Breathing exercises and techniques for better health

Like many things that have changed with modern living, breathing seems much more complicated than it was 100 years ago.

What changed?

It seems as if the answer is "many things". We don't seem to have a thread dedicated to those many things, so I decided to start one!

1. There seems to be a fair bit of evidence that our increasingly soft diet is contributing to a narrow mouth resulting in crowded teeth and that is impacting on our breathing. There's evidence that even the difference between breast feeding vs bottle feeding and the length of time it's done for, can affect how the bones around the mouth develop with longer breast feeding being beneficial. Chewing harder foods regularly can reverse some of this, based on some reading I've been doing.

2. There are many ancient cultures that believed that "mouth breathing" was bad for your health, and again, this one does appear to have supporting evidence. One might think that when you exercise, breathing through your mouth can help you, but there are some athletes that weened themselves from doing so and ended up with Gold Medals.

3. Many of us have practiced some version of yoga and some of the related breathing exercises. The class I attended years ago did the "breath in for the count of 5, hold for the count of 5, breath out for the count of 5, hold for the count of 5" for example. A version of that is called "Box Breathing" and is based on the count of 4.

4. There's also some evidence that the number of breaths people take in a minute has increased in this era, and consciously reducing the number of breaths you take could improve your health.

Personally, I know that I feel calmer when I slow my breathing rate, and I've definitely done versions of number 3 above to help with that. I've been reading a book, "Breath - the new science of a lost art" which is James Nestor's journey through improving his health through breathing  control, heavy chewing, nasal breathing and other techniques.  Some of it comes across as "out there", but some of it makes a lot of sense. The appendix starting on pg 219 gives written instructions on a variety of techniques, and there are videos on the web and apparently a few aps that can help people experiment with this concept.

Jay Angler wrote:I've been reading a book, "Breath - the new science of a lost art" which is James Nestor's journey through improving his health through breathing  control, heavy chewing, nasal breathing and other techniques.  Some of it comes across as "out there", but some of it makes a lot of sense. The appendix starting on pg 219 gives written instructions on a variety of techniques, and there are videos on the web and apparently a few aps that can help people experiment with this concept.

I listened to the audiobook version and found it very interesting too! I’ve read other books about sleep which is when I’ve focused most on improving my breathing by taping my mouth and floor sleeping.

I’m quite curious to read more about the breathing exercises that kept people from freezing (though I don’t plan on experimenting that on myself.)

I have found breath mindfulness and exercises to be a critical component of my wellness.

You can do so much with breath - focus and calm are two of the foremost results of a lot of breath training. It can help with pain management and anxiety. Some of the more exotic seeming breath exercises I've done in yoga are quite energizing and stimulating.

Breath watching can also be a journey into self observation. When I was younger and first learned about meditation I was often told "watch your breath but don't control it". It must have taken me 15 years before I was actually able to do that. But that journey allowed me to create a space for observation of my own body that I did not have before. You can apply the permaculture concept of observation to yourself as well. I think the results are worthwhile.

In 2020 when I went to the doctor about my balance problem. He ran several tests.  He suggested what he thought the test revealed and was going to do more blood tests (since the lab still had my blood) to rule that out.  He went on vacation and that was the end of those tests.

So I researched what it was that he suggested.

With Covid in full swing, I did not want to go back to a hospital for more tests.

Here is what I learned:

Lots of water and breathing exercises were the best remedy for me.

Breathe in through the nose, hold for a count of 5 then breathe out through the mouth.

Drinking lots of water and doing breathing exercises has gotten me through 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Breathing exercises could possibly be a cure-all for many ailments.

Anne Miller wrote:Breathing exercises could possibly be a cure-all for many ailments.

Even if they aren't a "cure", there were some good examples of significant improvements in problems like asthma. One of my friends with asthma is on some pretty potent drugs which harm her as well as helping her. If some of these exercises decreased her issues enough to significantly decrease her reliance on that drug, that would still be a win!

There's plenty of evidence out there that breathing exercises can be a part of managing anxiety and pain as mentioned by L. Johnson. This is another common place where people tend to reach for drugs, and where less pain can easily mean less potent drugs are sufficient. I've read studies that show where proper pain management improves the speed of healing and outcome, so I am not a fan of the "just tough it out" club. However, who says mindfulness and breathing exercises can't be a valuable and effective part of that "pain management program"?

What do people feel is the difference between breathing out through the nose and breathing out through the mouth? sounds like it's always optimal to breathe in through nose... I'm keen to hear what people have found, thanks

Jasmine Dale wrote:What do people feel is the difference between breathing out through the nose and breathing out through the mouth? sounds like it's always optimal to breathe in through nose... I'm keen to hear what people have found, thanks

Jasmine, it is good to see you back at the forum.

That is an interesting question.

Since I was researching a real life-threatening ailment as suggested by my doctor, I took the advice of the research that I did.

I did not bother asking why?  What I researched was clear to stress to let the air out through the mouth.

