How To Breathe Light For Mental Clarity - Buteyko Breathing

This guided breathing exercise is designed to enhance mental clarity & boost your cognitive function. You will learn how you can improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to your brain by breathing about 10% less air than you would normally do. We will cover the science of how it works, and then I’ll guide you through the breathing exercise, so you can experience this for yourself.

Transcript

Welcome to this guided breathing exercise specifically designed to enhance mental clarity and boost your cognitive function.

Here you're going to learn how you can improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to your brain by breathing about 10% less air than you would normally do.

We'll cover the science of how it works and then I'll guide you through the breathing exercise so that you can experience it for yourself.

So this breathing technique is based on the Botteko breathe light exercise,

Sometimes known as reduced breathing.

It was discovered in the 50s by Dr.

Constantine Botteko,

Although really this was a rediscovery of what the ancient yogis knew.

And that is that the secret to breathing is to learn to breathe less,

Not more.

So this is very different to many of the modern heavy breathing techniques.

And perhaps if you tried them,

You might notice that your mind feels less clear after doing them.

The ancient yogis train themselves to make their breathing very quiet,

Subtle and gentle,

Even going as far as reducing the amount of air that they were breathing so that they felt a mild shortage of air.

In return,

They achieved ultra sharp focus and next level mental clarity.

So how does this work?

Well,

We now know that this exercise improves oxygen delivery to the brain via something called the Bohr effect.

That's B-O-H-R.

But why would breathing less air improve oxygen delivery to the brain?

Surely it would have the opposite effect,

Right?

Well,

Let me convince you otherwise.

Firstly,

It's important to know that most of the oxygen that we inhale,

We breathe back out again.

We use less than 20% of the oxygen that we inhale and the rest of it we breathe back out.

For most people,

If you measure your blood oxygen levels using a pulse oximeter or using your smart devices,

You'll see that it's typically between 95 and 99%.

So basically we have plenty of oxygen in our blood.

We don't need to breathe anymore.

The trick is how can we get more of that oxygen into our cells,

Our tissues and into our brain?

Well,

It turns out that by breathing slightly less air,

We still take in all of the oxygen that we need,

But we also help the carbon dioxide that is naturally produced by the body to gently build up in our bloodstream.

And because of the Bohr effect,

This increased CO2 in the blood,

These increased levels of carbon dioxide,

Facilitate the release of more oxygen to the cells in the body and the brain.

And with increased oxygen delivery comes the enhanced cognitive function and mental clarity that we're looking for.

Okay then,

So let me guide you through this breathing exercise now so that you can experience it for yourself.

For maximum benefit,

Try to stay with me for the whole exercise if you can.

This breathing exercise is suitable for most people,

But if you're pregnant or if you have a serious health condition,

Then check with your doctor first.

So then when you're ready,

Coming into a comfortable upright posture,

Either sitting or standing,

You can have your eyes open or closed,

Whichever feels more comfortable for you.

And closing your mouth for the duration of the exercise,

Just breathing through your nose,

Letting your tongue rest in the roof of your mouth and bringing a gentle smile to your lips.

And when you're ready,

I'd like you to start to bring your awareness to the flow of air just inside the nostrils,

Just inside the tip of the nose.

Slowly tuning into the slightly cooler air as it flows in on the in-breath,

And the slightly warmer air as it flows back out of the nose on the out-breath.

And so at this stage,

There's no need to control your breathing and no need to take any big breaths or anything like that.

Just let your body breathe naturally and just tuning in to how that feels,

Physical sensations just inside the tip of your nose.

Letting your breathing be soft,

Quiet and relaxed.

If you can't feel the flow of air in the tip of your nose,

Then don't worry.

What you can do is bring the top of your index finger to rest just underneath the nose and tune into the gentle flow of warm air on the top of your finger on the out-breath.

And this will give you feedback on your breathing.

So the nose is the most sensitive place in the body to track the flow of air.

And just by focusing our attention here,

We'll automatically begin to start to breathe less air,

To breathe more efficiently.

