Earlier this year, I was introduced to breathwork and immediately wanted to add the wellness practice into my routine. But aside from attending a few classes here and there and following along with a few guided sessions on different meditation apps and podcasts, I wasn’t really sure where to start. Enter Nike Well Collective Yoga Trainer Zoe Klein.
I signed up for four sessions with Zoe over a month to learn about different styles and modalities of breathwork and see if I could turn my occasional practice into an everyday habit.
On average, creating a habit can take up to 66 days. However, it can vary widely depending on the behaviour, the person, and the circumstances. Now, 66 days felt like a lot to begin with, so I opted for 30 to get the ball rolling — and to see if I could actually stick to it. I drew my inspiration from Zoe, who regularly posts her 30-day challenges on Instagram. She writes the numbers one to 30 on a Post-it note and crosses them off as she goes.
So, as we started our sessions, I promised myself that I would practice some form of breathwork every day for 30 days to see if I could make it a regular practice. Here’s how it went.
30 days of breathwork
Week one:
When I started, I knew little about breathwork besides the basics. So, I started the first few days with some simple, coherent breathing I had learnt from Zoe. “Coherence breathing is a very simple practice in which we reduce the breaths per minute to about five,” explains Zoe. The count is in for 5.5 and out for 5.5, and you go at this pace to help slow the autonomic nervous system via the vagus nerve.
“Five minutes, three times per day is a wonderful recipe,” says Zoe. Some teachers instruct you to bring to mind feelings of gratitude, appreciation, and care to amplify positive affect in the body.
I typically did it first thing in the morning as a way to practice gratitude or around that 3pm slump when I got super tired while working from home.
Coherent breathing: five in, five out.
- Take five deep, heavy breaths (nose or mouth).
- Inhale and hold your breath for five seconds.
- Exhale and hold your breath for as long as possible. Let your breath neutralise.
- Repeat this a couple of times.
If I ever missed a day session while on my 30-day kick, I would do a little breathwork before I went to sleep that night. I really fell in love with breathwork right before bed. I found it easiest to do a guided session before bed via the Nike Training App so that it didn’t matter if I fell asleep in the middle of it (which happened a lot), it didn’t matter. It just stopped playing when it ended. Plus, the app is free. I did the 11-minute ‘Breathwork for Sleep’ with Stuart Sandeman.
Week two:
As week two rolled around, I’d had two coaching sessions with Zoe, so I was learning more about breathwork and trying some new practices. We discussed the Buteyko Method, a breathwork practice that focuses on nasal breathing instead of through your mouth.
“Breathing Light’ or ‘soft breathing’ helps to normalise breathing biochemistry,” explains Zoe. The method aims to reduce the volume of air that you are taking in by breathing soft enough that the hairs in your nostrils barely move as you breathe. “The goal is to find a slight feeling of air hunger (which signifies that Co2 has accumulated in the blood) and to tolerate this feeling for a few minutes at a time. Over time, this increases our tolerance to CO2, which has a host of positive effects on the body. It also promotes mental calmness and overall relaxation,” says Zoe.
The method was developed in 1952 by Ukrainian Dr Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, and was designed to improve functional breathing patterns, health and wellbeing by altering how you breathe. According to the Buteyko Clinic, “By practising breathing exercises from the Buteyko Method, you can experience more open airways and improved blood circulation in a matter of minutes. This alone demonstrates the relationship between your everyday breathing and state of health.”
I started practising nasal breathwork for the next seven days. After doing nasal-focused breathwork, I became much more aware of my breathing throughout the day. Each time I became aware of my breath, I naturally chose to breathe through my nose. The only exception was when I would breathe regularly while exercising. So, I decided to ask Zoe about it.
What is nasal breathing?
To put it super simply, it’s using the nose as the sole breathing pathway (as opposed to using the mouth).
Why is nasal breathing good for you/your body?
According to Zoe, there are a few reasons why nasal breathing is good for you. It oxygenates the blood, organs and cells, as smaller passageways create 50 per cent more resistance when breathing than through the mouth. This “results in 10-20 per cent greater oxygen uptake in the blood,” says Zoe.
Plus, the tissues in the nose produce 100 times more nitric oxide than the mouth, which, as Zoe explains, “sterilises the breath, regulates inflammation and dilates the veins.”
“If a higher concentration of nitric oxide is formed in the nasal passages and taken up in the lower respiratory tract, it is assumed that nasal nitric oxide will improve respiratory function,” says Zoe.
