The book “Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor (published in 2020) is a description of both a personal healing journey for the author, who suffered from respiratory problems for many years, and a comprehensive global exploration of the vital, and in his opinion – less researched – function of breathing. At the end of the book, there are numerous references to groundbreaking research that the book presents.

After reading this summary (or, better still, the book itself), and understanding the need to breathe slowly, you may want to use an online tool that helps to establish slow and balanced breathing. I used it and can recommend it. It’s here: https://www.alveoslabs.com/breathe

I also strongly recommend establishing a regular practice of Pranayama, which is essentially slow, deep breathing done with awareness. This online course can help you embrace this practice.

The central claim of the author is that people nowadays do not breathe correctly, and this adversely affects their health. According to the author, breathing is a central and vital component of our health and well-being, and it is not a passive, automatic action but something that needs to be done correctly. On average, we take 670 million breaths over our lifetime. With each breath, we inhale 25 sextillion (25 with 20 zeros after it) molecules, and we do this 25,000 times a day. It is worthwhile to know how to use these breaths optimally.

Due to the importance of the subject and its relevance to yoga, I have decided to provide you with a summary of the book.

Part One: The Experiment

The book begins with a description of an experiment conducted by the author and another person named Olson, in which they compared breathing through the nose with breathing through the mouth. For 10 days, the participants exclusively breathed through the mouth (with blocked nostrils). During this period, a researcher named Naik from Stanford measured various physiological parameters, such as gas tests, inflammation markers, hormone levels, smell, and lung function. The same protocol was applied for the next ten days, during which the subjects breathed exclusively through the nose.

The book describes numerous negative effects of mouth breathing, both subjective (feeling bad) and objective. For example, during mouth breathing, the author’s snoring volume increased by 4,820%, and he experienced an average of 25 episodes of obstructive sleep apnea. He also woke up more frequently during the night to urinate. Fragmented sleep leads to kidneys producing more fluid, creating a sense of thirst, and an increased need to urinate.

Snoring and sleep apnea can lead to attention disorders, concentration problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and more, according to the author. In his view, any degree of snoring is not normal.

The description of the experiment is revisited throughout the book and accompanies it; the author describes how nasal breathing improves all the tested parameters, heart-lung functions, and overall well-being. During the ten days of nose breathing, his systolic blood pressure dropped from 142 to 124, and heart rate variability increased by over 150%, while levels of carbon dioxide rose by about 30%.

Furthermore, as revealed in an experiment on Rhesus monkeys, after six months of mouth breathing, the monkeys developed a downward growth pattern, narrowing of the dental arch, and a gaping mouth. Another study found that rats forced to breathe through the mouth developed slightly fewer brain cells and took twice as long as the control group to navigate a maze.

Part Two: THE LOST ART AND SCIENCE OF BREATHING

The second part of the book progresses through chapters titled “Nose,” “Exhale,” “Slow,” “Less,” and “Chew.” The third part, called Breath+, describes special techniques of hyper-normal breathing.

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3. Nose

In the chapter “Nose”, the benefits of breathing through the nose are described. The nose is crucial as it cleans the air, warms it, and moistens it for easier absorption. While many are aware of this, most people are not conscious of the nose’s role in issues such as posture disorders and how it serves as a trigger for hormones and various chemicals that reduce blood pressure and aid digestion. Nose breathing responds to the cycles of the autonomic nervous system, influences heart rate, opens blood vessels, and stores memories.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

The Shiva Swarodaya, a Tantric text from over 1300 years ago, describes how one nostril opens while the other closes throughout the day. Modern research found that the right and left nostrils function as a kind of thermostat, regulating temperature and blood pressure, and influencing the brain’s supply of chemicals that affect mood, emotions, and sleep patterns.

The right nostril acts as a gas pedal, accelerating circulation, warming the body, increasing cortisol levels, raising blood glucose levels, and more. This occurs because breathing through the right nostril stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.

