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 this claim. I found a bunch of blog posts by yoga-affiliated people, and the like.
I asked about this on Biology Stack Exchange, unfortunately with no answer.
I would be very curious if any HN reader knows more about this. That said, my impression of Nestor (who is a journalist, and not a scientist) was that he was perhaps a bit too eager to jump to conclusions.
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 breathing as part of meditation practice and I can say that focusing on the breath in this way at the very least helps one enter a meditative state, like many other pranayama techniques.
I’ve never dug into the science attempting to prove the proclaimed effects since experientially it helps me enter meditation, which is what I value it for—I’m not so sure its a good use of time trying to validate the overarching theoretical claims of ancient sources—the practices can still be highly beneficial even if the claims aren’t correct, and I think the main benefit of controlled breathing practices relate to meditation. (that said the body is an interconnected system so its totally plausible that regulating the breath, thus the heartbeat, thus the flow of blood throughout the system could have system wide effects).
If nothing else, hopefully these terms help you in your research.
If anyone else was confused (I was and had to google), the practice of alternate nostril breathing entails physically obstructing alternating nostrils with a finger as you take breaths.
If anyone wants to experience this kind of breathing in the context of a Yoga class, I really recommend this Sivananda class. It combines sun salutations with breathing exercises for really interesting experience. I have no idea on the science, but it has been a positive addition to my life.
I haven't tried the one nostril approach except briefly in yoga class, but you can control your energetic/restful activation level by controlling the length of inhalation and exhalation.
> Naturally we breath out of one nostril at a time
I don't understand how anyone can make that statement with a straight face. Unless one nostril is blocked, we use both simultaneously. There's no balance to be gamed.
That's not actually true. If you research it, you'll find that most people's nostrils alternately dilate and contract (the tissues reduce/swell). Most of us breathe primarily through only one nostril at a time, and it switches approximately every half hour. This is entirely unconscious and we're generally not aware of it.
There is a little bit of airflow in the constricted nostril, but nowhere near comparable to the other. You can test this by covering up your nostrils individually and comparing how easy it is to breathe through them. Then wait a half hour and try it again. (Note that a minority of people do not have this.)
However, this is not something you can consciously control or override, any more than you can override contractions in your intestine.
Watched a program on TV where a professor demonstrated stereoscopic olfactory ability. A person was blindfolded and knelt on a grassy area where an invisible smell trail was laid out. The person was able to track the trail because of this ability.
The key part is your sinus cavity slightly closes one nostril creating a differential air flow. This difference allows us to figure out the direction the smell via the difference in intensity between nostrils which our brain uses to sense direction.
Cover each nostril in turn and breathe in through your nose. One nostril will be easier to breathe in through. Now try it again a few times over a day.
I believe the reason your body does this is to allow your olfactory system to pick up a greater range of smells: Some chemicals are easier to pick up when the air is traveling slower.
I have always one nostril blocked (not completely thought) and according to "Kundalini Tantra" book that I read it's usual state for most people. In the book it was connected to the activity of brain laterals (one is dominant) and forcing yourself to breath equally through both nostrils will make both halves more balanced. Not sure if the explanations were correct, but the practice itself provided me with some really high states. Breathing is extremely powerful tool.
That is totally not correct. I thought I was an anomaly until I heard a podcast by the Breathe author. I've noticed it for years, but I always attributed it to allergies (I attribute everything anomalous to them, because they are such a huge influence in my life).
What is totally confusing is what causes the flip from one nostril to another. I have no idea what the mechanism is.
I’m not sure you are paying any attention to your body. That our air preparation apparatus (i.e. the nasal cavity) would run at reduced capacity when less air is needed makes perfect sense and is a well established medical fact. Just google “nasal cycle”.
One of my nostrils is almost always partially restricted. Yes, I have airflow through both of them, but it's almost never equal. Right now easy breathing through the left with some resistance in the right. It slowly shifts back and forth throughout the day.
