Diaundra's TL;DR - Breath š«
"The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That's 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air." - James Nestor
I believe there to be two different types of people:Ā
People who donāt really think about breath at allĀ
People who think about breath all of the timeĀ
For those who relate to persona #1, def read this book. āBreathā by James Nestor explores 1) defining unhealthy breathing 2) the causes of unhealthy breathing 3) the long + short term impacts of breath 4) breathing techniques for improved health.Ā
(Side note - I gained a lot of respect for Nestor for his commitment to research in this book. He went deep in his exploration and participated himself in most of the studies, which is something I have not come across often in research based literature).Ā
Takeaways:Ā
Most of us breathe shallow + dysfunctionally, leading the underlying health issuesĀ
Proper breathing profoundly impacts us as at a mental, emotional, and physical levelĀ
Breathe from your nose as much as possible
Breathe from your belly (diaphragmatic breathing) as much as possibleĀ
Maintain good posture (avoid slouching), as this significantly impacts breathĀ
Outside of these general high level practices, there are many specific breathing practices provided by Nestor in the book for those looking to go deeper. Similar to health and nutrition, I do believe that the right concoction for you, has to be a personally developed one. So Iāll leave it to you all to discover whatās right for you. (:Ā
Till next time.Ā
With love,
Diaundra Ā