•   Place one hand on your chest and one hand just above your
navel. At this po int, do not concern yourself with how you are
breathing. •   B ring your attention to the movements of your lower han d.
While s itting up straight, gently guide your hand outward by
pushing your abdomen outward, just enough to feel the
movement. The re is no need to make any changes to your
breathing at this point—this stage is primarily to encourage
abdominal movement. •   Now draw in your abdomen and watch your hand move gently
inward. •   Perform this simple exercise for a few minutes to help activate
a “stif f” diaphragm. •   Alternatively , you could perform this exercise while lying on
your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor . Stage 1 in Brief
•   Gently push your abdomen out. W atch your hand move
outward. •  Gently draw your abdomen in. W atch your hand move inward. If your diaphragm is particularly stif f due to years of breathing with the
upper c hest, the following additional exercise will help to activate the
muscle and encourage better breathing:
•  T ake a gentle breath in through your nose.•  Allow a gentle breath out through your nose. •   Hold  your nose with your fingers and close your mouth to
prevent air from flowing. •   Now try to br eathe in and ou t, while at the same time holding
your breath. •   A s you try to  breathe in and  out, you may feel your stomach
move in  and out as your breathing muscles contract to help
relax the diaphragm. •   When you feel a medium desire to breathe, let go of your nose
and resume breathing normally through your nose. •   Practice thi s exercise 2 or 3 times to help to relax the
diaphragm. When you feel you can move y our abdomen in and out easily  at will,
proceed to Stage 2 , which incorporates these abdomen movements with
your breathing. Stage 2: Merging Abdominal Movements with Br eathing
•  Sit up straight. •   Place  one hand on your ch est and the other hand on yo ur
abdomen. •   As you breath e, allow your sh oulders to relax into their natur al
position. •   Gentl y encou rage chest movements to reduce as you breath e,
using the guidance of your mind and your hand. •   At the  same time, try to coordinate your abdomen movemen ts
with your breathing.•   As you bre athe in, gently guide your abdomen outward. Imagine you are breathing into your tummy . (T ry not to make
the movement too big, as doing so may cause dizziness.) •  As you breathe out, gently draw your abdomen in. •  Y our breathing should be gentle, silent, and calm. •   Perform this exercise for a few minutes to acclimatize yourself
to the movements of your diaphragm and your breath. If y ou are find ing this exercise dif ficult, you may find it e asier to
activate abdominal breathing w hile lying on your back in a semi-supine
position. T ry the following exe rcise lying on a mat with a s mall pillow
under your head and your knees bent, as shown on the following page. •  Place a relatively lar ge book on the area just above your navel. •   As you breath e in, bring your  breathing into your abdomen b y
gently guiding your abdomen to move the book upward.•   As you breathe out, gently allow the abdomen to move back to
its original position. •   The inhalation is the active phase, and the exhalation is passiv e,
as you allow the  air to leave the body naturally and ef fortlessly . While breathing in, imagine inflating your tummy with a light
amount of air and watch the book rise. While breathing out,
imagine a balloon slowly deflating of its own accord. Stage 2 in Brief
•  Breathe in. Gently guide your abdomen out. •  Breathe out. Gently draw your abdomen in. When yo u are confident that you are able to match your breath ing with
the movements of your diaphragm, proceed to Stage 3 . Stage 3: Reducing Br ea thing V olume Using A bdominal
Br eathing
If you have tried Stages 1  and 2  but still  find you are unable to switch from
upper -chest to abdominal breath ing, don’ t be concerned—it can take time to
readjust to a new  way of breath ing after years of breathing from the upper
chest. Y ou can still proceed to Stage 3 —simply keep practicing all three
stages u ntil it becomes easier . The more you use these exercises, the greater
your tolerance of carbon dioxide will become. Reducing your breathing is about lowering the amount of air you take
into you r lungs during each minute. As you reduce your breathing, there
will be a slight a ccumulation of  carbon dioxide in the blood, assisting with
the relaxation of the diaphragm. If you have already mastered
diaphragmatic breathing through the first two stages, then you will find that
it is  a lot easier to reduce your breathing volume toward nor mal as you
practice Stage 3 .There are two main approaches to reducing breathing volume using
diaphragmatic b reathing. The first is to bring a feeling of relax ation to the
body , to gently a llow your breathing movements to slow down and become
softer . As your body relaxes, y our breathing will automaticall y reduce in
response. The second approach  is to tune in to your breathing pattern,
noting the size of each inhalation and exhalation. By concentrating on the
rhythm o f your breathing for a m inute or two, you will gain a se nse of how
much ai r you are taking into y our body . As you follow you r breathing,
gently e ncourage it to slow d own so that your breathing movements
gradually reduce to the point where you feel a subtle need for air . This ur g e to breathe is the core of reduced breathing exercises and is a
sign tha t you are actively altering your breathing habits toward a healthier ,
more ef f ective l evel. When you first attempt reduced breathing exercises,
you may find the sensation of air shortage dif ficult to maintain, but it is
essential to keep practicing if yo u want to bring about changes to your body
and imp rove your sporting performance. The following sentence is the most
important point of this entire book, and something I explain to my students
daily:
The only way to know you ar e r educing your br eathing volume is
feeling as if you would like to take in a bigger br eath.The nee d to take a bigger breath  is similar to the feeling you w ill have
experienced dur ing your measurement of BOL T . This ur ge for air should
not b e s tressful, but should be s imilar to what you might experi ence during
a normal walk. In Stage 3,  we will bring abdominal breathing and reduced breathing
together . T o practice this exercise, it can be very helpful to sit in front of a
mirror to observe and follow your breathing movements:
•  Sit up straight.•  Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your abdomen. •   Im agine a pie ce of string guiding you upward from the top of
the back of you r head. Imagine the space between your ribs
gently widening. •   As you breathe in, gently guide your abdomen out. Keep your
chest movements to a minimum. •   As you breathe out, gently guide your abdomen in, still keeping
your chest movements small. •  Follow each breath in and out through your nose. •   T une in to the amplitude of each inhalation and exhalation. T ry
to get a sense of the size and frequency of each breath. •   A s yo u breathe, exert gentle pressure with your hands against
your abdomen and chest. This should create extra resistance to
your breathing. •  Breathe against your hands, concentrating on making the size of
each breath smaller . •   W ith e ach bre ath, take in less air than you would like to. Mak e
the in-breath smaller or shorter . •   Breathe out with a relaxed exhalation. Allow the natural
elasticity of your lungs and diap hragm to play their role in each
exhalation. Imagine a balloon slowly and gently deflating of its
own accord. •   Whe n the in-breath becomes smaller and the out-breath is
relaxed, visible breathing movements will be reduced. Y ou may
be able to notice this in a mirror .By using a simple exercise lik e this you can reduce your breathing
movements by 20 to 30 percent. If your stomach muscles start to feel tense,
contract, or jerk, or if your bre athing rhythm becomes disrupte d or out of
control, then the air shortage is too intense. In this situation, a bandon the
exercise for 15 seconds or so and return to it when the air s hortage has
disappeared. The mo st common mistake is t o deliberately tense the muscles of the
chest or abdomen to restrict breathing movements. If yo u find this
happening, then take a break from the exercise for 15 seconds or so. When
