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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

#271

Post by seer »

onemoresoop wrote: post #156
graeme wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congested doesn’t mean fully blocked right?

There are different degrees of congestion from light to fully blocked. When I was 14 I was 80% congested until i turned 20. I had to have some nose drops or I’d be lightheaded from poor breathing. What solved it? A trick that an old doctor told me to do. With one hand hold with thumb on the soft palate and another finger (index or ring) on the forehead where the nose meets the forehead in a grip. Then jiggle the grip…

My partner has some sinus congestion issues and we’ e been trying to find a remedy since forever.

We want to try this thing but want to make sure we’re trying it correctly. Have you encountered a more thorough explanation of this technique, preferably in a video?

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#272

Post by monadgonad »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #213
jerf wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reasonably well established principle of psychology (real science, not pop-sci) that a surprising amount of what you perceive to be your emotional state is mediated through your body. That is, you experience a stressor, so the "low level" portions of your brain activate bodily reactions to that stress, and what your high-level brain perceives as stress is actually the bodily reaction rather than the original s…

I had sleep paralysis as a child once in a while (which isn't uncommon), but as an adult I only get it after a period where when I've consumed cannabis with some regularity, then stopped. It may or may not apply to you, but my friends that have sleep paralysis say this anecdote holds true for them as well.

Similarly, I get it if I've been drinking a few days in a row, then stop. Both of these drugs suppress REM sleep so my theory is that the sleep paralysis is a rebound effect.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#273

Post by chimen »

acituan wrote: post #246
MetalGuru wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source for second paragraph claim?

A good meta study is: Lindahl et al (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. This vice article recaps it: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbaedd/meditation-is-a-po... I'll list just the titles of select deep dive citations from the first study to give an idea, you can find detailed citations in the paper itself; - "Meditation-in…

- "cycling is dangerous"

- "hiking is dangerous"

- "swimming is dangerous"

- "running is dangerous"

- "cycling complications"

- "running complications"

...all day long - just append certain keywords and you'll find many articles and studies to feed your subjective belief and win arguments.

I did and talked with a lot of people doing mindfulness meditation and none of them warned me against it. I don't doubt your claims but I think they are exceptions and just about any activity can be found to be dangerous when looking at the exceptions.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#274

Post by dolguldur »

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…

If your nose is stuffy regularly, search for "mewing" on youtube. Could be worth trying

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#275

Post by divan »

If anyone had a chance to read a book – is it just exploring and describing observation about breathing or it attempts to answer how different breathing actually works and effects the health?

I remember watching this amazing TEDx talk which gives an on state demonstration of how breathing directly affects blood flow / pulse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc3XdOiGGI

There is another interesting video I've watched years ago with some hints that breathing directly influence mitochondrial activity, but it's in Russian, so not sure if it's worth sharing. Another thing indirectly mentioned was that breathing is the only "low-level" body function that we control conciously to some extent, so its effect on health is a neat byproduct and can be used for "hacking" metabolism and low-level body functions.

Anyway, I'm wondering if there is something more than "conscious breathing can do amazing things to your health" in this book?

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#276

Post by throwaway9d0291 »

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…

The YouTube channel Medlife Crisis, run by a practicing cardiologist in the UK, did a fairly long video reviewing the Wim Hof method and the science surrounding it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6EPuUdIC1E

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#277

Post by jclos »

tines wrote: post #148
eblanshey wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's only a problem if you are trying to generalise your discovery and say write a paper or sell a product about it. If it's just "a thing you do" and it makes you feel good, then biases don't really matter as much as the end result.

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#279

Post by avindroth »

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…

Is the swapping between two nostrils a conscious/mental effort? Is it something you get used to with physically blocking the nostrils?

Re: One hour of slow breathing changed my life

#280

Post by MrYellowP »

Nice to see something like this getting upvotes.

I once had a friend who was out of sync with her inner rythm ... so to speak.

After identifying the problem, we've sat down for an hour and I've taught her how to breathe properly, especially - but not only - slowly.

It changed her life ... with a catch.

People noticed she was calmer and happier. People liked her more. She got promoted. She started earning more. Her life improved significantly, for months.

And then it hit her. Her ego inflated so much, she started overworking herself. She lost her sense for her limits. Her ego couldn't handle the relative increase in energy, which got even worse due to the relative increase in self-confidence.

Burnt herself out. At least one month hospital.

Breathing techniques are no joke. When you're doing it "wrong" all your life, the sudden increase in energy when you begin doing it "right" can be both quite massive and very lasting.

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