In contrast, inhalation through the left nostril has the opposite effect, acting as a brake. The left nostril is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system. Breathing through the left nostril diverts blood flow to the opposite side of the frontal lobe, influencing creative thinking and contributing to the formation of mental images and negative emotions. A study on a schizophrenic woman found that significant dominance of the left nostril led to excessive stimulation of the “creative” part on the right side of the brain, potentially contributing to vivid imagination.

The body functions most efficiently when both systems are in balance, transitioning smoothly between action and rest, between daytime vigilance and nighttime rational thinking. The book mentions the purification practice of Nadi Shodhana, involving alternate nostril breathing.

Conchae, Pituitary, and Turbinate Sinuses

The turbinates are six maze-like bones (three on each side) that begin at the opening of your nostrils and end just below your eyes. Rich in blood vessels of varying sizes, lymph nodes, and secretion glands, they play a significant role in warming, humidifying, sensing, filtering, and nourishing the unique tissue of the nasal passages. By regulating the airflow through narrow passages, the conchae ensure that inhaled air comes into maximum contact with this unique tissue.

The nasal turbinates are in constant motion, advancing more than five millimeters per minute, collecting debris inhaled through the nose, and transporting it to the back of the throat for disposal by the pharyngeal muscles. This process is facilitated by microscopic cilia or hair-like structures. The microscopic cilia move at a rate of 16 beats per second, creating a wave that propels the mucus away and contributes to the movement of the turbinates.

The pituitary sinus releases bursts of nitric oxide (a vasodilator) that have a vital role in increasing blood circulation and delivering oxygen to cells. Nitric oxide affects immune function, weight regulation, blood circulation, mood, and sexual function, with nose breathing can enhance the supply of this gas sixfold, potentially allowing the body to absorb 18% more oxygen compared to mouth breathing. Breathing through the nose regulates the nitric oxide levels in the body, and therefore, significantly influences the immune system, weight, blood circulation, mood, and sexual function.

George Catlin, an adventurer, artist, and writer, conducted, in the early 19th century, exploratory journeys in the American West and documented the lives of Native American children. He was impressed by their robust health, perfect teeth, and forward facial structure, which he attributed to the habit of nose breathing acquired from infancy. Catlin describes how mothers would carefully close the baby’s lips after each feeding, explaining that mouth breathing weakens the body, distorts the face, and creates tension and diseases, while nose breathing maintains body strength, preserves facial beauty, and prevents diseases.

4. Exhale

The chapter on the nose added information to me and reinforced my knowledge, and my intuitive feeling of the importance of breathing through the nose. However, the following chapters bring messages that can be surprising, though upon reflection, align nicely with the practice of Pranayama. These chapters describe in order the importance of exhalation, slow (gentle) breathing, and even less breathing.

The chapter “Exhale” begins with a description of the importance of lung capacity: A study that collected data from 5200 subjects over 20 years found that the strongest indicator of lifespan is not genetics, diet, or daily activity level, but lung capacity. Our ability to take full breaths is “literally a measure of living capacity.”

Naturally, lung capacity decreases with age. Between the ages of 30 and 50, lungs lose 12% of their capacity, and by the age of 80, 30% is lost. However, lung capacity can be preserved and even increased through stretches and breathing exercises. Free divers notably increase lung capacity significantly.

The connection between breathing and posture is described, and the story of a woman named Katharina Schroth, a teenager who lived in Dresden, Germany, in the early 1900s. Schroth had been diagnosed with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. Katharina cured herself through breath exercises and went on to heal hundreds of women suffering from scoliosis using breath only.

“What the bodily form depends on is breath (chi) and what breath relies upon is form,” states a Chinese adage from 700 AD. “When the breath is perfect, the form is perfect (too).”

Under normal circumstances, our bodies complete a full circulation of blood every minute, or 7500 liters of blood on average per day. This is necessary to supply oxygenated blood to cells and remove waste from them. Circulation speed and strength are influenced by chest pressure. The chest is a pump that circulates blood, driven by the diaphragm contracting about 50,000 times a day.

