THE ART OF BREATHING
I breathe at a rate of about 8 breaths per minute while I am at rest, lying on my bed or seated in this chair, writing. I know this because I time my breathing regularly. Sometimes obsessively. Hit the button on my digital timer and count down. It’s tough to do. Honestly. Trying not to cheat. Attempting to keep the ego out of the count and not consciously slow the breath down to beat the clock. Aware of the breath, but not so aware or self-conscious as to alter the pattern or number of repetitions.
Use a watch or a timer. Relax, and count your breaths. How did you do? 12 to 20 is about average, but what does this mean in terms of health? Well…. It’s all about stress.
“Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.” Dr. Hans Selye. Australian-Canadian 20th century doctor in endocrinology and nominee for the Nobel Prize.
Many clinical studies have concluded that 5.5 to 6 breaths per minute is the optimal count. At this pace the nervous system leans towards the parasympathetic or resting phase, meaning the heart rate, which descends slightly upon exhalation, is slowed and blood pressure lowered. All of this fosters a balanced, relaxed body, capable of better handling stress, which equates to health and longevity.
From James Nestor’s book, ‘Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art’, “The perfect breath is this: inhale for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths per minute with a total of about 5.5 liters of air (per breath)." Which is about the average lung capacity.
I’ve also read of temple monks who breathe only one breath per minute. Sitting for an hour, breathing just once every sixty seconds. Try it. I have; and lasted seven minutes.
My main physical discipline in the past twenty years has been focused upon the act, or art of combining conscious breath with conscious movement, specifically, resistance exercises. A practice that, at one time, would have been considered crazy or eccentric. Working out with weights or performing bodyweight exercises like chins, push-ups or dips while consciously counting breaths, changing breathing patterns, and even pausing the breath for long periods between exhalation and inhalation while continuing to perform the exercise. Twelve years ago, while working on a book about strength training, I spoke about my practice of combining conscious breath and strength training with an old friend, an acknowledged leader in the bodybuilding world. Only to be told, “You write about breathing, and you’ll be laughed out of the strength training community. It’s too esoteric.”
That was then.
Now… thanks to teachers like Wim Hof, world champion free diver, Stig Severinsen, and the inheritor of the Buteyko system, Patrick McKeown, along with journalist, James Nestor, and his book Breath, training the breath is gathering main-stream acceptance.
After all, the breath is the beginning, and the end, of everything.
But… the art of breathing. We all breathe, so why term it an art, or turn it into a practice?
