Great post, Mila! As a fellow breathwork practitioner, I love how you highlighted the importance of CO2 tolerance. It's something that often gets overlooked, but it's so crucial for managing stress and improving overall well-being. I've definitely noticed a difference in my own practice. Your tips on combining the BOLT test with pranayama are spot on – it's a great way to track progress. Great, well written, article!
hmmm...this really made me think about my early athletic days. I was a synchronized swimmer (now called artistic swimming in the olympics). As part of our practice, we would hold our breath on the side of the pool for as long as we could, exhaling only. At the end of the exhale, we were encouraged to wait even longer, then take a big breath in before sprinting the length of the pool, ideally without taking a breath (25meters). We would also swim "unders and overs" where we would swim the full length of the pool underwater, then take one breath at the end, and swim the full length back. I got to the point where I could swim a lap and a half without taking a breath. I could also hold my breath for 2minutes. This made it so that during routines, going 30-45 seconds without a chance to breathe was relatively easy.
That was high school. Shortly after high school, I started practicing yoga. I found the pranayama breathwork practices of yoga to be easy and fun. no wonder. I had been training my breath since I was 13 years old!
who knew I was doing BOLT tests back then.
and now, as I write this, I have watched myself naturally take several deeper breaths. thank you for that.
Thank you @TeriLeigh for your story and an insight about your Bolt experience🥳 for you it certainly hasn’t difficult, but for many of us it is. I met people who couldn’t hold their breathe consciously for 5 -20 seconds… It’s easy to try and practice and brings great balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Great post, Mila! As a fellow breathwork practitioner, I love how you highlighted the importance of CO2 tolerance. It's something that often gets overlooked, but it's so crucial for managing stress and improving overall well-being. I've definitely noticed a difference in my own practice. Your tips on combining the BOLT test with pranayama are spot on – it's a great way to track progress. Great, well written, article!
hmmm...this really made me think about my early athletic days. I was a synchronized swimmer (now called artistic swimming in the olympics). As part of our practice, we would hold our breath on the side of the pool for as long as we could, exhaling only. At the end of the exhale, we were encouraged to wait even longer, then take a big breath in before sprinting the length of the pool, ideally without taking a breath (25meters). We would also swim "unders and overs" where we would swim the full length of the pool underwater, then take one breath at the end, and swim the full length back. I got to the point where I could swim a lap and a half without taking a breath. I could also hold my breath for 2minutes. This made it so that during routines, going 30-45 seconds without a chance to breathe was relatively easy.
That was high school. Shortly after high school, I started practicing yoga. I found the pranayama breathwork practices of yoga to be easy and fun. no wonder. I had been training my breath since I was 13 years old!
who knew I was doing BOLT tests back then.
and now, as I write this, I have watched myself naturally take several deeper breaths. thank you for that.
Thank Alexander🤩 it means a lot to me! 🙏🏻 I spotted some room for improvement improvement, where I omitted some facts- will edit today.
Thank you @TeriLeigh for your story and an insight about your Bolt experience🥳 for you it certainly hasn’t difficult, but for many of us it is. I met people who couldn’t hold their breathe consciously for 5 -20 seconds… It’s easy to try and practice and brings great balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide.