AYOOOOOO Fighters! What it do??? I hope you are all having an extremely blessed day & are making steps courageously towards being a better version of yourself than you were yesterday!
I have been teasing a Breathwork Manifesto for a long time here in the Jungle. Well, today you finally get installment one. There will likely be upwards of TEN installments in this series as time goes on. Maybe even more as I continue to learn more & more about the force that keeps us alive - The Breath.
So what’re we talking about today? The very basics. This post will NOT go into the science behind breathing or anything deeper than just Box Breathing. I am of firm belief that that knowledge is not necessary in order to just get started.
& Truly, the most important thing you could do is to just start breathing.
LETS GET STARTED!
Your breath is your life. Your ability to breathe is your ability to live. It is essential that you take care of your ability to breathe. There is a direct correlation between life span & lung capacity. The better you breathe, the longer you live (obviously not 1 size fit all here, other factors exist)
“The yogi’s life is not measured by the number of his days, but the number of his breaths” - B.K.S. Iyengar
Cultivating a breathing practice is as simple as being disciplined enough to show up every day and do it. Box Breathing is the EASIEST/MOST SIMPLE breathwork practice to start with. It does not require any manipulation of the air you are taking in or putting out, nor does it require you to do any type of long breath holds.
Box Breathing is also effective morning or night. I recommend that you do it morning & night.
THE PRACTICE
The cadence of Box Breathing is 5.5-5.5-5.5-5.5
What I mean by this is 5.5 seconds Inhale (THROUGH THE NOSE), 5.5 seconds HOLD, 5.5 seconds Exhale (THROUGH THE NOSE), 5.5 seconds hold, repeat for duration of breathwork practice (5-10 minutes to start).
Now obviously you do not have to count out a half second. That is neurotic. You wont catch me dead out here doin that.
Knowing that, you do not need anything special to practice this. You don’t even need a stop watch. You can count to five in your head right?
When I practice breathwork I almost always am doing so seated. I sit cross legged with my left leg folded over right. You can put a cushion underneath you if you want to. IF SITTING CROSS LEGGED IS NOT AN OPTION, that is not an excuse to not practice (champions adjust, remember that Anon). This can be done seated in a chair, it can be done laying down, it can be done standing up, it can be done literally anywhere.
Alright you sitting right? Cool, perfect. Try to keep your back & neck as straight as possible, this is to help build awareness in your body but also to aid in better breathing. Did you know that human posture (or lack thereof in our modern society, really) is a direct result of our inability to breathe properly? More on that in future Breathing Bars posts, but you can see that posture is important to this practice.
Now we start. Inhale for five seconds, hold for five seconds, exhale for five seconds, hold for five seconds. REPEAT. ALL THROUGH YOUR NOSE ONLY! Aim to keep the breath slow, controlled & steady, but also soft. It should not be very loud. Samurai warriors used to be tested on softness of breath. They would be made to breathe with a feather under their nose, if the feather moved, they were dismissed. Controlling the breath in this manner helps to build focus.
It’s pretty simple isn’t it? You see, you don’t need to do crazy manipulative breathwork in order to do breathwork. Start simple. You must build the foundations first. Consistently practicing this type of breathwork will help burn fat (for every 10 pounds of fat lost, 8.5 pounds come from the breath), it will help lower your resting heart rate, it will bring you to the present moment & aid in anxiety/overthinking. It is also proven to increase energy & focus/mental clarity.
CLOSING
Breath is an incredibly vast topic, but it is truly one of the missing links towards living the best life you could possibly live. You breathe all day anyways, why wouldn’t you make an attempt to breathe better?
In this post you’ve been given a mere starting point. Box Breathing is the start, then we go from there. You can’t build a house without setting down foundations. The same applies to your health!
BowTiedFighter (CERTIFIED BEAST)