It's very obvious when I have a cold. I often have one fully-plugged nostril and one not, which also shifts back and forth seemingly randomly.
I think what I'm describing is actually the norm but I haven't exactly surveyed the population.
I’ve found that doing it has helped me sleep when I’m restless at night - I think it’s more about giving you something concrete to focus on in order to make you more conscious of your body’s sensations, not necessarily something special about breathing through specific nostrils.
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 new-age westernized yoga). I think many people who find no results just breathe deep but dont slow it down. You should feel like your breath has been 'stretched' by the time you're done. Id also find a good teacher if you're serious because you can definitely overdo it/do it wrong.
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.
It comes from yoga, alternate nostril breathing. There is no scientific basis for the regulation claim afaik and the idea here is that both nostrils are linked to nadis, energy channels. While the nasal cycle does seem brain connected, Ive seen no proof it actually works upon the nervous system (as claimed) apart from the fact the practice is relaxing.
This is interesting and I'd love to hear some kind of real-science debunking (as I'm sure it would be the case)... or conversely, showing someone (via video and some kind of monitoring device) directing air in and out of one or the other nostril at will.
"Just try it" is interesting and can be fun. But it is a messy path to truth, because we humans are inherently terrible data collection machines. Likely the OP recognizes this and was looking for more objective data.
This practice exists in traditional eastern Yoga - breathing out of one nostril and in with the other. A similar explanation is given about it having a calming and energetic effect.
I know that doesn't provide the evidence you were looking for, but hopefully it provides some context on where this might have originated from.
I've dropped my blood pressure significantly in minutes with diaphragm breathing. Measured it. - Also, if you face the palms of your hands up, it mysteriously opens the lungs and allows for deeper more relaxed breathing.
As to your comments about the author's claims, I too am weary about a few.
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 told you that all this is nonsense. Same for meditation.
Try it. there is not much to lose. It doesn't cost anything and won't harm you. Worst case it doesn't work.
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.
> 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 strongly disagree with this line of thinking. If something is potent enough to deliver benefit, it can also be potent enough to deliver harm. You can't have it both ways.
Turns out breathing is rather psychoactive, and without proper educational context one can indeed induce or activate latent issues, anxiety or otherwise.
Just like with McMindfulness, I wish some of this kind of instruction required licensing.
> 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 language through the eons from older cultures and civilizations.
Trivia: the suffix -μα (like in the words pragma, dogma, trauma etc) generally means “the result or the carrier of the verb's actions”, so like pragma (“thing”, what is/has been made/done), dogma (what one believes in; the firmness of the belief is irrelevant to the ancient word), trauma (“wound”; the result of being wounded), pneuma would be what is being breathed; and there's another connection to old roots: alcohol is «οινόπνευμα» (spirit/fumes of the wine), and alcoholic drinks are called “spirits”.
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 finding mind space: a bit buzzy, a bit like a natural high, but for me it meshes pretty well with a breath following meditation.
Are you referring to the hyperventilation technique? I ended up at one of his workshops randomly and tried that.
It’s actually an old technique to increase the ability to hold the breath. The hyperventilation clears carbon dioxide from the system (hypocapnia). That’s what the buzz is.
The one interesting thing I have seen related to Hof is that he apparently was able to suppress the immune response to an endotoxin. Though it would be interesting to see that same study done on his twin.
I remember this technique also releases some stress hormone. This could indeed solve some health symptoms (for example cortisone is used agains astma). But I'm not sure what the long term consequence is of always releasing this stress hormone into your system.
The claims do sound pretty loopy at first blush, but there have been several studies at this point, and the science PDF they host on his website is pretty interesting.
The article mentions the first class the author took taught them Sudarshan Kriya, which is a particular kriya that the Art of Living Foundation teaches. From what I understand a large part of the kriya involves bhastrika pranayama, which is pretty much what the beginning Wim Hof method is, except he adds a kumbhaka (breath retention/hold) at the end of the 30 breath cycle. I appreciate what Wim Hof is doing, but a lot of these techniques have quite a long history in yoga.