A healer named Carl Stough worked with asthmatics and athletes, emphasized the importance of breath, and successfully improved their performance.

5. Slow

The claim in this chapter is that the amount of carbon dioxide in our body is important and is usually too low. Olson (a partner in nose vs. mouth breathing research) makes a seemingly absurd claim: “Inhaling smaller amounts of air and containing larger amounts of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream can increase the level of oxygen in body tissues.”

He states that “regardless of the breathing rate, the body will always have enough oxygen; what the body needs to function properly is not faster or deeper breaths, but carbon dioxide.”

Henderson, a researcher at Yale in the 1930s and 1940s, found in experiments that for a healthy body, there is no benefit to excessive or pure oxygen breathing; it may even lead to oxygen deficiency. He concluded that “carbon dioxide is the main hormone in the entire body; it is the only one produced in every tissue in the body and is likely to act on every organ. In fact, carbon dioxide is a more fundamental component of living matter than oxygen.”

When we breathe at a normal rate, our lungs only absorb a quarter of the available oxygen in the air. The majority is exhaled back. When we take longer breaths, we allow the lungs to supply more oxygen in fewer breaths.

Prayers and mantras from different cultures last for 5-6 seconds. For example, the Buddhist mantra “Om mani padme hum.”

In a 2001 study on subjects practicing mantra and Christian prayer cycles, it was found that the average number of breaths in each cycle was “almost exactly” the same, 5.5 breaths per minute. Anytime the subjects breathed in this slow pattern, blood flow to the brain increased, and the body systems entered a state of coherence, where the functions of the heart, blood circulation, and the nervous system were synchronized for maximum efficiency. When the subjects returned to spontaneous breathing or speech, this integration gradually dissipated.

Ten years later, two professors and doctors from New York concluded that “the most efficient breathing rate was… inhales with a duration of 5.5 seconds followed by exhales of the same length, totaling almost 5.5 breaths per minute. In the book published in 2012, they describe the amazing results of this practice: “Even if one practices such breathing for only five or ten minutes a day, far-reaching results are achieved.”

6. Less

This chapter continues to surprise and argues that most of us breathe too much. The remedy is to breathe less! Yogis train themselves to reduce the amount of air they consume at rest, not to increase it. Chinese physicians from two thousand years ago advised limiting breathing to 13,500 breaths per day, which is 9.5 breaths per minute.

The lungs of an adult can typically hold an average of 4 to 6 liters of air. Even if we breathe at a rate of 5.5 breaths per minute, we can still easily breathe twice the amount of air needed. The key to optimal breathing, and the associated health benefits, endurance, and longevity it brings, is to inhale and exhale a smaller number of times with a smaller volume of air. “Breathe, but breathe less”. (The perfect breath is to breathe 5.5 breaths per minute, totaling 5.5 liters of air.

The godfather of less-is-more was a pulmonaut born in 1923 on a farm outside Kyiv, in what is now Ukraine. His name was Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko. He found that patients suffering from asthma, high blood pressure, and other diseases consistently breathed too much.

In a 2014 study led by Dr. Elisha Morte, the respiratory functions of 120 asthma patients were measured. For four weeks, they maintained their levels of carbon dioxide in their bodies at a healthy rate of 5.5%. When the gas level dropped, they breathed less until it rose again. After a month, asthma symptoms disappeared or significantly decreased.

Researcher Packman explained that when we breathe too much, we expel more carbon dioxide, causing the blood pH level to rise to a more alkaline range. Breathing slower and holding more carbon dioxide internally lowers the pH level, making the blood more acidic. Almost all cell functions in the body occur at a pH level of 7.4, our optimal point between alkalinity and acidity. When we deviate from it, the body makes efforts to return to it. However, over time, these efforts to restore the pH value above may harm health.

“The yogi’s life is not measured in the number of his days but in the number of his breaths,” wrote B.K.S. Iyengar. I have read once that yogis say each person has a predetermined number of breaths to take in their lifetime, and as we breathe slower, life is extended.

