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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

#71

Post by albanberg »

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…

orhmeh09, there's no link for me to reply to your comment. So I'll post here.

My understanding of things like boils is that the body is not able to release the toxins quickly enough through the digestive system, so it releases them through the skin.

The pranayama I was doing was pushing my body to get rid of toxins. After doing some juice cleansing, I was able to do this type of pranayama.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#72

Post by nradov »

ssvss wrote: post #45
imglorp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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... Rece…

The notion that a normal mentally stable person could be driven mad by these practices is absurd. Citation needed.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#73

Post by maxxxxx »

albanberg wrote: post #64
maxxxxx wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. The Desikachar and Krishnmacharya people seem really good and very practical. I have done some trainings with Gray Kraftsow and I would love to have someone with that depth of knowledge guide my practice.

Oh, cool that you've had some experience with it!

A few years ago I did teacher training (RYT-500 plus a few hundred more hours), taught for a few years. I have studied with a lot of people like Kraftsow, Rod Stryker and others but I haven't found a teacher who is knowledgeable and provides individual training. I am practicing myself but I wonder how much progress I could make with a good teacher.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#74

Post by awaaz »

jokoon wrote: post #68

No idea why I'm often unable to breath through my nose, it's clogged. I have a history of chronic rhinitis. Even when I blow my nose and remove what's in it, it seems the inside of my sinus is completely swollen. I already have done allergy tests, without results. No idea if it's a result of hygiene, or some chemical that it's a soap or food, acarians, some fungi, or else. I've read that a deviated septum is a common…

Have you been to an ENT specialist?

I grew up with chronic nose issues. When I was about 12 years old I was told I had enlarged adenoids which should be operated on. However, mostly due to my own laziness and the fact that you can get by without the surgery, I didn't get the procedure done. Every single year, I suffered from what seemed like perpetual flu for 6-8 months. I never remember being able to breath from both my nostrils. When I slept at night, my watch with a sleep monitor would report just 2-3 hours of sleep since I had to keep switching sides every half an hour or so (if your right nostril is blocked and you sleep on your left, then it will slowly unblock itself but then the left one might block itself). Basically, life sucked.

So just last month (after a really bad flight where I ended up with blood in my eardrums because my insides were incapable of equalising pressure), I bit the bullet and got a CT scan done and went to an ENT. The doc took one look at my scan and basically said "I can't believe you can actually breath at all". I had a really bad DNS (deviated nasal septum) and chronic sinusitis. On his recommendation, I got a FESS + septoplasty procedure done. The surgery itself was fairly short (~1 hour) but the post-op follow ups were somewhat unpleasant..

However, I would highly recommend the procedure to anyone who suffers from similar problems. Even though it has been little more than a month since the surgery and I can't give final judgement, I can breath from both my nostrils for the first time in my life. I am sleeping much better and I think my stamina has gone up a little as well. Probably the most important thing is that having flu like symptoms made me extremely cranky and short tempered in the past, and that is gone now. Life just seems better!

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#75

Post by godDLL »

tgb wrote: post #55
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…

Is this technique supposed to be uncomfortable to do? I've come across this and tried it multiple times now and holding my breath is not particularly pleasant. I've seen this suggested to help one fall asleep but it's never helped me and my response is usually mild discomfort. Not sure if this is intended.

That technique is for people that have well developed bodies. You can try 3-in, 4-out, 1-hold, repeat. As smoothly as possible.

Use a timer, don't count. Don't think about stuff while you're at it, just watch the timer and keep it smooth.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#76

Post by kaitai »

Empact wrote: post #44
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 o…

If your baby has trouble breast-feeding, definitely ask nurses and pediatricians repeatedly about tongue-tie. A posterior tongue tie is particularly easy to miss in a kid (and there are still some docs who say it's not possible, or something). Not only can you potentially avoid all the problems the parent poster here mentions, but the kid and mom (if trying to breastfeed) can be saved a lot of short-term grief if such a thing is found and treated!

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#77

Post by erikpukinskis »

graeme wrote: post #52
maxxxxx wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

I think so. Release could well be what happened. Basically before the anxierty happened liked this: 1. Minor negative stimulus appears. I could feel the body react. 2. When I inhaled, and not before, my neck would feel some tension. This would persist a bit. I had ried breath holding before, but that just delayed the stress feeling. Instead, I: 1. Held breath and counted to 4 2. Exhaled sharply 3. Inhaled a bit, and…

Love the algorithmic reduction here

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#78

Post by zzzzzzzza »

jokoon wrote: post #68

No idea why I'm often unable to breath through my nose, it's clogged. I have a history of chronic rhinitis. Even when I blow my nose and remove what's in it, it seems the inside of my sinus is completely swollen. I already have done allergy tests, without results. No idea if it's a result of hygiene, or some chemical that it's a soap or food, acarians, some fungi, or else. I've read that a deviated septum is a common…

have you tried fluticasone propionate (aka flonase)? I had similar issues albeit alot less severe and it helps a lot.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#79

Post by albanberg »

maxxxxx wrote: post #73
albanberg wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, cool that you've had some experience with it!

A few years ago I did teacher training (RYT-500 plus a few hundred more hours), taught for a few years. I have studied with a lot of people like Kraftsow, Rod Stryker and others but I haven't found a teacher who is knowledgeable and provides individual training. I am practicing myself but I wonder how much progress I could make with a good teacher.

Thoughts: 1. What tradition did you study? 2. I think a good teacher would make a difference if you studied a different tradition/line of teachers. 3. I'm interested to know what you are practicing. 4. As I mentioned before there are people doing private mentoring, but you have to look for them and find one that you like. We need to get a directory going, but that will take time. If you want, you can ping me here: ab@iw401fi.33mail.com and I can try to help you find someone.

Re: Breathing Through the Nose May Offer Unique Brain Benefits

#80

Post by thatcat »

dibbledribble wrote: post #50
webreac wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 g…

Yoga with Adrienne is legit, thanks for the recommendation.
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