What I find nice about his technique, is that it is much simpler than yoga and pranayama. He does not, for example, emphasise inhaling or holding or exceeding for a particular count of seconds. I find that it is easier to perform the
Wim Hof technique because of this.
The breathing technique which is closest to Wim How is that of Tummo. You can find videos of this on YouTube:
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
This article is very relevant to what I've recently experienced. I haven't experienced the sweating but I've experienced the serenity that follows controlled breathing.
I'm reading an English translation of Ramana Maharshi's Upadesa Sara with commentary and verses 11-14 talk about controlling the breath (pranayama). A few relevant points made in those verses:
* Controlling your breath can help quieten the mind.
* There are such things as harmful breathing patterns so it's important to seek the guidance of experts to avoid them.
* The simplest breathing exercise that's easy to do right without an instructor is to observe the breath as it is.
I've made a conscious effort to observe the breath randomly throughout the day and it has a calming effect. These past few days have felt good. Observing the breath before sleep has made it easier to fall asleep.
FWIW, the verses also mention that, as far as being serene is concerned, pranayama is a short term solution to a long term problem (and the gist of Upadesa Sara is on the long term solution but I digress).
I'm prone to anxiety, and find myself hyperventilating often. Is this what you mean by "harmful breathing patterns"?
I've tried the "box breathing" with little luck, but have adapted a version where the exhale is 2-3x longer than the inhale. (inhale for 2 seconds, hold it a couple seconds, exhale slowly for 4-6 second, hold again).
I've also found better luck at inhaling into my belly, instead of letting my rib cage expand. It seems to release the tension/anxiety that I'm holding in my chest better.
> I'm prone to anxiety, and find myself hyperventilating often. Is this what you mean by "harmful breathing patterns"?
I meant "practicing breathing exercises incorrectly" (and I see now that's what I should've written in the first place, thanks for pointing that out). Upadesa Sara doesn't expand upon what it means to practice breathing exercises incorrectly or mention what the side effects are. Much of Upadesa Sara is concise so much is left up to the reader to reason or learn about.
After I read your comment, I spent too much time thinking about how I breath (whether thru the belly or chest) and started breathing weird haha. After a few hours, I figured out that I mostly breathe through the belly. I think. Anyways, genuinely happy to hear you found something that works for you.
I find that chest breathing increases my anxiety and whenever I am stressed I find myself breathing shallow breaths through the chest. As soon as I notice that I can slowly make it go away by breathing slower and deeper and just taking a short break from whatever I am doing.
> I've made a conscious effort to observe the breath randomly throughout the day and it has a calming effect.
If and when you’re able to, do attend a free 10-day introductory Vipassana meditation course (see dhamma.org for locations and schedules). The practice starts with observing the breath, and then moves on from that.
This course requires the participants to be silent for the 10 days, and has some other restrictions too. Some people find that impossible to deal with. So do consider that and also any emotional or mental health issues/barriers that may be a deterrent to participation.
> Observing the breath before sleep has made it easier to fall asleep.
Every night when I go to bed, I deliberately slow my breathing.... I find that it immediately gets me into a meditative state and more likely fall into a hypnagogic state
Conscious breathing and conscious hearing are both techniques for practicing mindfulness (some kind of meditation). It's really overwhelming how it can calm your mind, when practiced regularly.
I have found breathing exercises to strengthen my diaphragm hugely helpful for acid reflux. I lie down with weights on my abdomen and breathe from the diaphragm for about 10 minutes a day. I’ve been able to stop PPIs completely by doing this regularly.
Do you have more info on this? I’ve suffered from GERD for a long time now and have found ways to mitigate the effects but this seems like an interesting potential treatment.
I can’t find the video I followed originally but what I do is pretty simple. I lie on the floor with one hand on my chest and one hand on my belly (just below the sternum). Then I breathe paying attention that only the lower hand moves, ie that I’m using my diaphragm. I put the weights (small metal plates) under the lower hand to add resistance. I recall seeing some papers explaining the mechanism being related to how the diaphragm kind of wraps around the oesophageal sphincter, so strengthening it helps it close.