It also filters warm air and takes in moisture, is less dehydrating and filters out unwanted germs. On top of that, Zoe says it improves HRV, which activates the diaphragm and Parasympathetic nervous system for a slower, steady heart rate, calming the body and mind.
While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with mouth breathing, we all do it, it can have certain impacts on your body. “Exhaling out the mouth causes heat loss and water (42 per cent more), causing inflammation, stuffiness and dehydration,” explains Zoe.
When you breathe out more than necessary through the mouth, you can also increase the likelihood of hyperventilation (over-breathing), which can trigger the nervous system.
Can you do nasal breathing while exercising?
After noticing a lot of folks in the wellness industry turning to mount taping while they exercise, I became curious. Can you do nasal breathing while exercising? What would that feel like? According to Zoe, yes, and it’s actually good for you. “Learning how to nose breathe while exercising is a great way to build tolerance to CO2. It will also increase oxygen uptake, which may increase your endurance over time.”
Once I figured out that nasal breathing while exercising was safe, I began slowly trying it on my runs. I noticed it was hard not to fall into the natural habit of mouth breathing. It took me a few runs before I could consistently keep it at just nasal breathing, and I’d have to slow my pace (and heart rate) down to accommodate for the change while I got used to it.
Pilates also relies heavily on both nasal and mouth breathing. The way I was trained (I’m a clinical Pilates instructor), you use a specific breath count to help you through each exercise. So, I’d adapted what I already knew of traditional breathing and began swapping it for nasal breathing.
I found that while nasal breathing felt harder during both running and Pilates, I felt so much better afterwards.
Week three:
By week three, I was doing a mix of different breathwork styles, depending on my day. Some mornings, I head out onto our back deck and do a little conscious breathwork practice. On busier days, I’d find myself practising nasal breathing while exercising — on runs, walks and during Pilates. And if I’d made it to bedtime without doing anything, I’d do a guided breathwork exercise while I was in bed with my boyfriend. We both really enjoyed this practice, so some days, I found myself doubling up.
Week four:
When I reached week four, I was curious about mouth-taping. Zoe and I had briefly discussed it after seeing some mutual friends in the wellness industry choosing to do it in the current wave of marathons around Australia. Of course, it was like my Instagram had been listening because I started to get served mouth-taping brands. I stumbled across the Sydney-based brand Respire ($82 for 90 strips).
The local brand offers sleep strips, which are adhesive strips that gently tape the mouth shut while you sleep to allow for nasal breathing. And nose strips that adhere to the outside of the nose that you pop on at night to help widen the nasal passages so you can breathe up to 30 per cent more air. How good?!
Before I started, I asked Zoe if it was safe enough to start dabbling in, and the answer was a resounding yes.
“Taping the mouth closed, particularly whilst sleeping, is low-hanging fruit,” says Zoe. That potentially gives you eight hours of a 24-hour day with guaranteed nose breathing.
“This will impact your sleep quality for the better, meaning that you will wake up less in the night and often sink into deeper states of rest. Nasal strips are a good way of opening up the nose to make nose breathing more accessible,” says Zoe.
She recommends pairing mouth taping with Stuart Sandeman’s “breathwork for sleep” on the Nike Training Club app, and you will set yourself up for the best sleep of your life.
A word of advice from Zoe, though: “If you suffer from severe anxiety or claustrophobia, you could practice for a few minutes during your waking hours, like watching TV, and slowly build up.” Those with severe respiratory conditions should always consult a specific practitioner first.
So, I decided to try both. I’ve been using both mouth and nasal tape over the last two weeks, and fuck it feels good. I can breathe so much better through my nose; I’ve noticed such a big difference. My Garmin has also been reporting that I’ve been getting deeper, better-quality sleep, and I feel much fresher when I wake up.
At this stage, I had successfully completed 30 days of exploring different styles of breathwork. Truthfully, this whole experience has made me much more conscious of my breathing patterns and bad habits and how they can affect both my internal and external state.
After all, “The breath will always mirror the patterns of the nervous system,” according to Zoe. As someone who struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, I’ve noticed how much of a role my breathing plays in those moments and how it can be used as an effective tool to help regulate my body.
So, am I going to continue practising breathwork?
The short answer is yes! I’ve noticed such a big difference in just 30 days that it excites me to imagine where I’ll be with my practice if I keep going and make it a daily habit.
If you’d like to start practising breathwork or learn more about it, I suggest downloading the Nike Training Club App or listening to Zoe’s podcast, Rushing Slowly.
As with all new health and wellbeing practises, always consult your doctor before you start.
Image Credit: Bree Grant
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