[HN Gopher] One hour of slow breathing changed my life
___________________________________________________________________
One hour of slow breathing changed my life
Author : viburnum
Score : 227 points
Date : 2020-07-27 06:18 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| tzot wrote:
| > Hindus considered breath and spirit the same thing
|
| It's funny, because I just realised that pneuma(pneuma)/spirit in
| Greek has the same root as pneumon(pneumon)/lung: the verb
| pneo(pneo), which means I breathe.
|
| This is not Mr Portokalos talking from My Big Fat Greek Wedding,
| people: pneo 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 -ma (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
| <<oinopneuma>> (spirit/fumes of the wine), and alcoholic drinks
| are called "spirits".
|
| Fun stuff :)
| sajforbes wrote:
| The English words "respire" and "spirit" have the same root,
| too.
| adamhearn wrote:
| James Nestor's podcast episodes with Ben Greenfield and Joe Rogan
| both are very interesting. Obviously there is some material
| crossover between the two, but I found unique things from each.
|
| I really the breathwork will become the new fad, but for good
| reason. It's amazingly powerful.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Are there any online breathing courses or services worth taking?
| I've read of diaphragmatic/belly breathing before, but I think I
| need an actual coach to check if I'm doing it correctly.
| sg47 wrote:
| See my comment in this thread for recommendations.
| jimnotgym wrote:
| I have often wondered if controlled breathing was actually a big
| part of what smokers find relaxing. When I gave up smoking I
| noticed sucking air through a small paper tube was also relaxing.
| impendia wrote:
| 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.
|
| 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.
| perfmode wrote:
| why don't you simply try it and see?
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| How do you handle the placebo effect?
| Buttons840 wrote:
| Just don't handle it. The placebo effect tells us that some
| things that have no reason for working, work anyways.
| dcuthbertson wrote:
| > 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.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| Because it's true? Did you bother to pay attention to your
| own breathing for a breath or two before posting this?
| james_s_tayler wrote:
| Can you clarify whether or not you have a background in
| medicine and/or deep understanding of physiology?
| MisterTea wrote:
| 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.
| tunnuz wrote:
| Brilliant! I had no idea!
| [deleted]
| ivank wrote:
| 70-80% of adults have a alternating congested nostril
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle
|
| https://www.rhinologyonline.org/Rhinology_online_issues/2018.
| ..
| isbjorn16 wrote:
| It's weird how much we take for granted without ever
| expecting it to be different for others. I thought you guys
| were just screwing with me re: having an alternating
| congested nostril. Like, I only experience that during
| severe nasal congestion, and it seems mostly to stick with
| one side or the other depending on which side I'm laying
| on.
|
| It never even occurred to me that people would experience
| something like that _all the time_!
| saghm wrote:
| Yep, I've always had this. I knew it wasn't super uncommon,
| but I had no idea that I was in the majority!
| graeme wrote:
| Congested doesn't mean fully blocked right?
| crazygringo wrote:
| 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.
| mtalantikite wrote:
| Came here to say the same. I was completely unaware of the
| nasal cycle until I got further into my meditation
| practice, but you totally can notice which nostril is
| taking in more air if you practice training your awareness
| on it. It was surprising to me when I first noticed it.
|
| One of my yoga teachers has us find the one that is
| currently dominant in the cycle before we practice nadi
| shodhana pranayama, and then select the starting nostril
| based on that.
| panlana wrote:
| Wow. I've noticed this my entire life but just thought it
| was chronic allergies.
| dcuthbertson wrote:
| Thank you and the others who replied. I learned something
| new today.
| rcthompson wrote:
| I guess this explains why every time I have a cold, my
| nostrils alternate being blocked and unblocked.
| Izkata wrote:
| > (Note that a minority of people do not have this.)
|
| I'm probably one of them then, because I've tested this on
| and off for years whenever someone makes the claim, and
| it's never true for me.
|
| It's just really annoying how many people say with absolute
| certainty that everyone does it.
| rolleiflex wrote:
| It's more like one nostril is high-velocity and the other
| is low-velocity, not that one is completely blocked. The
| evolutionary reason is thought to be that it aids the
| perception of low PPM volatile organic compounds (i.e.
| bad smells = rot, toxic chemicals) because the 'blocked'
| nostril is used as a sense chamber which lets the air
| spend more time within, thus increase the effective
| sensitivity of your sense of smell.
|
| If you do not have this behaviour (which can disappear
| with certain neurological diseases or just idiopathically
| not exist) you also likely have a reduced sense of smell.
| japanuspus wrote:
| 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".
| r34 wrote:
| 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.