Not the same thing, but I believe the parent commenter because I’ve seen multiple studies done where it was found that breathing exercises seemed to help with reflux: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3807765/
> We’ve become conditioned to breathe too much, just as we’ve been conditioned to eat too much.
How is one conditioned to breathe too much? We eat too much because there is so much available to us and it's engineered (by trial and error) to be as delicious as possible. That has not been done to air.
> people with anxieties or other fear-based conditions typically will breathe way too much. So what happens when you breathe that much is you're constantly putting yourself into a state of stress. So you're stimulating that sympathetic side of the nervous system
> you can over breathe when people at a gym or when people are jogging you see them really going to get the maximum amount of oxygen in that's not what is happening to your body so you are offloading the co2 by offloading too much co2 you're causing constriction in your circulation
I heard Nestor's interview with Joe Rogan, was intrigued and I decided to try it on my runs (~7 miles 2-3x per week), where I typically breathe through my mouth.
While running I breathed exclusively through my nose. My expectation was that I wouldn't be able to sustain it for the entire duration of the run. Surprisingly I was able to.
Overall I felt less winded that I typically do when breathing through my mouth. I thought my overall pace and/or avg heartbeat might be slower when breathing nasally but, according to my activity tracker, that's not the case. The other thing I noticed is that the 'runner's high' I typically get after a run was somewhat muted when breathing nasally.
I'd love to see more research in this area. I wonder if I'm depriving my brain of needed oxygen or if there are benefits to getting more CO2 than usual.
That first one feels very chicken and egg - if you're anxious your sympathetic nervous system is going without the breathing. Can breath be used to relax you? Absolutely, but that's as much about focusing the brain on the breathing instead of the anxious thoughts as anything else.
This concept that people breath too much when exercising never really made sense to me. I generally do believe it because I have experienced it myself, but why would the body default to a less effective form of breathing? Shouldn't we feel that breathing more steadily through our nose is more natural than trying to take big gulps of air when running?
Mouth breathing or chest breathing. When you breath from your chest you take more breaths and if it is through your mouth you often over oxygenate.
When breathing (normal) it's important to use the nose to both inhale and exhale. It helps regulate the amount of oxygen you take in (keeps your mouth from getting dry).
You should also try to breath from your abdomen/stomach instead of your chest. Abdominal breathing creates a stronger respiratory system and core where chest breathing creates a weaker one (my observations).
Mimicing others growing up. We know that even adults mimics each others breathing patterns, I think it's safe to assume a baby/child will try to mimic parents/care takers breathing patterns.
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.
I've done a lot of breathing exercises due to freediving. I think the main benefit for me was that it's almost like meditating.
While lying there and breathing up or holding my breath, my mind is completely clear. No thoughts, just staying as relaxed as possible focusing on my diaphragm. No scrolling on my phone thinking about my day, nothing. Just relaxing. Except the last minutes when the body screams at you to breathe because of the co2 buildup, heh.
But not sure if there's anything more to it than that? I don't do it as often anymore, but get the same focus from working out.
I wonder every time I see things like this whether more conventional exercise will also do the same thing. I'm a recreational runner, and as I become more fit, I notice that my body is capable of entering deeper and deeper states of relaxation. When I go to sleep at night, my breathing and heart rate slow to rates that I never could have sustained before getting in shape. Being conscious and in control of my breath is important, especially at high altitude. And a long run out in nature definitely puts me in a meditative state.
I wonder if this kind of conventional exercise might provide more "bang for your buck" than just controlled breathing in isolation.
