How to Breathe

We take 20,000 breaths per day. Let’s make sure we’re doing it well!

Find a comfortable position with a neutral spine, place your hands on your lower ribs, and inhale deeply to expand your torso out 360 degrees and then relax to exhale.

The primary breathing muscles are the diaphragm at the bottom of your lungs and the intercostal muscles between your ribs. Visualize and feel your diaphragm pressing down into your abdomen and your ribs expanding out on each breath.

Focus on expanding your breath into your sides and your back, instead of into your stomach. Avoid letting your shoulders rise up as this breathing pattern is shallow and can lead to chronic pain.

To train your breathing muscles, the o2 trainer by Bas Rutten is a tool that can help. Inhale with force as deeply as you can and then relax to exhale. Practice taking 30 deep breaths 1 time per day to connect with your breathing muscles.

We’re meant to breathe through the nose most of the time as this promotes deeper breathing and better facial structure. Habitual mouth breathing is associated with higher levels of stress, poor facial development, and disrupted sleep from snoring.

Unfortunately, if you’re like me, you struggle to breathe through your nose. If your nose is clogged, unclog it by closing your nostrils with your fingers and holding your breath for 5-10 seconds, then breathe deeply. Repeat this process until your nose clears. Nasal strips that open the nasal passage can also help.

Processed foods have removed the need for chewing, which has led to an epidemic of underdeveloped facial structures, which cause impaired breathing and crooked teeth (learn more with this seminal nutrition book and this more modern book).

To correct for underdeveloped faces, we must expand our palates - literally grow our faces - by improving tongue posture and by chewing more often. Improve tongue posture by pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth, as if you were making the "ng" sound. The practice is called mewing and it improves facial structure (Learn about Orthotropics from Dr. Mike Mew).

Choose whole foods that require chewing and consider chewing mastic gum to further develop your facial structure. To support nasal breathing and overcome snoring when sleeping, you can also place a small piece of surgical tape over your mouth to promote a closed mouth.

I was a mouth breather for the majority of my childhood because I didn’t know any better! It’s now been close to 5 years since I’ve begun making an effort to nasal breathe, and while it has not been easy, my quality of life is much better now.

Learning how to breathe has improved my ability to overcome simple ailments like stomach aches and headaches, and it’s improved my cardio and recovery abilities. Learn how to breathe and put in the effort and I guarantee you your life will improve.

Hope this helps! - Tom