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Not to digress but substack bas gotten quite annoying on mobile. Have to scroll through so much irrelevant BS to just get to the article, what the hell.
it's a business, they're trying to make money first, everything else (including the actual articles) come second
Not to digress but substack bas gotten quite annoying on mobile. Have to scroll through so much irrelevant BS to just get to the article, what the hell.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are there any documented case studies of people seriously hurting themselves with breathing changes?
Yes. You can black out. For certain practices it is not uncommon. Please take care when practicing breathing exercises.
Which practices?
I've taught most of my clients breathing exercises for the past 5-6 years. It's unnecessary to take it to the level of a formal pranayama practice to make fairly significant differences in physiological state, from which most everything else derives. The "coherent breathing" work that popped up sometime in the last ~15 years is pretty interesting, too.
Would you share some of your breathing lessons here? I only ask because there are several other commenters on here offering breathing tips, and you sound like an expert on this.
a) "Box Breathing", as mentioned in the article. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold. Same rate for each step. Ex: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. Repeat as long as you like. Very calming and "centering" (in the sense of moving you toward "neutral" physiologically). More effective if you can breathe through nose and use diaphragm/belly breathing, but that's optional.
b) "Coherent Breathing". Inhale, exhale, at the same rate. Ex: a good rate is 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out. Also calming/centering, with an observed positive effect on heart rate variability. This is box breathing without the holds, so experiment to see which is preferable. Again, using the diaphragm is optional.
c) "Gratitude Breathing", for lack of a better phrase. Inhale (explicitly diaphragm/belly breathing this time); think of something you're grateful for (thankful, happy, something positive); exhale slowly. The exhale should be twice as slow as the inhale. Ex: so inhale for a count of 4, think a happy thought, exhale for a count of 8. Repeat at least ten times (to overwhelm whatever was in working memory before you began), more if you like. This will calm, relax, and trigger a positive emotional/psychological state.
d) "Relax and pass out breathing". As c) without the "positive thought". So a deep inhale, then a twice slower exhale. This is more purely relaxing than the others, can lead to sleep eventually. This does not have the double inhale a la the "cyclic sighing" mentioned in the article.
e) "Panic and freak out breathing": short, rapid inhale and exhale, using the upper chest rather than diaphragm. Why do this? Anyway.
It's been bizarre to me how many people cannot easily breathe using their diaphragms, whereas I have to consciously force myself to do otherwise. Anyway.
There is all sorts of research on these, some good and most junk, but the main takeaway is that for some reason humans have the ability to consciously control our breathing, and the way we breathe has direct impact on our resulting physiological state.
There are endless varieties of "breathwork" (Wim Hoff's stuff, actual Tummo breathing, 3721 variations of pranayama) because humans like to complicate things, but these cover the bases for routine self-care.
1 point by dragonsh 3 minutes ago | root | parent | next | edit | delete [–] I follow these simple rules for breathing 1. Breathe to stomach not chest. 2. Breathe by nose (unless swimming or underwater). 3. Inhalation time and exhalation time should be equal and gap between inhalation and exhalation should be sum of it. If it takes x seconds to inhale exhalation should begin after 2x seconds and should finish in x se…
Here is the way I was taught.
1. relax.
2. deep inhale.
3. pause (1 count)
4. say 'O' (2 or 3 counts, you can stretch it further if you can). Here you are basically exhaling through mouth.
5. slowly transition from 'O' to 'M'. for a brief period in the transition try to say 'O' nasally. might need a bit of practice but basically you are slowly transitioning from exhaling via mouth to exhaling via nose.
6. as you completely switch to 'M' your mouth is shut and you are totally exhaling via nose. Stretch 'M' as long as you can.
7. repeat this cycle. Once you find the rhythm its quite mentally relaxing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you share some of your breathing lessons here? I only ask because there are several other commenters on here offering breathing tips, and you sound like an expert on this.
Ehhh. a) "Box Breathing", as mentioned in the article. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold. Same rate for each step. Ex: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. Repeat as long as you like. Very calming and "centering" (in the sense of moving you toward "neutral" physiologically). More effective if you can breathe through nose and use diaphragm/belly breathing, but that's optional. b) "Coherent Breathing". Inhale, exhale,…