How To Transform Your Health Through Your Breath with James Nestor #197
James Nestor, science journalist and author of "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art," returns to discuss the profound impact of breathwork. He covers foundational nasal breathing, CO2 tolerance, and advanced techniques like Tummo, Holotropic, and Sudarshan Kriya, highlighting their benefits for physical and mental health.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Introduction to James Nestor and Breathwork's Potential
Prevalence and Problems of Mouth Breathing
Transformative Benefits of Nasal Breathing and Mouth Taping
Skepticism, Journalism, and Impact of Breath Research
Listener Feedback: Breathwork for Asthma and Anxiety
Understanding Different Breathing Philosophies and Goals
Hormetic Stress vs. Chronic Stress in Breathing
Immediate Physiological Changes from Breathwork
Super-Breathing Techniques and Immune Function
Tailoring Breathwork to Individual Needs and Conditions
Breath Holding, CO2 Tolerance, and Mental Health
Breathing for Enhanced Athletic Performance and Recovery
Historical Wisdom and Modern Science of Breathing
Modern Lifestyle's Impact on Breathing and Anatomy
Posture and Biomechanics of Efficient Breathing
Lung Capacity's Role in Health and Longevity
Exploring Advanced Breathwork: Holotropic and Sudarshan Kriya
Funding Challenges and Future of Breath Research
6 Key Concepts
Nasal Breathing Benefits
Breathing through the nose protects the lungs, makes breathing more efficient, lowers heart rate, reduces snoring and sleep apnea, and improves sleep quality. It acts as the body's first line of defense against external pollutants and pathogens.
Hormetic Stress
This refers to the beneficial effect of purposely stressing the body in controlled, short bursts, similar to interval training. Techniques like the Wim Hof method use this to build resilience, improve stress control, and allow the body to be in a state of calm during the rest of the day.
CO2 Tolerance
This is the body's ability to withstand higher levels of carbon dioxide. The buildup of CO2, not just the drop in oxygen, is the primary trigger for the urge to breathe, and improving this tolerance can reduce susceptibility to panic, asthma, and anxiety.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
This is the practice of engaging the diaphragm for breathing, which involves expanding the belly and lower rib cage laterally (outward and inward) rather than just moving the chest up and down. This method increases lung capacity and breathing efficiency.
Orthopedic Breathing
A technique developed by Katerina Schroth for individuals with scoliosis, where one consciously breathes into one lung and then the other to expand them. This practice helps to influence spinal form and can contribute to correcting spinal curvatures.
Vasoconstriction from Hyperventilation
Rapid, deep breathing (hyperventilation) causes blood vessels to constrict, which reduces blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain. In extreme states, this can inhibit up to 40% of blood flow to the brain, leading to profound hallucinogenic experiences.
8 Questions Answered
Studies suggest 25% to 50% of Western populations are habitual mouth breathers, with 60% to 70% sleeping with an open mouth. Mouth breathing causes 40% more moisture loss, alters oral pH leading to cavities, exposes lungs to pollutants and pathogens, and can worsen snoring and sleep apnea.
Applying a small piece of tape to the mouth at night trains it to stay shut, encouraging nasal breathing. This leads to better protection of lungs, more efficient breathing, a lower heart rate, reduced snoring and sleep apnea, and improved morning freshness and energy.
Both approaches can be beneficial depending on the desired outcome. Slow, rhythmic nasal breathing is ideal for daily efficiency and calm, while 'super-breathing' techniques like the Wim Hof method involve purposeful, controlled stress to build resilience and improve stress management.
Breathing directly influences the body's stress response. Slow, rhythmic breathing can immediately lower blood pressure and transform brainwave patterns, shifting the body from a stressed state to one of calm and control by providing an outlet for accumulated stress.
The primary drive to breathe comes from CO2 buildup, not just oxygen drop. Individuals with low CO2 tolerance are more susceptible to panic, asthma, and anxiety; training to tolerate higher CO2 levels can help control these conditions by breaking the cycle of perpetual hyperventilation.
Proper posture is crucial for efficient breathing because it allows the lungs to fully inflate and the diaphragm to move freely. Hunching over restricts lung expansion, making it harder to take full, easy breaths and reducing overall breathing efficiency.
Larger, healthier lungs are a significant and accurate marker of lifespan, as shown by studies like the Framingham study. Maintaining or increasing lung capacity through healthy breathing and exercise can stave off age-related decline and improve overall health and athletic performance.
Over 75% of medical study funding comes from corporations, often pharmaceutical companies, which have a vested interest in drug-based solutions. There is little financial incentive to fund research into free, non-patentable methods like breathwork, leading to a bias in what gets studied and taught.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Nasal Breathing (Day & Night)
Make a conscious effort to breathe through your nose throughout the day and night. Your nose acts as the body’s first line of defense, filtering pollution, allergens, viruses, and pathogens, and helps prevent snoring and sleep apnea.
2. Mouth Tape for Nighttime Breathing
Apply a small piece of tape (postage stamp size) over your mouth at night to encourage nasal breathing. This simple hack can lead to better sleep, feeling fresher, reduced snoring, and prevents dehydration and pH changes that contribute to cavities.
3. Start Simple: 5-6 Count Breathing
Begin your breathwork journey by inhaling through your nose to a count of five or six, then exhaling to the same count. Practice this for 10-20 cycles and observe how your body feels, as it can elicit a strong positive response.
