Breathing is in

What does it mean to be alive? Technically, it means having a metabolism, growing, evolving and respiring.

I think the definition is worth reflecting upon because we take the experience for granted. Maybe that’s because we don’t actively control the process; the beating of our hearts and the digesting of our food happens in the background. And we only really pay attention to our breath if it becomes problematic, like if we have a cold or a condition like asthma. But don’t you think it’s strange that we don’t pay attention to these most fundamental aspects of being human?

I think this mindset bound to change. To explain why, let’s reflect on how our understanding of physical wellbeing has already shifted in the last 50 years in the West.

How did we get here?

Firstly, we’ve seen the rise of vegetarianism, veganism, and whole foods movements and a focus on receiving a balanced intake of vitamins and minerals. This has been a welcome improvement because in the preceding century the industrial revolution led to poor food quality and a lack of nutritional diversity. During that time, mass production was prioritised to feed a rapidly growing urban population and the advent of advertising helped to persuade people that eating tinned food was sufficient and that fresh vegetables were old-fashioned. We’re now taking a commonsense approach to the importance of food to our health.

Secondly, we’ve seen the rise of the fitness industry. Urbanization and the transfer of the workforce from the fields to the office made us sedentary creatures. City planners emphasised access to vehicles over pedestrians and we spread out over longer distances so that the only way to get around was by car; walking took a backseat. In recent decades we’ve seen a renewed interest in physical exercise as a way of improving health. We can thank the 80s and their neon-coloured, legging-wearing power-walkers for being the pioneers that brought us gyms and yoga classes to every corner of our cities.

So, the modern advice to stay healthy is to eat well and to move well. These seem like obvious components for a properly functioning body. And yet we were ignorant of their necessity for centuries. Is it possible that we’ll look back and think similarly about the lack of attention to breathing as well?

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

In ‘Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art’, James Nestor presents new evidence to support the traditional wisdom that eastern cultures have held for millennia: breathing is important, y’all. The book journeys through ten years of research discovery by the author and there are a few significant bits of advice that we can all incorporate into our lives to improve our health.

The first is to always breathe through the nose. Breathing through the nose clears the air, heats it, and moistens it for easier absorption and it has dramatic impact on our bodily health. Nestor describes an experiment where for ten days he breathed only through the mouth compared to ten days where he breathed only through the nose. The results were astounding. In the first period, he suffered from sleep apnea, snoring, high blood pressure, and numerous other ill effects. Breathing through the nose reversed these symptoms and resulted in much better athletic performance.

Indeed, the scientific evidence is that breathing through the mouth can put us in a state of stress, make us feel fatigued and may drive feelings of anxiety. Ironically, the more we breathe through the mouth the worse we become at breathing through the nose as the airways weaken, leading to a viscous cycle of respiratory problems.

And it get’s even more interesting. According to Nestor, ”the nostrils of every living person pulse to their own rhythm, opening and closing like a flower in response to our moods, mental states, and perhaps even the sun and moon”. As a result, breathing through the right nostril acts as an accelerator and makes you more alert as it feeds more blood to the left side of the brain, associated with logical decision-making and language. Breathing through the left nostril acts as a brake and makes you more relaxed, influencing the right side of your brain which is responsible for creative thought and emotion. This happens automatically but can also be controlled through advanced breathing techniques.

“Everything you or I or any other breathing thing has ever put in its mouth, or in its nose, or soaked in through its skin, is hand-me-down space dust that’s been around for 13.8 billion years. This wayward matter has been split apart by sunlight, spread throughout the universe, and come back together again. To breathe is to absorb ourselves in what surrounds us, to take in little bit of life, understand them, and give pieces of ourselves back out. Respiration is, at its core, reciprocation.” - JAMES NESTOR

The second key bit of advice from the book is to exhale longer. We tend to think that the more oxygen we have in our bodies the better, but actually we benefit from more carbon dioxide. It sounds counter-intuitive, but carbon dioxide allows oxygen molecules to detach from our red blood cells and enter the tissues where they’re most needed. Exhaling longer increases the amount of carbon dioxide in our system.

In the West, the average length of breath has got shorter over the years so that we now breathe about 18 times a minute. This is almost hyperventilation by the standards of ancient breathing techniques. In fact, the ideal breath is about 5.5 seconds in and 5.5 seconds out, representing 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air. Bonus points if you allow the breath to be long and continuous with no pause between inhale and exhale.

This knowledge will be new to many Westerners but it has been central to other cultures for thousands of years. Indeed, 5.5 seconds is about the same length of time as the spoken phrases of many Hindu, Taoist, and Native American prayers and the classic Hindu texts, the Vedas, contain much wisdom about the importance of eating, moving and breathing properly.

So remember: being alive is more that just experiencing the outer world with all its drama and excitement and distraction. It’s also about experiencing our inner world and bringing awareness to our metabolism, growth, evolution and respiration. Simply breathing through the nose and slowing down your breath could transform your experience of both worlds.