness was very much an important part of my daily activity, so we preached it. We lived it. It was life or death. That’s why we took it so seriously.
Did you retire from the police department?
I did fifteen years. Instead of doing my full twenty, I decided it was time to move on. Move on and find a better thing and find different career objectives. I think I found it.
BreatheFit
I was going to say, and you obviously found it in BreatheFit. Who wants to tell the audience a little bit about BreatheFit and the services that you offer really to everyone? I came by your office earlier this week. It was amazing. I had a workout with each of you. It was fantastic. I think I’m still sore a little bit, but so many of our patients that come, as you all know, we work with a very complicated, complex group of individuals with a variety of issues. Some people have medical issues. Some people are suffering from mental health issues. Some people, addiction issues. Some people, a little bit of all of the above.
One hundred percent of the families that I talk with prior to their loved one coming in for evaluation or treatment say, “Dr. Flowers, what is BreatheFit? Why do they need to have an evaluation by BreatheFit? How does that help with their addiction, or their mental health even, or their medical condition?” Mel, I’m going to throw that ball right out to you.
BreatheFit, I felt, Harry and I, when we created this, it was actually born out of necessity. We have found, as you know, doctor, that there are gaps in health care that a lot of places don’t have because of our health care system. Unfortunately, they are just spaces where people need help. BreatheFit, again, was hopefully able to fill in those gaps, especially in the world of behavioral health. Owning some of those rehabs through many years, we also found out that a lot of people suffer through the mental troubles of healing. I think this is such a great piece that BreatheFit has in order for us to really expand not only our practice and our expertise on the fitness side, but we were able to touch also the mental setbacks that some people actually have.
“BreatheFit was actually born out of necessity. We have found that there are gaps in healthcare that a lot of places don’t cover. BreatheFit was hopefully able to fill in those gaps, especially in the world of behavioral health.”
We have found this with your J. Flowers clients, and so far, what we have appears to be, the outcomes have been tremendous. In fact, when we were here, when we walked in at J. Flowers here before the interview, we actually saw one of our clients, a shared client, and her face lit up. This individual, if you all remember, she was a different person when she first came in. When we walked in through the door outside of BreatheFit to be welcomed by her, that just not only proves what BreatheFit does but what J. Flowers does as a collaborative in helping this individual heal.
Ultimately, BreatheFit, the name is deceiving. You think it’s just breathe only. It is not. The sad part is why we chose BreatheFit, that breathing is essential. No matter what, it’s life, it’s necessity. It is something that we require as human beings. It’s healing. It is something that we, as athletes, also utilize as performance. That’s the reason why BreatheFit’s name was developed.
Mind-Body Connection
I think it’s such a unique, perfect name for what you do. I think what people don’t realize, and what so many people struggle with, is the connection between the mind and the body. Not really understanding that when we’re out of shape, we don’t feel good, we’re eating the wrong foods, and we’re just not living up to our body’s expectation, it begins to atrophy, and our brain begins to atrophy.
Working with thousands of chronic pain patients over the years that I’ve worked with, really, it was always difficult explaining that mind. It wasn’t difficult explaining it, but it was always difficult for the patient to initially understand there is no separation between this body and this brain. When the brain is depressed, the body doesn’t want to move. When the body doesn’t move, the brain gets more depressed, and it becomes this cycle.
Another thing that we always teach people with chronic pain and medical complications that I’ve taught for 30 years is proper breathing, diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing really makes the blood circulate in our body and refreshes our brain. It oxygenates our body. When we use our respiration, it helps us feel better, and it helps our bodies and our mind relax.
I was so excited when I heard about you guys and I came by. The very first exercise that you gave me, I think it was you, but maybe Harry, was I laid on the floor on a mat with a pillow under my head, and you and I breathed together for about five minutes, I think. That was amazing. I was like, I thought I was coming here to work out, not breathe, and you did.
We had to do step one first, and we had to reteach everybody how to breathe properly because Mel loves using the example. When we tell people, when you have children, watch your baby in the crib. What’s the only thing that’s moving? You see their tummy goes up and down, up and down. At some time, as boys became men, we were told to stick that chest out. When we breathe in, we’re told to inhale and puff our chest out. When, in actuality, that is the worst way, that is the least efficient way of breathing.
