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4-7-8 Breathing

breathbelly.com

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Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#61

Post by avtar »

ulnarkressty wrote: post #21
kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

Every time I try breathwork (be it box or x-y-z) I feel that the intervals are too long - by the time I finish breathing out my brain goes into panic mode and the next breath is not enough to compensate. I find them the exact opposite of relaxing.

Pages 9 - 14 of the following pdf go into more detail about this aspect of softening breathing mechanics:

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/b68ec804-ba42-4194-b405-d1f...

Don’t a lot about the author. I just came across the doc on Reddit and the practical parts of what’s described checked out.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#62

Post by spiffytech »

ulnarkressty wrote: post #21
kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

Every time I try breathwork (be it box or x-y-z) I feel that the intervals are too long - by the time I finish breathing out my brain goes into panic mode and the next breath is not enough to compensate. I find them the exact opposite of relaxing.

A breath coach told me that breathing on a timer stresses some people out instead of calming them down. E.g., people who have experienced trauma. Submitting their bodily functions to an outside force's control can be very stressful.

Her approach adapted breathing patterns to listen to your body's internal signals for when to breath in and out.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#63

Post by keybored »

cubefox wrote: post #27

This may be a stupid question, but why do we need to exercise breathing? We do it all the time anyway, shouldn't we be pretty good at it by now?

I use my mind all the time. I’m not a meditator.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#64

Post by DontchaKnowit »

kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

Iant wim hof dangerous?

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#65

Post by dndn1 »

joemi wrote: post #60
laweijfmvo wrote: post #54

I wonder how much is the specific technique vs. the fact that something like 4-7-8 requires you to pay attention to and focus on your breathing? Have their been any studies where participants were asked to do tasks while also box breathing etc?

I wonder the same thing too. Especially since there are all kinds of different techniques that people recommend. And because the ideal length of time for the different phases must surely vary from person to person, since it's a physiological thing and everyone's body is different. It really seems to me (disclaimer: I'm a layperson) like the important thing is just focusing on measured breathing, not the exact one-siz…

People say that it's a practice.

A few years ago I was determined to practice, and it was hard, and then it became easy, auto-relaxing, like a cheat.

I lost that practice and now it's hard again.

I think GP is right to question technique vs. attention - I think we don't know much about the answer.

But a point I recall in Nestors book is that there isn't really a lot of scientific study on breath - there is much more study on specific diseases, and e.g. teeth have a full profession of study and development that the everyday act of breathing doesn't have (even though these might be highly related!).

Some of the best references about breath today are not scientific, but written in the oldest books that survived in different cultures - and anyways, how much does the specific mechanism matter?

Watch this space though - science is catching up!

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#66

Post by clocker »

ulnarkressty wrote: post #21
kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

Every time I try breathwork (be it box or x-y-z) I feel that the intervals are too long - by the time I finish breathing out my brain goes into panic mode and the next breath is not enough to compensate. I find them the exact opposite of relaxing.

I ended up in the same situation with this 4-7-8 Breathing. Actually with this one the problem for me is that there is no interval between cycles. After first cycle the next inhale starts immediately, and from the visualization you don't know exactly when the first cycle is going to end unless you keep the count yourself. I think after exhale there should be a gap of maybe 1 to catch up. INHALE-HOLD-EXHALE-CATCHTUP - inhaling for 4 counts, holding for 7, exhaling for 8, and catch up 1.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#67

Post by clocker »

Nice app! Wish there was a small interval between the cycles for catchup. After first cycle the next inhale starts immediately, and from the visualization you don't know exactly when the first cycle is going to end unless you keep the count yourself. I think after exhale there should be a gap of maybe 1 to catch up. INHALE-HOLD-EXHALE-CATCHTUP - inhaling for 4 counts, holding for 7, exhaling for 8, and catch up 1.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#68

Post by kdamica »

oarfish wrote: post #52
kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

is Nestor's book really excellent? I didn't make it more than halfway through because nowhere could i find any references for all the outlandish claims that are made. A lot of them are implausible anyway, and so far as I know the actual science does not support all these theories put forth in the book. If a thing is made out to be the cure to everything, it's likely the cure to nothing. would be happy to have some go…

The most outlandish thing I can remember was about chewing hard gum to fix your teeth, which seems kind of crazy but could be true. I don't remember breathing being posited as a cure to everything, and I also remember plenty of discussion of various studies. It seems quite believable to me that improper breathing causes all sorts of problems. It's possible I'm too credulous, or that you're too incredulous. Who's to say.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#69

Post by kdamica »

DontchaKnowit wrote: post #64
kdamica wrote: post #15

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none. For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

Iant wim hof dangerous?

You can definitely pass out but that's why you don't do it standing up or driving. And of course if you're doing ice baths there are plenty of ways to screw that up.

But overall if you're laying down doing wim hof breathing, I'd say no.

And of course individuals might have circumstances or conditions that do make it dangerous. They always tell you not to do it if you're pregnant, for example.

Re: 4-7-8 Breathing

#70

Post by clocker »

lkuty wrote: post #29
ulnarkressty wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I try breathwork (be it box or x-y-z) I feel that the intervals are too long - by the time I finish breathing out my brain goes into panic mode and the next breath is not enough to compensate. I find them the exact opposite of relaxing.

I like to start breathing using my own rythm and then after a while the intervals widen naturally and I could then synchronize my breathing with one of the well known patterns but usuallly I don't. If I try to start with e.g. 4-7-8 I have the same problem of going into panic mode and then I am not relaxed at all and heart pulses go up instead of going down.

for me the out of sync happens during the transition between cycles. I think the problem is the visualization in this 4-7-8 app. you don't know when the exhale is going to end, you are almost at the end of exhale and inhale starts immediately. .There should be a small gap of 1 between the cycles 4-7-8-1-4-7-8-1 ... or the animation should indicate when the exhale is going to end.
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