This session is part of the 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
If this is the first time tuning in and you'd like to start at day one,
If you follow my profile,
Inge Volsink,
You can find all the available previous sessions there.
You can also find all the other tracks in the playlist,
The 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
Are you ready?
Let's begin!
Hey,
And welcome to the final part of this challenge,
Where we are going to put your body through a bit of a stress test.
And we're going to start with two versions of resistance training.
First,
A walking resistance training,
And our next session will be a running resistance training.
These practices will preferably be done outside,
So be mindful of this,
As we are going to need some shoes on,
Some comfortable clothes to move in.
Take a moment to set that up for yourself before you start.
This technique is adopted from The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown.
These techniques are specific to endurance and exercise.
And they extend your endurance potential by improving the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood,
Your VO2 max,
Which refers to how much oxygen your body can absorb and use during exercise.
The effects are maximized because breath holds are not done after hyperventilating,
So when carbon dioxide is low,
But are done after an extended exhale and while we move,
So when carbon dioxide levels are high.
By practicing these breath hold exercises,
The kidneys increase production of EPO,
A hormone that signals the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells,
And the spleen to immediately release red blood cells into circulation.
Both these effects increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood above normal levels,
Giving an athlete a competitive edge in the short and in the long run.
These effects are produced by states of hypoxia,
Which should only be practiced when you are in a very healthy body that is used to regular exercise.
That means that any of the contraindications for fast breathing and breath holding count double here.
In this practice,
We will basically simulate high-altitude training.
When you stop breathing,
Oxygen workers still get off at their department stations,
But no new workers are being supplied.
So as a result,
The train will carry less workers,
And so your blood oxygen saturation will drop.
A normal level is between 95 and 99 percent.
Our objective is to lower it to below 91 percent.
In a healthy body,
This isn't dangerous.
Diving into a pool while holding the breath is not dangerous.
If you have done normal breathing before your breath hold,
It is extremely unlikely that your oxygen saturation will drop below 60 percent,
Which is when you pass out.
We only drop that low when we severely hyperventilate.
For example,
In Bastrika,
Which you can practice a few sessions down the road.
When you have gotten rid of a lot of carbon dioxide,
It becomes easier to hold your breath for a long time,
Because your inhale is triggered by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.
This is why,
When you push yourself,
You can go below 60 percent blood oxygen saturation and hold your breath for longer.
There is no evident benefit of this as compared to dropping to about 85 percent in terms of high altitude training and adaptations,
Besides the psychological effect of being able to control the body and being able to mentally handle a stressor.
So,
Ideally,
Just for resistance training,
We just want to get down to 91 percent.
We do this by holding the breath after the exhalation,
Then we move by walking or jogging.
Carbon dioxide increases due to the hold and the movement,
Which will improve efficiency of oxygen use,
And will improve carbon dioxide tolerance,
And it will increase blood flow to the brain and other temporarily important departments of your body.
When you are ready,
Let's begin.
Take a normal breath in and out through the nose.
Pinch your nose or use your Jalandhara Bandha,
Gently closing the back of the throat,
Like in Ujjayi breathing,
And hold your breath.
Walk 10 paces.
Then stop walking and resume gentle breathing.
Wait for 30 to 60 seconds and then we will repeat.
Take a normal breath in and out through your nose.
Hold the breath.
Walk 12 paces.
Stop walking and resume gentle breathing.
Wait and relax.
Take a normal breath in and out through your nose.
Hold the breath.
Walk 14 paces.
Stop walking and resume gentle breathing.
Wait and relax.
If this is the first time you are doing this,
This is the end of your practice for today.
This is such a simple practice.
You can practice breath-holding during any simple walk you take on a regular basis to improve your body's ability to take up oxygen.
And you can practice this before any type of strenuous physical exercise to prepare your body for optimal oxygen delivery.
If you are an experienced athlete in good health,
Or you have done this practice several times,
I invite you to move to the next level in the next session where I will increase the physical effort during the breath-hold.
If you want to learn more about the science behind resistance training,
And particularly the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the blood,
I encourage you to listen to my course,
The Science and Practice of Breathing,
Where there are many science lessons for you to take in and to fully understand the process of breathing in your body so you can truly understand what is going on.
As always,
I'd love to see your input,
Your insights.
Tell me all about how this practice felt for you and your body.
Give me any feedback if you'd like to.
Feel free to reach out in the review sections.
I do read all the comments and I will try to respond to all of them.
Thank you so much for sharing your practice today.
You're almost through to your 21-day challenge.
Don't give up now.
Let's get to the finish together.