Mel begins sessions by teaching everybody the proper way, reteaching how to diaphragmatically breathe. His techniques are valid. They’re fantastic. They work. My 35 years of martial arts training, I have multiple belts in different disciplines, I’ve also done internal martial arts like Qigong and Ching Yi, where diaphragmatic breathing is the central part of the whole process. For us to be able to share these things and put it together, and we reinforce that with physical activity, i.e., lifting weights, resistance training. All of a sudden, it all comes together, and people have that aha moment when they realize how the breathing and the lifting weights all go together.
Something else I talk about with medical patients and chronic pain patients is diaphragmatic breathing. The minute we fall asleep, the second we fall asleep at night, we stop breathing from our chest up here and we start breathing from our diaphragm. When we wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is take a deep breath from our chest. We’re like, it’s time to start the day. It’s like, let’s start it down here. Get that blood flowing.
“The second we fall asleep at night, we stop and we start breathing from our diaphragm. And then, when we wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is take a deep breath from our chest.”
You said it best, doctor. I think that is one of the big misconceptions that we forget every day is that it’s to utilize the way we’re supposed to technically breathe. Harry said it right here is just a lot of times, especially during mental health, people will sit there, take a deep breath, but how do you do that? You just said it best right there. When a lot of the J. Flowers clients come and visit, that’s one of the things we try to assemble is that in between their sets, when they are resting, is to focus on the mechanics of a proper breath.
Proper Breathing And Qigong
It’s so interesting. Over the years, I’ve been in and out of working with trainers at different gyms. When you hire a personal trainer, one of the things that they always say when you’re lifting that and putting those weights down is breathe in, breathe out, but they never teach you how to breathe. You never hear them talking about what is proper breathing, and you guys, the first thing you did is we’re going to start with how to breathe.
We started lifting some weights. We did some leg workouts. We did some other things this week. Every exercise I did with you guys, you told me where to breathe, but diaphragmatically or with my chest, one of the two, or nose and mouth. I love that you guys add that benefit. Something that I’d love to hear from you, Harry, really, is you mentioned Qigong. Talk about Qigong and how that really calms the mind and calms the body and the nervous system.
Just like you said, it’s an internal martial art. It’s a form of combat that slows down the movements. Without getting esoterical, without getting too Eastern, it just helps the flow of energy in the body. When you do any kind of physical activity, you can’t hold your breath. We do it every day when people are unloading groceries or taking things out of their car. When people lift weights, they either hold their breath throughout the entire eccentric or concentric portion, or they breathe the wrong way.
“Qigong is an internal martial art. It’s a form of combat that’s slowed down. Without getting esoteric, it helps the flow of energy in the body.”
Going back to very basic Qigong training, we teach the body how to breathe and how to move. There’s a reason why you see the 90-year-old Asian grandmothers in the park doing Tai Chi, Qigong, Xingyi, because they can increase their vitality. These are very basic things that anybody can learn. That’s one of the many modalities that we share, that we offer to any patient or client that comes over to BreatheFit.
I was so surprised just now to hear you say it was a form of combat. I never knew that. I always thought it was a form of meditation.
It is. Again, Mel loves using this example. The way you said, people give the wrong impression. They think, what is BreatheFit? Are we going to hold hands and do kumbaya? The relaxation, the meditative portion of breathing is just as important, but we emphasize the physical, the performance aspect of it. That’s why we’re called BreatheFit.
Work Collaboration
I love it. That’s great. What I’d love to do is, preparing for this podcast, I asked you guys if you would think of three cases that you’ve worked with J. Flowers Health Institute’s patients that we’ve collaborated on. Why don’t we run through just a couple of cases, 2 or 3 cases, and talk about each case? I’ll let you start, Mel.
I think one of the, and again, these were just hand-picked and just random, I think, more than anything else, it’s really the outcome and how J. Flowers is truly the essence of collaboration. Utilizing your therapist, as well as all the other vendors and care providers. This is not just BreatheFit in general. These are just great snapshots. I want everybody to know that this is the accumulation of collaborative efforts that really got these people to their outcomes.
What I want to say first is, all three of these cases that I looked through here this morning, all three of these had decompensated minds and decompensated bodies prior to starting with you guys and with J. Flowers. Let’s talk a little bit about your process and what we did here.
The first subject is pretty, again, it’s a 21-year-old male. He came in with 19.5% body fat and weighed under 16 pounds.
What is the normal body fat for a male?
A normal body fat for a male technically is anywhere from about 12% to 13%, all the way to about 25%, 26%. He’s right there on the average of what’s considered a healthy male average. This gentleman here, he came in with just a brief description of depression, a little anxiety, some OCD, unable to manage some of the stress, and a little bit poor sleep.