| rozab wrote:
| 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.
| corvid9 wrote:
| No we don't. Right now my left nostril is active. Read about
| the nasal cycle:
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle
| e40 wrote:
| 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.
| wincy wrote:
| I can easily control this by laying down, then switching
| from my right side to my left side. Whichever side is on
| top is the side I'll breathe from.
| ninjaturtlez wrote:
| Anecdotal but I checked my nostrils and I was currently only
| breathing out of my left. Not sure if thats regular for me
| retrac wrote:
| 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.
| voidhorse wrote:
| 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.
| bravura wrote:
| I mean, you have a dominant hand. Doing everything with the non
| dominant will affect your experience.
|
| You have a dominant eye. Focusing on the other eye will also
| affect your experience.
|
| Why not a dominant nostril?
| getpost wrote:
| 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.
|
| https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201...
|
| "Box breathing" https://quietkit.com/box-breathing/
| Romanulus wrote:
| 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.
| jamesakirk wrote:
| You use your hand to clamp down one nostril. Lookup Nadi
| Shodhana.
| prox wrote:
| 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.
| crazynick4 wrote:
| Here are a couple studies I just googled
|
| 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, not just deep. 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.
| llbeansandrice wrote:
| 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.
| jcims wrote:
| It could be constructive application of the placebo effect. Try
| it.
| glxxyz wrote:
| The placebo effect is magnified by spending one's own cash on
| the treatment.
| jcims wrote:
| Indeed. I'm happy to support placebo enablement.
| whoisjuan wrote:
| > In essence, you could choose to be either energetic or
| restful by picking one nostril to breathe out of for awhile.
|
| Why not just try it? This is such a simple and safe experiment.
| You can do it and generate your own conclusions.
| technothrasher wrote:
| "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.
| sg47 wrote:
| I'm a recovering thyroid cancer (good cancer) patient. My
| breathing and immunity had become bad due to my
| surgeries/treatment but also stress, occasional hookah smoking,
| etc. After suffering from severe bronchitis and cough for the
| first months of this year, I started doing the breathing
| exercises in this video
| (https://youtu.be/iUKjuni-6l8?list=PLxdtWIiZAUhoD6mxvZ0gO9ohE...)
| regularly (4-6 times a week) based on a HNer's recommendation.
| All my symptoms have completely disappeared, my breathing has
| become slower and I have become a much calmer person. My lungs
| feel really clear. Highly recommend doing these breathing
| exercises regularly (every day for the first month if possible).
|
| This guy, Michael Bijker, also has a lot of good videos on
| breathing exercises. Here's an example -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZInO0-ZHk&list=PLxdtWIiZAU...
| forgotmyp77 wrote:
| i started this technique several years ago, and it's done wonders
| for both me mental state and attention and my meditation
| practice.
|
| whenever annoyed or waiting, several deep breaths and then
| continued breath awareness for as long as i remember.
| givan wrote:
| All Europe has gone mad about breathing exercises. For four or
| five years I have made money by treating people who had ruined
| their breathing by such methods! Many books are written about it,
| everyone tries to teach others. They say: "The more you breathe,
| the greater the inflow of oxygen," etc., and, as a result, they
| come to me. I am very grateful to the authors of such books,
| founders of schools, and so on.
|
| If, for example, we change our breathing, we change the rhythm of
| our lungs; but since everything is connected, other rhythms also
| gradually begin to change. If we go on with this breathing for a
| long time it may change the rhythm of all the organs. For
| instance, the rhythm of the stomach will change. And the stomach
| has its own habits, it needs a certain time to digest food; say,
| for example, the food must lie there an hour. If the rhythm of
| the stomach changes, food may pass through more quickly and the
| stomach will not have time to take from it all it needs. In
| another place the reverse may occur. It is a thousand times
| better not to interfere with our machine, to leave it in bad
| condition rather than correct it without knowledge.
|
| To work on oneself one must know every screw, every nail of one's
| machine--then you will know what to do. But if you know a little
| and try, you may lose a great deal. The risk is great, for the
| machine is very complicated. It has very small screws which can
| be easily damaged, and if you push harder you may break them. And
| these screws cannot be bought in a shop.
|
| One must be very careful. When you know, it is another thing. If
| anyone here is experimenting with breathing, it is better to stop
| while there is still time.
|
| Gurdjieff G. I. - Views from the Real World (Experiments with
| breathing talk)
| jodrellblank wrote:
| > and, as a result, they come to me.
|
| Why do they go to you? (Your profile suggests you're a web
| developer, rather than a doctor).
| lima wrote:
| It seems to be a quote?
