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One hour of slow breathing changed my life

theguardian.com

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Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#141

Post by vosper »

llbeansandrice wrote: post #116
crazynick4 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are a couple studies I just googled https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3681046/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728953/ As far as personal experience, I find breathing exercises should be slow and deep, generally with breath retention that is extended over time, as opposed to just deep breathing in and out at a 'regular' speed. Traditional yoga usually emphasizes this (as opposed to the n…

This helps validate me. I swear every yoga class I've been to I'm breathing at like 3/4 speed of everyone else in the class and so the flow moves too fast for me.

> I swear every yoga class I've been to I'm breathing at like 3/4 speed of everyone else in the class and so the flow moves too fast for me.

Heh, you're doing better than me: every yoga class I've been in (more than a few) I've lost track of the breathing in the first few minutes, but whenever I do manage to tune back into it I always find it way slower than what feels natural.

Maybe I should make more of an effort, rather than being like "welp, I can't breathe like that, back to just my body do what it wants".

This even after going multiple times a week for 6 months.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#142

Post by daragh99 »

dmje wrote: post #57

No one seems to have mentioned Wim Hoff here ( https://www.wimhofmethod.com/ ). He’s got some claims that verge on the suspicious but the actual method itself is worth doing purely if you’re an interested sort. Before, I can do about 40 seconds held on an out breath, after, about 2:40. That’s kinda interesting. I’d also recommend trying it if you’re a meditator. Do a WH session first, then sit. It’s really great for…

I've made it to 3:40 at times, usually on my second round. Committed meditator and I often start with a round of some kind of breathwork.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#143

Post by asveikau »

sajforbes wrote: post #119
tzot wrote: post #104

> Hindus considered breath and spirit the same thing It's funny, because I just realised that πνεύμα(pneuma)/spirit in Greek has the same root as πνεύμων(pneumon)/lung: the verb πνέω(pnéo), which means I breathe. This is not Mr Portokalos talking from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, people: πνέω is traced to the older Indo-European stem pnew- , and the whole point of my comment is that there is a lot of heritage in languag…

The English words "respire" and "spirit" have the same root, too.

Latin spirare and spiritus respectively. Afaik spiritus came from the verb and literally meant breath in addition to the figurative meaning.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#144

Post by eblanshey »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #133
impendia wrote: post #32

I started reading his book Breath , and he made the starting claim that, in essence, you could choose to be either energetic or restful by picking one nostril to breathe out of for awhile. (Naturally we breath out of one nostril at a time, and the body goes back and forth, but "it's a balance that can also be gamed"). I found this claim a bit... suspicious, and Googled, and didn't find much scientific evidence for th…

With a lot of these things I would highly recommend to just try it. If it works for you, good. If not, don't do it. It doesn't cost anything and you won't harm yourself. I started yoga before it became mainstream and with a lot of the practices I tried them for myself. For example I noticed that some pranayama practices work for me and others don't. Back then pretty much every "serious" scientist or doctor would have…

This. The purpose of science is to discover the truth, not make the truth. You don't science to confirm everything before you try it. With things like breathing where you know it's not going to cause harm, just try it for yourself.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#145

Post by JoeyJoJoJr »

vadansky wrote: post #94

Might as well ask it here, since goolgling this leads me down the hypochondriac nuts hole. I've noticed I yawn ALOT. Furthremore when I yawning I feel like only 1 out 5 yawns are "proper complete" yawns that actually get enough air in (that's the best way I can explain). I was thinking this might be a sign my nose is too stuffed normally and I'm not getting enough oxygen, but reading this thread I might be over oxyge…

I don't yawn much at all, but sometimes (usually in bed) I do get an uncomfortable urge to have deep yawns. It is frustrating because most of the yawns feel unsatisfying, like I didn't get a deep enough breath with the yawn. It feels as if there is some tension around my lungs or diaphragm. After about 10-20 minutes of this and consciously trying to relax these muscles, I may get in a couple of big satisfying yawns, but it takes a while to get to that point.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#146

Post by daragh99 »

I'm curious to read the book. I've practiced breathing techniques from yogic and meditative traditions for maybe 15 years now. Even just a minute of deeper, slower breathing has a calming effect on my mind and body, for the most part.

The breathing practices/exercises are, for the most part, useful and interesting. I have to let go of a lot of the metaphysics in these traditions though, there is a certain amount of "woo" to wade through.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#147

Post by daragh99 »

voidhorse wrote: post #120
impendia wrote: post #32

I started reading his book Breath , and he made the starting claim that, in essence, you could choose to be either energetic or restful by picking one nostril to breathe out of for awhile. (Naturally we breath out of one nostril at a time, and the body goes back and forth, but "it's a balance that can also be gamed"). I found this claim a bit... suspicious, and Googled, and didn't find much scientific evidence for th…

There’s an entire practice around this stemming from yogic philosophy called nadi shoodana —alternate nostril breathing—the theory essentially says doing this can regulate different male and female energies in the body, which are both responsible for different things, including energy levels (hyper vs relaxed). I can’t personally attest to any of the deeper claims of the theory, but I have used the alternate nostril…

Agreed. The practices seem to have an affect that I find useful and interesting. The metaphysical/energetic claims I can put to one side.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#148

Post by tines »

eblanshey wrote: post #144
spaetzleesser wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a lot of these things I would highly recommend to just try it. If it works for you, good. If not, don't do it. It doesn't cost anything and you won't harm yourself. I started yoga before it became mainstream and with a lot of the practices I tried them for myself. For example I noticed that some pranayama practices work for me and others don't. Back then pretty much every "serious" scientist or doctor would have…

This. The purpose of science is to discover the truth, not make the truth. You don't science to confirm everything before you try it. With things like breathing where you know it's not going to cause harm, just try it for yourself.

The problem is that you're biased - confirmation bias, expectation bias, selection bias, optimism bias, observer expectancy effect, the list goes on - and you end up learning all things except the truth.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#149

Post by vl »

martindbp wrote: post #41
throwaway_USD wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably something to do with shallow breathing so you inhale and exhale more often the one should without maximizing oxygen intake per breathe nor efficiently regulating oxygen/co2.

But how could we be "conditioned" to breath in a certain way? It reads like a conspiracy to me but maybe that's not what they meant? To me, breathing is a highly personal thing, I doubt there is any outside force able to change how we breathe for the worse. I just don't see the attack vector. We breathe how we feel we need to breathe.

Same way as you can walk or run in a harmful way, it maybe that the way you are breathing is sub-optimal.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#150

Post by starpilot »

voidhorse wrote: post #120
impendia wrote: post #32

I started reading his book Breath , and he made the starting claim that, in essence, you could choose to be either energetic or restful by picking one nostril to breathe out of for awhile. (Naturally we breath out of one nostril at a time, and the body goes back and forth, but "it's a balance that can also be gamed"). I found this claim a bit... suspicious, and Googled, and didn't find much scientific evidence for th…

There’s an entire practice around this stemming from yogic philosophy called nadi shoodana —alternate nostril breathing—the theory essentially says doing this can regulate different male and female energies in the body, which are both responsible for different things, including energy levels (hyper vs relaxed). I can’t personally attest to any of the deeper claims of the theory, but I have used the alternate nostril…

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