[styrmis]

I'm just finishing Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor and I have enjoyed it immensely.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890486-breath

I have previously taken courses in the Wim Hof Method and marvelled at the dramatic increase in energy that it gave me, not to mention an increased ability to be warm when I want to be and to tolerate the cold, something which being a relatively stationary software developer has negatively affected over the years.

This book touches on Wim Hof but covers the approaches and results of many other practitioners as well as traditional methods, blending together science writing and reporting of results with engaging storytelling, making it a fun, light and quick read.

As someone who likes to experiment with this kind of thing I went ahead and tried things like lightly taping my mouth shut while sleeping and was amazed to feel the difference when I didn't do it. Meanwhile I've experimented with only breathing through my nose when exercising (including exhaling) and have observed that my heart rate has stayed lower and my thinking clearer when under pressure in a jiu-jitsu class.

In the same week that I started reading the book I had a grading, and the instructors repeated again and again the reminder to breathe in through the nose, advice echoed in the book. To them it is common sense that if you start panting (breathing hard in and out using your mouth) that you won't be able to perform well in that kind of high-pressure scenario.

If you are looking for a light read over the holidays and are interested in health/wellness then I can thoroughly recommend this book.

[rramadass]

Maybe i need to give it another go but I couldn't finish this book; found it tiresome due to all the "personal anecdotes/narratives" forming the backdrop for the book. It could also be that i am somewhat well-read on this subject due to my interest in traditional Yoga/Pranayama/Martial Arts and hence felt underwhelmed. What i had hoped to find in the book was a catalog of techniques (based on tradition or modern) from "Western Scientific Research" showing actual measurable results in terms of Human physiological parameters. But whatever was mentioned was never clearly explained with actionable steps. However the webpage for the book's bibliography is a treasure trove of pointers to papers and reading for further research.

Since you are also interested in the same subjects as me, do you have any other specific suggestions for what i am looking for?

[styrmis]

Ah, I can completely see why you would find it frustrating—I enjoyed the anecdotes and it made for very light holiday reading, but then it was indeed light on detail.

If you go to the end of the book, just before the Notes section there is a short chapter which lays out the basics of most of the breathing techniques. I've found that to be enough to experiment a little and while brief it's enough as a starting point.

Sadly I don't have any recommendations for breathing techniques outside of those espoused by Wim Hof, which are based in part on Tummo.

Given that this book (Breath) has been published and the recent increase in popularity the topic is seeing I am hopeful that we will see some follow-on works (if they don't exist already) that will break these techniques down in more detail. As it stands it feels necessary to piece together elements from different books to get a more complete picture regarding how these techniques work and what is possible. I would certainly be interested to see a collation of results seen in athletes.