| twox2 wrote:
| So how do you recommend a layman improve their breathing
| without fucking themselves up? Is it so complicated that we
| can't do it on our own without professional help?
| lozf wrote:
| He's quoting Gurdjieff: https://holybooks-
| lichtenbergpress.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content...
| prox wrote:
| As someone who has done yoga, I must agree to an extent. Many
| yogateachers are simply not adept enough nor qualified to teach
| about breathing.
|
| But there are experts out there and breathing disorders are a
| thing, so it does pay off to learn more about it especially if
| you have some complaints that could be derived from breathing
| wrong. Problem is that few, even GPs are not often well versed
| in the matter.
|
| That said simply focussing on calm and being relaxed
| (breathing) carries little harm.
| glxxyz wrote:
| > If anyone here is experimenting with breathing, it is better
| to stop while there is still time.
|
| Stop experimenting or stop breathing?
| jhardy54 wrote:
| Please use quotation marks or a blockquote (>) for quotes. It
| took 4 paragraphs until you mentioned that you were quoting an
| Armenian mystic.
| jniedrauer wrote:
| 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.
| bob1029 wrote:
| 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.
| frereubu wrote:
| 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!)
| james_s_tayler wrote:
| 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?
| jb775 wrote:
| Wasn't there a HN post somewhat recently about the scientific
| health benefits of breathing exercises? I can't find it.
|
| I made a note to read it after I saw the post but forgot about it
| until now.
| wazoox wrote:
| A friend of mine had pneumonia 30 years ago, and a
| physiotherapist told him to breathe with the abdomen as part of
| his treatment. I tried it for my asthma, and it worked pretty
| well. After a while, it came naturally and I mostly breathe this
| way all the time. Slowly, and from the belly :)
| justaguyhere wrote:
| Babies breathe this way. Somewhere along the way to becoming an
| adult, we lose this ability without even realizing.
| wenc wrote:
| I was skeptical about breathing exercises but turns out focusing
| on something as trivial as breathing can and does help in
| relaxation and anxiety relief. (not a substitute for
| medication/therapy of course)
|
| This is easy for anyone to test empirically -- just YouTube
| "relaxation exercises".
|
| I happen to like this one from the University Health Network in
| Toronto, which helps me fall asleep (I've never gotten to the end
| awake)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj9kLb5gTYg
| crystaln wrote:
| This is a form of meditation, not so much a breathing exercise.
| The efficacy of meditation has been established for thousands
| of years.
| martindbp wrote:
| > 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.
| chefandy wrote:
| > 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.
|
| People's reasons for consuming more calories than they expend
| are orders of magnitude more complex than that.
| throwaway_USD wrote:
| 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.
| martindbp wrote:
| 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.
| wolco wrote:
| The idea is to control breathe for different affects.
|
| "We breathe how we feel we need to breathe". The key word
| is feel. Change your breathe change the way you feel
| Barrin92 wrote:
| >But how could we be "conditioned" to breath in a certain
| way?
|
| bad posture, overweight, too little exercise, too much
| stress. Not much of a stretch to think that the behaviour
| that gives countless of people snoring, backpain, or high
| BP may also negatively effect how we breathe.
| glxxyz wrote:
| It's the corporations, and big Pharma, and the Pentaverate.
| dcj wrote:
| Big Air
| james_s_tayler wrote:
| I miss the 90s and early 2000s where Big Air was just about
| extreme sports. Hahaha.
| hourislate wrote:
| 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).
| abendy wrote:
| > 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
|
| 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
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| 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.
| betenoire wrote:
| Anxiety is irrational. addressing your physical symptoms in
| the moment is FAR superior to being introspective. Save
| that for your personal retrospective after the anxiety
| subsides.
| jerf wrote:
| It's a reasonably well established principle of psychology
| (real science, not pop-sci) that a surprising amount of
| what you perceive to be your emotional state is mediated
| through your body. That is, you experience a stressor, so
| the "low level" portions of your brain activate bodily
| reactions to that stress, and what your high-level brain
| perceives as stress is actually the bodily reaction rather
| than the original stressor. Exerting such control as you
| can on your body (since it is non-zero, but not total
| either) is a legitimate way to control your (perceived)
| emotional state, which then feeds back into the entire
| system.
|
| (This also factors in to how hard it is for some people to
| figure out _why_ they are stressed; the part of the brain
| trying to work that out isn 't necessarily as connected to
| the stressor as you might intuitively think.)
|
| I've been having some low-level morning sleep paralysis
| lately (it has come and gone my entire life, & it has never
| been remotely as bad as I've heard some people describe);
| recently I've discovered an easy way out of it is to just
| hold my breath (or really, just stop inhaling), which
| triggers just enough stress to break through the paralysis.
