As if not breathing

As if not breathing

In this exercise, I breathe circularly using my diaphragm as if barely breathing. The exercise slows down my breathing, so I feel an air shortage.

The way I exercise ‘as if not breathing’

  • Breathing: exclusive through the nose.
  • Position: I sit comfortably with a straight back, relax my tongue and jaw, and close my eyes.
  • Reset my breathing.
  1. Inhale very slowly in 3 parts. 4Xunits.
  2. Exhale very slowly in 3 parts. 8Xunits.
  3. Repeat the whole sequence for a few rounds with no breath holds.

Remarks

Enough air is supposed to move in and out, so I’m on the borderline of air hunger, feeling that I want to take a deep breath.

I control the amount of air by my breathing speed. So even though I mention the counting in beats, every beat can be slow. Repeating a Mantra helps me slow down the counting.

It’s circular diaphragmatic breathing with no stops; the inhale connects to the exhale. So it should be difficult for an observer to see that I’m breathing.

I hold my breath after a few cycles to find out if I’m breathing slowly enough. So I should reach the air hunger start point very quickly.

The practice improves my sensitivity to Carbon-diOxide.