What are Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises are the specific techniques of breathwork, done regularly in a routine, to train the respiratory apparatus and regulate the function of the respiratory center in the brainstem.

Breathing exercises involve some or all of the following:
Controlled inhalation and exhalation
Nasal breathing with certain exceptions for specific purposes involving the tongue
Longer exhalation to eventually double the length of inhalation
Regulated pauses in between controlled inhalation and exhalation
A pause that becomes a forced retention after either inhalation or exhalation
Mild control of the vocal cord muscles at the glottis producing a soft sound
Controlled lower abdominal muscle so the diaphragm descends deeper
An increased volume per breath that increases lung expansion
Reduced breaths per minute due to increased time for inhalation and exhalation
An organized combination of these elements of a breath in a fixed ratio (Box 5)
Repeated rounds of these fixed ratio breaths
A dedicated space to sit and engage in this breathwork: mat, cushion, chair
Dedicated time to reach a satisfactory and effective number of rounds
Regularity of practice in terms of time and days in the week
Consistency of a regular practice over time

As noted in What is Breathwork, the ratio of the inhalation and exhalation and the consistency of that length of breath with ratio across several repeated rounds of breathing is key in a breathing exercise routine. This allows the individual practitioner to select a length of breath appropriate to their capacity. The above points can be broken down between the technical aspects of a specific breathing exercise, meaning the nature of the inhalation, exhalation and any pauses, and the attitudinal aspect, meaning the dedication and regularity of practice. Both aspects are crucial. Technique without regularity or regularity of poor respiration do not qualify as breathing exercises and fail to achieve any purported benefits noted either in ancient texts or more recent scientific literature.