Consciously train yourself to breathe primarily through your nose during the day and exclusively through your nose at night, as this habit can make a tremendous difference to your health and is about 70% of the way to healthy breathing.
Before attempting intensive ‘breathing plus’ techniques, ensure you have established normal, functional breathing by consistently breathing through your nose and more slowly, not through your mouth.
Begin practicing ‘coherent breathing’ by inhaling to a count of about five or six and exhaling to the same count, performing these slow, lower breaths periodically to acclimate your body to natural breathing.
Incorporate coherent breathing into various daily activities, such as answering emails, doing dishes, or driving, to gradually make it an unconscious, natural habit that you don’t have to think about.
To ensure nasal breathing during sleep, use a small piece of light adhesive surgical tape on your lips at night, a technique that can make a tremendous difference to your health by preventing mouth breathing.
To train for obligate nasal breathing during the day, apply a small piece of light adhesive surgical tape to your lips for increasing durations (starting at 10 minutes) to unconsciously train you to keep your mouth closed.
Pay attention to ‘oral posture’ by keeping your mouth closed and tongue in the proper position, as mouth breathing can obstruct airways, lead to chronic nasal congestion, and cause stress to the body.
Maintain an upright posture with a straight spine and shoulders back, as this position is the most efficient way for us to breathe by allowing the lungs to easily inflate and the diaphragm to sink down lower.
Make a habit of sitting with your shoulders back and spine straight, as improved posture directly leads to improved breathing and allows your body to operate at a more efficient state.
Prioritize addressing sleep-disordered breathing, such as snoring or sleep apnea, as it prevents your body from restoring itself during sleep and is a significant obstacle to overall health and resolving insomnia.
Address dysfunctional breathing as a primary intervention for anxiety, depression, and panic, as psychologists and psychiatrists have found it to be the most powerful thing for healing these conditions.
Prioritize a complete exhalation before inhaling, as you can’t get an enriching inhale unless you first really get a proper exhale, which allows your diaphragm to descend more and rise up more.
Practice breathing in a way that allows your diaphragm to fully descend and rise, as this massages internal organs like the kidney, stomach, and intestines, helping them purge lymph fluid and function properly.
Replace soft, processed industrial foods with harder, whole foods that require more chewing, like starchy roots, meat, and raw vegetables, to promote proper facial and airway development.
Increase chewing activity, aiming for about half an hour a day, to create more muscle and skeletal structure in your face, which is vitally important for forming a larger mouth and airway, especially when younger.
Avoid trimming all nasal hairs, as they are there to catch particulates, slow down the air you’re taking into your lungs, and capture moisture, all of which are important for fluid, rhythmic breathing and lung protection.
Be mindful of and avoid unconscious over-breathing, especially when at a desk, as it sends constant stress signals to your body, raising blood sugar and cortisol levels, which can eventually wreck your health.
During exercise, consciously shift from mouth breathing to nasal breathing, taking longer, more fluid breaths, as this allows you to stay in the aerobic zone longer and operate more efficiently.
Combat indoor pollutants like high CO2 levels by opening doors when sleeping or cracking windows in living spaces, as getting fresh air is beneficial for reducing chronic inflammation.
Avoid remaining in a single position for extended periods; instead, shift between sitting and standing every hour, as this movement is what our bodies are designed to do and where we are healthiest.
Walk around for at least five minutes every couple of hours, as this simple movement can have a huge and significant impact on blood sugar, diabetes regulation, and blood pressure.
When using a standing desk, it’s helpful to put a small ball under your feet to encourage subtle micro-movements, preventing static standing and promoting better body function.
Engage in yoga to make your rib cage and intercostals flexible, learn to take big, enriching breaths, and softly massage your organs, as 90% of yoga’s benefits come from deep breathing and organ massage.
Understand that meditation inherently involves beneficial breathwork, as calming the mind and focusing on the breath naturally leads to coherent, rich, and beneficial breathing patterns.
Explore additional breathwork techniques to complement an existing meditation practice, as breathing is only going to contribute to balance and overall health, offering a net gain without detracting from meditation.
After mastering normal breathing, explore intensive breathwork techniques like Kundalini or Wim Hof method, which involve vigorous, rhythmic breathing patterns, to gain more pronounced benefits for chronic conditions or stress.
Engage in conscious, vigorous breathing patterns for short periods (e.g., 20 minutes), as this acts like a ‘pressure release valve’ for your body and brain, allowing you to focus and then expel accumulated daily stress.
Consider exploring techniques like Sudarshan Kriya, which involves rhythmic breathing patterns, as it has been shown to be very effective for asthma, anxiety, and depression, but should be done under careful supervision due to its intensity.
Recognize that specific breathing techniques can significantly improve conditions like emphysema more than any other therapy, and even help straighten a scoliotic spine through practices like orthopedic breathing.
If engaging in intense breathwork and you feel uncomfortable or dislike the experience, remember you can always stop the practice and return to normal breathing at any time, as it’s completely natural.
To change breathing or posture habits, the very first thing you do is become aware of the current dysfunctional pattern, then consciously work to create new, better habits over time.
Utilize tools like alarms, hourly self-check-ins (‘How am I sitting? How am I breathing?’), apps, or wearables to consistently remind yourself to improve posture and breathing, thereby reinforcing new habits.
Objectively assess the benefits of slow, rhythmic breathing by measuring your blood pressure, blood glucose, or heart rate variability before and after a few minutes of practice to observe its profound effects.
If you do not have temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues, chew hard, sugar-free gum for about half an hour a day to gain benefits for facial muscle and skeletal development.
Use raw carrots as a natural and effective way to increase chewing stress, similar to hard gum, to strengthen facial muscles and support proper facial development.
When faced with news or challenges, view them as opportunities for improvement rather than sources of resistance, as this mindset can help address various ailments.