So today I asked your question:

WebMD said, "The only time it's absolutely necessary to breathe through your mouth is when you're doing intense exercise or if your nose is blocked from congestion, a cold, or allergies. Temporary mouth breathing can help you get air to your lungs quicker in these situations.

Hopefully, this has answered your question though I would love to hear what others think.

For a yogic example, I have found the Channel, Yoga with Tim, to be a great resource to find practices that help align the ribcage to the body so that you can teach the body to properly breathe without having the body tensing up. Before learning this from his channel, I realized I had a tendency to push my ribcage out when I thought I was doing good posture. His insights were extremely valuable in improving my breathing over the past few years and I noticed, once my ribcage was in the right position, the breathing exercises also increased in their benefits as well.

This is a short 13 minute practice that covers this aspect of alignment very well, so I will share it below:

L. Johnson wrote:... You can do so much with breath - focus and calm are two of the foremost results of a lot of breath training. ...

... I was often told "watch your breath but don't control it". It must have taken me 15 years before I was actually able to do that. ...

Watching the breath without controlling it is easy to say, but it takes a particular kind of attention that is also quite useful in not being reactive - automatically responding to small and large triggers. I find that kind of attention incredibly useful, and strive (with only mild success) to be in that mode throughout the day.

One of my teachers, Harish Johari, wrote (among other books) _Breath, Mind and Consciousness_, which says that most of the time, one of our nostrils is predominant, alternating roughly every hour or so. The active nostril is correlated with increased activity in one of the brain hemispheres, which means the body is better able to do tasks that correlate with that hemisphere, and less able to do those that don't.

Sigurd

I was drilled as a child to "suck in my gut". This does not allow for proper breathing. Now in my 60's I'm retraining myself to breath all the way down to my pelvic floor: it's a long row to hoe after all these years of breathing poorly.

Along those lines I was also told to "stand up straight" which I translated into straightening out the proper curves at the top and bottom of the spine: that too I am working on restoring to a healthier pattern.

I have taught a breathing exercise for many years to my clients and employees.
Edit: I noticed as I was typing this it's coming out in the wording I use as I teach it in real life, so listen to this as my voice, urging you to do more.

Get the stale air out of your lungs! Most people use only the top 1/3 of their lungs to breathe casually, leaving stale air, excess moisture, and the bacteria that loves those conditions in there.

Exhale Three Deep Breaths:
Breathe in through your nose, then exhale out of your mouth.... And keep going, how much more air can you squeeze out? Keep going! I curl my body in to squeeze out more. It will probably make you cough as the muscles as not used to doing this and stuff needs to move.  A good coughing fit is a good thing here, clear the crap out of your lungs and throat, get the airflow path cleared! When you are done coughing, breathe back in and start over.
When you can breathe out no more, hold the empty for a sec if you can, then inhale deeply through your nose. Deep deep deep, as much as you can, come on, get a bit more in! Hold it for a few, then exhale. And keep exhaling, more more more, curl up, squeeze it all out, any more little squeaks you can get out? Hold for a sec, inhale through your nose. Deep deep deep, get in a bit more, stretch your lung capacity!
One more time, exhale it ALL! Keep going, more out more out, it will be more than the first few times, are you SURE that's all? Then inhale deep and relax.

What you have done is clear the stale air and excess crap out of the lungs, and added a lot of good fresh air, and gotten the whole airway cleared so you can breathe well.

I teach to do this once a day under normal circumstances. More often if you are sedentary, fighting off being sick, or about to exercise.

My past hisory of being a therapist interacts with my current life of physical labor doing permie type stuff, so the kids I hire these days are taught this on their first day, and after that, before we move to a high energy task, we all do three deep breaths. So after we take a break, I'll say "Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's bounce! Got your leather gloves? Let's exhale three deep breaths!" and they start groaning and mumbling, knowing we are about to do something that is definitely work. It's a dead giveaway in my workdays that that always precedes a heavy energy expenditure task.  

BUT! They learn VERY fast that it HELPS A LOT. When I'm teaching them I often use a cinder block on the first day. Pick it up, feel how it feels to do so. We learn the exercise, do our breaths, pick up your cinder block again, it feels different to do it now, doesn't it? Wow, it does!!

I have talked to some of the kids after they have gone on to other jobs, or who are doing sports. One guy called it his secret weapon against wresting opponents and the other workers at his new job. He says he does his three deep breaths, and wins his matches, and out works the other guys. He also started doing it before his weight lifting routine, and increased the amounts he can lift.

I also teach it to older or sicker folks, it not only increases their oxygen levels (which helps with brain fog too) it clears out the lungs. One lady had chronic, repeating bronchial infections until she started doing it every day, and several times a day when she felt she needed it. When I last saw her, it was 2 years after I had taught her the technique, she said she had done two winters in a row with no antibiotics, when she had spent the last 10 years before being on them several times per season.

It's POWERFUL. Try it, really, it's worth doing!