you retu rn to it, encourage yo ur breathing to reduce by exerting gentle
pressure on your chest and abd omen with your hands, encouraging your
breathing to slow and diminish using relaxation rather than force. Do not be concerned about the number of breaths you take per minute. Ideally , this should not increase . However , if your BOL T score  is less than
20 seco nds, you may find tha t your breathing rate increases during the
exercise. If this happens, try to slow down your breathing and k eep it calm. As y our BOL T score increases it will become much easier to maintain
control of your breathing during reduced breathing exercises. At fi rst, you may only be able to  maintain an air shortage for 20 seconds
before the ur ge to breathe is too  strong. W ith practice, you will be able to
maintain an air shortage for longer periods. Remember , you a re trying to
create an air shortage that is tolerable but not stressful. Aim to m aintain this
tolerable air hunger for 3 to 5 minutes at a time. Practicing 2 sets of 5-
minute exercise s is enough to help you reset your breathing center and
improve your body’ s tolerance of carbon dioxide.During reduced breathing exerc ises it is vital that you create a hunger
for air in order to bring about an accumulation of carbon dio xide in the
blood. W hen thi s happens, the re spiratory center in the brain is reset toward
a calmer and more normal breathing volume. In order to reset the
respiratory cente r by just a little, it is necessary to experience an air hunger
for abou t 10 minutes. Y ou can d ivide most of the exercises in this book into
2 sets of 5-minute sessions, or , if you feel you are confident and
experienced in reduced breathing, you may practice for 10 minutes straight. The Oxygen Advantage: Encompassing Many Factors to Impr ove
Health and Fitness
G e n e r a l  P r o g r a m  B a s e d  o n  B O L T  a n d
H e a l t h
P lease note: Oxygen Advantage exercises that involve holding t he breath
to creat e a medium to strong air shortage during walking, jogging, or
running create a similar ef fect to high-intensity training. As a result, they
are not suitable if you are elderly , pregnant, or have high blood pressure,
cardiovascular disease, type 1 diabetes, kidney disease, depression, cancer ,
or any serious health concern. Instead, practice nasal breathing and the
gentle Breathe Light to Breathe Right exercise  until these conditions are
resolved. Similar to physical exercise, it i s recommended to practice the Oxygen
Advantage exercises at least two hours after eating.P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  L e s s  T h a n  1 0
S e c o n d s  ( o r  a n  U n h e a l t h y  o r  O l d e r
P e r s o n )
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   Breathe through the nose both day and night. T o ensure nasal
breathing at night , it will be necessary to wear paper tape
across your lips during sleep. •   Practice the Breathing Recovery Exercise  th rough out the day ,
ideally spending  10 minutes 6 times per day doing small breath
holds of between 2 and 5 seconds. •   Another option to help recover breathing  is to exhale through
your nose, pinch your nose wit h your fingers, and walk while
holding the breath for 5 to 10 paces. Rest for 1 minute and
repeat 10 times. •   Engage in 10 to 15 minutes of slow walking each day with the
mouth c losed. If you need to breathe through your mouth, you
must stop walking to recover your breath. •  When your BOL T score increases to 15 seconds, you will find it
a lo t easier to bring relaxation to your body and to Breathe
Light to Breathe Right. It is m ore beneficial to practice this
exercise than Breathing Recovery once your BOL T score hasreached 15 seconds. The minimum time re quired for an
individual for such a low BOL T  score is to practice Breathing
Light to Breathe Right for 1 hour per day (6 sets of 10 minutes
each). •   As your BOL T score increases, it will become a lot easier to
engage in physical exercise. Y our expected progress is to
increase your BOL T score to 25 seconds within 6 to 8 weeks. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress. Sixty-five-year -old Michael enjoys slow walking. He has chronic
asthma and suf fers from symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness, andwheezing. Mich ael’ s BOL T is 7  seconds. This program emphasizes quality
over quantity . At the beginning, given Michael’ s low BOL T score, he will find it
dif ficult to Breathe Light to B reathe Right because the air h unger may
destabilize his breathing. There fore, a better initial option for him is to
concentrate on breathing only th rough the nose both during the  day and at
night, and to practice many small breath holds (Breathing Recovery
Exercise) throughout the day . It will also be very helpful for Michael to
relax his  body and encourage hi s breathing to soften, as long as doing so is
not stressful and does not destabilize his breathing. Gentle walking alone will be suf ficient for Michael to generate a
tolerable air shortage. He will n ot need to hold his breath during his walk
unless h e feels comfortable doing so. Sometimes, holding the breath during
a w alk is a good way to overcom e chest tightness and to help increase one’ s
BOL T s core. If Michael practic es breath holds during his slow walks, they
should be limited to no more than 10 paces. He should not hol d his breath
beyond the point at which he los es control of his breathing, as doing so will
disrupt his breathing and possibly cause asthma symptoms. Practicing the exercise Breat he Light to Breathe Right is very
worthwhile and will be a lot ea sier for Michael to apply when his BOL T
score re aches 15 seconds. Michael’ s BOL T score will continue to increase
as l ong as he dedicates 10 minutes by 6 times daily to his reduced
breathing. This may sound like a  lot of hard work, but living wi th asthma is
extremely hard work in itself and will already be costing Michael a lot in
terms of reduced quality of life  and productivity . Reducing his breathing
throughout the day will be the b est investment in time that Mich ael has ever
made.P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  1 0  t o  2 0
S e c o n d s
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   B reathe through the nose at all times. W ear paper tape acro ss
your lips during sleep to ensure nasal breathing at night . •   Regul arly obs erve your breathing throughout the day to ensu re
it stays calm and soft. •   Swallow or ho ld the breath any time you feel a sigh coming. If
you miss a sigh, then gently exhale through your nose and hold
your breath for 5 to 10 seconds to compensate. •   Practice the Breathe Light to Breathe Right  or Breathing
Recovery exercise  for 10 minutes, 3 times a day: once in the
morning, once during the afternoon, and once before bed. •   Practice Breathe Light to Breathe Right—W alking  for between
30 and 60 minutes per day; yo u can slow jog if your BOL T
score is greater than 15 seconds. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress.Jennifer works as a sales and marketing manager for a UK-based
clothing store. Her work can be demanding, resulting in long hours spent in
her car or in front of the computer . T ravel takes up a lar ge amount of her
time, bo th to and from the head  of fice and from store to store. Because of
her busy schedule, Jennifer has gotten out of the habit of regular physical
exercise. As she approaches her  thirty-fifth birthday , she has be come more
conscious of her health and fitness and has decided to embark on a new
exercise program. Jennifer ’ s startin g BOL T score was 12 seconds, with no apparen t health
concerns. In the beginning, it w as important to avoid the comm on mistake
of overdoing it. In an ef fort to make up for years of not exercising, there is
often a temptation to plunge straight into intensive exercise, but performing
beyond your ability can lead t o increased breathlessness and feelings of
failure. This can sometimes b e enough to put you of f a ne w program
completely when you would have made much better progress by simply
taking e xercises at your own pace. The mantra for beginning any exercise
program should always be: slow and steady , increasing the intensity and
duration by no more than 10 percent each week. I s tarted  Jennifer of f very gen tly , matching specific exercises to her
