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Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

nytimes.com

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Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#41

Post by albanberg »

mistrial9 wrote: post #30
albanberg wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree! Pranayama and other yoga practices are very powerful and effective. It's very important to have an experienced teacher rather than trying to do it yourself. These practices can have very strong effects and can be misused. There is a lot of misinformation floating around. I recommend finding an experienced teacher in the Krishnamacharya/Viniyoga tradition.

Agree! teachers in the system of BKS Iyengar are skilled as well.. For the skeptical or drive-by practitioners.. think for a moment on all the states of activity the human body is capable of .. from the deepest rest, to the most active fight or flight and multitudes of others.. breathing has to connect to each, both following (support that metabolic state) or leading (change state quickly) .. next, think for a moment…

Interesting! Thank you. :-)

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#42

Post by dec0dedab0de »

skilled wrote: post #2

It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga, and more specifically -- pranayama. Otherwise known as the 'science of breath'. You don't have to believe in anything to practice different breathing techniques, and the results are absolutely there. I have met freedivers who build up their lung capacity stric…

I like to think of the various ancient techniques as abstraction layers that were developed around a black box. In that there are definitely useful outcomes even if the traditional reasoning may be flawed.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#44

Post by Empact »

nlh wrote: post #39

Not to be too trite, but I’d guess there’s a reason (in the US at least) that calling someone a “mouth-breather” is an insult, generally implying that someone is uncouth and of low intellect. I remember learning in high school biology class the physiological benefits of breathing through the nose. There’s a whole series of processes that go on in the nose — air filtration, warming, pheromone scent triggering, etc. th…

And yet, we’re ill-equipped at diagnosing why children might mouth-breathe.

In my own case, this year I finally discovered a life-long moderate tounge-tie that prevented me from resting my tongue on the roof of my mouth. This led to a tongue thurst that resulted in a prominent mouth and a maxilla that was down and back relative to where it would otherwise rest given tongue pressure - I presented with a mild version of long face syndrome. That in turn resulted in a narrow airway (behind the maxilla), which made nose-breathing constricted and difficult.

I have been able to correct this with effort and attention, but it’s crazy to me that pediatricians, dentists, orthodontists and even ear-nose-and-throat doctors missed this underlying cause throughout my life. I have to credit orthotropics and myofunctional therapy for the ultimate discovery.

Worse still, a variety of factors mean this is becoming more common, eg it is implicated in sleep apnea which is rising. I speculate that there is willful ignorance on the part of the medical industry, as the alternative to this understanding is expensive treatment or surgery. I myself went through 2 rounds of braces, a deviated septum “correction” surgery, and nearly had tubes in my ears as a child. See here for an example of a description of the problem and treatment written with ignorance to the cause: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_face_syndrome

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#45

Post by ssvss »

imglorp wrote: post #9
skilled wrote: post #2

It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga, and more specifically -- pranayama. Otherwise known as the 'science of breath'. You don't have to believe in anything to practice different breathing techniques, and the results are absolutely there. I have met freedivers who build up their lung capacity stric…

Can you suggest an intro to practicing pranayama specifically, as opposed to generic mindfulness or meditation?

Don’t try all the exotic practises in the initial 1 or 2 years. Initially it is recommended only to observe breath, and may be the 4/4/4/4 technique mentioned in another comment, you can try the 4/4/4/4 technique by inhaling through one nostril and exhaling from the other. And gradually increase the count from 4 to whatever you are comfortable with.

https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/livin...

Recent Yoga teachers, try to teach all types of Pranayama to a beginner, but when reading books written 100 years back, it is mentioned that mind and breath are linked tightly, and practising techniques which isn’t recommended for your condition, by an experienced guru, can actually make you mad.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#47

Post by [deleted] »

skilled wrote: post #2

It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga, and more specifically -- pranayama. Otherwise known as the 'science of breath'. You don't have to believe in anything to practice different breathing techniques, and the results are absolutely there. I have met freedivers who build up their lung capacity stric…

[deleted]

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#48

Post by maxxxxx »

graeme wrote: post #38
bitexploder wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One breathing technique and why I think the some of the Yoga works is pretty simple. I am not sure if Yoga would reset the fight/flight response further. 4x4 breathing. It mimics deep sleep and presses the reset button on the sympathetic nervous system. This helps with anxiety a lot. The technique is simple. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds , breath out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds. I notice I do tend…

This technique appears to habe cured my physical anxiety. I learned of it six weeks ago, and had had such anxiety for two years post burnout. Now it's gone. I'm amazed. There were a couple other things that may have helped. I wrote down my main source of worry, and considered it in depth, worst case, odds, how to recover, and it became clear that it's not actually an urgent problem. Don't know which one had the great…

"Don't know which one had the greater effect, I did both at once. But I could feel the 4*4 breathing blocking a physical anxiety response in the middle of one happening. "

To me it feels the other way. I feel the breathing opens up something that allows me to release the anxiety. In the end it's probably the same just from a different viewpoint.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#49

Post by maxxxxx »

albanberg wrote: post #40
andrewl wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the negative effects people get when they don't work with a teacher?

There could be many different issues that could arise, it depends on the person. I will note an experience that I had. I had been doing a Viniyoga practice for 1 or 2 years. I do pranayama in my asana (the physical exercises) and at this time I was not doing a separate pranayama practice. My teacher changed the pranayama in my practice and I became ill as if having a bad flu and I had some nasty boils break out on my…

Where do you practice? I would love to have a teacher that understands pranayama and can prescribe the right technique. Most teachers just know asana.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#50

Post by dibbledribble »

webreac wrote: post #16
skilled wrote: post #2

It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga, and more specifically -- pranayama. Otherwise known as the 'science of breath'. You don't have to believe in anything to practice different breathing techniques, and the results are absolutely there. I have met freedivers who build up their lung capacity stric…

Do hou have a link for a beginner ?

A lot of the comments here are so far over the edge of sanity for me. If folks want to believe you need to train for X years before learning breathing techniques that is up to them, but no one is backing those claims up.

If you are looking for a simple and not particularly woo woo guide to this breathing technique (and yoga in general) the yoga with adrienne Youtube channel is a great resource.

In general, learning good breathing techniques and some basic yoga are the single best things you can do for net improvement of physical and mental health in my opinion.

You can get many of the benefits of asana/insert type of yoga here without investing in expensive courses or devoting yourself to any non provable beliefs - which is also clearly my opinion.

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