Got 5 minutes? Try this easy breathing exercise!

High-altitude training is a proven way to build stamina and endurance. Sports teams around the world have high-altitude training centers to practice in the lower oxygen atmosphere of higher altitudes. The reason is based on the simple premise that if your body is not getting the amount of oxygen it is used to, your lungs will become more efficient at using whatever oxygen is available, and your heart, circulatory system, and cell membranes will become more efficient at delivering that oxygen throughout your body. Once you return to lower altitudes your body still processes oxygen in that enhanced way, thereby increasing performance.

But if you don’t live near any mountains, or you simply want to experience what it feels like and whether you might benefit from high-altitude training, here is a simple technique I learned from Patrick McKeown’s book, The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter.

Walk and Hold

After a minute of continuous walking at a moderate, comfortable pace, breathing only through your nose, exhale gently and hold your breath, continuing to walk. (McKeown advocates using a nose clip but admits that most people are too self-conscious to do this, including me!) Continue walking as you hold your breath until you feel a medium to strong air shortage and then take a moderate breath through your nose. For the next 15-30 seconds try to minimize your breathing with only a few short breaths (or hold your breath for 15-30 seconds) and then allow your breathing to return to normal.

Repeat

After 30 seconds of normal breathing (still walking), repeat the exercise, up to 8-10 times. Get used to the feeling of your lungs being slightly deprived of air and see how your body best copes with it, without taking big gulps and making big exhales. This is a great way to give your lungs a bit of an extra workout, bring more oxygen into your circulatory system, and enhance the efficiency of your celullar metabolism.  McKeown has trained many athletes with this method and enhanced their performance.

I do this a lot—in the gym, on the street, in parks, and in the woods. You can do it anywhere. To me, the secret to maximizing the time I can hold my breath is a subtle feeling in my solar plexus (a bundle of nerves in the abdomen, near the diaphragm), the spot that prompts me to breathe. If I can relax that spot and not “think” I need air, it feels smoother and more sustainable. This is also a training secret to ultra-long breath holds accomplished by free divers.

My overall stamina and endurance has improved a great deal using this method. It enables me to focus more without straining as much as I used to.

Try this breathing technique and see what you think! Take a few minutes every day to practice it; see if you can hold your breath more comfortably as you repeat the exercise.  There are also other exercises in the book to do with increasing breathing efficiency, including some stationary ones. McKeown calls it “bringing the mountain to you.” It is an excellent and surprising book