BOL T s core an d fitness level. T o gently condition her body to a greatertolerance of carbon dioxide, Jen nifer increased her daily walks t o a light jog
as so on as her BOL T score reached 20 seconds. During her first week of
jogging, she alternated between 2 minutes of walking and 2 minutes of
jogging. In the second and third weeks, she began jogging for 3 minutes
followed by walking for 1 minute. By the fourth week she had achieved her
long-awaited goal of jogging for a half hour straight, and more important
she was able to  do this comfo rtably with her mouth closed. All in all,
Jennifer ’ s com mitment to nasal breathing, gentle reduced breathing
exercises, and regular physical exercise achieved impressive benefits with
no r isk of injur y or feeling defeated from overtraining. By intelligently
adapting a new exercise progra m to her needs, Jennifer was able to enjoy
her newfound fitness in a way that fit easily around her work and routine.P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  2 0  t o  3 0
S e c o n d s
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   Breathe through  your nose  b oth day and at night, includ ing
wearing tape over the mouth during sleep. •   Redu ce brea thing using the Breathe Light to Breathe Right
exercise for 10 minutes, 3 times  per day , once in the morning,
once in the afternoon, and last thing at night. •   W arm up for 10 minutes by walking and performing a brea th
hold to achieve a medium to str ong air hunger every minute or
so to Simulate High-Altitude T raining . •   Br eathe Light  to Breathe Righ t during a fast walk or jog for 30
to 6 0 minutes daily with a relaxed body , abdominal breathing,
and nasal breathing to create an air shortage. •   Simul ate High -Altitude T rain ing during walking or jogging b y
practicing 8 to 10 breath holds. •   Afte r physical exercise, p ractice the Breathing Recovery
Exercise . •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress.David is  twenty -three years old and a keen athlete. He trains fo ur times
per week and plays rugby for his hometown. His BOL T score is 20 seconds. David h as been mouth breathing and sighing regularly for several years. He snore s during his sleep and wakes up most mornings with a dry mouth,
nasal congestion, and fatigue. He also finds that during training his
breathing is noisier than that of his teammates (who uncharitab ly call him
“the train”). David’ s heavy breathing can be heard long before he makes a
tackle, with his opponents receiving advance warning that he is in pursuit. When I first me t David I took note of his narrow facial struc ture, flaccid
lower lip , and slightly protrudin g and crooked nose, indicating that he had
been breathing through his mouth since childhood. Like many athletes who have invested many years training to maintain
their fitness, David was at first a  little reluctant to make a drastic change to
his regim en. T o  help dispel any fears, I sat him down and we discussed
basic ph ysiology , the importance of optimal breathing for sports success,the theo ry behind BOL T measurement, and the benefits of simulating high-
altitude training. David is able t o maintain breathing through his nose while jogging
lightly . However , during intense training, he finds doing nasal b reathing too
dif ficult. T raining using nasal breathing creates resistance to breathing
simply because the nose is a smaller area to breathe through than the mouth. David’ s fear is that he may lose muscle conditioning because of the
decrease in training intensity resulting from having to keep  his mouth
closed. T aking this situation into account, the best approach for David is to
apply 90  percen t of the Oxygen Advantage program in order to improve his
BOL T score. This includes simulating a high altitude during jogging,
breathing through the nose at all times, and reducing his breathing by
relaxing during both rest and regular training. The only except ion to nasal
breathing should be when training becomes so intense that he needs to
periodically bre athe through his mouth. In time, as David’ s B OL T score
increases, he will be able to ma intain nasal breathing during high-intensity
exercise. In the meantime, he is able to check whether he is overbreathing
during training by comparing h is BOL T score before training and 1 hour
after co mpleting his exercise. His BOL T score after training should be
approximately 2 5 percent higher than before. If it is lower , D avid should
reduce the intensity of his train ing to the point at which he can maintain
strictly nasal breathing. David’ s goal is to reach a BOL T  score of 40 seconds within 12 weeks. Physical training with a lar ger air hunger is the key to achieving this goal.P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  3 0  S e c o n d s
P l u s
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   Breathe through your nose  b oth day and night, including
wearing tape over the mouth during sleep. •   W arm up for 10 minutes by walking and performing a brea th
hold every minute or so to Simulate High-Altitude T raining . •   Breathe Light to Breathe Right  during the run by increasing the
intensity of exercise while maintaining nasal breathing to
develop a reasonably strong air shortage. •   Contin ue with  running and na sal breathing for 20 minutes to  1
hour . •   Midway through the run, practice breath holds to Simulate
High-Altitude T raining. Exhale and hold the breath for 10 to 40
steps while running at a good pace. •   After the breath hold, resume nasal breathing whi le
simultaneously relaxing the b ody . Continue to intersperse
breath holds every few minutes throughout the run. •   After physical exercise, pract ice the Breathing Recovery
Exercise .•   Practi ce one session of Advanced Simulation of High Altitude
every other day . •   Reduce brea thing using the Breathe Light to Breathe Rig ht
exercise for 15 minutes last thing at night. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress. Brenda i s thirty- two years old, in  perfect health, and runs ten miles, four
days a week. She is a competiti ve long-distance runner with a B OL T score
of betwe en 35 and 40 seconds. In order to maintain a high B OL T score,
physical exercise with a medium to strong air hunger is necessary . When B renda fe els that she wa nts to push her body harder and faster ,
she incr eases her pace to run as fast as she can with her mo uth closed. Often, she is able to mainta in nasal breathing while running at her
maximum pace. As Brenda’ s BOL T score is close to 40 seconds, her bodycan perf orm high-intensity exercise without needing to revert to breathing
through her mouth. Since her b reathing is already so ef ficient, opening the
mouth provides no advantage to  her performance. Brenda’ s current training
regimen is suf ficient to ensure maintenance of her BOL T score. Oxygen Adva ntage Pr ogra m Summary for a BOL T S cor e of 10
to 30 Seconds Plus
W ith continued practice each w eek culminating in an improvement to your
BOL T score, more intense exerc ises can be employed to reach even greater
heights. Using the following ill ustrations, you can check your pathway to
success.P r o g r a m  f o r  W e i g h t  L o s s  o r  O b e s i t y
( s u i t a b l e  f o r  a l l  B O L T  s c o r e s )
•   Permanently switch to nasal breathing during both day an d
night. •   W ear tape acr oss the mouth during sleep ( see: Breathe through
your nose ). •   B ecome cons cious of your breathing during everyday task s,
allowing it to be calm, relaxed, and quiet. •   Practi ce Breathe Light to Breathe Right  f or 10 to 15 minutes, 5
times each day . This can be divided into the following:
• 10 minutes before work
• 10 minutes during lunch
• 10 minutes after work
• 10 minutes (or more) while watching TV in the evening
• 15 minutes before bed
•   B reathe Light to Breathe Ri ght during walking for 30 to 60
minutes per day .•   For th ose with  a BOL T of over 20 seconds, and who are suite d
to performing breath holds, Simulate High-Altitude T raining  by
incorporating 8 to 10 breath holds to achieve a medium air
hunger throughout the walk. •   Pay p articular attention to h unger sensations, asking yourse lf
whether you really need to eat at that time and stopping when
satisfied. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress. Earlier on in the book we were introduced to Donna, whos e major
bugbear was the frustration and  feeling of self-defeat when she found her