One of the most important questions we ask everybody, what are your goals for being in BreatheFit? This word literally what he told us was better breathing, gain lean muscle tissue, strength, and self-defense. The process that we utilized to make him try to achieve these areas was simple heavyweight exercises with light reps, blending some of those disciplines together, providing ancillary programs with personal workouts. That was another thing he requested that he worked out outside of BreatheFit.
What could he do back at the apartment or the hotel?
I think that’s another reason, again, utilizing BreatheFit is that you’re only with us for a couple of hours a week. We want to create life-changing development, so we teach. We taught basic self-defense and strength techniques that he really wanted. The outcomes were phenomenal with this individual. He ended up actually gaining weight, but that was muscle weight because look at his body fat, 16.4%. He went down about 3%.
“We want to create life-changing development.”
He went down from 19.5% to 16.4%, gained a few pounds, 173 pounds, but those pounds that he gained were really muscle. Lost fat, gained muscle. Muscle was heavier than fat.
It truly was. For a 21-year-old, changing the way he looks and his appearance, his confidence, everything else, his image, the way he looked at himself was different. He increased his overall strength. He was able to perform some self-defense techniques, and breathing was no longer an issue. Again, a neat snapshot of this individual.
Very good. Let’s talk about a 56-year-old female with 28% body fat, and she came in weighing about 130, I believe.
That is correct. She is a current patient that’s still active with J. Flowers, and she sees us regularly. When she came in, as we always do, we have our assessment with somebody, and we found out that she’s suffering from depression, social anxiety disorder, and having some PTSD. When we asked her her goals, she gave us a very unique response. She said, I don’t know. Unless you were there, so we’ll try to paint the picture. When she came into us and she was having her assessment, she was very closed, very introverted. She wouldn’t make eye contact or her body language or arms were held like she was hugging herself.
In our assessment room, we have two recliners, and Mel was sitting on one side of the room, and I was behind a little podium desk jotting notes down. She kept fidgeting to the point where you could tell she wasn’t comfortable just being in that room. She actually stood up, walked over, and stood in the doorway. She didn’t feel trapped. We allowed her the space, and we just began, like always, we customize every single workout to the individual who comes. We don’t use a cookie cutter. We don’t say, today’s Monday. It’s national chest day. We do a cookie cutter thing. We began her modalities or therapies.
In the process, we started basic core exercises to build her confidence level because it’s always a start. We always start with core training. We began to have her learn how to move like something we take so simply for granted, walking. We put her on the treadmill, and putting on her treadmill at a low mile per hour at a low incline was exhausting to her. Just core exercises, basic mobility. We worked with another trainer that we have there on flow and flexibility. We did things to help boost her confidence. It’s amazing when you take a little bit of weight and you make somebody lift it. When they can accomplish that, the feeling of accomplishment it gives them and a feeling of confidence.
“It’s amazing when you take a little bit of weight, and you make somebody lift it. And, when they can accomplish that, it gives them an amazing feeling of confidence.”
We repeated these twice a week over and over and over. Here are the outcomes. She’s currently still in the program, and she improves with each visit. Again, when she first came in, she wouldn’t make eye contact. She spoke to us in one-, two-word answers. We ask open-ended questions. She would say yes or no. Comes in now laughing. She comes in asking us, how are you guys doing? We’re like, we’re great. How are you?
When she comes in, we do the core, we do the mobility, we do the flow, but now she wants to lift weights. We even discussed a little bit of Filipino stick fighting training, a little bit of punch training, but you know, let’s not. When she’s ready, we’re ready to provide that. The main thing was she told us when she leaves every day, she tells us, I look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow or next week.
That is huge. For her to come in and say, I don’t know, is probably not so unique. I think there’s probably a lot of patients that come in who come in confused and why am I doing this? I’m not sure what my fitness goals are, like her, and very timid. You two men are standing there muscular and not intimidating. You’re so welcoming, but it also worked for her or me when I walked in, I was like, I’m going to be so embarrassed to work out with these guys this morning, but within a minute, I felt so comfortable and relaxed. That really makes a difference because I need to get back. I’ve run 28 marathons and haven’t run one in a few years.
Thumbs up to you for that.
I need to get back in and start doing more things physically. Just being in your gym made me feel comfortable and relaxed. I can do this a lot. This particular individual has made a significant amount of progress. You see her walking through the room differently. She carries herself differently. Not only is her fitness being improved with you guys, but her mind, her body, and her spirit are being improved with all of the modalities that we’re all utilizing in collaboration with each other.
