Breathwork for Optimal Breathing

Almost as soon as breath attunement practices have begun, education about optimal functional breathing in daily life is introduced. Therapeutic breathwork to foster coherent, slow-paced breathing is offered with an invitation to release stressful exertion by balancing effort and ease. This chapter offers a multipronged process toward helping clients develop breathing patterns that support them most helpfully during regular daily activities and life situations. After recapping the importance of nasal and diaphragmatic breathing, it emphasizes subtle breathing practices that slowly but surely shift the biomechanics, biochemistry, and psychology of the breath. The chapter includes detailed cuing suggestions and sample scripts that help clinicians use wholesome breathing instructions about how to teach natural breathing. Language is shifted toward slow-paced and light breathing with a rhythmic cadence, smooth texture, and no sound, busting many myths for clinicians and clients alike. Concepts about natural breathing are often misunderstood, and this chapter creates valuable insight into the need to help patients access breathing cadences that optimize biochemistry while supporting calm and socially connected nervous system states.