The Power of Breathing: How James Nestor Found a Miracle Through Ancient Techniques

Jakarta –

James Nestor’s life is a mess. For months he was mentally disturbed, his body was sick. Consultation with a doctor was unsuccessful, so he was directed to a breathing course. There he found a miracle.

Nestor is a popular science writer from the United States (USA). He went on an adventure to study ancient breathing techniques across countries, Greece to India. China too. According to him, breathing is a source of strength and determines the quality of life that has been forgotten for a long time.

In Breath (2020), Nestor is initially skeptical about how breath affects life. Sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed for 20 minutes on the course, he felt useless and stupid. Nothing special happened except regret and confusion.

The breathing exercise session with musical accompaniment lasts one hour. Even though he was protesting inside, Nestor still followed the teacher’s orders. Sit with your eyes closed, enjoy the inhale and exhale slowly. Well, when the accompanying music ended, it felt strange.

“… I opened my eyes. There was something wet on my head. I raised my hand to wipe it off and realized that my hair was wet. I touched my face, my eyes were stinging with sweat, and it tasted salty. … the temperature in the room was about twenty degrees Celsius …

Over time, Nestor’s breathing exercises did much better. He is out of the chaos of life, more relaxed. His life is no longer a mess.

What really happened? How does breathing make it better? What went wrong all this time?

Between Ancient Practices and Scientific Research

Success in organizing life ‘just’ with breathing made Nestor strange. He went to Greece, studying the ancient practice of freeing hundreds of meters under the sea with a single breath. There are natural dives that last 12 minutes. Something that seems impossible.

How can that be done? The secret is practice. The divers, in interviews with Nestor, said that this ability was nothing special. Anyone, young or old, woman or man, can do it. The condition is that exercise makes the lungs work better.

Nestor studied studies of breathing. Chinese Taoist books from 400 BC focused entirely on breathing. The question of how breath becomes medicine depends on how people use it. Control your breath, slow it down, hold it, and swallow it. These things are believed to have an effect on the body and mind.

Hindus, according to Nestor’s studies, believe that breath and spirit are one. “…then there are the Buddhists, who not only use the breath to prolong life, but also to reach higher levels of consciousness,” wrote Nestor.

“For all these people, all these cultures, breathing is very powerful medicine,” he said.

Not only studying ancient methods and teachings about breathing, Nestor was also looking for scientific proof. He studied research and interviewed experts. “They – researchers and experts – found that 90 percent of us are breathing incorrectly,” wrote Nestor.

“…and this failure has caused so many chronic diseases or worse,” Nestor said.

Some researchers have also shown that many modern diseases – asthma, anxiety, hyperactivity, inattention, even psoriasis – can be prevented by changing the way we breathe and exhaling But how do you breathe properly and correctly?

There are many breathing techniques. There are names called Yoga Breathing, 478 Breathing, Sudarshan Kriya, Box Breathing (inhale, hold, exhale, hold), and others. Each is said to have different benefits and advantages.

But, according to Nestor, awareness is the main principle of breathing. We must be fully aware of the process of inhalation and exhalation.

Another principle is to breathe in and exhale slowly. In everyday life, we often breathe randomly and suddenly. Inhaling and exhaling slowly has been shown to stimulate feel good hormones (serotinin and oxytocin). That’s why when we are worried or stressed, taking deep breaths makes us feel relieved and calmer.

In addition, good breathing focuses on the nose. Until now, scientists have considered breathing through the nose and the mouth as well. The facts are different. Nestor and several people did oral breath tests for 10 days. They perform routine tasks. Exercise, work, and so on.

The test caused the ‘respondents’ to suffocate easily, oxygen levels dropped. Nestor himself admitted that his snoring had increased by 4,800 percent. Breathing through the mouth also changes the airway. The long-term effect is to change the structure of the back of the mouth and nose.

“Breathing through the mouth destroys our health,” wrote Nestor.

******

Learning how to breathe properly is fun. Because everything that lives must breathe. It is an automatic function, no learning required. Just like a fish that doesn’t need to learn to swim, it goes through the water, until it stops in the middle of the stream.

But maybe that’s what we are, people who say they adhere to reason and knowledge. Sometimes you don’t understand simple things. Also often ignore and underestimate something that is within yourself.

Triono Wahyu S, detikcom journalist and popular science enthusiast.

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