By Leslii Stevens ERYT500, YACEP, Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher, Ayurveda Practitioner
Breathing. Something we do 25,000 times a day without even thinking. But after reading James Nestor’s book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, you’ll realize just how badly you’ve been doing it, and that’s not an exaggeration. This book, quite literally, changed my life, my yoga practice, my teaching, and even my relationships. It’s not just a game-changer; it’s a life changer. And if you’re taking one of my programs, Trauma-Informed Yoga, YogaKick, Yoga Teacher Training, you better believe this book is required reading. Trust me, your diaphragm will thank you later.
Why Breath Matters More Than You Think
Let’s get one thing straight: breathing is not just “inhale, exhale, repeat.” Oh no, my friends, it’s a sophisticated, deeply transformative art that we’ve collectively forgotten. James Nestor dives deep into the science, history, and spirituality of breath, uncovering the fact that how we breathe directly impacts our health, energy, longevity, and even our sanity.
Take this gem from the book:
“No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're
not breathing properly.”
It’s like being handed the keys to a Lamborghini and realizing you’ve been driving in reverse your whole life.
The Forgotten Wisdom of Breath
For centuries, ancient practices like yoga and Ayurveda have championed breath as the cornerstone of health and vitality. Pranayama, the yogic art of breath control, is essentially an ancient user’s manual for your lungs. Ayurveda, meanwhile, aligns specific breathing techniques with the doshas (your unique mind-body type), balancing your system on a profound level.
In my classes, I geek out about the vagus nerve (our body’s chill-out button), and guess what? Proper breathing is the secret handshake to activate it. By shifting from shallow chest breathing (hello, stress city!) to deep diaphragmatic breathing, you’re not just calming your nervous system, you’re taking out the trash (a.k.a. toxins), like I say when teaching about the lymphatic system.
The Science of Breath: Nestor’s Findings
Here’s where Nestor blows your mind (pun intended). He explores cutting-edge research on how the way we breathe can improve sleep, reduce anxiety, boost athletic performance, and even reshape our faces (seriously). One of the most powerful revelations? The magic of nasal breathing.
“The nose is for breathing. The mouth is for eating.”
This isn’t just a cute rhyme. Nasal breathing filters, humidifies, and pressurizes air, sending more oxygen into your system. In contrast, mouth breathing is like using a hairdryer to fill a water balloon, it’s inefficient and messy.
Nestor’s experiments, including taping his mouth shut at night (don’t laugh; it works), underscore how returning to natural, healthy breathing patterns can heal us on a fundamental level.
Techniques That Will Change Your Life
Ready to breathe like a boss? Here are a few transformative techniques I incorporate into my teaching:
1. Box Breathing (or 4x4 Breathing):
Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and hold for 4. Navy SEALs swear by it, and so do my yoga students who are learning to calm their overthinking brains.
Box, or square, breathing is a technique designed to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and enhance focus. It involves inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding for equal counts, creating a square-like pattern. Box breathing engages the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress.
2. Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana):
Balance your mind and body by breathing through one nostril at a time. Ayurvedic gold for reducing stress and increasing focus.
This technique balances the left and right hemispheres of the brain, fostering a sense of calm and concentration. Deliberately breathing in and out through alternate nostrils triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, producing a calming effect.
3. The Slow Breath (5.5 Breaths per Minute):
Inspired by Nestor’s work, this involves taking slow, deep breaths at about 5.5 seconds per inhale and exhale. It syncs your body with the ideal oxygen-carbon dioxide balance, turning you into a walking zen master.
4. The “HA” Breath:
A yoga-class favorite for letting go of tension. Inhale through the nose, and exhale audibly through the mouth with a dramatic “HA.” Perfect for drama queens like me (and probably you, too).
Breath in My Programs
Breathwork is the backbone of everything I teach, from restorative yoga to my lymph draining “Rejuvenate & Release” classes. If you’re in my YogaKick program, expect to huff and puff like a pro. Working with trauma survivors, I’ve seen firsthand how mastering breath can quiet PTSD symptoms and help people feel safe in their bodies again.
James Nestor has this way of weaving science with humor, which makes his book both enlightening and laugh-out-loud funny. I try to channel that energy into my teaching, using metaphors like “cleaning the hallways” to explain how breathing supports your lymphatic system or joking about feeling like the Tin Man when mobility is low.