weight i ncreasing again after a successful period of weight lo ss. T o help
Donna g et her health back on tra ck and to achieve her ideal weight, I askedher to do just three exercises: Breathe Light to Breathe Right, walking with
her mouth closed, and practicing breath holds during walking. Her star ting BO L T was 12 seco nds, which is typical of someo ne in a
stressful and demanding job wi th little time devoted to physic al exercise. And alth ough D onna did breathe through her nose during the day , she woke
up most mornings with a dry mouth, indicating mouth breathing during
sleep. A nother factor related to her low BOL T score was her dif ficulty
falling asleep. Although she we nt to bed at a reasonable hour , i t often took
her two to three hours to finally fall asleep. The result was that s he woke up
feeling lethar gic  and unrefreshed, not an ideal scenario when work and
family life demanded alertness. My main  goal for Donna was to  increase her BOL T score, expe rience a
natural suppression to appetite, and improve her sleep and ener gy levels. The mos t impor tant time for Do nna to Breathe Light with a tolerable air
hunger was the session direct ly before she went to sleep. It was not
necessary for her to practice this in bed. Instead, Donna usually had some
downtime late in the evening when she watched TV , and this was an
excellent time for her to reduce her breathing without having to devote
special time to t he exercise. I su ggested that Donna not watch the news or
any program involving violence or aggression. This exercise of fers an
opportunity for the body to relax, not to invoke a stress response. Because she breathed lightly right before she went to bed, Donna’ s
sleep became deeper , enabling her to wake up 15 minutes earlier to begin
her first set for the day . It was also vital that she made a conscious ef fort to
breathe lightly at various times throughout the day . This just involved
bringing attention to her breathing, calming it and quieting it so that she felt
a light to medium need for air . Donna f ound it a challenge to k eep her mouth closed during sl eep, but
within a few nig hts her body adapted to this new way of brea thing. After
the four th night, she found herself sleeping all the way through, requiring
less sleep, waking up earlier , and feeling more refreshed. In additi on to practicing her br eathing exercises, it was important that
Donna p aid atte ntion to her sen sations of hunger and thirst. Improving the
oxygenation of tissues and or gans results in the body using food more
ef ficiently , with this leading to a natural suppression of appetite. The advice
I gave to Donna was to eat only when hungry and stop when satisfied. Byfollowing this simple rule, she automatically had less need for snacking
during the day , and even found herself taking lunch at a later t ime. Eating
according to bodily needs is much more important than eating according to
a specifi c time of the day . It is unfortunate that society has dictated when
we eat more so than when we actually need the food. Another beneficial
side ef fect that Donna experienced was an increased thirst and demand for
water . Donna experienced a noticeable reduction to her appetite, and her
progress with the breathing exer cises was reflected in a higher BOL T score. W ithin two weeks, her BOL T score had increased from 12 to 20 seconds
and she had lost  six pounds. I encouraged Donna to quicken her progress by
incorporating 8 to 10 breath holds into her 20-minute walk to create a
medium air hunger . Doing this e xercise temporarily lowers oxygen levels to
simulate high-altitude training, resulting in a further natural sup pression of
appetite. Many pe ople with a low BOL T  score, including Donna, avoid physical
exercise, as they get breathless far too quickly , making exercise a
burdensome cho re. As Donna’ s BOL T score increased to 20 s econds, she
felt the need to do more physi cal exercise. This further helped with her
weight normalization, increased ener gy , and self-esteem. I tol d Do nna wh at I tell everyon e else: Breathing Light to Breath e Right
isn’ t just an exercise; it’ s a way of life. How we breathe at all times during
the d ay influences how we feel  and our health. When Donna incorporated
this into  her way of life and m aintained a BOL T of 25-plus seconds, her
days of yo-yo dieting were over . T o her delight, she currently weighs 145
pounds (from a top weight of 175 pounds), and the increased ener gy and
feel-good factor is a great motivator to continue.P r o g r a m  f o r  C h i l d r e n  a n d  T e e n a g e r s
•   The Nose Unblocking exercise  i s the best exer cise for children
as it is easy , quick, and measurable. •   Practi ce the Nose Unblocking  Exercise a total of 12 times p er
day , div ided into 2 sets of 6 re petitions. Practice 6 repetitions
before breakfast  and 6 during the day . The number of paces
that a child is able to do should increase by 10 every week,
with a goal of reaching a score of 80 to 100 paces. •   Whi le practicing the Nose  Unblocking Exercise, I often
encourage children to wear paper tape over their mouth. This
ensures that the mouth is closed during the exercise , with no air
sneaking. •   W eari ng the tape while watching TV or going about the house
can also be very helpful for a child to get used to breathing
through his or her nose only . •   Breat he through the nose throughout the day with the tongu e
placed in the roof of the mouth. T o find out more about mouth
breathing and development of t he growing face, I suggest that
you read my book Buteyko Meets Dr . Mew: Buteyko Method
for Childr en and T eenagers. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress.Marc is seven y ears old, with n asal obstruction and continuous mouth
breathing. Although Marc’ s physician ruled out asthma, his breathing is
audible during rest and eating (much to his parents’ consternatio n). He gets
very bre athless while playing football, having to take a break from the
match to get his breathing back. Furthermore, he snores each night. Children are great responders to  breathing retraining, although  a lot of
observation is required from p arents. I always say that the success of achild’ s r etraining is dependent on the motivation of the parents. At my
courses, I motivate parents by discussing the importance of nasal breathing
for facia l development, concent ration, sleep, and overall health. I use my
own example of mouth breathing  during childhood and how it detrimentally
af fected my concentration in hi gh school and college. Such an  innocuous
habit has devastating consequences. T o k eep it simpl e for children an d teenagers, I suggest only one exercise
and a couple of guidelines to make good progress. Marc loves football, and the promise of improving his sports
performance is the main motiva tor to put the exercises into practice. When
Marc is able to hold his breath  for 80 to 100 paces, all he has to do is to
practice enough repetitions to maintain this figure. For example, after a few
weeks Marc should be able to maintain 80 paces by just doing 3  repetitions
of paces each day . An example of Marc’ s progress is as follows:
W eek 1: 32 paces
W eek 2: 37 paces
W eek 3: 49 paces
W eek 4: 58 paces
W eek 5: 70 paces
W eek 6: 81 paces
W eek 7: 83 paces
W eek 8: 79 paces
W eek 9: 82 paces
W eek 10: 85 paces
Marc’ s p rogress on the number of paces that he can hold his breath for
will also  depend  on his everyda y breathing. If he does not breathe through
his nose , or regularly takes big breaths during the day , then h is progress
with increasing the number of p aces while holding his breath will be a lot
slower . Therefo re, in addition t o practicing the paces, it is vital to ensure
nasal an d quiet breathing during  the day . T o help with this, Ma rc’ s parents
can gen tly encourage him to breathe quietly any time the y hear his
breathing. An added incentive fo r his parents to continue with the exercises
is that Marc will have silent breathing during eating, not finding itnecessary to gulp lar ge breaths through his mouth while having a mouth full
of food.A p p e n d i x
U p p e r  L i m i t s  a n d  S a f e t y  o f  B r e a t h
H o l d i n g
W hen you  hold your breath, you p revent oxygen from entering into your
lungs and excess carbon dioxide from been expelled. During a maximum
breath hold, the partial pressure  of oxygen decreases in the blood, which
