Hyde, thanks for a fantastic article. I've been practicing pranayama for about six months and this inspired me to experiment with switching to Buteyko's method.
One question - in section 13, you say "A successful session means that your control pause will 2s-5s afterward." Did you mean will shorten by (or lengthen by) 2s-5s? And is that immediately or after the recommended 5-15 minute period before measuring?
I've had intense, feverish dreams when I was in the process of rapid control pause increases. Going from ~25s to ~35s+ specifically, or climbing over 40s. In my peak-CP, I don't have many dreams but when they happen they're outlandish for sure.
I've been thinking about these things recently and came back to this article - as well as upgrading my subscription. What do you make of bag breathing which I've seen often recommended in Peat circles?
It’s similar to a Frolov device but less effective. The CO2 you’re inhaling will increase your respiratory drive and you must apply the same principles I’ve written in the essay in order to adapt to it. But bag breathing for ~20 minutes feels ineffective.
Incredible that something I stumbled upon intuitively in my own singing and meditation practices 15 years ago is here - operationalized and described in a protocol (exercise A) and has been studied quite a bit and has all this theory to boot!
Super interested in continuing w exercise B. Is it a pretty intuitive extension of A?
Ie. B is for movement what A is to sitting. Is that fair to say?
Do you think this could improve athletic performance? Interested in trying it out in either case (although having a difficult time measuring my control pause, need more practice to find that point where I'm just air-hungry enough to take a normal breath), but think about this as "training" could help motivate me to do it more consistently.
I made my own carbohaler with parts from keg dispensers for $150. The most expensive part was a lab grade co2 meter. Only thing missing is an auto shut off timer.
I try to achieve moderate air hunger -> but when kind of need to add a full breath (belly, chest, everything) and also feel quite a lot of tightness in my throat, and sound funny when i speak afterwards.
1) should i only have so much airhunger that belly breathing alone is enough?
2) should i try to nasal restrict my breathing? Is there a seperate exercise for this?
That's the difficult part. It takes practice. You should resist the urge to take a full breath but at the same time, I get the feeling that you're overdoing it. So, yes, I'd suggest that you keep the level of air hunger low enough so that you can maintain abdominal breathing and slowly increase intensity (even within the main session), WHILE your control pause score increases.
And no, it's necessary to restrict your airways this way.
I know this can be annoying because is the most asi question but I haven’t found a reference of this in the comments of other posts.
I haven’t found chronic sinusitis, for a couple of years already. What’s the best way to improve? 🙏🏻
I think increasing your control pause will definitely help long term. But you should look into an elimination diet at the same time.
Another aspect would be the sun. Try to get as much sun as possible without burning, exposing as much of your skin as possible.
Hyde, thanks for a fantastic article. I've been practicing pranayama for about six months and this inspired me to experiment with switching to Buteyko's method.
One question - in section 13, you say "A successful session means that your control pause will 2s-5s afterward." Did you mean will shorten by (or lengthen by) 2s-5s? And is that immediately or after the recommended 5-15 minute period before measuring?
Hey Tony. I appreciate it.
It should increase 2s-5s. After the recommend break!
Hyde, did you also experience DMT (ayauascha like) dreams at night in your best times of peak-CP?
I don't know if it was hypoxia / hypercapnia or just DMT release from the buteyko intense practice,
was curious to hear your opinion
I've had intense, feverish dreams when I was in the process of rapid control pause increases. Going from ~25s to ~35s+ specifically, or climbing over 40s. In my peak-CP, I don't have many dreams but when they happen they're outlandish for sure.
ahahah glad to hear, thanks for the response!
Thank you. This is really helpful and explains some things I’d not understood before.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.
I've been thinking about these things recently and came back to this article - as well as upgrading my subscription. What do you make of bag breathing which I've seen often recommended in Peat circles?
It’s similar to a Frolov device but less effective. The CO2 you’re inhaling will increase your respiratory drive and you must apply the same principles I’ve written in the essay in order to adapt to it. But bag breathing for ~20 minutes feels ineffective.
Thanks
Incredible that something I stumbled upon intuitively in my own singing and meditation practices 15 years ago is here - operationalized and described in a protocol (exercise A) and has been studied quite a bit and has all this theory to boot!
Super interested in continuing w exercise B. Is it a pretty intuitive extension of A?
Ie. B is for movement what A is to sitting. Is that fair to say?
Do you think this could improve athletic performance? Interested in trying it out in either case (although having a difficult time measuring my control pause, need more practice to find that point where I'm just air-hungry enough to take a normal breath), but think about this as "training" could help motivate me to do it more consistently.
I think it helps, yes.
I made my own carbohaler with parts from keg dispensers for $150. The most expensive part was a lab grade co2 meter. Only thing missing is an auto shut off timer.
I try to achieve moderate air hunger -> but when kind of need to add a full breath (belly, chest, everything) and also feel quite a lot of tightness in my throat, and sound funny when i speak afterwards.
1) should i only have so much airhunger that belly breathing alone is enough?
2) should i try to nasal restrict my breathing? Is there a seperate exercise for this?
That's the difficult part. It takes practice. You should resist the urge to take a full breath but at the same time, I get the feeling that you're overdoing it. So, yes, I'd suggest that you keep the level of air hunger low enough so that you can maintain abdominal breathing and slowly increase intensity (even within the main session), WHILE your control pause score increases.
And no, it's necessary to restrict your airways this way.
It's *not necessary
i found another way, to easily increase my amount of session-time
I read a lot, on by changing the font size of my kindle i can simulate different pause-timings.
so that means, i only breath at the top of the page -> hold until i finish.
Thanks a lot that!
About how long should we elongate the pause for in Exercise One? Is the aim to be like 6 seconds or like 10?
It's more important to regulate the level of air hunger, so it'll depend on your personal tolerance.