Spirit Breath
You may or may not know this but the word spirit came into Middle English via Old French esperit. Its source is Latin spīritus, whose original meaning was "breath, breathing" and hence "spirit, soul, courage, vigor"; its ultimate origin is a Proto-Indo-European root *(s)peis.
Quite honestly I didn't care much for anyone’s ‘advice’ on breathing. I even read ‘Breath’ by James Nestor which had little to zero impact. Things only changed when I tried it myself. Like many things, it’s scientifically nearly impossible to tell someone to change. The only way is to really develop a discipline and do it yourself. See approach below
The Hypothesis
By doing daily breathing exercises in the morning I will have more energy and mental clarity for the day.
Results for me
Noticeable increase in focus and attention directly after
[Unexpected] Huge increase in respect for myself due to committing to a daily discipline
Noticeable increase in energy for 1-3 hours
I haven’t been sick at all in the last 2 months
My lung capacity when exercising feels larger
The practices has been fundamental in fact. I would say point number 2 was the most rewarding because that has had numerous auxillary benefits in other parts of my life.
Keep it or Leave it?
I’ll keep this as a daily practise and perhaps look to have a mid and end of day practise too that are different.
My Approach
Very simply, this needs to be done daily at a specific time, preferably at the start of your day. I chose as soon as I get up after my shower. This was followed (religiously) for 2 months and now I genuinely look forward to it daily.
My process
3 sets: Set 1 & 3 are the same, set 2 is different. All breathing through the nose.
Set 1:
IN as hard as you can, OUT as hard as you can. Keep it short
Do this 10 times,
And on the last one breath OUT fully and hold as long as you can.
I can normally hold 20-35 seconds on the OUT breath.
This is 1 rep
Do 5 reps.
Set 2:
Breath IN as slowly and as long as you can.
At the top, hold your breath as long as you can.
Then breath out fully, until you have nothing left. 3 second hold
That is 1 rep.
Do 5 reps. No break between these reps.
Pro tip: Sometimes as the top the breath I squeeze all my muscles so it feels like all the blood goes to your head. then relax.
Apps / Material to Support
I didn’t try them all but I did try the below apps. I cancelled my subscription before the end of the trial and just stuck with my own routine and read up on some others.