7. Chewing

It turns out there is a connection between chewing, airways, breathing, and our health. A researcher named Price compared the dental health, airways, and overall health of populations worldwide. He examined communities of children who consumed traditional diets against those who switched to modern processed diets. He found that when the traditional diet of hunter-gatherers, including roots and game meat, was replaced by a processed modern diet, there was more than a tenfold increase in dental problems, crooked teeth, and obstructed airways among boys, leading to generally poor health.

Vitamin deficiency can explain tooth decay and weakened bones, but not the sudden occurrence of mouth choking and airway obstruction characteristic of modern societies.

What is lacking in our diet is the constant pressure generated by chewing. Our ancestors used to chew for hours a day, every day.

Various attempts exist to solve this problem and open the airways. Simple and immediate methods are presented, such as surgical nose procedures – which may cause severe problems, and various orthodontic devices for widening the mouth.

Devices for Opening Air Passages:

There is a device called CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) that delivers bursts of air through obstructed airways to the lungs. This device assists those suffering from moderate to severe sleep apnea, but many people find it challenging to use.

Dentists and orthodontists have developed orthodontic devices to widen the mouth and open the airways. Devices called “monoblocks” and “bublocks” are described.

A dentist named Belfor developed an expansion device called “Homeoblock,” resembling a palate that stimulates the chewing pressure. This device replaces 3-4 hours of daily chewing with bone and wood bark chewing, as our ancestors used to do.

There are stem cells that can turn into any cells according to the body’s needs. The more one chews, the more stem cells are released, capable of producing more bone for the jaw. Chewing, therefore, improves the bone density of the jaw.

The author used Belfor’s palate and added, within a year, 1658 cubic millimeters (volume of about 5 cents) of new bone in the jaw and the right eye socket. Additionally, 118 cubic millimeters of bone along the nose and 178 along the upper jaw were added.

In a footnote, it is mentioned that there is no obligation to use the Homeoblock, as one can simply chew on hard natural foods and gum for jaw improvement.

Part 3: Breathing+

In this section, breathing techniques requiring effort and training are described. These extreme techniques are not for regular breathing but rather hyper-normal breathing, which may cause discomfort. The author argues that when these techniques are practiced voluntarily, pushing the body consciously into extreme states for a limited time, they can improve health and enhance life.

The summary of this chapter will be shorter. The main theme is that:

Breathing is more than air intake and gas exchange; it influences almost every internal organ, signaling when to ignite and when to switch it off. It affects heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, mood states, perceptions, arousal, and nausea. Breathing is a switch that controls the autonomic nervous system.

As known, the autonomic nervous system is divided into the parasympathetic – “rest and digest” and sympathetic – fight, flight, or freeze. Many nerves related to the parasympathetic system are located in the lower parts of the lungs, which is why slow breaths are so relaxing. In contrast, many nerves of the sympathetic system spread in the upper part of the lungs. When breathing short and fast breaths, this system is activated, putting the body in emergency mode to deal with danger and threat.

8. More on Occasion

The techniques in this part are not of the slow and gentle type and are not suitable for everyone. Some of them deviate significantly from the pranayama type we practice in the Iyengar method, such as prolonged breath holds or very slow and deep breaths. However, when practiced voluntarily for a short time, these techniques can radically transform lives.

Some of these techniques involve rapid breathing over time to create a state of hyper-ventilation – the expectation of the body with oxygen. Others involve very slow breathing or breath-holding for several minutes.

The Tibetan breathing technique called Tummo (Inner Fire) was developed by a wandering monk to survive the freezing cold of the Himalayas. The adventurer Alexandra David-Neel, who traveled alone in India and Tibet in the early 20th century, learned and used this technique, and documented it in her book “My Journey to Lhasa.”

Porges, who studied the vagus nerve for years, found that slow breathing relaxes the parasympathetic system. Conversely, many rapid and intense breaths activate this system, putting the body into emergency mode to cope with danger and threat.