And someone above in this thread asked why you inhale through your nose and out through your mouth in all of these breathing exercises, one of the reasons is because your nose filters the incoming air of dust, bacteria, etc, but it also slows down the air intake, as it's a more constricted passage. When you exhale out of your mouth, you move more air out easier, and that makes the inhale more likely to go deeper and be more effective. This exercise was designed to accentuate that process, and I have often recommended to people to do it before the more meditative breathing exercises, like the ones others mentioned counting the time in, and out, box breathing, etc. It makes them more effective if you start with the stale air and crud out of your lungs and airways.  (One of the other reasons the rhythmic exercise have you do it that way is it keeps you focused on the exercise, keeps you from spacing out between breaths.)

Another reason I teach people to do it is it because it doesn't take long, a lot of people never do the rhythmic breathing type exercises because they either lack time or patience. This gives them at least ONE breathing exercise that is more likely to actually get done. Because it's quick it's also a good one to teach kids (and you can make doing it fun and silly,) and it's easy to do it before a high energy expenditure task. Try it before you do a task, you'll probably notice a difference in how easy it feels.

When your lungs and breathing work smoothly, you get more oxygen, and every process and muscle in your body needs that oxygen. ALL of the breathing exercises in this thread are good ones, most people are not aware of how badly they breathe until they try exercising it. To breathe is an automatic process, to breathe well takes paying attention. Just as you stretch and exercise your body to make it work most effectively when are not focusing on exercising, these exercises make your automatic breathing more effective.

:D

I’ve been a bit of a breath head for about 2 decades.

I too have read Breath, the James Nestor book.  It was an amazing read.  I have also read his other book about free diving, which inspired him to create the breath book.  It is also worth it, but it didn’t have as much breathing insight in it as I was hoping.

I’ve done a fair amount of yogic breathwork as well as meditation, but still haven’t mastered the simple observation of the breath that L Johnson has managed.  I get there sometimes, however, and it really feels like you are in a very special place indeed.  I remember the first time that I managed it, actually; I was in a Zen meditation center doing a group mediation, and the master who was walking amongst us had gently straightened my head to improve my posture and I remember allowing the thought that I was slightly irritated by his intrusion just to pass by; I simply observed it, and then I felt my belly and chest extending outwards in an in-breath, and it filled me up from my center to my nostrils and released without me thinking about it, just simply observing it as if I was looking beside me at a cat breathing.  It was a very powerful experience, that I was so proud of making this milestone that I completely lost my meditation as my thoughts raced around trying to figure it out!

In addition to the square breathing that Jay mentioned, I practice increasing the area of the square.  I start with 3 in, 3 held, 3 out, and 3 held.  From there I increase by one breath (4 then 5, then six, etc) on every full square of sides until I am at a count of 15 for all four sides of the square.  I’ve been able to do 20 or more on each side at times, but 15 is more comfortable for me.  It took me a while to be able to do 15 consistently.  10 was far easier.  Now 15 is no problem.  When I am off in any way, I try to remember to do square breathing of some sort.  Even the square breathing of 4, or counting to five or six or seven on the sides is, for me, extremely helpful to calm anxious thoughts or to center me when I want to be especially mindful.

If I am not relaxed, this will relax me, but if I’m not relaxed (particularly mentally, but also emotionally, and physically) it will be harder to make myself do it!  This is where mindfulness and meditation come into help with the breathwork for sure.  I’m no Zen master.  I could really stand to gain more in that department.

A breath count of 5 or 6 in and out without holding it in any way, is also extremely relaxing and is a gentle way to start getting into conscious breathing.

One of the exercises in the Breathe book is to walk and hold your breath out while you count your steps until you have to breathe.  I practice this regularly.  It allows the body to be slightly starving for oxygen, and then when I do breathe in, the oxygen goes flooding to my muscles.  When you breathe in, let the breath return to normal before holding your breath out again.  In a 20-minute walk, I might hold my breath anywhere from 5 to 10 times.  It depends on my mood and other factors.  But I have found that a walk of that nature is far more beneficial to my being than an hour's walk without it.  I feel invigorated in a way that can not be easily quantified.  If I do that as a ‘warm-up' before I do some more vigorous exercise, I feel that my body benefits far more from that exercise session.

I finish this post with this wonderful thing that I also started doing after reading Nestor's Breath book, but the idea, I think, is even better explained in this video:  Nasal breathing to increase nitrous oxide in your body.