Now for some people already,

You might start to feel a mild shortage of air.

And that's a good sign.

That's what we're looking for to improve oxygen delivery.

But don't worry if you don't feel that yet.

What we can do is we can begin to soften our breathing even further by relaxing various muscles in the body.

So let's do that now.

Bringing awareness to the lower half of the face and keeping the mouth closed,

Just allowing all of the muscles around the mouth and the jaw to begin to soften and relax.

Letting the muscles in the sides of the neck begin to lengthen and open up.

Just letting that happen in its own time.

No need to force it.

We just request the body to relax and it will start to happen in its own time.

So that all of the muscles in the neck begin to soften and relax.

Allowing your shoulders to drop down away from the ears.

So that all the muscles in the shoulders are just slowly beginning to soften and relax.

Allowing your belly to relax.

In Botaco breathing we have a saying,

Belly soft like jelly.

Then in your buttocks and pelvic floor begin to soften and release.

Allowing the muscles in your upper legs to let go and to soften.

So we're just allowing the whole of the body to begin to soften and relax.

And as the body relaxes,

So too does the breath.

Perhaps noticing how your breathing becomes a little bit softer,

A little slower.

It really is surprising how little air you actually need to breathe.

Now if you still don't have any air hunger,

The next step is to begin to soften and slow your breathing a little bit more.

So if you imagine there was a feather underneath your nose and you begin to soften your breathing so that it's so soft,

So subtle that the feather is hardly moving.

So that you're breathing about 10% less air than you would normally do.

So that you start to feel a noticeable but comfortable lack of air.

But you like to take a bigger breath,

But you don't.

Don't let the air hunger get too strong,

You want to be able to stay calm and relaxed in the body.

If it feels like too much,

Then just easing off.

Or you can even just let go of the breath for a few seconds,

Pause the recording,

Come back in 20 seconds.

And then coming back to the gentle,

Quiet flow of air at the tip of your nose.

Gently softening and slowing the breath so that you feel a comfortable level of air hunger.

We'll just go for 30 seconds more.

Listening to your body for feedback.

If your body feels tense or stressed,

If you suddenly go cold,

Then the air hunger is too strong.

On the other hand,

If you notice a build-up of saliva in the mouth,

Or you start to feel warmer,

Or you start to notice more mental clarity,

Then these are positive signs that you're doing the exercise correctly.

Okay,

So letting go of the breath now,

Releasing the breath.

Opening your eyes,

And just having a bit of a stretch.

Perhaps gently looking around the room,

Just reconnecting with your surroundings.

And noticing your state of mind.

Do you feel any more clarity or focus?

Perhaps the mind has slowed down a little?

Some people notice that even their vision becomes clearer.

And if this happens for you,

Then perhaps coming back to this exercise the next time you need some clarity for work or study.

But don't worry if it didn't work for you.

It's quite subtle practice,

And it can take a few attempts to get the hang of it.

But it really is worth it once you can find the right level of air hunger for you.

Now please do let me know how you get on,

Let me know if you have any questions.

But for now,

Thank you so much for breathing with me today.

And I wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Reviews

Succinct and clear. 🙏🏻

Excellent I feel so relaxed!

Thank you for that clear explanation. I wonder how important it is to have an upright position. For me with long covid (and POTS), staying in an upright position is more stressfull on my body. I can do the exercise in shavasana or with 'legs up the wall'. Is that oké too?

Great guidance. I will use this to help me focus on lighter breath. Thank you

I found this to be a really good Buteyko Breathing recording. The pace was really helpful. The last 30 seconds was a bit hard but not too hard. I will definitely do this again. When I opened my eyes at the end I felt a smile 😃 naturally and effortlessly “happen”. Thank you.

Thank you so much for the extraordinary breathing technique 🦋🦋🦋I’m feeling like a soft sweet ice cream 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️ Namaste

That was so simple yet amazing. I was sitting outside and when I opened my eyes the details of nature around me were in unusually sharp focus.

Really interested in this type of breathing as it seems to have helped me recover from long covid. Thank you!