Nasal Breathing (Patreon)

• If you’re new to LMA, start with our table of contents

Not everyone can nasal breathe. For most of my life, I couldn't due to a tumor in my sinus passage. It was so large that when the surgeon finally removed it, they also had to remove parts of my sinus passage, which still affects my breathing. However, when I talk about natural breathing, for many people, that means nasal breathing. This module might also benefit comrades with asthma.

One of the key benefits of nasal breathing is its ability to help you manage your pace and stay at ease, even during periods of exertion. While it may be challenging at first, nasal breathing can prevent overexertion. Instead of resorting to fast, shallow breaths during recovery, nasal breathing encourages deeper, slower breaths, promoting a sense of calm and aiding recovery. Remember, there are no hard rules to breathing other than adaptation. If you need to step out of nasal breathing, do so. It helps until it doesn't. Adapt your breathing to one of our other approaches or whatever your body needs.

For those who tend to tense up or rush through their training, I invite them to breathe exclusively through their nose, causing them to adapt by easing up. Since they can't explosively exhale, it guides them toward a walk or jog pace and intensity.

One practical way to breathe through your nose and maintain ease is by positioning your tongue against the roof of your mouth and the back of your top teeth. This simple technique effectively seals off the air passage for your mouth, allowing air to flow freely through your nose. If you're wearing a mouth guard, this automatically transitions to continuously biting down on your mouth guard.

To maintain ease and prevent your neck and shoulders from tightening up, avoid using your neck and shoulder muscles to breathe. Instead, breathe into the empty space in your trunk known as the diaphragm. By using the diaphragm muscles and placing air into this empty space, you save your neck and shoulders for other work. Maintaining this habit throughout the day will also carry into your sleep.

Interventions

If you're looking for interventions to enhance your nasal breathing, consider using nasal strips and saline nasal sprays. Nasal strips open up your nasal passage. To use nasal strips, start by cleaning the bridge of your nose and patting it dry. Avoid applying lotion to the area. Next, hold the strip down over the bridge of your nose for 30 seconds.

Saline sprays moisturize the nasal passage and flush away irritants. Clean the insides of your nostrils. Spray a stream into the sink before using it. Close one nostril, then spray a mist into the other nostril as you sniff. Repeat one to three times for each nostril. Don't use it like a neti pot. Tilt the nozzle and spray horizontally into your nasal passage rather than spraying up. Your nasal passage travels horizontally to the back of your throat. Tilt your head and sniff deeply a few times. Blow your nose or spit as needed.

Another consideration is saline nasal gels. Rather than just flushing out irritants, they moisturize the nose and trap irritants. There's a spray version (don't spray this deep into your sinuses), and there's a tube version where you squeeze a pea-sized drop onto your finger or a cotton swab and apply around and inside your nostrils. This is if your nose gets really dry. You can use it in combination with other interventions as well. I highly recommend this for days you are sparring or competing, as it will keep your nose moist and prevent bloody noses.

Building a connection to nasal diaphragmatic breathing

Start by lying on your back with your knees bent. Place your left hand on your diaphragm and your right on the top of your upper chest. Close your mouth and rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth and the back of your teeth. Breathe deeply into your left hand and avoid breathing into your right. Once you've got the hang of it, place both hands comfortably on the floor and continue practicing. As you become more attuned to the haptic sensation of breathing into your diaphragm, carry this awareness with you into your other activities. This is not about memorizing a technique but about developing a sensitivity to bodily sensations or their absence—such as how you are breathing, where you are breathing, and whether you are breathing.

– Sam