When I was in the hospital for 5 weeks with a bad tibia fracture [8 between the ankle and the knee, actually] doctors monitored my breathing, and because the volume of air I was using had decreased significantly, they gave me a tool to measure the amount of air used and encouraged me to increase the volumetric amount by aspirating as much as I could, deeply through the nose, then let it go.
It makes sense that when we are incapacitated, we do not breathe as deeply and the volume of air we process may atrophy our lungs. "If you don't use it, you lose it", they say.
My older son just borrowed a book I had on self hypnosis. It really helped me. I had this preconception that hypnosis was dangerous, but this is really not something that could make you do something you don't want to do since it is all self directed. It requires training and that training uses breathing techniques to get you into a 'trance'.
When I say a trance, it is really a state of mind when you concentrate deeply and somewhat lose the sense of time passing by. It is not possible to get 'stuck' in that trance either: having to go to the bathroom, eat or drink will snap you out, as will someone calling you, a door banging shut etc. or speak to yourself of a time you want to "wake up". I put "wake up" between quotation marks because you are not asleep at all. When you get absorbed in a crossword puzzle or building something, or driving and suddenly thinking When did I go through that town on a long trip, you were in such a trance.
I used it to sleep better and stop sugar cravings, and it worked as long as I practiced once in a while. I stopped and my problems recurred. I have to get back into it! New Year Resolution!
[Darn, now that I think of it, I wish I had kept the book.] Here are some that may help:
https://upjourney.com/best-self-hypnosis-books
Amongst these, I would stay away from books that promise to do it in a weekend. Getting into a trance requires some training, and that takes time: You need to learn HOW to talk to yourself. the one that offers all sorts of scripts I would seriously consider getting as it is the most practical.

I've red that book too after I've herd on the radio LOL.
I just like to add what a therapist told me (I took my mom for few sessions); exercise breathing with diaphragm.
It works

Ela La Salle wrote:I've red that book too after I've herd on the radio LOL.
I just like to add what a therapist told me (I took my mom for few sessions); exercise breathing with diaphragm.
It works

Not sure which book you are referring to, Ela: there were 11 in the link I sent you. You are right that breathing with your diaphragm will result in deeper breaths and is very beneficial.

Not sure which book you are referring to, Ela: there were 11 in the link I sent you. You are right that breathing with your diaphragm will result in deeper breaths and is very beneficial.

 I think she is meaning the book 'Breath' that was mentioned several times.

Roberto pokachinni wrote:I’ve been a bit of a breath head for about 2 decades.

I too have read Breath, the James Nestor book.  It was an amazing read.  I have also read his other book about free diving, which inspired him to create the breath book.  It is also worth it, but it didn’t have as much breathing insight in it as I was hoping.

For an interesting discussion between James Nestor and Mike Rowe (the Dirty Jobs guy) check out this podcast:

The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe, Episode 262, Let's Talk About Septums and Scrotums

Here's the summary from the link above:

James Nestor, a NYT bestselling author whose book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art inspired Mike to have a septoplasty, discusses the advantages of healthy breathing, the dangers of mouth breathing, and the reasons why our ancestors had larger mouths and straighter teeth. Then we share a song written by listener Bill Dumas in reaction to Mike’s request for a ballad about his deviated septum and his father’s swollen scrotum in Episode 203: There’s a Hole in Daddy’s Arm.

Overall a very interesting discussion. Enjoy!

There is a lot more I can and likely will add to this thread.  

I too, use a method similar to what Pearl describes, but it’s a bit more intense and there is more to it.  Though Pearl's technique has some similarities and will have many of the same benefits, as you will read, there is more to this one.  

It was taught to me by a shaman and was one of the things that got me started on this whole breathing kick.  This is not something to be done when you are sick in the lungs.  Be gentle when you are sick by modifying all of this to show love for your body’s inherent need for tender nurturing.  If this makes you light-headed or dizzy at all, then make it less intense in any way that your intuition tells you.  Lie down and take a break if you have to.  Remember always that your body is a great teacher.  But you also teach your body.  If you are inclined to try this, be kind to yourself when you are learning it.  And, if you have serious breathing concerns, this is not necessarily the best method to jump into for dealing with them.  Consult a doctor, naturopath, or other healthcare providers to get advice about doing this.

In it, one gets into a stance similar to one that a person might assume in a relaxed tai chi posture, to begin with.  Legs slightly bent at the knees, bearing your weight and focussing the energy downwards into the soles of your feet which are shoulder width apart; your shoulders, for their part, are rolled back; your neck is straightened with your chin tucked slightly to align the top vertebrate; your arms hang loosely at your sides.  Now there are a couple of things to do as you initiate the in-breath.  The first is to put the tip of the tongue on the roof of your mouth, tight to the pallet, just behind and pressing against the front top teeth.  He said this concentrates your focus and channels the direction of energy into your nose and sinus and also into your pineal gland.  The next part is that you rapidly move your arms forward, outward, upward, and then slightly backward leaving them in their fullest outward upward extension.  This expands the chest cavity to its maximum.  While you are upwardly rotating your arms and expanding your chest, rapidly inhale as deeply as possible, and then gasp in a few more quick breaths to top it off.  Hold for a second.  