causes the body to conserve any  available oxygen for the heart and brain by
constricting the blood vessels th at supply nonessential or gans. For example,
your arms and legs may feel cold as the blood vessels close an d the body
diverts blood away from them. Another ef fect is bradycardia, w hich is the
slowing of the heart, causing p eripheral blood vessels to constrict, blood
pressure to increase, and the spleen to contract, resulting in the “diving
response.” The diving response is experienced by all air -breathing
vertebrates and is an automatic  response to a drop in oxygen supply . It is
what all ows babies and young children to instinctively hold their breath
when underwate r , and is generally more pronounced in adults w ho regularly
practice breath holding. During b reath h olding, the arterial partial pressure of oxygen d ecreases
from its normal level (100 mmHg) while carbon dioxide increas es to above
its n ormal level (40 mmHg). Breaking point, or the point at which an
individual must  release a breath hold, is when oxygen decreases to 62
mmHg and carbon dioxide is 54  mmHg. While it is extre mely dif ficult for
adults to  hold their breath to the point of fainting, it has been estimated that
consciousness is lost when the oxygen drops to below 27 mmHg and carbon
dioxide increase s to between 9 0 and 120 mmHg. The body uses built-insafety m echanisms such as the diving response and fainting to  ensure that
we do not deprive the brain of oxygen for too long, as doing so can result in
brain injury . The breath-hold  exercises described in this book are absolutely safe so
long as they are practiced within tolerable limits. However , individuals with
high blood pressure, cardiac conditions, type 1 diabetes, or any other
serious health concern should no t practice holding their breath e ither during
rest or while exercising. T o simu late high-altitude traini ng, it is necessary to hold your breath
until you feel a relatively stron g air hunger . At the same time, there is no
point in overdoi ng it. It is important to recover your breathing w ithin 2 to 3
breaths. Before practicing breath holding during intense ex ercise, it is
advisable to first achieve a BOL T score of at least 20 seconds. Until then,
gentler breath-hold exercises during rest and mild to moderate activity can
help you to improve your BOL T score to 20 seconds or more. Although breath-hold training increases tolerance of carbon dioxide, it
is in teresting to note that it do es not blunt the brain’ s safety reaction to
oxygen deprivation. This is where deliberate breath-hold exercises dif fer
vastly fr om the physiological co ndition of sleep apnea, where the breath is
held unintentionally during sleep, sometimes leading to severe health
problems. If these frightening results are a side ef fect of breath holding, it
may be supposed that intentio nal breath holding might have the same
ef fects, but studies of elite breat h holders have found the results  to be quite
the oppo site. Research by Ivancev and colleagues looked at the breath-
holding ability and carbon dioxide sensitivity of breath-hold divers, whose
sport potentially puts them at risk of severe oxygen deprivation. W ith
repeated practic e, these divers are able to sustain very long breath holds,
inducing a severe drop in oxyge n without causing brain injury o r blackouts. A further study by Joulia and colleagues showed that divers displayed a
more pronounce d diving response, less of a decrease in oxygen  saturation,
and greater blood flow . Stages of Br eath HoldingA breath hold can be distinguished by three stages of air shortage ranging
from easy to moderate to strong. In the first stage  there is no stimulus by the breathing muscles to  resume
breathing because carbon dioxid e has not yet reached threshold limits. This
is known as an easy air shortage. The second stage is a moder ate air shortage. As the breath hold
lengthens, carbon dioxide continues to increase in the blood until the
concentration reaches your threshold, stimulating the breathing muscles to
contract or jerk in an attempt to  draw air in. The longer the breath is held,
the more frequent are the contractions of the breathing muscles as the body
attempts to draw air into the lungs. The thir d stage is when the desi re to breathe becomes so strong that the
individual must resume breathing. This is known as a strong air shortage. •  Easy air shortage: no sensation to breathe. •   M oderate air s hortage: from the first involuntary contraction of
the breathing muscles until contractions become frequent. •   Stron g air shortage: ur ge to breathe is strong, leading to
termination of the breath hold. Influences on Length of Br eath-Hold T ime
The three factors that determ ine the length of breath-hold time are:
metabolic rate, tolerance to asp hyxia (decreased oxygen levels ), and total
body gas storage in lungs, blood, and tissues. Metabolic rate can be reduced through relaxation before and during the
breath hold, whereas tolerance  to asphyxia is improved by practicing
regular breath holds. Other activities that influence breath-hold time are:
•  Distraction
•  Whether the breath hold follows an inhalation or exhalation
•  Whether the athlete hyperventilates before the breath holdHolding the breath following a n inhalation results in a longer  breath-
hold tim e since carbon dioxide is diluted in a lar ger volume of air , meaning
the brain’ s receptors to carbon dioxide are not activated as quickly . Breath-hold time increases if you take a number of big breaths
immediately prior to holding your breath, but this ef fect is especially
dangerous when practiced by swimmers. T aking big breaths immediately
before a  swim will significantly  reduce carbon dioxide in the blood but has
little ef f ect on increasing oxygen stores. Because the brain’ s signal to
resume breathin g is depleted by this technique, oxygen levels can drop to
very low  levels before the swimmer feels the need to breathe. T his situation
can result in the  swimmer losing consciousness underwater an d in worst-
case scenarios can cause death by drowning. The U.S. Navy Seals website
warns against this dangerous practice:
Important Alert:  It has come to our attention that many
men pre paring for Special Operations Forces training are
practicing breat h holding underwater , and there have been
several cases of drowning and near drowning recently . Please do not practice br eath holding (under water)
without pr ofessional supervision.N o t e s
1. The Oxygen Paradox
22      When levels of carbon dioxi de: Cheung S.  Advanced Envir onmental
Exer cise Physiology . Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2009. 26      “ The carbon  dioxide pressure”: Bohr C, Hasselbalch K, K rogh A. Concerning a biologically important relationship—the influence  of the
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.udel.edu/chem/white/C342/Bohr%281904%29.html (accessed August
2012). 26      “an e xercising muscle is hot”: W est JB. Respiratory Physiology: The
Essentials. Philadelphia: Lippincott W illiams & W ilkins; 1995. 27      In general, blood flow: M agarian GJ, Middaugh DA, Linz DH. Hyperventilation syndrome: A d iagnosis begging for recognitio n. W est
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cerebral ischemia in panic disorder and ef fects of nimodipine. Am J
Psychiatry . 1992 Nov;149(1 1):1589–91. 27      It is well documented that habitual mouth breathing: Kim EJ,  Choi JH,
Kim KW , et al. The impacts of open-mouth breathing on upper airway
space in obstructive sleep apnea: 3-D MDCT analysis. Eur Ar ch
Otor hinolaryngol. 2011 Apr;268(4):533–9. Kreivi HR, V irkkula P ,
Lehto J, Brander P . Frequency of upper airway symptoms before and
during continuous positive airway pressure treatment in patients with
obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Respiration. 2010;80(6):488–94. Ohki M, Usui N, Kanazawa H, Hara I, Kawano K. Relationship
between oral breathing and nasal obstruction in patients with
obstructive sleep apnea . Ac ta Otolaryngol Suppl. 1996;523:228–30.Lee SH, Choi JH, Shin C, Lee HM, Kwon SY , Lee SH. How  does
open-mouth breathing in fluence upper  airway anatomy? Laryngoscope. 2007 Jun;1 17(6):1 102–6. Scharf MB, Cohen AP . Diagnostic and treatment implications of nasal obstruction in snoring
and obstructive  sleep apnea. Ann Aller gy Asthma Immunol. 1998
Oct;81(4):279–87; quiz 287–90. W asilewska J, Kaczmarski M.
