6 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Breathwork Practice
đź’Ś Get your bi-weekly dose of science-based insights for better mental, emotional and physical health using the power of the breath and the nervous system.
👉 Click here to join 1.000+ subscribers of The Breather Letter.
In this post I will share with you the most common mistakes I see many breathers make.
Not just beginners, but seasoned breathers as well.
They are part of the reason clients come to work with me and it’s the stuff I go deep on.
Getting them right will transform your practice and as a result your nervous system and how you experience life.
Unfortunately, many breathers don’t familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the power of the breath. Along the lines of “how hard can it be to breathe?”.
Because of that, they don’t reap the full benefits of a breathing practice or - even more tragic - they give up too early.
Also, just because someone shares information on the breath or teaches breathwork, doesn’t mean they have studied the full picture and current science that is out there.
Breathwork as a field is literally the wild west and new research is coming out constantly.
There is so much conflicting and also amateur breathwork knowledge floating around, let’s make sure we spread the right information.
We have to remember:
When we work with the breath, we are directly influencing our nervous system.
With a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility.
Here are the 6 mistakes I see many people make:
Mistake #1:
Choosing a Practice at Random
There are a ton of different techniques to choose from.
Every breathing technique has a different effect on our nervous system and state of being.
When you do a guided session, you often don’t know which ones they will teach.
(In my Instagram lives, I always share what the practice looks like before we start)
If you use as an app, be mindful what is promised with each practice or technique.
Don’t give away your nervous system’s remote control to just anyone you happen to find online.
My recommendation:
Learn about how the breath and the nervous system works (for example here)
Check in with your body before choosing a practice:
How am I feeling?
What kind of practice do I need today / right now?
Mistake #2:
Doing Too Much Activating, Hyperventilation Breathwork
This is something I see A LOT of people do.
Granted, it seems like the more appealing option - just search for “breathwork” on YouTube (→ the likes of Wim Hof and DMT style breathing)
It looks and feels ecstatic, can make you feel high and on top of the world.
And why?
Because of the adrenaline, endorphines and dopamine that our body produces during those practices.
Essentially, we are putting our bodies in an artificial stress response - which is not necessarily a bad thing - but most of us already operate more in sympathetic mode than we should be and what is healthy. So we are adding more stress, when our systems actually need more regulation and balancing. More is definitely not better in this case.
Doing activating practices (such as Wim Hof breathing) every day is simply not a good idea as you are doing your nervous system a disfavor in the long run - especially also because these techniques do not support a functional breathing pattern.
They can also trigger anxiety when done too often (which I hear from many people):
Plus, we keep conditioning our system to seek out adrenalizing experiences and get more addicted to stress (which many of us already are).
For most people, I recommend doing activating practices no more than once or twice a week.
Instead, it is more beneficial to have a regulating, functional daily breathing practice (even though it might be “boring” at first, because less adrenaline etc is produced).
Activating practices are the icing on the cake.
PS: I teach Transformational Breathwork sessions for a specific purpose (which is not to chase peak experiences, but integration, healing and self-exploration) with a specific set & setting - very different than “youtube ecstatic breathwork”.
Mistake #3:
Belly Breathing Instead of 360° Spherical Diaphragmatic Breathing
On social media and in many yoga classes, you hear a lot of instructions to engage in belly breathing.
And while that is a great first step especially for those people who have been mainly breathing from their chest most of their lives, it is not very effective.
One, we often isolate the chest when we focus on belly breathing.
Two, true functional breathing movement works in 360 degrees not just forward.
There is way better and more functional way:
Enter 360° spherical diaphragmatic breathing.
This means, the movement is mainly coming from the area around the lower ribs, but the belly and chest are also involved to some degree.
We want about 70-80% movement in the belly and lower rib area and 20-30% in the chest area.
Plus, because the diaphragm attaches to all sides of the lower ribs, we also want the sides and backside expand.
Imagine a balloon sitting in your stomach area. It doesn’t just inflate and deflate forward, it inflates and deflates in all directions.
Mistake #4:
Compensating Slower Breathing with Bigger Breaths
When we slow down our breathing, for example when we so coherence breathing to a count of 5 in and 5 out, we decrease our breathing rate from an average of 12-20 breaths per minute down to 6 breaths per minute.
A natural response for most breathers is to increase the size of the breaths. This actually works against the intention of optimizing our breathing and regulating our nervous system, because we are off-gasing too much CO2.
It might give you a temporary sense of calm, but it’s not as effective and won’t impact your functional breathing pattern in the long term.
In order for your practice to have a lasting effect on your breathing pattern and nervous system, we have to create a sense of air hunger when we’re doing any regulating exercise.
This is why we practice what is called “reduced” (or light) breathing.
This means you want your CO2 to rise slightly to a point where you feel like you would like to breathe in more air, but you’re not. You want to hover on a nice, tolerable air hunger.
This might take some time to get used to but it will revolutionize your practice in the long run.
Mistake #5:
Not Integrating Functional Breathing Into Daily Life
A daily sitting breathwork practice is a great foundation.
But if your good breathing habits stop the second you step off the mat, your practice is like a drop in the bucket.
So: take your practice off the mat.
The key here is to check in with your breathing regularly as you go about your day and make sure you are mainly:
Breathing through your nose (also when walking and exercising + mouth taping at night)
Utilizing your diaphragm (70% of movement coming from the diaphragm + belly and 30% from the chest)
Breathing calmly and softly
Otherwise, i’s like going to the gym to lose weight only to go home and eat McD and sugary processed foods.
Mistake #6:
Blindly Following a Guided Practice
I see many breathers go along with every instruction they are given and often ignore their body’s NO signals during a practice.
I get it, breathwork teachers and facilitators have a certain authority. But we are not in your body.
It’s important to understand that both the breath and the nervous system are highly individual systems. Every body has a different baseline (different CO2 tolerance) and different needs.
Not every technique is suitable for everyone.
Some practices make people feel very uncomfortable, light-headed, anxious, stressed or simply frustrated.
Know this: you don’t have to follow every guided instruction by a facilitator.
You can an adjust the technique (eg. the counts).
You can take breaks.
Listen to your body. You are in your nervous system’s driver’s seat, not your facilitator.
👉 I wrote an in-depth guide on what to do when you feel anxious breathwork and mindfulness practices.
If it comes down to it - in a perfect world, everyone would have their own unique set of breathing protocols (which is why 1-1 coaching could be a good idea).
Take a moment to reflect:
Which mistakes have you made in your breathwork practice?
Watch out for part 2 of this essay.
I have several more mistakes I see a lot of people make.
For now, implement my recommendations into your practice and let me know what you notice.
Keep breathing, stay regulated.
Big love
—Conni.
PS: Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
→ Breathwork + Nervous System Foundations Course: Learn how to regulate and rewire your nervous system. Access more calm, energy and focus by using the power of the breath.
→ 1-1 Somatic Coaching + Inner Work Mentorship: A 4-month one-one-one coaching and mentorship program for entrepreneurs, founders, creatives, coaches and practitioners who need support in healing their anxiety, chronic stress, overthinking, and/or attachment wounding.