(you might want to practice this entire thing slowly to get the motion down correctly)  :)

Now when you are going to breathe out, tuck the tip of the tongue against the bottom of the mouth in the gums behind and against the lower front teeth, swing the arms in the rest of the rotation, both backward and downward, and then thrust forward with arms flexed hard like you are holding a heavy medicine ball between them in front of you, but the fingers are outwards as if you are throwing energy out of their fingernails away from you.  In this out-breath, you act as if you are focusing your energy like a Maori warrior.  You pretty much hate the bad stuff that was trapped in the tiny alveoli air sacs.  These tiny balloons are the place where gasses are exchanged between the atmosphere and your blood.  You want to get rid of the crap in there at all costs.  Your breath is blasting out as if you are a killer whale whose breath has been held in a long deep hunting dive and has finally surfaced to expel and gain oxygen again for another dive.  

Out it all goes in one foul but blessed blast.  

Now, hold your breath out.  While holding your breath, contract your diaphragm.  Now attempt to rotate the contraction of the diaphragmatic muscles first by contracting them towards the right armpit.  This rotational direction forces the abdominals to massage the liver.  From there the rotation heads across the lower parts of the lungs, which are the area that most needs to be cleaned out and opened up.  The next, I think, is the spleen in the upper left side, as you rotate downwards you are on the other side of your stomach from where you started, and as you carry on around you get into the lower intestines and kidneys, and then back to the other side you hit the gall bladder as you head back to the liver.  Rotate as many times as you can muster while holding your breath out.  If this is too hard to do the first time, just pump your abdomen in and out or better yet, up and down, by using your diaphragm until you absolutely have to breathe in.  The effect of this movement is to stimulate all of your lower organs as well as your lower lungs into action, and that action will demand oxygen, which you are starving yourself of temporarily but the coming in-breath will flood into those that are stimulated.  When you breathe in, do so fully expanding the arms outward and slightly upwards but in a slower, gentler, and relaxed manner, and then continue with relaxed breathing while relaxing back into the original Tai Chi-like posture of good alignment.  When you are fully relaxed after a few normal breaths, repeat the process.  

In this exercise, the shaman also instructed me to send a prayer of thanks to the spirits of the landscape and ecosystem that I was standing in which contains the air that we were breathing.  The next breath would be dedicated to the people who have historically and in the present given good stewardship to the land that I was standing on.  The next was to the lands that gave sustenance to my ancestors, and the last of the four was dedicated to the spirits of the people who gave my historical homelands good stewardship.  You can modify this prayer/gratitude/blessing to suit your spiritual needs... or skip it.  

I hope that this serves anybody who tries it as well at it has me.  blessings.

This video was prompted by James Nestor's book Breathe and by Patrick Mckeown's Oxygen Advantage.  It is quite helpful.  And answers the nasal breathing question.

Barbara Kochan wrote:I was drilled as a child to "suck in my gut". This does not allow for proper breathing. Now in my 60's I'm retraining myself to breath all the way down to my pelvic floor: it's a long row to hoe after all these years of breathing poorly.

Along those lines I was also told to "stand up straight" which I translated into straightening out the proper curves at the top and bottom of the spine: that too I am working on restoring to a healthier pattern.

I often recieve clients who have been instructed to pull the navel in towards the spine. This often starts the reverse of the reflex that is desired.  
The instruction to pull the spine toward the navel as you breath in starts the propper posture and supports the attatchment of the diaphragm. Start with the abdominal floor and progressevely up the abdominal muscles as you breath out.  The controle of the lower ribs to support the outer edge of the diaphagm comes from the inside edge of the shoulder blades so the they should be pulled toward the spine.
The Diaphragm has seperate nerves to the left and right side therefore if your posture is uneven that can often be improved by consentrating on breathing in on the constricted side and out on the expanded side.
If you are recieving some type of boddy work or therapy, specific instructions on breath corisponding to the work being done is evedence of a well traind therapist or instructor.

Another source of child instruction is lift your feet when the diper prevents lifting the knee, therefore they lift the hip and swing the leg out sideways.  This also starts an abdominal pattern that restricts diaphragm breathing.

I hope it's not 'piling on' to post another video link.  This 12 minute 'taster' video by Jon Kabat-Zinn of a short meditation/breathing session was very informative and motivational for me on how to approach meditative breathing.  I actually really like how this simple video was made....with a bit of introductory instruction, then some actual quiet meditation, followed by some additional commentary that was helpful in sustaining the practice for me year in, year out.  A very 'approachable' introductory method.... and thanks to Jay for initiating this thread and raising this important topic.

Cris Fellows wrote:This video was prompted by James Nestor's book Breathe and by Patrick Mckeown's Oxygen Advantage.  It is quite helpful.  And answers the nasal breathing question.

I’m glad that someone else brought up Patrick McKeown and Oxygen Advantage. A quick search for Oxygen Advantage will get you a lot of videos on youtube, and a search for Patrick McKeown will get you a lot of interviews and podcasts.  All are worth it.  He’s a great guy.  In addition to watching a bunch of youtube videos and listening to podcasts by him, I’ve also gotten into the methods of Wim Hof in the past few years.

Again, like the previous post I made, some of these techniques can be a bit intense, especially in the case of Wim’s, but these are worth exploring, and then adapting into your own practices.
 

