Best Way To Breathe When Doing BEH Exercises

TRANSCRIPT FOR BEH PODCAST EPISODE 23

BEST WAY TO BREATHE WHEN DOING BEH EXERCISES

Dr. Miller: He was just saying that sometimes people talk about breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.  Some people say breathe in through the nose and out through the nose only.  Even yoga teachers differ. We tend to say in through the nose and out through the mouth in our instructions.  Could you just give usa brief 30 second talk about these different breathing techniques and which one you think would be best for our exercises.

Participant: Well sometimes which variant is used is based on where the meditation technique is coming from and what tradition.  Sometimes, the variant is connected to how that affects the energies of the body.  I would say that more often than not, the instruction that we’ve used is in through the nose and out through the mouth.  In traditional Buddhist practice there is a connection with that breathing and how it affects the channels in the body from that particular approach to medicine, which looks at the body as a system of channels and energy centers.  That that type of breathing connects with that. 

I guess I don’t know of a better way to breathe than another.  They are just different approaches that come from different traditions.  I think of someone saying where you’re getting information that one is better than the other, has not been my sense, and that’s just been from practicing meditation for many years and studying with a lot of different approaches in teachers.  For myself, I’ve found that in through the nose and out through the mouth, there’s a way where that just regulates something in my energy that can help calm me down pretty easily.  And I would imagine that there’s research and data on that, but I apologize that I don’t have an exact answer of why that would be that way.

Dr. Miller: That’s good and I think we’re going to stick with in through the nose and out through the mouth.  I know there are some specialized meditation techniques which come from different traditions, but the important thing is to breathe.