Breathe: Do You Know How?

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We all breathe but it is rare that people are breathing correctly. The difference is clear and the impact on health and mental clarity is very significant. Yet, no one spend time to talk about it at all. Well, for one, talking about basic of the basics generate no buzz. So, here it is on how to breathe right.

Most people breath by simply relaxing their chest hence air flow in. Naturally, you will let the air out as your brain detected signals from your lungs that the oxygen intake is used up. Yep, your brains and bodies are doing that with every single breathe you take. But there is a problem with that, you are using just 25-30% of your lung capacity on each breathe. You are providing bare minimal supply of oxygen to your brain and your body.

By practicing the following simple breathing exercise for 2 weeks, you will reprogram your body and your mind to increase the average air intake to at least 45%-60% of your lung capacity. Do not underestimate this change – we are talking about 100% increase or even more in terms of air intake volume, or oxygen supply going into your body. This does wonders to your health. If your daily activities include a lot of mental work (e.g. having a desk job), you will see marked improvements in your ability to concentrate as well.

1. Preferred to lie down somewhere. If you are doing this first thing you open your eyes, you are already on the bed. Try not to do this when you are going to sleep because it can make you more awake thus delaying your bed time.

2. Breathe in by pushing your stomach/ tummy out first until it reaches 70% to 80% from the maximum you can do when pushing hard.

3. Then expand your chest to continue the breathe in process until your chest is at least 60% to 80% from the maximum you can do with expanding your chest from breathing in.

4. Relax and let the air out slowly. If you can control it to take as long as the breathe in time, it is a bonus.

5. Repeat the breathing for at least 30 times.

Remember your lungs and the muscles surrounding it are just like the rest of your body. They can be trained to become stronger and more flexible. The breathing exercise above will strengthen your respiratory system and teach your brain to breathe like this method when you are not practicing it deliberately. The more you do it, the faster it will become a natural part of you.

Note: I was talking to my son the other day that I suddenly remember this is actually one of the fundamental breathing work that one has to learn before doing all the more complex ones. I guess we all tend to forget about things that is already a part of yourself.

5 Replies to “Breathe: Do You Know How?”

  1. Step two, can you breathe in through your mouth? Or Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth . Is the goal is to get as much oxygen in lungs as possible.

    This sounds like one of wim hof method

    1. No. It is about retraining yourself so that you regularly breath somewhat deeper. Hence just using your nose.

      And it is not about forcing as much oxygen as possible. You may want to re-read what I have written there.

      Wim Hof’s method focus mainly on the practice itself to get the benefits while the traditional breathing method I explained is about incorporating a better breathing method into every breath you take.

  2. Thank you for this suggestion. Do you have any other materials/links to add to this technique? I understood it based on your description, but I am not sure if I am executing it properly.

    I have been using Wim Hof’s breathing exercises for about two years to great effect. One of the many non-trading things that I learned from DTB. Thanks again for all that you do LC. I really appreciate it.

    1. This breathing style has been adopted everywhere hence it is likely you will see similar techniques in Taoist chi gong practice, Yoga practice, etc.

      The key with this breathing method is that it is done in a way not to induce any discomfort while helping you to learn to breath a bit deeper if you normally breath in without utilizing your diaphragm muscle.

    2. Wim Hof’s breathing methods definitely something good to incorporate into one’s regular exercise / training routines.

      I like the fact that he tries to figure out the actual effects on our bodies behind the various breathing methods. This helps removing the mysticism and prejudice surrounding these techniques.

      My original review of Wim’s work,
      http://www.daytradingbias.com/?p=130733

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