It definitely shows with that example.
It’s a joint success. It is. Everybody.
This sounds high to me, a 57-year-old male, 31% body fat. That’s on that high end, isn’t it?
It is on the higher end. If you recollect, this individual has some other mental setbacks and other issues he was going through. It may be indicative, maybe, of a higher number, but I think this also shows how diversified J. Flowers is as a team because I think all the different vendors and the treatments and all the therapists, no matter what shape or person that comes in here, they can fit. I think that’s the beautiful part about your team.
This individual was a very high-functioning executive in the city of Houston. He also suffered from alcoholism. He was a functional alcoholic. Alcoholic, nonetheless, would come home and drink and sometimes even drink during the day. Suffering from alcoholism, he had a lot of ankle and hand difficulties, medical injuries, and had a right rotator cuff injury.
That is correct. That’s one of the toughest parts. I think that’s a beautiful part about Breathe Fitness. How we started the program was that we’re that slot between that acute medical to that fitness world. We were able to handle a case like this that leaned a little bit more medical. A lot of this client’s goals were just to get back to a healthy exercise routine, some basic strength, and deal with his pain.
Pain was excruciating. It was difficult for us in the very beginning. We had to be creative to find different exercises where, number one, it did not distract him from coming, and number two, at least to get some relief and improvement. The process we took with this individual, we really helped with his range of motion. Because of his weight, his size, and his injuries, we had to modify certain types of exercises to help him with that range of motion, and it worked. Strength training really helped him with his basic stability and core. That was important. We helped reduce the pain.
There was one area, and the reason why I picked this one is that everybody thinks that, at least on the BreatheFit side, there are going to be huge successes. We had a minor success towards his pain on walking. There was a little bit of help, but we were able to help him with walking and gait and improve that with a team effort in order for us to help relieve the pain, but it never went away. Again, we all try our best. The outcomes were great. He was able to lift heavier loads. His range of motion was increased. I remember that right shoulder, we were able to actually gain another several percentages of movement and different types of angles, which he didn’t have earlier on. The endurance is what helped. The walking, though he had pain, was more comfortable in his pain, and he was able to walk further distances.
I remember him reporting his pain level when he first came into the practice. He said his pain level was a consistent 7, 8, sometimes up to a 9. When he left the program, he reported his pain level at about a 1 or a 2, which was amazing. That is a combination of the biopsychosocial model, your piece, the physical therapy piece, our piece, and the working-out piece. The mind-body-spirit, cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation, mindfulness, and really changing the way he felt about his body, but also learning to live a sober, healthy life.
That’s so important.
Having a sponsor, going to meetings, and really getting his life in a way that he could once again thrive, not only professionally but at home and every other part of his life.
Agreed.
Episode Wrap-up
Thank you guys so much. How does someone reach BreatheFit?
We have our own office. We have our own little gym. In essence, as a reminder, we are, in essence, a personal training studio. Mel and I are both ACE-certified personal trainers. We also have medical exercise specialties and corrective exercise specialties. We’d love to be able to see anybody outside of here. We have our own studio at 11511 Katy Freeway, Suite Number 105, at the Kirkwood exit. Our website is www.breathe-fitness.com. Our office number is 713-487-9811. The reason I’m smirking is because, for the longest time, when we do these interviews and we have to ask for the office number, I always forget the first three numbers. All the time.
He would write it down. Flash them to him.
I always forget our phone number as well. I was like, I’m going to say his number when he, that’s exactly what I was thinking. You guys, I love collaborating with you guys. I appreciate your time and effort coming in. I know it took time away from your patients. We appreciate you coming in. To reach J. Flowers Health, simply go to www.JFlowersHealth.com or 713-783-6655. You can find us on Spotify, Apple, iTunes, and really any of the apps where you can download podcasts. Understanding the Human Condition with Dr. James Flowers. Thank you guys so much.
Thank you, Dr. Flowers.
Thank you very much.
Have a great day.
You too.
I’d like to remind everyone watching or listening to us that there are numerous platforms to find our podcasts. YouTube, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. Please share this episode on social media or with someone that you think could help. We remind you also that a clear diagnosis is key to the most effective treatment possible.
It is.
See you next week.
Thanks again, Robin.
Thank you.
Important Links
- James Flowers on LinkedIn
- Flowers Health Institute
- JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655
- Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
- Harry Chau Stafford on LinkedIn
- Mel Arenas on LinkedIn
- Breathe-Fitness
- BreatheFit Office Number – (713)-487-9811
