Nasal breathing

THE BENEFITS OF NASAL BREATHING

Our bodies were designed to breathe through the nose. In fact, it’s been said that breathing through your mouth is about as practical as trying to drink through your nose! Possible but not very effective and pretty much... weird. In a bad way.

According to experts, most people breathe at 10-20 percent of their full capacity. WAIT! HOLD THE PRESS! 20 percent?! Forget talking about high performance or optimizing training and nutrition... how about starting with the basics: breathing properly and more effectively by learning and training technique and awareness. Let's prioritize learning about how to utilize the body ánd the oxygen molecule more efficiently.

Restricted breathing greatly decreases respiratory function, which in turn decreases energy levels in the body. Since oxygen is our main source of life, and exhalation is the main way to expel toxins from our bodies, poor breathing can contribute to a multitude of health problems, from high blood pressure to insomnia. Poor breathing may even contribute to some forms of cancer: In 1931, Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for determining that only oxygen-starved cells will mutate and become cancerous. That should be proof enough to learn how to breathe properly!

Many of us feel stressed out, overworked, and overstimulated during our daily lives, which leaves us in a chronic state of fight or flight response. Breathing in and out through the nose helps us take fuller, deeper breaths, which stimulates the lower lung to distribute greater amounts of oxygen throughout the body. Also, the lower lung is rich with the parasympathetic nerve receptors associated with calming the body and mind, whereas the upper lungs — which are stimulated by chest and mouth breathing — prompt us to hyperventilate and trigger sympathetic nerve receptors, which result in the fight or flight reaction.

Breathing through your mouth is NOT wrong but it should be VOLANTARY (meaning you should be aware of it and consiously choosing to opt for mouth breathing) and appropriate. For example: if you're doing "Fran" you will have to open your mouth at a certain point because you're switching from aerobic to anearobic state because you're kicking ass in a big way (or "Fran" is kicking your ass which amounts to the same thing: you are pushing the envelope which is what "Fran" is for!). But are you aware of it and do you understand why you're doing it? Or was your mouth hanging open during the warm-up and basically all day and now you're gasping for air after 3 thrusters? There is a big difference here.

In this course you are going to learn how to become more aware of this and you will understand what is going on in the body and mind and therefore you will have more control over your breathing and consequently the different states and gears you are in.


Nasal breathing: during ANY and ALL exercises in the Bulletproof Breathing program keep your mouth shut and ONLY breathe in and out through your nose! When you feel the urge to inhale through your mouth, stop and calm down keeping your mouth shut. The only way to reprogram your breathing patterns is by repetition. Practice makes permanent!


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