Here is a tutorial on Wim Hof’s breathing method that he put out a few years ago.  If you start it around 2:30 you will get right into the exercise; starting earlier gives you his take on what is going on physiologically, and then you can end it at about 9:30 if you don’t want to finish the rest.  He’s not a scientist, but he does have some understanding of the science.  I don’t understand it all, and I don’t understand or believe all of his explanations, but I do think there is much value in his method.  The most important part of the tutorial, in my opinion, is to relax on the outbreath---don’t force it, and don’t fully exhale.  Following the tutorial, I will post his 11-minute run-through of the breathwork.




[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ&t=183s [/youtube]

The one other thing that I wanted to mention today is a book called the Handbook of Self Healing.  I can not recommend this book enough.  The author, Mier Schnieder was legally blind, and through exercises, he was able to later get an unrestricted drivers liscense without wearing glasses or contacts.

The book has many chapters, one of which is dedicated to breathing.  It is recommended that if you do not have a specific ailment, like arthritis, vision disorder, or a spinal mobility problem that you want to focus on right away, he insists that it is best to begin the book at the beginning, with the breathing chapter.  That’s how important it is.  He then follows that chapter with one on circulation, then various joints, then the spine...  

I’ve owned this book for over twenty years and, along with the shamanic breathwork I mentioned in my second post in this thread, this chapter formed the foundation of my breathwork practice.  I will share some of the exercises from this book as I re-read that chapter in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, if you have the means, I would highly recommend that you order this book.  It is a treasure trove of exercises; an absolute wealth of information.  With it, in addition to vastly improving my breathing, I was able to heal knee damage, lower back pain, neck pain, arthritic fingers, and many other ailments.  None of those have returned, so long as I keep my posture fairly proper and my joints and spine relatively mobile.  As a foot amputee, I’ve found many of the methods in this book to be invaluable; which allow me a level of high activity and hard labor with little to no discomfort.  

 Here is the PDF online version:      https://self-healing.org/handbook

And here is the Amazon link to buy the solid book:  https://www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Self-Healing-Meir-Schneider/dp/0140193316

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:  
Not sure which book you are referring to, Ela: there were 11 in the link I sent you. You are right that breathing with your diaphragm will result in deeper breaths and is very beneficial.

Yes, the " BREATH......"  by James Nestor. Thank you.

Roberto pokachinni wrote:The one other thing that I wanted to mention today is a book called the Handbook of Self Healing.  I can not recommend this book enough.

I am excited to read it.  Also have you noticed that Wim Hof and Patrick E have seemingly opposite methods with similar results?

I am excited to read it.  Also have you noticed that Wim Hof and Patrick E have seemingly opposite methods with similar results?

Hi Cris,  

Yeah.  They both promote a response from too much carbon dioxide, which is used as a tool to increase oxygen demand.  And when we take our breathing into our conscious awareness, our nervous system responds with a parasympathetic response.  Those two things provide the similiarity in result.  There are probably more things that make the result similar, but those two come to mind.

My daughter-in-law has been able to greatly cut back on asthma medications, which as pointed out above, are very potent and end up having many negative effects, By practicing regular Buteyko breathing especially designed for asthmatics she has been strengthening her lungs and cutting back on meds.

When we have our bushfires here, which is annually, smoke can be deadly but unavoidable as it seeps in through everything. She has been able to use this way of breathing to assist getting more oxygen into her body quickly and manages much better with related health issues than she used to before starting using these breathing exercises.

I follow Dave Asprey on the Human Upgrade Podcast and he has had both James Nestor and Patrick Mckeown on as guests very recently,  episodes 751 and 835.

I wanted to add more about Wim Hof.  He isn't a scientist but has worked with scientists to prove what his ideas.  He has been on Vice, TedX and other media sources about these things.   He has done things like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts, running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle barefoot, and standing in a container while covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes...I have done his breathing which is very interesting.  I would also mention others I like such as the HRV (Heart Rate Variance)- a simple method is just breathing the same in counts as out (4 to 4 or 6 to 6).  The Relaxation Response (great book by Herbert Benson) is based on TM meditation and has lots of benefits and is very simple.  The Navy Seals teach the Box method or “Combat Tactical Breathing” which is 4-4-4 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomanazish/2019/05/30/how-to-de-stress-in-5-minutes-or-less-according-to-a-navy-seal/?sh=3378b0b43046)- it is 4 in, 4 hold, 4 out, 4 hold.  There is also doubling out vs in and I love to go very slow with 6 in, 6 hold, 12 out, 6 hold.  Why is this topic so interesting to me?  I've dealt with severe anxiety and breathing correctly has helped a lot for me.  

I do not think anyone mentioned the work of Drs. Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbard.  Video here:     and their Breath Body Mind initiative.  I found them in the citations to the Breath book by James Nestor mentioned above.  They teach all over the world.  

Roberto pokachinni wrote:The one other thing that I wanted to mention today is a book called the Handbook of Self Healing.  I can not recommend this book enough.