There's a great book called Bird Therapy - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43804073-bird-therapy - where the author talks about how birdwatching helped enormously with his mental health. He talks briefly at one point about two runners who "birdwatch" while running, and who find the same kind of meditative peace that he does from a long walk with birdwatching points along the way. I've only just started trail running, but I find the mix of nature and running definitely multiplies the benefits of exercise and meditation rather than just adding together. (That is, if there aren't too many people around - I live in a relatively crowded part of the country unfortunately, so despite being surrounded by lovely countryside there are often quite a few people about!)
I think it makes sense you would be able to enter deeper states of relaxation. I've heard in animal studies they've shown that if you disable the parasympathetic nerve into the heart then it just beats a constant, quite high rate. Marathon runners have considerably lower resting heart rate. It seems to be the parasympathetic nervous system acts as a brake that pumps on an off (connected to inhalation/exhalation) to keep it lower than it's default max speed. So that it's constantly lower means more parasympathetic bias?
Exercise will certainly accomplish similar objectives. After a few months of intense circuit training, I started to realize that I could get away with breathing a lot less frequently. Once my resting heart rate dropped below 50BPM, it was like having a mental switch I could throw on demand to enter into a state of calm. Just a few seconds of focus and I could deal with a monster of a stressful situation with ease. I really need to get back into it. The time investment is substantial, but exercise always pays really good dividends.
One of my pet theories is that regular exercise strengthens your core muscles and allows you to recruit those core muscles more effectively.
This is what allows the diaphragm to expand more and thus facilitates deeper breathing. More oxygen per breath, and fewer heartbeats required to circulate it through the bloodstream.
Could be total rubbish, but I'd be interested to see a study either way.
Readit News
I found this claim a bit... suspicious, and Googled, and didn't find much scientific evidence for this claim. I found a bunch of blog posts by yoga-affiliated people, and the like.
I asked about this on Biology Stack Exchange, unfortunately with no answer.
https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/94651/
I would be very curious if any HN reader knows more about this. That said, my impression of Nestor (who is a journalist, and not a scientist) was that he was perhaps a bit too eager to jump to conclusions.
I can’t personally attest to any of the deeper claims of the theory, but I have used the alternate nostril breathing as part of meditation practice and I can say that focusing on the breath in this way at the very least helps one enter a meditative state, like many other pranayama techniques.
I’ve never dug into the science attempting to prove the proclaimed effects since experientially it helps me enter meditation, which is what I value it for—I’m not so sure its a good use of time trying to validate the overarching theoretical claims of ancient sources—the practices can still be highly beneficial even if the claims aren’t correct, and I think the main benefit of controlled breathing practices relate to meditation. (that said the body is an interconnected system so its totally plausible that regulating the breath, thus the heartbeat, thus the flow of blood throughout the system could have system wide effects).
If nothing else, hopefully these terms help you in your research.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmMww1Wo6Tc
However they mention their test subjects were not very uniform, and I'm not really in a position to evaluate their methods so...
[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144611/
Dead Comment
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201...
"Box breathing" https://quietkit.com/box-breathing/
I don't understand how anyone can make that statement with a straight face. Unless one nostril is blocked, we use both simultaneously. There's no balance to be gamed.
There is a little bit of airflow in the constricted nostril, but nowhere near comparable to the other. You can test this by covering up your nostrils individually and comparing how easy it is to breathe through them. Then wait a half hour and try it again. (Note that a minority of people do not have this.)
However, this is not something you can consciously control or override, any more than you can override contractions in your intestine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle
https://www.rhinologyonline.org/Rhinology_online_issues/2018...
The key part is your sinus cavity slightly closes one nostril creating a differential air flow. This difference allows us to figure out the direction the smell via the difference in intensity between nostrils which our brain uses to sense direction.
I believe the reason your body does this is to allow your olfactory system to pick up a greater range of smells: Some chemicals are easier to pick up when the air is traveling slower.
What is totally confusing is what causes the flip from one nostril to another. I have no idea what the mechanism is.
It's very obvious when I have a cold. I often have one fully-plugged nostril and one not, which also shifts back and forth seemingly randomly.
