The other day I meditation-breathed myself into a migraine... and then I repeated the practice, and the migraine went away. The body and the mind, connected by breathing — my god are those powerful things.
So imagine my surprise, then, when the NYT gave me this today. Not just the algos spying on me but this long-read was actually published a few days ago. Plus, I had just picked up James Nestor's Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art again. (Read it last year — or the year before, fuck knows... I'm old, losing track — and loved it, but was tempted to read it again yesterday afternoon.)
Stories about breath and breathwork, Pranayama — the fourth limb of the eight-limb ashtanga yoga, where asana is the one most people in the West know of/think of for yoga — is an accessible yet astonishingly supernatural one.
Apparently, the Kansas City Chiefs think so too.
Inhale. Exhale. If anyone had stumbled into the room at that moment, it might have looked a little odd — a little new-age or crunchy, a little woo woo, a group of NFL defensive backs breathing slowly in the darkness. But the intention, Merritt said, was for his players to recognize the value of consciously controlling their breath
If you just let your body do its thing, said Bryan Cook — who plays... fuck, something? for the Chiefs — "You'll find yourself in a place of peace and calmness."
...he's part of a cohort of athletes who have found performance benefits in the simple act of breathing."
Some of the methods mentioned in the piece (for instance box breathing) are staples in the yoga lore and something I teach now and again (#902043).
"Who is this hippie telling me I need to go walk on the grass barefoot or breathe with him?"
Yeah, bro... @benwehrman and @Paulinthejungle would be proud.
The article goes on to quote at length Logan Webb, whoever the fuck that is, who has also used deep breathwork to further his athleticism:
Next up: science. Everything is either bullshit or unsupported, says Nicholas Tiller of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, exceeeeept deep breathing
When you breathe slowly and deeply, your lungs fill up with oxygen. The process stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs from the large intestine to the brain. The stimulation sends a message to the brain that your “fight or flight” response is not needed. It also increases parasympathetic drive — a mode commonly known as “rest and digest.”
A great read, with plenty of valuable breathwork-related stuff in there. Peace out, friends
So: I could have shoved this one in ~BooksAndArticles or @StackerSports, but I'm a @realBitcoinDog dude (and the other Yoga Journeys are in ~HealthAndFitness so wth!) so here we are. Soz @siggy47.
Anyway, non-paywalled here: https://archive.md/K6wjd