How to Choose a Breathing Exercise?
Countless different breathing exercises can be found in the vast selection available on the internet, but which one will be the most suitable – for what, exactly?
It’s important to first define the problem, and then choose a goal that fits it.
What do we want to achieve with the help of breathing exercises?
There can be several ways to classify breathing exercises, depending on whether we look at the system of yoga (pranayama), or the exercises of Buteyko breathing.
One of the biggest challenges of our world today is managing stress. Because we breathe faster when we’re stressed, our nervous system interprets that fast breathing to mean that we’re in danger, so it keeps us in a state of readiness to jump into action. Alongside this state, hormonal changes also occur, and as long as this sympathetic nervous system tone persists, the level of stress hormones also remains high.
Because of this condition that affects almost everyone, I believe the greatest need is for calming-type exercises. Energizing-type exercises, in any case, require a better state of health and more practice. A great example of this from yoga is Bhastrika pranayama, a bellows breath that is essentially a hyperventilation, over-breathing exercise. It’s not so surprising, then, that in the ancient teachings this counts as an advanced pranayama, meaning it assumes both practice and a better baseline condition.
Incidentally, the breathing technique of the Wim Hof Method also counts as an over-breathing exercise.
But what is over-breathing or hyperventilation?
Over-breathing means breathing more often and more deeply than your current metabolic need requires. It’s as if, while at rest, you were breathing the way you would during exercise. Or as if you were breathing for 2-3 other people as well.
What characterizes over-breathing?
- it is a very inefficient process
- it is excessively energy-demanding and tiring
- it reduces oxygen uptake as a result of fast, shallow breathing
- it reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the cells due to the Bohr effect
- it generates a state of alertness (stress) in the nervous system
- the endocrine system changes as well, and cortisol levels rise
- the blood’s pH shifts in an alkaline direction
- Take a look at what symptoms it can cause. You’ll be surprised!
It affects a significant portion of people, and those who struggle with asthma, or panic attacks, are affected to an even greater degree.
It follows, then, that a practitioner living under heightened stress, who is already hyperventilating, should not practice an over-breathing, advanced exercise, since that would only further contribute to worsening their condition.
So, once we have a calming breathing exercise, what next?
If we pick a few random calming breathing exercises from the internet, we may run into the problem that they don’t actually calm us down after all. What’s more, it can even be counterproductive – it may trigger an intense feeling of breathlessness, which can be frightening for many people. Many of my course participants often report that, due to some past trauma, they experience fear even at the slightest sensation of breathlessness. (I have great methods for resolving this 😉 )
I once read on a helping professional’s website that if you’re stressed, you should use this and that breathing technique, and you’ll feel better. The technique went like this: breathe in for 4 seconds, then breathe out for 8 seconds.
My problem with one-size-fits-all breathing exercises is this: a great many people who are stressed (and this exercise was recommended precisely for them) cannot easily exhale for a full 8 seconds. After several rounds of this kind of practice, they would end up gasping for air. On top of that, a pronounced feeling of breathlessness can set in, seasoned with straining.
Personalization and measurement!
What I really love about the Buteyko method is that there are test exercises available, with which we can measure our current condition, or determine our starting point. One great tool for this is the Control Pause test, about which I’ve already written a detailed blog post.
Measuring the control pause also makes it possible to monitor continuous progress, meaning it quickly becomes clear whether something is heading in a good direction, stagnating, or even worsening. This makes it possible to tailor the practice completely to the individual and to their current condition, which in turn guarantees both safety and progress.
So, based on the example above, based on my practitioner’s feedback, I might tell them not to do an 8-second exhale for now, but only a 4-second one. Their further feedback can then modify this suggestion of mine again. Of course, all of this is only possible if I receive feedback frequently about their practice. So it helps to have the opportunity for frequent feedback. (This is exactly why I made daily coaching part of my course, which means daily communication with everyone on their own private platform.)
So it’s worth choosing a breathing exercise in a way that we are aware of our own condition, and the exercise matches it.
If we choose otherwise, it’s entirely possible that we’ll cause ourselves trouble, or that we won’t really feel any change, and we’ll conclude that breathing exercises are worthless and don’t work.
When can breathing exercises harm us?
An older gentleman once contacted me by phone, asking about the course. He had a serious condition affecting his respiratory system, so I spoke with him at length about whether I could even take him on at all. He was very enthusiastic about Buteyko breathing, and told me excitedly that he had already found exercises online, and was diligently practicing them, but they hadn’t helped him improve. When I asked him exactly what, for how long, and with how many repetitions he had been practicing, it became clear to me that he had likely come across the description of the nose-unblocking exercise. The only thing missing from the description was that someone in his condition shouldn’t do it. The enthusiastic learner had been repeating the forceful breath-holds without any breaks. This is a typical case of someone practicing in a way that doesn’t match their condition, which can even be dangerous. Forceful breath-holds place a heavy burden on the body, which is why participants are only given them as part of their tasks once they have an adequate control pause.
If you too would like to practice in a personalized, safe way, then come join one of my Buteyko breathing training sessions. 😊