I think what I'm describing is actually the norm but I haven't exactly surveyed the population.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle
Deleted Comment
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 new-age westernized yoga). I think many people who find no results just breathe deep but dont slow it down. You should feel like your breath has been 'stretched' by the time you're done. Id also find a good teacher if you're serious because you can definitely overdo it/do it wrong.
Why not just try it? This is such a simple and safe experiment. You can do it and generate your own conclusions.
Or try this -
Take breath with right nostril only - you'll feel warm or more energetic. Later take breath with left nostril only - you'll feel cold or more relaxed.
You can gamify this system when you certain type of tasks.
Or ask any old-school Yoga/Meditation teacher, preferably someone with roots in India.
by Ananda Bhavanani Bhavanani, Meena Ramanathan,1 R Balaji,2 and D Pushpa2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4097918/
I know that doesn't provide the evidence you were looking for, but hopefully it provides some context on where this might have originated from.
As to your comments about the author's claims, I too am weary about a few.
Deleted Comment
You have a dominant eye. Focusing on the other eye will also affect your experience.
Why not a dominant nostril?
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 told you that all this is nonsense. Same for meditation.
Try it. there is not much to lose. It doesn't cost anything and won't harm you. Worst case it doesn't work.
I strongly disagree with this line of thinking. If something is potent enough to deliver benefit, it can also be potent enough to deliver harm. You can't have it both ways.
Turns out breathing is rather psychoactive, and without proper educational context one can indeed induce or activate latent issues, anxiety or otherwise.
Just like with McMindfulness, I wish some of this kind of instruction required licensing.
And since you can't really measure things well with n=1 you end up with confirmation bias at the end of the day.
+1
Please learn it from professionals or friends who are already well versed in the practice if you are new to it.
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 language through the eons from older cultures and civilizations.
Trivia: the suffix -μα (like in the words pragma, dogma, trauma etc) generally means “the result or the carrier of the verb's actions”, so like pragma (“thing”, what is/has been made/done), dogma (what one believes in; the firmness of the belief is irrelevant to the ancient word), trauma (“wound”; the result of being wounded), pneuma would be what is being breathed; and there's another connection to old roots: alcohol is «οινόπνευμα» (spirit/fumes of the wine), and alcoholic drinks are called “spirits”.
Fun stuff :)
Fun stuff indeed!
An inflatable rubber pneumatic tire is a subclass of tire, and truncation or abbreviation to pnue is as good as any.
Locomotive wheels on trains have steel tyres.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/tire
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 finding mind space: a bit buzzy, a bit like a natural high, but for me it meshes pretty well with a breath following meditation.
It’s actually an old technique to increase the ability to hold the breath. The hyperventilation clears carbon dioxide from the system (hypocapnia). That’s what the buzz is.
Never ever ever ever ever do this underwater or you have a serious risk of death: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving_blackout#Shallow_wa...
Hof did not warn of this at the time, though I believe he does now after someone died using the technique while swimming.
As for the cold resistance, Hof’s twin brother Andre displayed the same physiological traits that Hof has, despite not having undergone the same training: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
The one interesting thing I have seen related to Hof is that he apparently was able to suppress the immune response to an endotoxin. Though it would be interesting to see that same study done on his twin.
This is a reasonably good article: https://www.pepijnvanerp.nl/2016/01/wim-hof-method/#andre
I think Hof is well intentioned, sincere, a poor communicator, and prone to both mystical thinking but also interested in scientific verification.
Pranayama is at least a thousand years old and encompasses all of this. And many of the foundational texts refer to even older practices.
https://explore.wimhofmethod.com/wp-content/uploads/ebook-th...
Edit: The PDF is actually a bit out of date, the more recent studies are summarized here: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/science
The breathing technique which is closest to Wim How is that of Tummo. You can find videos of this on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUQ-SV092GM
I'm reading an English translation of Ramana Maharshi's Upadesa Sara with commentary and verses 11-14 talk about controlling the breath (pranayama). A few relevant points made in those verses:
* Controlling your breath can help quieten the mind.