| YMMV.
| james_s_tayler wrote:
| Breathing is directly connected to the autonomic nervous
| system. Inhaling activates your sympathetic nervous system
| speeding up your heart rate and increasing the amount of
| electrodermal activity in your skin. Exhaling activates the
| parasympathetic nervous system slowing down your heart rate
| and decreasing the amount of electrodermal activity in your
| skin.
|
| You can measure it with HRV and skin conductance sensors.
| spekcular wrote:
| Does a quick practical guide about how to do this and reap the
| benefits exist anyway?
|
| I'm also curious about finding references for the studies he
| mentions.
| markdown wrote:
| You have to buy their book to find out.
| vl wrote:
| In the article he says he inhales for 5.5 seconds, then exhales
| for 5.5 seconds.
| controversy wrote:
| Have to watch when applying this. I was dehydrated and in the
| ER. Very stressed. I hate needles and giving blood. Had to do
| that. Then had a sit up, stand up test. Stated to panic.
| Counted. Then started to pass out.
| twox2 wrote:
| Are you saying you got dehydrated and had to go to the ER
| as a result of this breathing exercise?
| bfieidhbrjr wrote:
| If you look up the method he states on YouTube there are
| videos. I also just described it in another comment.
| cvhashim wrote:
| https://youtu.be/Wemm-i6XHr8
| spaceisballer wrote:
| I read the book it was pretty good. He talks about his
| experience and a lot of history of breathing techniques and at
| the end of the books has basically a reference guide and things
| to look up. Might be worth looking for a digital copy to just
| cut right to that.
| edsiper2 wrote:
| the following as a 5 min intro video to one of the techniques :
|
| - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP-dNd1xTcs
|
| if you want to learn more: https://yogananda.org/practice
| konaraddi wrote:
| 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).
| betenoire wrote:
| 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.
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| Try Headspace guided meditations if you haven't already. Many
| of them focus specifically on controlled breathing using your
| stomach.
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| > 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
| _def wrote:
| 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.
| vadansky wrote:
| Might as well ask it here, since goolgling this leads me down the
| hypochondriac nuts hole.
|
| I've noticed I yawn ALOT. Furthremore when I yawning I feel like
| only 1 out 5 yawns are "proper complete" yawns that actually get
| enough air in (that's the best way I can explain).
|
| I was thinking this might be a sign my nose is too stuffed
| normally and I'm not getting enough oxygen, but reading this
| thread I might be over oxygenating?
|
| Some extra information, I've noticed this a while but I have been
| exercising a lot lately, and lost about 20 pounds, so I do feel
| relatively healthy and active.
| dmje wrote:
| 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.
| graeme wrote:
| 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.
|
| 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.
| krrrh wrote:
| 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.
|
| https://explore.wimhofmethod.com/wp-content/uploads/ebook-th...
| mtalantikite wrote:
| 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.
| binarymax wrote:
| Isn't this meditation? What is the difference?
|
| EDIT: rereading this - yes, it is meditation. Why is it being
| rebranded and written about as if it is some new discovery?
| 08-15 wrote:
| It seems to also cause oxygen deprivation, in which case it has
| roughly the same effect as sniffing glue. Definitely life
| changing...
| chewz wrote:
| Mindfull breathing is not meditation it is just one and the
| most common of the techniques of meditation.
| JshWright wrote:
| That's like saying Golden Retrievers aren't dogs, they're
| just one of the more common breeds of dog.
| moneywoes wrote:
| To generate more clicks
| smoe wrote:
| Although it might be done for pure marketing purposes in this
| case, I think sometimes calling something differently can help
| losing some "spiritual baggage", and open the topic up to
| people that would otherwise not engage with it.
|
| Also, "slow breathing" is very descriptive, just reading it I
| know what to do (even if I might not know how slow), whereas if
| I wanted to meditate I would have to read up first what I'm
| supposed to do and which of the many different practices I want
| to try out.
| bfieidhbrjr wrote:
| It's not just slow breathing. It's in one nostril, pump
| stomach muscles, out the other, pump stomach, repeat. There
| are YouTube videos demonstrating it.
| smoe wrote:
| I haven't read the whole article, but in the beginning the
| author describes his first sessions as nothing more
| complicated than breathing slowly.
|
| "The voice instructed us to inhale slowly through our
| noses, then to exhale slowly. To focus on our breath. [...]
