Remember the last time you felt so good and so free, when your breathing was so deep and satisfying like nothing else? Maybe that was after a hike on top of the mountain and you just stood there, wide-stance, shoulders back, satisfied and energized and you just breathed so deeply and proudly. Or maybe after you swam a good amount of time, or after the gym or after you did great work. ## The technique I've experienced the positive impact of deep breathing over and over again, whenever I've sat down and took time to do it. I was lucky to learn, from scratch, how to really deeply breathe as part of my teacher training[^1]. Once I learned the yogic way of deep breathing I realized I had done it wrong all my life! ### I had been doing it all wrong You know before I knew the right way, when someone told me to 'take a deep breath', the first thing I would do is to TAKE a breath. That meant I would INHALE rapidly and with a lot of intensity and a lot of muscles contracting. My chest would rise up and my shoulders too and my belly would tighten. I would look like a puffed up, rather uncomfortable balloon! I'm sure you know what I mean. In fact, let's try it right now: Take a deep breath the way you always do. If you're like me, you immediately jumped to an intense 'deep inhale' and got all tightened up with shoulders and chest up high and waist tight. And if you're like me, this wasn't so pleasant and did not feel like that deep, effortless inhale on top of the mountain. In reality, while this puffed up chest _looks_ like we got more air into our lungs faster this way, we really constrict the volume of our lungs. It turns out, we we've been living a lie of how do take deep breaths! And I'm glad I can show you the keys to actually do it right so that it works and feels fucking fantastic! ### How to effortlessly breathe deeply Here's the exact way I learned from my teachers how to quickly breathe deeply, regardless of where I am, what time of day it is, how much food I've eaten or how stressed I am. The following steps work reliably. However, since the technique is the exact opposite of what we've been taught, it will take some active 'rewiring' – aka practice – for you to really absorb it. Experimenting with the base technique over years, I've added some tips and tricks that make it even more satisfying. ### The cornerstones 1. **It's all about the EXHALE** – Sat Jivan Kaur[^1] taught me that the key to deep breathing is to focus on the EXHALE, deepening the exhale by making it 'mechanical'. What she meant was that, because of how the lungs work, I should use attention and the muscles of my torso (those that control my rib-cage and abdomen) to actively SQUEEZE out more air that I would normally. 2. **Slow down on the mechanical EXHALE** – This I only learned recently by experimentation. Basically this means that while I'm doing my 'mechanical' exhale, I take my time with the muscle-squeezes. I used to try to get out as much air as I could as quickly as I could and that led to small strains and made the overall experience less pleasant. Once I switched to a SLOWER mechanical exhale, the whole cycle becomes SMOOTHER. 3. **After a mechanical exhale, the INHALE happens effortless** – The surprising effect of this active EXHALE is that the inhale becomes effortless and easy and really deep very quickly. Based on how the lungs work, the only way to deeply INHALE is to relax all surrounding muscles. You can't force a deep inhale. (You _can_ force the exhale though as described above) ### The technique So, what does it look like/feel like to do this? 1. **Start with the EXHALE** – First, I wait for my next exhale. In my normal day, my breath is very shallow, so the exhale is brief, maybe a second or so. 2. **Actively SQUEEZE out more air** – When my exhale is at the "end" and I would usually inhale, I take a moment and instead of inhaling start engaging the muscles around my rib-cage to gently squeeze out a little bit of air. I do **two to three soft squeezes** here. Take some time here, do this slowly. No need to rush! 3. **Continue the squeeze** – Now, I'm finished squeezing the rib-cage and I use the muscles around my belly to squeeze out some more air. I pull my belly in and squeeze out some more air, usually about **two or three more squeezes**. Still: I now do this as slow as I can. The less I rush here, the better the inhale will be! 4. **Relax before the INHALE** – Now I have accumulated a lot of muscle tension that I want to release so that the lungs can fill themselves up effortlessly. And that's what I do, I **mentally let go of the activated muscles in my belly and my rib-cage**. 5. **Let the inhale happen** – As soon as I let go of the muscles I used during the squeezes, [[The 'magic' of how the lungs work]] will start to quickly expand and fill with air. This is an incredibly satisfying and liberating feeling. It's on one hand effortless (because I released all the muscles so there's no 'active' effort at that moment) and yet it feels like there is a force that opens and stretches the lungs, a force that pulls in all that air. ## Related > Children who learned techniques such as deep breathing and yoga slept longer and better, even though the curriculum didn’t instruct them in improving sleep, a Stanford study has found.[^2] ## Footnotes [^1]: http://kundaliniyogaeast.com/new-to-kye/about-kundalini-yoga-east/ [^2]: [[Mindfulness training helps kids sleep better, Stanford Medicine study finds]]