* There are such things as harmful breathing patterns so it's important to seek the guidance of experts to avoid them.
* The simplest breathing exercise that's easy to do right without an instructor is to observe the breath as it is.
I've made a conscious effort to observe the breath randomly throughout the day and it has a calming effect. These past few days have felt good. Observing the breath before sleep has made it easier to fall asleep.
FWIW, the verses also mention that, as far as being serene is concerned, pranayama is a short term solution to a long term problem (and the gist of Upadesa Sara is on the long term solution but I digress).
I've tried the "box breathing" with little luck, but have adapted a version where the exhale is 2-3x longer than the inhale. (inhale for 2 seconds, hold it a couple seconds, exhale slowly for 4-6 second, hold again).
I've also found better luck at inhaling into my belly, instead of letting my rib cage expand. It seems to release the tension/anxiety that I'm holding in my chest better.
I meant "practicing breathing exercises incorrectly" (and I see now that's what I should've written in the first place, thanks for pointing that out). Upadesa Sara doesn't expand upon what it means to practice breathing exercises incorrectly or mention what the side effects are. Much of Upadesa Sara is concise so much is left up to the reader to reason or learn about.
After I read your comment, I spent too much time thinking about how I breath (whether thru the belly or chest) and started breathing weird haha. After a few hours, I figured out that I mostly breathe through the belly. I think. Anyways, genuinely happy to hear you found something that works for you.
If and when you’re able to, do attend a free 10-day introductory Vipassana meditation course (see dhamma.org for locations and schedules). The practice starts with observing the breath, and then moves on from that.
This course requires the participants to be silent for the 10 days, and has some other restrictions too. Some people find that impossible to deal with. So do consider that and also any emotional or mental health issues/barriers that may be a deterrent to participation.
Every night when I go to bed, I deliberately slow my breathing.... I find that it immediately gets me into a meditative state and more likely fall into a hypnagogic state
How is one conditioned to breathe too much? We eat too much because there is so much available to us and it's engineered (by trial and error) to be as delicious as possible. That has not been done to air.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/27/8629631...
> you can over breathe when people at a gym or when people are jogging you see them really going to get the maximum amount of oxygen in that's not what is happening to your body so you are offloading the co2 by offloading too much co2 you're causing constriction in your circulation
https://youtu.be/zWQxNoqKE6E?t=786
While running I breathed exclusively through my nose. My expectation was that I wouldn't be able to sustain it for the entire duration of the run. Surprisingly I was able to.
Overall I felt less winded that I typically do when breathing through my mouth. I thought my overall pace and/or avg heartbeat might be slower when breathing nasally but, according to my activity tracker, that's not the case. The other thing I noticed is that the 'runner's high' I typically get after a run was somewhat muted when breathing nasally.
I'd love to see more research in this area. I wonder if I'm depriving my brain of needed oxygen or if there are benefits to getting more CO2 than usual.
People's reasons for consuming more calories than they expend are orders of magnitude more complex than that.
When breathing (normal) it's important to use the nose to both inhale and exhale. It helps regulate the amount of oxygen you take in (keeps your mouth from getting dry).
You should also try to breath from your abdomen/stomach instead of your chest. Abdominal breathing creates a stronger respiratory system and core where chest breathing creates a weaker one (my observations).
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.
While lying there and breathing up or holding my breath, my mind is completely clear. No thoughts, just staying as relaxed as possible focusing on my diaphragm. No scrolling on my phone thinking about my day, nothing. Just relaxing. Except the last minutes when the body screams at you to breathe because of the co2 buildup, heh.
But not sure if there's anything more to it than that? I don't do it as often anymore, but get the same focus from working out.
I wonder if this kind of conventional exercise might provide more "bang for your buck" than just controlled breathing in isolation.
This is what allows the diaphragm to expand more and thus facilitates deeper breathing. More oxygen per breath, and fewer heartbeats required to circulate it through the bloodstream.
Could be total rubbish, but I'd be interested to see a study either way.