4. Tune into Your Body with Breath
Use breathwork as a tool to gain greater self-awareness and quiet external noise. This practice helps you listen to internal signals, allowing you to better understand your state of stress and overall well-being.
5. Improve CO2 Tolerance with Breath Holds
While walking, after 5-10 minutes of nasal breathing, exhale normally, then hold your breath and walk until you feel a medium air hunger, repeating 5-10 times. This practice improves carbon dioxide (CO2) tolerance, which is linked to reduced panic, asthma, and anxiety.
6. Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing (Lateral)
Focus on expanding your rib cage and belly outward and inward (laterally) when you breathe, rather than just up and down. This engages the diaphragm more effectively, improves rib cage flexibility, and allows for easier, more complete lung inflation, enhancing breathing efficiency and posture.
7. Increase Lung Capacity for Longevity
Engage in practices that increase your lung size and improve lung function. Lung capacity and function are significant markers of lifespan, and maintaining or improving them can lead to a longer, healthier life.
8. Use Breathing for Controlled Stress
Incorporate ‘super breathing techniques’ like the Wim Hof method for about 20 minutes to purposely stress your body in a controlled way. This focused, periodic stress helps you control your stress response, leading to greater calm and control during the rest of your day.
9. Start Slowly for Anxiety/Asthma
If you have anxiety, asthma, or panic, begin breathing practices very slowly, such as three seconds in and three seconds out, then gradually extend the duration as comfortable. This gentle approach prevents exacerbating symptoms like hyperventilation and allows your body and mind to acclimate.
10. Reduce Asthma & Anxiety with Breath
Work on specific breathing practices to significantly reduce or even eliminate asthma symptoms and anxiety. Scientific studies and clinicians have shown that conscious breathing practices can have these profound effects.
11. Nasal Breathe During Exercise
Practice nasal breathing during exercise, even for endurance activities like marathons. This can improve recovery, sleep quality, and lead to a quicker reduction in heart rate post-exercise, making activities more physiologically harmonious.
12. Integrate Eastern & Western Medicine
Combine approaches from both Eastern (e.g., breathing practices) and Western medicine for your health. Both have enormous benefits, and integrating them, rather than choosing one over the other, is key for comprehensive health management.
13. Address Kids’ ADHD with Breathing
If a child has ADHD, investigate and improve their breathing quality during the day and night. A significant percentage of ADHD cases in children are linked to sleep-disordered breathing, and improving breathing can help overcome these issues.
14. Encourage Baby-Led Weaning & Hard Foods
For young children, encourage breastfeeding as long as possible and wean them onto hard, unprocessed foods. This promotes the natural development of proper facial structure and breathing anatomy, preventing issues like crooked teeth and small mouths that impact breathing.
15. Sudarshan Kriya for Profound Effects
Consider attending a weekend workshop to learn Sudarshan Kriya, a structured breathing technique. This practice can elicit profound physical and mental responses, offering clarity and calmness, and has over 100 independent scientific studies validating its effectiveness for panic, anxiety, asthma, and autoimmune problems.
16. Occasional Mouth Breathing is Normal
Do not stress about occasional mouth breathing, such as when laughing, sighing, or during short bursts of peak athletic performance. The focus should be on habitual nasal breathing, not an absolute prohibition of mouth breathing.
6 Key Quotes
Eastern medicine is great if you want to live. Western medicine is great if you don't want to die.
Brian McKenzie (quoted by James Nestor)
If you're able to improve your health and improve the efficiency of your body within a few minutes, just imagine what's going to happen after a few days or a few weeks or a few months and you start to understand how your breathing is such an integral part of your healing and your long-term health.
James Nestor
What the bodily form depends on is breath. And what breath relies upon is form. When the breath is perfect, the form is perfect too.
Ancient Quote (quoted by James Nestor)
The breath inhaled through the mouth is called knee-chi or adverse breath. Be extremely careful not to breathe your breath through the mouth.
The Tao (quoted by James Nestor)
More than 60 years of research on living systems has convinced me that our body is much more nearly perfect than the endless list of ailments suggests. Its shortcomings are due less to its inborn imperfections than to our abusing it.
Albert Szent-Györgyi (quoted by James Nestor)
These are human abilities that each and every one of us can hone. And when we hone them, we can maybe not be able to sit in snow for eight hours at a time and melt a circle around us, but we can improve our health.
James Nestor
6 Protocols
Mouth Taping for Sleep
James Nestor- Apply a small piece of tape, about postage stamp size, over the mouth at night to train it to stay shut.
Basic Calming Breath (3-4-5 Breath)
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee- Breathe in for 3 seconds.
- Hold for 4 seconds.
- Breathe out for 5 seconds.
General Slow, Rhythmic Breathing
James Nestor- Breathe through your nose to a count of about five or six.
- Exhale to the same count.
- Continue this way for maybe 10 or 20 cycles.
Diaphragmatic Breathing (BIC Test)
Dr. Belisa Vranich (described by James Nestor)- Place hands above your hip bones.
- Breathe in, feeling your hands move out laterally (outward and inward expansion of the belly/lower rib cage), not just the stomach pushing out or chest moving up and down.
Orthopedic Breathing (for Scoliosis)
Katerina Schroth (described by James Nestor)- Breathe into one lung and exhale.
- Breathe into the other lung and exhale.
Sudarshan Kriya
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (described by James Nestor)- Stress your body out through breathing.
- Hold your breath.
- Breathe slowly.
- Repeat the cycle of stressing out, holding, and slow breathing.