Tangents on Advancing Mind & Body (Part IV) — Reclaiming the Lost Art of Breath
Let’s talk breathing.
Have you ever considered whether you breathe efficiently, or even what breathing efficiently is? Have you also ever thought about why people commonly tell you to take a deep breath when you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed? Well let’s find out.
Have a seat and start by taking a deep breath in and pay attention to your shoulders. Did they move? Yes? Congratulations, you’ve just failed the test!
Belly breathing is just one the many fundamentals of breathing that a huge portion of our population overlooks. In case you’d like to try again, this time try to focus on all of the air going into your belly. Also, if you took that breath through your mouth instead of your nose, then you’ve got some work to do my friend. These are just two of the most basic breathing concepts that exist and connect us to feeling alive, and they’re two concepts that many of us forget about nearly every second of every day.
While developing efficient breathing techniques and being aware of breathing during exercising is a final frontier for many athletes, it should actually be the foundation. Now that “breathwork” has been the term used to describe conscious breathing practices, we could seriously be at the dawn of another revolution where humans finally connect back to their breathing instead of suppressing their own conscious control of it.
Since starting out with a breathing practice and training others in this space as well, I’ve nearly come to the conclusion that if someone wants to improve their health — no matter how poor or superior it is — breathwork is the place to start. Although it may seem crazy to many when the first step is not to go to the gym, breath in relation to performance is actually an important reason why humans became the most successful species on the planet.
The Evolution of Conscious Breath
As we developed a conscious mind, we also developed a conscious breath. This meant that as our heads got bigger, our endurance got better.
A Professor at the University of Utah named Dennis Bramble and his star student, David Carrier, became the pioneers of this theory when Carrier was examining a rabbit. While earlier research had always classified humans as weak creatures due to lack of speed, endurance was a huge blind spot until Carrier and Bramble offered an alternative theory on the hunting success of early humans.
The hypothesis they came up with was that humans actually evolved to be such successful hunter-gatherers for a crazy reason: we may not have been able to run faster than prey, but we run for longer periods of time than any other animal. For example, an antelope may be able to run much faster than a group of humans on a grassland plain, but as long as early humans could keep them in their sights during a “persistent hunt”, the animal would eventually grow exhausted. The reason is twofold; humans evolved to be the only species in the animal kingdom that can offload the majority of heat produced in the body through sweat, and for that precise reason, we became able to run long distances without burning out. When quadrupeds run, they’re limited to taking one breath per locomotion cycle — one step, one breath.
Another more relevant example could be hiking or running with a dog, where you’ll notice the exact same effect. Due to the face that our furry friends breathe for every movement cycle and they don’t have a choice of doing so, they tire out a lot faster than we will over long distances. In order to catch their breath, they need to pant (like a dog) to get rid of the extra heat. Chris MacDougall talks extensively about this in his book “Born to Run”.
Overall though, we evolved to be the most efficient breathers on the planet, which is what made us so successful. Our only problem is that many of us have forgotten what really made us human in the first place.
Why Should You Pay More Attention to Your Breathing?
For all energy we use, the primary means is with oxygen. In this energy making process, we have to still remember that we produce carbon dioxide (CO2) when gases are exchanged in our lungs. Our muscles need oxygen to burn calories and convert them into energy, and the better we are at exchanging gases, the longer we can sustain top speed. Where it gets interesting is how we offload CO2, and how much more of it we offload through inefficient breathing.
We’ve got these amazing breathing machines attached to our faces called noses, and nasal breathing is where we should all start on the road to efficiency. Without getting into all of the science behind the Bohr Effect, the stand-out fact about nasal breathing is that it pulls in sixteen times more energy units than mouth breathing. While mouth breathing is advantageous for us when we’ve worked our system into lactate threshold, the main problem many of us have is that we mouth breath when the energy demand isn’t there. In other words, if I’m sitting around my apartment all day and not producing enough CO2 to have to mouth breathe, the more CO2 I offload, and the less oxygen I get to use.
