Tools
Breath pacing
The circle grows on the inhale and shrinks on the exhale. Breathe through the nose, with the sound at the back of the throat, and let the count set the length.
Which pattern
Start with Even — five in, five out. That is six breaths a minute, the rate where heart-rate variability peaks and where most of the calm in the studies comes from. Stay with it until it is easy. The long exhale is for a short or anxious breath: lengthening the out-breath is the quickest way to slow the whole cycle down.
The holds are kumbhaka, and they are learned from a teacher, not a screen. Keep them short, never strain, and drop them the day the breath after the hold is ragged. The classical 1 · 4 · 2 is here so the proportion can be seen; it is not a starting place.
Read more
- Six breaths a minute
Why this rate, and what it does to the heart.
- Recaka, pūraka, kumbhaka
The three parts of the breath, and the order to learn them in.
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