I don’t last more than one or two seconds after I start feeling the urge to breath it makes me anxious. I wonder if the point is to stay longer in this sensation or to practice the breathing exercice to progressively increase one’s capacity.

  • It's a weird one.

    You're holding your breath on an exhale which is completely unnatural so it's going to feel uncomfortable.

    I always feel discomfort for a few seconds, then I sort of plateau to the point where it actually feels quite nice and then after a while my body decides that it needs oxygen and I don't have a choice but to take a breath.

    You can extend the hold with practice but at first try to just push through the initial feeling of discomfort.

    parent

  • I found this breathing technique alone was challenging to increase my breathhold time, just because, science.

    You want to increase your co2 tolerance for longer holds, if thats your goal, consider supplementing your practice with buttekyo method, or very slow breathing  

    parent

    I think you meant Buteyko.

    parent root

  • Different people define (and experience) "discomfort" in different ways so it's hard to give reliable guidance here. Twitching in the diaphragm is a reliable signal to breathe in though

    parent