Brian Mackenzie is one of the most well-known people in this space and has shared a ton of content and research over the past few decades on improving breathing patterns in relation to human performance, with nasal breathing being the biggest component that improves something called CO2 Tolerance (CO2T), which has direct impact on how you body uses oxygen as fuel. His team have also conducted several studies on the CO2T training, with subject ranging from high school students to firefighters, encompassing both the physical and mental benefits of increasing CO2T through breathwork training.
Elite-level CO2T is one of the main markers separating high-performing endurance athletes from the rest of us. In freedivers for example, a key component of their training is improving CO2 tolerance in order to increase breath-hold times.
Mackenzie and company even go as far as to say that improving CO2T is the key to less stress in our lives — calling it the “metabolic stress messenger”. So the easier it is for us to breathe efficiently, the less susceptible we are to stress as well as the many diseases that stress can cause. From stress, we get fight, flight, or freeze mode, and as I’ve said many previous posts, it’s the space between this primal mode of the brain (default settings) where personal growth occurs. It’s through paying attention to our breathing that we can be a little less reactive throughout the day.
The best example I’ve witnessed on how stress affects breath is to put somebody under water in SCUBA gear. As a SCUBA instructor and freediver myself, the most important basic understanding of each is controlling breathing to reducing stress. I’ve also been on several dives with sharks that would induce a generous dose of fear in the majority of the human population (I nearly shat myself the first time), and in those situations, the first thing you’ll notice is how your breathing patterns change as a result of fear caused by stress.
But here’s what you’ve been waiting for regarding the reasons why you should pay more attention to your breathing: the effects on both the nervous and immune systems. Stemming from the improvements to these systems are increased immunity to disease, more sustained energy levels, better sleep, and a heightened awareness due to a reduction in anxiety.
Especially in a world with a looming mental health crisis upon us, many people who have recently discovered the practice of breathwork are doing so due to its mental benefits.
Incorporate Conscious Breath into Your Life
The first and most basic step to learn more about breathing patterns and efficiency is to observe the way other people breathe. Since so many of us love to people watch, have a look at the way people breathe next time you’re people watching, and pay attention to both where the air is coming in through as well as where it’s going.
A quick note before going any further though — any exercise involving activation breathing, yogic breathing techniques, or breath-holds are all best performed on an empty stomach. They’ll serve you best when incorporated into a morning routine.
Step #1: Find Your Base CO2T Level
Similar to starting out with meditation, there’s buffet of options to try, but I would recommend beginning with your base CO2T level using Brian Mackenzie’s method (below).
Then you should start with a breathing technique called “box breathing”. The reason I say start with box breathing is because it gives you the most basic understanding of the four corners of breath: inhale, hold at the top, exhale, hold at the bottom.
A simple ratio to start with is to box breathe with your mouth either on a 3:3:3:3 or a 4:4:4:4 second count on each corner for 3–5 minutes. During and after the exercise, observe how you feel physically and mentally. You may be uncomfortable at some points, but that’s normal. This is a new way of breathing that’s being introduced to your body, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the effects right away. Just make sure that you’re seated or laying down in a comfortable position throughout.
Step #2: Activating Versus Down-Regulating
There are several forms of breathing on different cadences, focusing on either preparing the body for stress and adapting to that level, or shifting down to begin to recover from stress that has just been put on the body. Here are two very simple methods, one of each:
Activation Cadence:
Goal: the important part of this method is maintaining a 1:2 ratio between inhale and exhale
Corners of Breath: 3:3:6:3
Time: 3–5 minutes
Progression: as you get more comfortable with this technique, start lengthening the breaths to 4:4:8:4 and onwards. Where is starts to get really interesting is 6:6:12:6.
*This can be done before warming up for exercise, or when you wake up in the morning as part of a morning routine.
Down-Regulation Cadence:
Goal: for this one, we get rid of the holds at the top and the bottom in order to shift the body into recovery mode and reduce acidity. This can also be done breathing through either the nose or mouth.
Corners of Breath: 4:0:4:0
Time: 3–5 minutes
Bonus: at the end of the time allotted, make a humming sound (if you’re nose breathing) or an “ah” sound (if you’re mouth breathing) on the last three exhales. This is also a great signal to the body to down-regulate, so doing them together provides added benefit. Think of why you see people sign when they’re relieved!