Obstructive slee p apnea-hypop nea syndrome in children. W iad Lek. 2010;63(3):201–12. Rappai M, Collop N, Kemp S, deShazo R. The
nose and sleep-disordered breat hing: What we know and what  we do
not know . Chest. 2003 Dec;124(6):2309–23. 28      Howe ver , an increase of carbon dioxide opens: A study by Dr . van den
Elshout from the department of pulmonary diseases at the Uni versity
of Nijmegen in the Netherla nds explored the ef fect on airway
resistance when there is an increase of carbon dioxide ( hyper capnia ) or
a decrease ( hypocapnia ). Altogether , fifteen healthy people and thirty
with asthma were involved. The  study found that an increase of carbon
dioxide resulted  in a “significant fall” in airway resistance i n both
normal and asthmatic subjects. This simply means that the increase of
carbon d ioxide o pened the airways to allow a better oxygen transfer to
take place. Interestingly , individuals without asthma also experienced
better br eathing. V an den Elshout FJ, van Herwaarden CL, Fo lgering
HT . Ef fects of h ypercapnia and hypocapnia on respiratory resist ance in
normal and asthmatic subjects. Thorax . 1991;46(1):28–32. 28      M aintaining n ormal blood pH: Casiday R, Frey R. Blood, Sweat, and
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August 20, 2012). 31      As th e late chest physician Claude Lum: Lum LC. Hyperve ntilation:
The tip and the iceber g. J Psychosom Res . 1975;19(5–6):375–83. 2. How Fit Ar e Y ou Really? The Body Oxygen Level T est (BOL T)
32      In fact, studies have shown: A study by Japanese researcher s Miharu
Miyamura and colleagues from Nagoya University , of ten marathon
runners and fourteen untrained individuals found that athletes had a
significantly greater tolerance to carbon dioxide at rest when com paredwith untrained individuals. The study found that for the same amount
of e xercise, athletes experience d 50 to 60 percent less breathlessness
than tha t of untrained individua ls. Miyamura M, Y amashina T , Honda
Y . V entilatory responses to CO 2  r ebr eathing at re st and during ex ercise
in untrained subjects and athletes. Jpn J Physiol. 1976;26(3):245–54. 34      Oxida tive stress occurs when: Finaud J, Lac G, Filaire E. Oxidative
stress: Relationship with ex ercise and training. Sports Med . 2006;36(4):327–58. 34      It  has been said that one: On e dif ference between enduranc e athletes
and non athletes is decreased ventilatory responsiveness to h ypoxia
(low oxy gen) an d hypercapnia (hig her carbon dioxide). Scoggin CH,
Doekel RD, Kryger MH, Zwillich CW , W eil JV . Familial aspects of
decreased hypox ic drive in end urance athletes. J Appl Physiol . 1978
Mar;44(3):464–8. In a paper entitl ed “Low exercise ventilation in endurance athle tes”
that was published in Medicine and Science in Sports,  the authors
found that nonathletes breathe far heavier and faster to changes in
oxygen and carbon dioxide when compared with endurance athletes at
equal wo rkloads. The authors observed that the lighter breathing of the
athlete group may explain the link between “low ventilatory
chemosensitivity and outstanding endurance athletic perform ance.”
Martin BJ, Sparks KE, Zwillich CW , W eil JV . Low exercise ven tilation
in endurance athletes. Med Sci Sports . 1979 Summer;1 1(2):181–5. 35      Studi es have shown that ath letic ability: In a study published in the
Journal of Applied Physiology  t hat  com pared t hirteen athletes  and ten
nonathletes, the athletes’ response to increased carbon dioxide was 47
percent of that recorded by the nonathlete controls. The authors  noted
that ath letic ability to perform during lower oxygen pressure and
higher carbon dioxide pressure corresponded to maximal o xygen
uptake or VO 2  ma x. Byrne-Quinn E, W eil JV , Sodal IE, Filley GF ,
Grover RF . V entilatory control in the athlete. J Appl Physiol . 1971
Jan;30(1):91–8. In another stud y conducted at the Research Ce ntre of
Health, Physical Fitness and Sports at Nagoya University in Japan,
researchers evaluated nine initially untrained college students. Five out
of the nine students took up physical training for three hours a day ,three tim es a week for four years. The researchers found that VO 2  max
increased after training and the response of breathing to inc reased
arterial carbon dioxide decreased significantly during each t raining
period. Moreover , CO 2  r espon siveness was found to correlate
negatively with maximum oxygen uptake in four out of the five trained
subjects. Similarly to the previous study , subjects with reduced
sensitivity to CO 2  e xperie nced i ncreased delive ry of oxygen to
working muscle s. Miyamura M, Hiruta S, Sakurai S, Ishida K , Saito
M. Ef fects of prolonged physical training on ventilatory response to
hypercapnia. T ohoku J Exp Med . 1988 Dec;156 Suppl:125–35. 35      T here is a st rong association: Saunders PU, Pyne DB, T elford RD,
Hawley JA. Factors af fecting running economy in trained distance
runners. Sports Med . 2004;34(7):465–85. 36      Researchers  investigating reduced breathing found that running
economy: Scientists investigated whether controlling the number of
breaths during swimming could improve both swimming perfor mance
and running economy . A paper published in the Scandinavian Journal
of Medicine and Science in Sports  involved eighteen swimmers, ten
men and eight women, who were assigned to two gro ups. Th e first
group w as requ ired to take only  2 breaths per length and the second
group 7 breaths . As swimming is one of the few sports that naturally
limits breath intake, it is often of interest to scientists since re ducing
the amount of air consumed during training adds an additional
challenge to the body and may lead to improvements in respiratory
muscle strength . Interestingly , the researchers found that r unning
economy improved by 6 percent in the group that performed reduced
breathing during swimming. Lavin KM, Guenette JA, Smoliga JM,
Zavorsky GS. Controlled-freq uency breath swimming im proves
swimming performance and running economy . Scand J Med Sci
Sports. 2015 Feb;25(1):16–24. 37      A s far  back as 1975: Stanley NN, Cunningham EL, Altose MD , Kelsen
SG, Levinson RS, Cherniack NS. Evaluation of breath hold ing in
hypercapnia as a simple clinical test of respiratory chemosensitivity . Thorax . 1975 Jun;30 (3):337–43.Japanese researcher Nishino acknowledged breath holding as one of
the most powerful methods to induce the sensation of breathlessness,
and that  the breath hold test “gi ves us much information on th e onset
and endurance of dyspnea (breathlessness).” The paper noted two
dif ferent breat h-hold tests as providing useful feedback on
breathlessness. According to Nishino, because holding of the breath
until the first definite desire to breathe is not influenced by training
ef fect or behavioral characteristics, it can be deduced to be a  more
objective measu rement of breathlessness. Nishino T . Pathophys iology
of dyspnea evaluated by breath-holding test: Studies of furosemide
treatment. Respir Physiol Neur obiol . 2009 May 30;167(1):20–5. 39    Since carbon dioxide is the primary: Stanley et al. 1975, 337–43. 40      “ If a person breath holds after a normal exhalation”: McArdle W ,
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physiotherapy at the University of Szeged, Hungary , conducted a study
that investigated the relations hip between breath-hold tim e and
physical performance in patients with cystic fibrosis. Eighteen patients
with varying stages of cystic fibrosis were studied to determine the
value of  the breath-hold time as an index of exercise tolerance. The
breath-hold time s of all patients were measured. Oxygen uptake (VO 2 )
and carbon dioxide elimination were measured breath by breath  as the
patients exercised. The researc hers found a significant correlation
between breath-hold time and VO 2  (oxygen uptake), concluding “that
the v oluntary breath-hold time might be a useful index for pre diction
of the exercise t olerance of CF patients.” T aking this one step f urther ,
increasing the BOL T of patients with CF corresponds to greater
oxygen uptake and reduced breath lessness during physical exercise. Barnai M, Laki I, Gyurkovits K, Angyan L, Horvath G. Relationship
