Hey friends,

Many people think that deliberate breathing or a breathwork practice is just a morning routine or a session you do here and there to feel good, to get this blissful sensation. But a full breathwork practice involves much more. There are the following categories that should be included in a holistic breathing practice:

1. An activating process
2. Calming / Recovery pathways
3. Breathing for in-the-moment
4. Respiration health for overall good breathing function

And your practice should evolve around those four categories. The goal should be to create a system around them. I want to give you this short version of how I do that.

First, I want to have a daily practice to keep the ball rolling, so there is no negotiation with myself. I try to do that wherever I am, no matter the environment. Even if I only do it for 5 minutes before I hit work or while my kids are still discussing what they want for their lunchbox.

Second, I want to have a calming activity. I want a daily recovery or breathing activity. This can be 5 minutes of deliberate breathing before bed to wind down, or 5 minutes of recovery breathing after I hit the gym.

Then I have the part that is not scheduled. This is how I use breathing in the moment, and often this is what I fall back to on my worst days when I have no time and am super stressed. This could be just one deep inhale and a very long exhale. When I'm about to lose my patience, or when I feel the pressure of an event building up, I take a few physiological sighs or do deep, fast breathing, coupled with a breath hold on full lungs (antara kumbhaka).

Lastly, respiratory health is the equivalent of what mobility or strength work is for my physical health. Improving respiration function and awareness means breathing more lightly in my everyday activities, becoming more stress-resilient, and better controlling my diaphragm, which makes every breathing session I do more effective. But it also increases my awareness of using my breathing in the moment when I need it. Techniques I use for that are:

• Doing a few full breaths while exhaling through resistance
• Engaging in the nine cleansing breaths, the warm-up exercise of Tummo breathing
• Doing CO2 tolerance breathing by engaging in the longest exhalations
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Checking off all four categories ensures that I not only feel good but that I have:

• low inflammation
• a strong nervous system
• more presence
• spiritual growth while improving performance in different fields and making my recovery more effective
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Breathing is governed by our autonomic nervous system, and therefore it happens automatically. We can spend a whole life without giving our breath a second thought, but I think it's no accident that so many ancient self-development practices, such as martial arts and spiritual practices, all refer to the breath as a gateway for a deeper conscious state. We need to build a practice around cultivating deeper breathing, mindfulness, and embodiment.

I try to address this in today's live session of my Breath Rituals Skool community. As a small gift for being on my email list, I want to give you free access to this session, so you have a routine that ticks off multiple boxes. You can watch the recording here.

Breathe well,

Kitaro

PS: If you want help setting up your own practice and having tools, practice templates, and a strong community to guide you, check out my Skool community ⬇️

Ready to go deeper?​ ⭐️ Join Breath Rituals to reset your nervous system: https://www.skool.com/breath-rituals/about ​ ➡️ Live WEEKLY video sessions with Kitaro, structured courses and guided sessions UPDATED WEEKLY, exclusive live cohort courses for members only, 100+ guided breathing & meditation videos, a breathwork configurator to build your own breathing sessions, and a very strong breathwork community so we can all cultivate a habit of health, balance, and spiritual growth!

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