Today hosts Tiffany and Katja hone in on another topic related to pranayama: the science of breathing less. In this episode, we talk about the natural fear of retention of the breath and what we can do to combat this fear. We also connect the dots between concepts like intermittent hypoxic training, breathing less volume, and voluntary hypoventilation and talk about how all those practices may affect breathing gases. Finally, we talk a lot about the application of breathing less in our own practice and how to experiment with it.

Listen in to learn where the concept came from, what we can learn about breathing less from other fields of study, and how we can apply that to our yoga practice.

Show Notes: 

• Origins of the concept of breathing less [2:15]
• The O2 side of the coin - intermittent hypoxia & co [3:45]
• The CO2 side of the coin - hypoventilation & co [8:15]
• Unpacking voluntary hypoventilation [13:39]
• The fear of breathing less [17:00]
• Breathing less from the yoga lens [24:11]
• Breath holds and pranayama [27:50]

Links Mentioned:

• Watch this episode on YouTube
• Yoga Medicine Online Resources:
  • September Monthly Dose – Breathe Life Into Your Practice
  • Less is More: Breath Practice for CO2 Tolerance
• Breathing Resources Doc
• Pranayama Yoga Teacher Training
• Connect with Katja Bartsch:

          Facebook | Instagram | Kalamana Yoga | Yoga Medicine® Online Guest Teacher

You can learn more about this episode, and see the full show notes at YogaMedicine.com/podcast-87.

And you can find out more about insider tips, online classes or information on our teacher trainings at YogaMedicine.com.

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