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magnitude of breathlessness, breathing frequency , and breath-holdtime was correlated with severit y of airflow obstruction and, secondly ,
that breath-hold time varies inversely with the magnitude of
breathlessness w hen it is presen t at rest. In simple terms, the low er the
breath-hold time of asthmatics,  the greater the breathing volume and
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_OceanofPDF.com_The_Oxygen_Advantage_-_Patrick_McKeown.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        •   Place one hand on your chest and one hand just above your
navel. At this po int, do not concern yourself with how you are
breathing. •   B ring your attention to the movements of your lower han d. While s itting up straight, gently guide your hand outward by
pushing your abdomen outward, just enough to feel the
movement. The re is no need to make any changes to your
breathing at this point—this stage is primarily to encourage
abdominal movement. •   Now draw in your abdomen and watch your hand move gently
inward. •   Perform this simple exercise for a few minutes to help activate
a “stif f” diaphragm. •   Alternatively, you could perform this exercise while lying on
your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Stage 1 in Brief
•   Gently push your abdomen out. W atch your hand move
outward. •  Gently draw your abdomen in. W atch your hand move inward. If your diaphragm is particularly stif f due to years of breathing with the
upper c hest, the following additional exercise will help to activate the
muscle and encourage better breathing:
•  T ake a gentle breath in through your nose. •  Allow a gentle breath out through your nose. •   Hold  your nose with your fingers and close your mouth to
prevent air from flowing. •   Now try to br eathe in and ou t, while at the same time holding
your breath. •   A s you try to  breathe in and  out, you may feel your stomach
move in  and out as your breathing muscles contract to help
relax the diaphragm. •   When you feel a medium desire to breathe, let go of your nose
and resume breathing normally through your nose. •   Practice thi s exercise 2 or 3 times to help to relax the
diaphragm. When you feel you can move y our abdomen in and out easily  at will,
proceed to Stage 2, which incorporates these abdomen movements with
your breathing. Stage 2: Merging Abdominal Movements with Br eathing
•  Sit up straight. •   Place  one hand on your ch est and the other hand on yo ur
abdomen. •   As you breath e, allow your sh oulders to relax into their natur al
position. •   Gentl y encou rage chest movements to reduce as you breath e,
using the guidance of your mind and your hand. •   At the  same time, try to coordinate your abdomen movemen ts
with your breathing. •   As you bre athe in, gently guide your abdomen outward. Imagine you are breathing into your tummy. (T ry not to make
the movement too big, as doing so may cause dizziness. ) •  As you breathe out, gently draw your abdomen in. •  Y our breathing should be gentle, silent, and calm. •   Perform this exercise for a few minutes to acclimatize yourself
to the movements of your diaphragm and your breath. If y ou are find ing this exercise dif ficult, you may find it e asier to
activate abdominal breathing w hile lying on your back in a semi-supine
position. T ry the following exe rcise lying on a mat with a s mall pillow
under your head and your knees bent, as shown on the following page. •  Place a relatively lar ge book on the area just above your navel. •   As you breath e in, bring your  breathing into your abdomen b y
gently guiding your abdomen to move the book upward. •   As you breathe out, gently allow the abdomen to move back to
its original position. •   The inhalation is the active phase, and the exhalation is passiv e,
as you allow the  air to leave the body naturally and ef fortlessly. While breathing in, imagine inflating your tummy with a light
amount of air and watch the book rise. While breathing out,
imagine a balloon slowly deflating of its own accord. Stage 2 in Brief
•  Breathe in. Gently guide your abdomen out. •  Breathe out. Gently draw your abdomen in. When yo u are confident that you are able to match your breath ing with
the movements of your diaphragm, proceed to Stage 3. Stage 3: Reducing Br ea thing V olume Using A bdominal
Br eathing
If you have tried Stages 1  and 2  but still  find you are unable to switch from
upper -chest to abdominal breath ing, don’ t be concerned—it can take time to
readjust to a new  way of breath ing after years of breathing from the upper
chest. Y ou can still proceed to Stage 3 —simply keep practicing all three
stages u ntil it becomes easier. The more you use these exercises, the greater
your tolerance of carbon dioxide will become. Reducing your breathing is about lowering the amount of air you take
into you r lungs during each minute. As you reduce your breathing, there
will be a slight a ccumulation of  carbon dioxide in the blood, assisting with
the relaxation of the diaphragm. If you have already mastered
diaphragmatic breathing through the first two stages, then you will find that
it is  a lot easier to reduce your breathing volume toward nor mal as you
practice Stage 3. There are two main approaches to reducing breathing volume using
diaphragmatic b reathing. The first is to bring a feeling of relax ation to the
body, to gently a llow your breathing movements to slow down and become
softer. As your body relaxes, y our breathing will automaticall y reduce in
response. The second approach  is to tune in to your breathing pattern,
noting the size of each inhalation and exhalation. By concentrating on the
rhythm o f your breathing for a m inute or two, you will gain a se nse of how
much ai r you are taking into y our body. As you follow you r breathing,
gently e ncourage it to slow d own so that your breathing movements
gradually reduce to the point where you feel a subtle need for air. This ur g e to breathe is the core of reduced breathing exercises and is a
sign tha t you are actively altering your breathing habits toward a healthier,
more ef f ective l evel. When you first attempt reduced breathing exercises,
you may find the sensation of air shortage dif ficult to maintain, but it is
essential to keep practicing if yo u want to bring about changes to your body
and imp rove your sporting performance. The following sentence is the most
important point of this entire book, and something I explain to my students
daily:
The only way to know you ar e r educing your br eathing volume is
feeling as if you would like to take in a bigger br eath. The nee d to take a bigger breath  is similar to the feeling you w ill have
experienced dur ing your measurement of BOL T. This ur ge for air should
not b e s tressful, but should be s imilar to what you might experi ence during
a normal walk. In Stage 3,  we will bring abdominal breathing and reduced breathing
together. T o practice this exercise, it can be very helpful to sit in front of a
mirror to observe and follow your breathing movements:
•  Sit up straight. •  Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your abdomen. •   Im agine a pie ce of string guiding you upward from the top of
the back of you r head. Imagine the space between your ribs
gently widening. •   As you breathe in, gently guide your abdomen out. Keep your
chest movements to a minimum. •   As you breathe out, gently guide your abdomen in, still keeping
your chest movements small. •  Follow each breath in and out through your nose. •   T une in to the amplitude of each inhalation and exhalation. T ry
to get a sense of the size and frequency of each breath. •   A s yo u breathe, exert gentle pressure with your hands against
your abdomen and chest. This should create extra resistance to
your breathing. •  Breathe against your hands, concentrating on making the size of
each breath smaller. •   W ith e ach bre ath, take in less air than you would like to. Mak e
the in-breath smaller or shorter. •   Breathe out with a relaxed exhalation. Allow the natural
elasticity of your lungs and diap hragm to play their role in each
exhalation. Imagine a balloon slowly and gently deflating of its
