Whatever you do…do not be a mouth breather.…
In this article I’ll give some ultimate breathwork guide for you.
It’s almost the equivalent of being on the Beyond Meat diet…(but probably not as bad).
You breathe more than you do anything else in life…other than read my tweets.
But most people don’t know how to properly breathe.
In fact, humans are probably the worst breathers in the animal kingdom.
Improper breathing, like eating the wrong foods, has some devastating consequences.
And no matter how healthy you’re eating, you can offset many of the benefits if you breathe improperly.
Incorrect breathing can lead to mineral depletion, misshapen jaw lines, HPA axis dysfunction and imbalanced co2 / o2.
So I’m here to help you ensure that you’re breathing correctly.
Here are my favorite breathing exercises.
Exercise #1: Only breathe through your nose
You were designed to breathe through your nose. In fact, breathing through your mouth is like eating through your nose…
Some experts think that people only breathe 10%-20% of their full capacity because they never breathe through their nose.
Breathing through the nose allows you to take fuller and deeper breaths which will distribute greater amounts of oxygen. It will also help to calm the mind.
The nostrils and sinuses are also built as filters…(they’re almost like built in n95 masks…) whereas the mouth is not.
Exercise #2: Tape your mouth at night
I was very skeptical at first after seeing people do this.
To be honest, I was shocked more people weren’t dying from this given the propensity to mouth breathe…
But it works. And it worked really well for me.
Similar to how you need to take drastic measures when you fix your diet early on, you need to take some drastic measures to fix your breathing.
Even if you are breathing through your nose all day, you may not be while you sleep.
Are you snoring? Or waking up with drool around your mouth? If that’s the case, you’re probably a night mouth breather.
The best way to fight this is to tape your mouth when you sleep.
I noticed an immediate increase in energy in the AM after doing this. Over time, you can remove this mouth strip.
Exercise #3: Box breathing when stressed and before to bed
This is my favorite and easiest breathing exercise.Put the phone down and try some box breathing .
Most people stressed all the time. And when they are, they reach for toxic substances to cover up their pain. Porn. Junk food. Social media. Etc etc.
Notice that whenever you’re scrolling the most through social media, or feel the urge to eat junk food, you’re probably also feeling some internal pain.
Instead, try this.
Breathe in through the nose for 4 seconds.
Hold the breath for 7 seconds
Breathe out of the nose for 8 seconds.
Repeat 4 times.
When you breathe out for longer than you breathe in, this will activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
Exercise #4: Breath hold walks
Increasing co2 tolerance is one of the best ways to improve your health.
As discussed in the article, carbon dioxide is responsible for offloading oxygen into cells.
Most people have an extremely low co2 tolerance and because of this, they feel the urge to constantly mouth breathe.
In fact, the urge to breathe is triggered by co2. If you breathe too much, in turn, you’ll offload excess co2 causing you to be fatigued.
Holding your breath is one of the best ways to increase tolerance.
Multiple times a week in the AM I go on walks where I breathe through the nose for 1 minute, then continue walking and hold my breath to the first point where I feel a strong urge to take in air. I then go slightly beyond then and breathe in as slowly as I can through my nose for another minute and repeat.
Exercise #5: Swami Rama 2:1 breathing
Swami rama is a himalayan monk who believes that mastering your breathing can banish sickness and disease. Similar to the 2 exercises above, he is focused on increasing co2 capacity.
Here’s how to do so:
Assuming your natural breath is 2 seconds in and 3 seconds out (it’s probably a lot shorter), start here:
Lie down
Breathe in for 2 seconds then out for 4 seconds. This is one breath.
Do this 10 times and this is one round. Breathe normally for a few breaths and then repeat 3 more times.
Do this for about 4 weeks and after try to increase the length of one breath to 3 seconds in and 6 seconds out.
Exercise #6: Static Apnea Tables
These stables are formulated to increase co2 tolerance for free divers. There are great apps out there to help with these to accustom the body to extreme co2 levels. For instance, here’s a co2 table below that accustoms the body to more co2 by reducing the amount of time between each round.
I do these 1 – 2 times a week.
Hold breath – 1:30 min
Rest – 2:15 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 2:00 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 1:45 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 1:30 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 1:15 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 1:00 min ; hold – 1:30 min
Rest – 1:00 min ; hold – 1:30 min
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When I discovered the benefits of breathwork, it changed my health almost as much as discovering the benefits of beef liver.
Let me know how these go.
This article was originally published at www.carnivoreaurelius.com.
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