Researchers and anthropologists who traveled to the Himalayas reported monks wearing only one layer of clothing, warming themselves in freezing stone monasteries during the day, and immersing themselves in circles in the cold around their naked bodies at night. A researcher named Benson conducted a scientific study on this phenomenon and published the surprising results in the journal Nature.

In the 2000s, a Dutchman named Wim Hof used this technique to achieve amazing feats. He stayed in an ice-filled bath for almost two hours and broke 26 world records in a decade. In 2011, an experiment injected him with a toxin called endotoxin, which usually causes vomiting, headaches, fever, and more. Hof breathed several Tummo breaths and showed no signs of fever or nausea. His technique is outlined in the book, and there are also many instructions online.

Another breathing technique called Holotropic Breathing was developed by a Czech psychiatrist named Stanislav Grof. He successfully treated patients with anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and more.

These techniques are based on reducing the flow of oxygen to the brain. Generally, about 750 ml of blood flows through the brain per minute. A few minutes of excessive breathing may reduce brain flow by 40%. This is done by inhaling more carbon dioxide, causing the production of blood vessels. This sends stress signals throughout the body.

There is no complete explanation of why and how such breathing helps people overcome post-trauma and mental problems, and how it improves the health and immunity of healthy people. Still, the results speak for themselves.

9. Hold It

This chapter opens with a description of the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps make decisions, processes emotions, and also signals danger, initiating a fight or flight response. Experiments have shown that it is not the only mechanism of the fear response. High levels of carbon dioxide also induce anxiety.

As mentioned, the need to breathe is activated based on the level of CO2 through nerves called chemoreceptors. Chemoreceptors have flexibility, and it is possible to train to increase their range. This fact is used to treat anxiety disorders through inhalation of air containing relatively large amounts – up to 35% – of CO2.

Fears are not only a mental problem, but they also have a physical manifestation, and it may be possible to treat them by training chemoreceptors.

Pranayama with breath holding raises the levels of carbon dioxide, thus increasing the range of chemoreceptors. This is also advice from the great Master, B.K.S. Iyengar.

People suffering from anorexia, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders are characterized by consistently lower levels of carbon dioxide and a much greater fear of stopping their breathing. Slow breathing can raise the levels of carbon dioxide and thus prevent anxiety attacks.

10. Fast, Slow, and Not at All

Tibetan monks practice a gentle version of Tummo, breathing slowly and less, reducing metabolic activity by up to 64%. In this state, they can raise their body temperature and stay warm in temperatures below freezing.

Breathing is more than just ingesting oxygen, expelling carbon dioxide, and coaxing nervous systems. Our breath also contains another invisible energy, more powerful and affecting than any molecule known to Western science. The yogis call this energy – Prana.

Researcher Albert Saint-Georges attempted to provide a scientific explanation for Prana. He claimed that what distinguishes inanimate objects like rocks from birds, bees, and leaves is the level of energy, or the “excitability” of electrons within those atoms that make up the molecules in matter. The more easily and often electrons can be transferred between molecules, the more “desaturated” matter becomes, the more alive it is.

The more oxygen life can consume, the more electron excitability it gains, the more animated it becomes. When living matter is bristling and able to absorb and transfer electrons in a controlled way, it remains healthy. Therefore, to maintain the health of body tissues, one must saturate the body with oxygen. Breathing slowly, less, and through the nose balances the levels of respiratory gases in the body and sends the maximum amount of oxygen to the maximum amount of tissues so that our cells have the maximum amount of electron reactivity.

De-Rose, a yogi from Brazil, explored ancient pranayama techniques describing deep breathing, breath-holding, and Bandhas. It emphasizes the benefits of breathing “all the way in and all the way out”.

Epilogue

A summary of what we have learned about various breathing techniques, including regular breathing (nose, slow, less), and advanced breathing techniques (such as Tummo or Wim Hof’s method).

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