How to Do Breathwork

Written by Jennifer Aldoretta, founder of Groove

I’ve seen it time and time again: someone begins a well-intentioned breathwork practice, only to realize much later that they’ve got the basics all wrong. Typically, this is because they’re stuck in their sympathetic nervous system and don’t even know it. So they’re breathing from a stressed out body state.

Here, I want to break down the fundamentals of any type of breathwork and breathing technique — showing you how to breathe from a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system state, so that once you do get started with breathwork, you’ll get the most out of it.

The technique I’m about to describe is actually a breathwork practice in and of itself, so by practicing this, you’re officially doing breathwork!

How to breathe properly for a healthy body

You’d be surprised how many folks get the basics wrong in the beginning (myself included). I want to save you the time of having to re-learn, so here are the 3 keys for proper breathing:

1. With each INHALE, breathe through your NOSE, not your mouth. (When exhaling, you can do whichever you like…different breathing techniques will typically suggest one or the other.)

   Interestingly enough, inhaling through your nose (or nasal breathing) has numerous health benefits. Breathing through your nose produces significantly more nitric oxide than mouth-breathing. Nitric oxide is a molecule produced by your body that helps with things like muscle relaxation, blood vessel dilation (or widening of blood vessels), and improved circulation (meaning more oxygen gets to your cells).

2. With each INHALE, puff your belly OUT (while keeping your chest as still as possible)

3. With each EXHALE, draw your belly button IN, towards your spine

If you watch a young infant breathe while sleeping, this is their natural breathing pattern: in through the nose, puffing out the belly on an inhale, and drawing in the belly on an exhale. This style of breathing is called belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing — because it engages and strengthens your diaphragm. As I mentioned in another post, it also gently pulls your body out of a stressed, fight-or-flight state and into a relaxed, rest-and-digest state.

Switching to belly breathing can feel hella weird

At the surface, belly breathing is super easy. However, if your body is stuck in a chest breathing pattern (i.e. stuck in your sympathetic nervous system, or fight-or-flight response), then belly breathing can feel VERY challenging when starting out.

When I first began practicing belly breathing (diaphragmatic breathing), it honestly felt super weird. It kind of felt like my belly was “stuck”...like I couldn’t puff it out very far before hitting an imaginary wall. And my ab muscles fatigued super quickly with all that belly puffing!

But with awareness and practice, it got easier and easier. It helped that I could easily practice proper breathing while I was doing normal, everyday things…even without anybody around me noticing that I was doing it.

Here’s a great way to practice proper breathing

If you do have some time to dedicate just to practicing proper breathing, this is one of my favorite ways to strengthen your belly breathing muscles and help train your brain to take it on as your default breathing pattern.

1. Lay on your back

2. Place a relatively thick book (or anything sorta weighty) on top of your belly button

3. Inhale through your nose, and use your stomach muscles to press the book upwards as you puff out your belly

4. Exhale through your nose or your mouth, and draw the book (and your belly button) towards your spine

5. Repeat Steps 3&4 for 5-10 minutes

This is a great thing to do while you’re watching TV or listening to a podcast.

Once belly breathing becomes your body’s default breathing mode, your body will make the switch into your parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system. Eventually, you’ll be belly breathing without even thinking about it!

Just by consciously changing the way you breathe, you can promote mind-body healing within your body. Proper breathing is the biggest step, and you’ve already done that!