 Here is the PDF online version:      https://self-healing.org/handbook

This book is an absolute treasure trove!!!  I am so excited that you pointed us in this direction.   We are herbalists here but often I feel that movement, specific movement,  is what we are missing.  Plus the vision section has all the things I was looking into currently on little Internet rabbit holes in one place!

A good youtube video with some references for breath-work related books near the end.  This video was put out by the guy who wrote the book "What doesn't Kill Us." which featured Wim Hof but went into a lot of other specifics.  In this video, the author is mostly describing his own experiences with health in regard to the Wim Hof method.    Might be of interest for you all.

 https://self-healing.org/handbook didn't work- "Page not found."

I love that Wim Hof video.  Just in case some are interested in more sources but don't have time to watch the video; he noted at the end of the video: Patrick McKeown "The Oxygen Advantage"; Brian McKenzie "HPP"; James Nestor "Breath"; Casper Vandermolen ("Anything he does") and Jessee Coomer.  "They're all breath work Masters."  His own (Scott Carney) "The Wedge."  I know I'll definitely check into these.

I have a story with the Wim Hof method- I suck at telling stories by the way.  I showed some family and friends his crazy videos so we decided to test it after some practice.  We went outside in 15 degree weather with just shorts and shoes and it felt comfortable for 10 minutes or so.  A couple went back indoors right away but 3 of us stayed.  It was definitely interesting.

This is a timely topic for me. And a passionate and deeply personal one. I just posted in the private forum for Wheaton labs events about why I missed the PTJ and SKIP events. I had a rather serious health scare, sepsis. Unfortunately, it’s taken me a long time realize that all of my health scares until this one were put down by breathing and/or qigong. And I doubt I ever would have gotten sepsis if I stuck with my somewhat extreme routine. I deeply regret every time I gave up or minimized these practices because it’s quite clear now that all of my health scares have occurred when I neglected my practice. I honestly think I would be in remission of Crohn’s, never had thyroid issues(which I no longer have), and never had sepsis if I had stuck with my regular practice.

That said, I’m talking about an extreme routine. Several hours daily.

My first experience with any alternative health therapy was 18 years ago. I went to an alternative medicine expo and met an old Indian man at an Ayurveda booth. At the time I was having profuse liquid diarrhea on a daily basis. I was staying at my cousin’s house and he gave me a breakfast full of foods I knew would cause extra trouble. I ate it anyway. I guess I thought “what’s it matter, I’m going to have diarrhea anyway.”

So I told the old man “I have digestive issues”, he said “I know.” He had me lay down on the massage table and imagine I was off in space. He guided me through a rather specific and detailed imagery session. He then taught me a slow breathing technique. It was basically like Nadi Shodhana/anulom valom, but laying down and with some imagery. And, it sped up. Faster and faster….and even faster.

He kept pushing the pace. Part of the imagery was that I imagine my body is dead, my consciousness off in space. He told me I wasn’t allowed to contract any of my muscles even the slightest. And he noticed too. As the pace picked up it became challenging to keep my body so relaxed. He had to keep touching the muscle  I was stressing and say “relax, dead body.” The pace got ridiculously fast. I was full on hyperventilating at this point. I felt emotions rising—which I’ve heard happens with other hyperventilating systems like holotropic breathing. I felt like crying at some moments, and then the feeling would pass.

The predominant feeling was euphoria. I felt high as a kite. The sides of my neck started to tingle. Then he had me position my hands in a certain way I won’t bother explaining, and simply breathe in and out. He pushed the speed even further. I felt like my body was going to break. The amount of “letting go” I had to do in order to breathe at that pace while staying so relaxed is something I’ve never been able to replicate. The tingling spread from my neck down to my chest and then it began to reach my upper abdomen. At that moment I felt like if I could just get this sensation to my lower abdomen I’ll be healed. I got the sensation there and felt my abdomen relax. I didn’t realize how much tension was there until it went away.

I felt the urge to speak for the first time during this whole process(which my cousin and his friend believe was about 20-30 minutes). I told him about the sensation and he slapped me on the shoulder while shouting “that’s it! You’ve got it!” Shortly after we stopped. The “wake up” process was very detailed and slow. It probably took up 5-10 minutes of the 20-30 minutes. He kept scolding me for opening my eyes too fast. When I finally got my eyes open enough to look around I realized my vision was completely out of focus. As blurry as you could imagine. It took several minutes to regain my focus too.

My cousin and his friend had a shocked look on their face. They said my complexion looked healthy, no more anemic look from bleeding out my intestines. My eyes looked different, vibrant. I was stunned when I looked in the mirror. They weren’t kidding. For the next two weeks I had perfect bowel movements. Then I got a cold. I tried a neti pot, but I just couldn’t breathe fast enough or deep enough. It was never same as when he guided me anyway. How I lost touch with him is another story. I never saw him again.