own accord. •   Whe n the in-breath becomes smaller and the out-breath is
relaxed, visible breathing movements will be reduced. Y ou may
be able to notice this in a mirror. By using a simple exercise lik e this you can reduce your breathing
movements by 20 to 30 percent. If your stomach muscles start to feel tense,
contract, or jerk, or if your bre athing rhythm becomes disrupte d or out of
control, then the air shortage is too intense. In this situation, a bandon the
exercise for 15 seconds or so and return to it when the air s hortage has
disappeared. The mo st common mistake is t o deliberately tense the muscles of the
chest or abdomen to restrict breathing movements. If yo u find this
happening, then take a break from the exercise for 15 seconds or so. When
you retu rn to it, encourage yo ur breathing to reduce by exerting gentle
pressure on your chest and abd omen with your hands, encouraging your
breathing to slow and diminish using relaxation rather than force. Do not be concerned about the number of breaths you take per minute. Ideally, this should not increase. However, if your BOL T score  is less than
20 seco nds, you may find tha t your breathing rate increases during the
exercise. If this happens, try to slow down your breathing and k eep it calm. As y our BOL T score increases it will become much easier to maintain
control of your breathing during reduced breathing exercises. At fi rst, you may only be able to  maintain an air shortage for 20 seconds
before the ur ge to breathe is too  strong. W ith practice, you will be able to
maintain an air shortage for longer periods. Remember, you a re trying to
create an air shortage that is tolerable but not stressful. Aim to m aintain this
tolerable air hunger for 3 to 5 minutes at a time. Practicing 2 sets of 5-
minute exercise s is enough to help you reset your breathing center and
improve your body’ s tolerance of carbon dioxide. During reduced breathing exerc ises it is vital that you create a hunger
for air in order to bring about an accumulation of carbon dio xide in the
blood. W hen thi s happens, the re spiratory center in the brain is reset toward
a calmer and more normal breathing volume. In order to reset the
respiratory cente r by just a little, it is necessary to experience an air hunger
for abou t 10 minutes. Y ou can d ivide most of the exercises in this book into
2 sets of 5-minute sessions, or, if you feel you are confident and
experienced in reduced breathing, you may practice for 10 minutes straight. The Oxygen Advantage: Encompassing Many Factors to Impr ove
Health and Fitness
G e n e r a l  P r o g r a m  B a s e d  o n  B O L T  a n d
H e a l t h
P lease note: Oxygen Advantage exercises that involve holding t he breath
to creat e a medium to strong air shortage during walking, jogging, or
running create a similar ef fect to high-intensity training. As a result, they
are not suitable if you are elderly, pregnant, or have high blood pressure,
cardiovascular disease, type 1 diabetes, kidney disease, depression, cancer,
or any serious health concern. Instead, practice nasal breathing and the
gentle Breathe Light to Breathe Right exercise  until these conditions are
resolved. Similar to physical exercise, it i s recommended to practice the Oxygen
Advantage exercises at least two hours after eating. P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  L e s s  T h a n  1 0
S e c o n d s  ( o r  a n  U n h e a l t h y  o r  O l d e r
P e r s o n )
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   Breathe through the nose both day and night. T o ensure nasal
breathing at night, it will be necessary to wear paper tape
across your lips during sleep. •   Practice the Breathing Recovery Exercise  th rough out the day,
ideally spending  10 minutes 6 times per day doing small breath
holds of between 2 and 5 seconds. •   Another option to help recover breathing  is to exhale through
your nose, pinch your nose wit h your fingers, and walk while
holding the breath for 5 to 10 paces. Rest for 1 minute and
repeat 10 times. •   Engage in 10 to 15 minutes of slow walking each day with the
mouth c losed. If you need to breathe through your mouth, you
must stop walking to recover your breath. •  When your BOL T score increases to 15 seconds, you will find it
a lo t easier to bring relaxation to your body and to Breathe
Light to Breathe Right. It is m ore beneficial to practice this
exercise than Breathing Recovery once your BOL T score hasreached 15 seconds. The minimum time re quired for an
individual for such a low BOL T  score is to practice Breathing
Light to Breathe Right for 1 hour per day (6 sets of 10 minutes
each). •   As your BOL T score increases, it will become a lot easier to
engage in physical exercise. Y our expected progress is to
increase your BOL T score to 25 seconds within 6 to 8 weeks. •  Fill in the following chart to mark your progress. Sixty-five-year -old Michael enjoys slow walking. He has chronic
asthma and suf fers from symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness, andwheezing. Mich ael’ s BOL T is 7  seconds. This program emphasizes quality
over quantity. At the beginning, given Michael’ s low BOL T score, he will find it
dif ficult to Breathe Light to B reathe Right because the air h unger may
destabilize his breathing. There fore, a better initial option for him is to
concentrate on breathing only th rough the nose both during the  day and at
night, and to practice many small breath holds (Breathing Recovery
Exercise) throughout the day. It will also be very helpful for Michael to
relax his  body and encourage hi s breathing to soften, as long as doing so is
not stressful and does not destabilize his breathing. Gentle walking alone will be suf ficient for Michael to generate a
tolerable air shortage. He will n ot need to hold his breath during his walk
unless h e feels comfortable doing so. Sometimes, holding the breath during
a w alk is a good way to overcom e chest tightness and to help increase one’ s
BOL T s core. If Michael practic es breath holds during his slow walks, they
should be limited to no more than 10 paces. He should not hol d his breath
beyond the point at which he los es control of his breathing, as doing so will
disrupt his breathing and possibly cause asthma symptoms. Practicing the exercise Breat he Light to Breathe Right is very
worthwhile and will be a lot ea sier for Michael to apply when his BOL T
score re aches 15 seconds. Michael’ s BOL T score will continue to increase
as l ong as he dedicates 10 minutes by 6 times daily to his reduced
breathing. This may sound like a  lot of hard work, but living wi th asthma is
extremely hard work in itself and will already be costing Michael a lot in
terms of reduced quality of life  and productivity. Reducing his breathing
throughout the day will be the b est investment in time that Mich ael has ever
made. P r o g r a m  f o r  B O L T  S c o r e  o f  1 0  t o  2 0
S e c o n d s
•  Measure your BOL T score each morning after waking. •   B reathe through the nose at all times. W ear paper tape acro ss
your lips during sleep to ensure nasal breathing at night. •   Regul arly obs erve your breathing throughout the day to ensu re
it stays calm and soft. •   Swallow or ho ld the breath any time you feel a sigh coming. If
you miss a sigh, then gently exhale through your nose and hold
your breath for 5 to 10 seconds to compensate. •   Practice the Breathe Light to Breathe Right  or Breathing
Recovery exercise  for 10 minutes, 3 times a day: once in the
morning, once during the afternoon, and once before bed. •   Practice Breathe Light to Breathe Right—W alking  for between
30 and 60 minutes per day; yo u can slow jog if your BOL T
score is greater than 15 seconds.
Increase the tolerance of carbon dioxide.
What is the goal of the program for 20-30 seconds BOL T score?
10-15 minutes
What is the recommended duration for practicing BOL T score?
It is a way to improve overall health and fitness
What is the importance of nasal breathing during the day?
Deliberately tensing the muscles of the chest or abdomen
What is the main mistake to avoid during breathing exercises?
10-15 minutes
What is the recommended duration for practicing BOL T score?