| The next day I felt even better. As advertised, there was a
| feeling of calm and quiet that I hadn't experienced in a
| long time. I"
|
| So does one need the more advanced techniques or do you get
| like 80% there by just explicitly taking some time out of
| your day to slow down?
| seppin wrote:
| All new "thought leaders" just repackage old Buddhist /
| Stoicism concepts.
|
| Go on Joe Rogan, sell your book of old ideas with new
| marketing, cash in. Your average millennial would never buy a
| "self help" book, but Tim Ferriss or Ryan Holiday? Absolutely.
| dmje wrote:
| No, I don't think so. Watching the breath is one method -
| particularly for beginner meditators - but far from being the
| only one. The breath is a handy "always on" tool for helping to
| remind a meditator about the rhythms of the body, but as you
| sit longer, the less (in my experience, anyway) the breath has
| to do with the actual meditative experience.
| rbinv wrote:
| Probably because this is basically an ad for the author's new
| book (mentioned at the bottom of the article).
| jagannathtech wrote:
| Pranayama
| matsemann wrote:
| 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.
| captain_price7 wrote:
| "No breathing can heal stage IV cancer"
|
| I like how this sentence is true in two very different ways...
| tenaciousDaniel wrote:
| Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on
| fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
| lrnStats wrote:
| Mental health Tangent-
|
| I wonder how far the American Medical Association/physicians have
| set back medical discoveries.
|
| The traditional solution is Drugs. Some recommend exercise
| (although a friend recently couldn't get a prescription for
| Physical Therapy until after trying steroids for 2 weeks). Even
| fewer recommend diet changes.
|
| Could this breathing method be a drug free solution to various
| psychological disorders? (Don't get me wrong, people may need
| drugs, but it's something to consider before a Physician gets
| someone addicted to Drugs for the rest of their life.)
|
| It just seems like every industry has made huge strides in
| technological progress and scientific knowledge, then you have
| medical which is still unknown. Engineering and Medicine are both
| applied sciences, it seems either bizarre or corrupt that medical
| is far behind and has low quality outcomes, despite high costs.
| spaceisballer wrote:
| I mean diet and exercise can have profound effects on your
| health. My personal experiences have been that doctors I have
| been to are likely to prescribe something and then toss in
| "also you should exercise and lose some weight". I herniated a
| disc and basically my options were steroid shots or surgery. I
| opted for the steroid shots just to get rid of the constant
| numbness and pain down my leg. But there had been no real help
| on what to do now. "Strengthen your core" um ok thanks. All
| that to say a lot of time is spent treating the symptoms and
| not the cause. Meanwhile I'm stuck finding the cause and then
| trying to remedy it.
| lrnStats wrote:
| I definitely recommend Physical Therapy for that. They are
| Doctors but not MDs, they don't prescribe. They teach
| exercises, stretches and do massage and that crack that
| chiropractors do.
|
| Physical Therapy is really what I need most the time, but
| when I was a kid I was taught to go see a PCP.
| abrichr wrote:
| Unless you sustained a back injury, the cause is most likely
| weak core and trunk muscles, which places strain on your
| spine. Therefore, strengthening your core and trunk is the
| solution.
|
| I have had excellent results with reverse back extensions [1]
| and inversion table stretches and crunches.
|
| Good luck!
|
| 1: https://youtu.be/3d9_W--eUcI
| tcoff91 wrote:
| If you need some good guidance on strengthening your core and
| back I highly recommend Foundation Training.
|
| book: https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Redefine-Your-
| Conquer-Conf...
|
| streaming workouts: https://www.foundationtraining.com/
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| > it seems either bizarre or corrupt that medical is far
| behind).
|
| It's not bizarre. It's simply very difficult to conduct
| experiments with a complex subject such as human beings that
| can produce clean results linking actions to results.
| lrnStats wrote:
| But you can say the same about civil engineering. We don't
| know about macro effects until it's too late.
| hkr3 wrote:
| https://youtu.be/p1av5fG7sOA?t=3031 This is more ancient that
| many know. Breathing has a direct impact on the body and the
| mind.
| lostmsu wrote:
| Yes, but can it charge water?
| krn wrote:
| The Science of Breath (1903)[1] by William Walker Atkinson[2] is
| a fundamental read on the subject.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603864180
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_Atkinson
| nojs wrote:
| 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.
| elliottkember wrote:
| I'm surprised none of these comments mention "singing" or
| "prayer". Both are forms of breath control, and both extremely
| therapeutic.
| yboris wrote:
| Does anyone else find this style of writing absolutely
| aggravating?
|
| The first paragraph has absolutely 0 value to me as a reader.
| It's almost like the goal of the writer is to take up as much of
| your time as possible.
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