Proper Breathing

[Magnanimous]

How do I breathe properly? I'm confused, because several sources preach different methods in breathing.

Also, how to select which one/s to follow?

[Kamo]

Your best best is to take an experimental approach. Try different ones and document your results. This book has some very unique stuff i never even seen before. its called "The Breathing Book, by Donna Farhi. Kriya Yoga obviously has the best ones for spirituality. But that book has more practical information and various techniques. Theres so many its hard to give you a straight answer.

[aurum]

@Magnanimous

I just ran a functional breathwork workshop last Friday.

It’s not a simple question. There’s a lot more that goes into breathing than people realize. That workshop ran for ~3 hours and I still didn’t cover everything I wanted to.

Long story short: breathe low, slow, and through the nose.

Low in terms of location (abdomen / diaphragm), and slow in terms of breathes per minute.

No mouth breathing unless you’re an athlete or doing Wim Hof.

Keep it light as well. Your breathing should be gentle, almost imperceptible.

[Arcangelo]

Check it out!

[RickyFitts]

It's something I struggled with quite a lot when practising breath meditation - I tried different techniques, but in the end I found it was best to approach it in terms of simply allowing the body to breathe, rather than forcing it to breathe in some particular way that just made me feel more anxious and neurotic (what worked best for me with regards to meditation specifically was to focus on simply keeping my body relaxed and still, then the breath would simply happen).

Just in general I think it's very beneficial to listen to your body more, and to let your body take the lead, so to speak.

[StarStruck]

3 hours ago, aurum said:

@Magnanimous

I just ran a functional breathwork workshop last Friday.

It’s not a simple question. There’s a lot more that goes into breathing than people realize. That workshop ran for ~3 hours and I still didn’t cover everything I wanted to.

Long story short: breathe low, slow, and through the nose.

Low in terms of location (abdomen / diaphragm), and slow in terms of breathes per minute.

No mouth breathing unless you’re an athlete or doing Wim Hof.

Keep it light as well. Your breathing should be gentle, almost imperceptible.

Why abdomen though? Lungs are in your chest.

[aurum]

10 hours ago, StarStruck said:

Why abdomen though? Lungs are in your chest.

Yes but when diaphragm lowers enough, it will cause an expansion of your abdomen.

Chest breathing is essentially a fight or flight response. I guarantee that someone who is a chronic chest breather is going to experience a lot more stress than if they primarily breathed low.

[StarStruck]

11 hours ago, aurum said:

Yes but when diaphragm lowers enough, it will cause an expansion of your abdomen.

Chest breathing is essentially a fight or flight response. I guarantee that someone who is a chronic chest breather is going to experience a lot more stress than if they primarily breathed low.

So when we breath in our diaphragm lowers, stretching our lungs out so more air can go inside?

[jimwell]

On 6/22/2022 at 2:43 PM, StarStruck said:

So when we breath in our diaphragm lowers, stretching our lungs out so more air can go inside?

Yes. Breathe deeply and slowly. It's the abdomen which expands, not the chest. 

I have been breathing this way for many years. I breathe in for at least 5 seconds and breathe out for more or less the same amount of time. 

It's good for your general health and gives you mental clarity. 

[StarStruck]

12 hours ago, jimwell said:

Yes. Breathe deeply and slowly. It's the abdomen which expands, not the chest. 

I have been breathing this way for many years. I breathe in for at least 5 seconds and breathe out for more or less the same amount of time. 

It's good for your general health and gives you mental clarity. 

This video says you shouldn't feel a vertical stretch but a horizontal stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldNnKVGxabA

[sholomar]

I find obsessing over breathing patterns to be a trap. When one is sufficiently relaxed, in a state of open focus, present moment awareness, with more dominant alpha brainwave activity, breathing will naturally deepen on it's own. It's fine to use as a tool to focus, but don't obsess over it.

[jimwell]

11 hours ago, StarStruck said:

This video says you shouldn't feel a vertical stretch but a horizontal stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldNnKVGxabA

Yes, the expansion is horizontal. The video demonstrates it. 

If you are not sure, lie on your back. Your abdomen should expand when inhaling and contract when exhaling.