When I did yoga therapy teacher training in India years later I had to write a paper. I wrote 18 pages with all the details of the technique and went through a list of hypotheses on why it may have given me this result. I cited research to back up all the hypotheses. Research on hyperventilation techniques(that’s what they call in medical literature. Like holotropic breathing, wim hof, and whatever that technique Ravi Shankar utilizes is called). I looked into research on hypnosis as possibility, but really I think the hyperventilating aspect was critical. The intensity and depth of hyperventilating as well.

This is just one story. I have others. I stopped a several month long flare up in one day with 3 hours of qigong. I learned a breathing technique from a qigong school in Malaysia that reduced my bloating when I was so bloated I couldn’t eat much and was losing weight. These are the stories I look back on now and think “why didn’t you just stick with?” To be clear, I now have such an extreme issue with small intestinal strictures that I always seem a little bloated(I had a colonoscopy/endoscopy recently). It inhibits my ability to do any hyperventilating technique as proficiently as I would like. I still do wim hof breathing, it’s just uncomfortable some times. I’ve done maybe two hours of wim hof, yoga, and qigong combined today. I’ll shoot for another hour after this, minimum.

I want to join an accountability group or something like that. I have much more I could say but this is a very long post already. After writing this, I’m inspired. I think my goal will be to increase these practices until my bloating has reduced enough to give the old man’s technique a shot again. Maybe I should hire a hypnotist to help me do it. If you read this whole post, thanks for sticking it out.

I want to join an accountability group or something like that. I have much more I could say but this is a very long post already. After writing this, I’m inspired. I think my goal will be to increase these practices until my bloating has reduced enough to give the old man’s technique a shot again. Maybe I should hire a hypnotist to help me do it. If you read this whole post, thanks for sticking it out.

The nerves to the muscles on the front of the abdomen enter the spine at the bottom of the ribs.  Theses often tighten up in response to the intestinal pain. In turn the nerve roots there become inflamed hindering the the bile and pancreas further increasing the intestinal disturbance.    Putting your hands on the abdomen and shaking the muscles may reduce the cramping enough to allow the diaphragm and abdominals to coordinate again for deep breathing and eventually rapped  breathing the movement of which may reduce the inflammation in the intestines.   You are welcome to contact me through the link in my signature line.

Hans Quistorff wrote:

I want to join an accountability group or something like that. I have much more I could say but this is a very long post already. After writing this, I’m inspired. I think my goal will be to increase these practices until my bloating has reduced enough to give the old man’s technique a shot again. Maybe I should hire a hypnotist to help me do it. If you read this whole post, thanks for sticking it out.

The nerves to the muscles on the front of the abdomen enter the spine at the bottom of the ribs.  Theses often tighten up in response to the intestinal pain. In turn the nerve roots there become inflamed hindering the the bile and pancreas further increasing the intestinal disturbance.    Putting your hands on the abdomen and shaking the muscles may reduce the cramping enough to allow the diaphragm and abdominals to coordinate again for deep breathing and eventually rapped  breathing the movement of which may reduce the inflammation in the intestines.   You are welcome to contact me through the link in my signature line.

Thanks for the offer. I’ve gone back to doing a breathing technique I learned in Malaysia through Chi Dynamics. It’s somewhat similar to box/block breathing cycles others have mentioned. The emphasis is on a long exhalation. As I mentioned in my long winded post above, I feel I have a lot I could be doing to improve my situation—including a Japanese stomach massage I learned years ago that may cover what you are describing. I should start doing that again too, so thanks for the reminder.

However, this Chi Dynamics block breathing is where my focus is now. When I learned the technique my abdomen stuck out like I was pregnant and all I could eat was meat. Even meat was becoming challenging. I was vomiting up my food sometimes. I probably had a tight stricture in my small intestine most likely(common with Crohn’s ). I was advised to practice the technique 30 minutes per session. Five sessions per day was the recommendation, but I often did four.  It’s time consuming and involves planning out the day, but the results were amazing. In a week or two I was eating rice and noodles again.

The technique is typically taught to people with cancer by Chi Dynamics. Many in the group I attended were either in remission or currently involved in a cancer diagnosis. They have an archive on the website of their magazines which contain testimonials.

Here are the instructions. I was given extra details, some of which were specific to my digestive symptoms.
Chi Dynamics

Ways to strengthen the lungs for better breathing.
 strength training for the lungs

I was trying to find a related youtube video I watched years ago that had an older gent and what he did was he held his lips closed tight and used them as resistance for his exhalation.  The breath came out and vibrated his lips hard.  This resulted also in higher oxygenation in the lungs.  I couldn't find it but thought this article might be helpful.

I like guides for box breathing like this one:

If doing the box breathing above you detect that the ribs or abdomen are not expanding or contracting equally concentrate on expanding the tight area as you breath in and contracting the other as you breath out.  If this is too difficult try changing position, that is go from sitting to standing to laying until you find a position that unlocks the restriction.   Antalgic posture is avoiding pain by holding joints away from the pain stimulus and breathing muscles get locked in that process.   Positioning and breathing allow healing movement without stimulating the pain response.