Step #3: Engaging the Right Muscles
There are also several yogic breathing techniques (called Pranayamas) that freedivers use in their dry-land training to simulate some of the effects of freediving. These can be used to complement cadence breathing and breath-hold training. Based on my experience, the best example that promotes nose breathing and engages the diaphragm is called Kapelbhati. This is also a great way to clear your nose in the morning, just make sure nobody else is in your “spray zone” when doing this! Here’s a tutorial on it:
Step #4: Holding Your Breath
Now this is where it gets really fun but also complicated. Wim Hof has made a name for himself due to his performance breathing methods, one of which he applies breath holding. One of the most important components of breath-hold training is preparing the body for a hold through what’s called a “breathe up”, where you mouth breathe in a particular way for about two minutes before taking your final breath.
The method that Wim teaches is actually called “hyperventilation”, and many beginners in breathwork gravitate towards this type of breathing style due to the immediate effects that you’ll feel such as tingling in the hands or feet and the sense of euphoria that comes from breathing this way. Don’t worry, both of those are normal.
In practice though, hyperventilation is just a fancy word for taking long, deep breaths. However, this is only one method of breathe-up for breath holds, and I would actually recommend starting with the static apnea breathe-up method used by freedivers. Just note that the apnea way will be more difficult in terms of how long you hold your breath for.
The below video by Australian freediving world-record holder, Adam Stern, gives a great overview of how to begin with apnea breathing while comparing it to hyperventilation. He also explains why apnea safer. This method is similar to the cadence breathing discussed above, but without the holds at the top or the bottom. Personally, I use a 4:8 count for my breathe-up because it’s the most comfortable for me.
And of course, a note on safety for breath holding that’s related to hyperventilation: never do any hyperventilation breath holding while operating a vehicle (duh) or in water. Adam also explains the differences in risk between the two breathe-up methods in his video. Essentially, the worst thing that can happen to you is losing consciousness, or “blacking out”. While you never want to stress your body to the point of a blackout, when you’re seated or laying down in your room, all your body will do is force you to take a breath in and boom, you’ll be conscious again. Unfortunately though, humans can’t breathe underwater, so you risk drowning if you black out.
Trust me, even really smart people can make this mistake. Josh Waitzkin, considered one of the brightest minds of our time, almost drowned in a public pool in New York City because of this. So yeah, dry land only please!
Step #5: Breathing Technique Applications
Finally, as you progress with your breathwork practice, the most important part of a breathing practice is integrating it into the rest of your daily activities, especially during exercise. This is also a great way to improve CO2T. Here’s a challenge from ultra-runner Amelia Boone, who warms up with a burpee ladder focused on breath. Everyone loves burpees, right?
Burpee Ladder Instructions:
Exercise: 10 sets of burpees in ascending order from 1–10
Rest: between each set, take the same number of breaths as the number of burpees you just previously performed, and then start with the next set that should be one rep higher.
Totals: that’s 55 burpees, and 110 breaths with the goal being one continuous focus on the breath
Quick note: You can do this with either your mouth, nose, or a combination of both. Just note that trying to start out nose breathing the whole time will be a lot more difficult.
Additional Resources for Your Education:
Wim Hof Method — All of Wim’s exercises and breathing techniques are accessible on his app, with a few of the basics being free of charge. I’d suggest starting with his Guided Breathing Bubbles to start with hyperventilation breath holds. Also, he’s a really weird guy, but just focus on what he says instead of how he says it.
XPT (Extreme Performance Training) Life — This training platform and app, started by Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece, also features some of the basic content such as cadence breathing free of charge.
Brian Mackenzie (@_brianmackenzie) — Follow Brian on Instagram, where he posts great content weekly that provides both basic and advanced breathwork protocols. You’ll be able to find a lot of other experts in this field through him, and he’s also a co-founder of XPT Life. To get a more clear understanding of his work via audio, listen to his recent podcast with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee.
Buteyko Clinic — Founded by Patrick McKeown, this is an extra resource for readers who suffer from many of the breathing-related illnesses such as asthma. Buteyko breathing was initially tested on adults and children suffering from asthma, but the techniques have proven to help a range of conditions such as from COPD, hay fever, rhinitis, sleep apnea, and even cystic fibrosis.
