36 pages • 1 hour read
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
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Part 3, Chapter 8-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Breathing+”
Chapter 8 Summary: “More, on Occasion”
Chapter 8 begins by describing a new set of breathing techniques that Nestor refers to as Breathing+. These techniques require more dedication, effort, and a willingness to tolerate discomfort. In normal circumstances, Breathing+ can be dangerous to one’s health and require medical care; however, under the right conditions and if used consciously, Breathing+ “can radically transform lives” through its restorative, healing powers (140).
Nestor’s first case example focuses on Jacob Mendez Da Costa, a doctor from the Civil War era who treated soldiers suffering from “anxiety and paranoia, headaches, diarrhea, dizziness, and shooting pain in their chests” (141). Da Costa suspected that the soldiers—none of whom saw combat—suffered from a disturbance in their nervous system, a theory that Nestor builds on with an extended discussion of how breathing regulates the autonomic nervous system. Deep and soft inhalations with strong exhalations induce a parasympathetic response, which is relaxing. Conversely, short and hasty breaths induce a sympathetic response that triggers a heightened state of action. Breathing+ techniques use stress-inducing and sympathetic responses to rebalance the body, disproving the commonly held notion that the “autonomic nervous system, per its definition, was supposed to be autonomic, as in automatic, as in beyond our control” (150).
This is not always the case. For instance, for thousands of years, Tibetan Buddhists and their students have used a heavy breathing practice called Tummo, or Inner Fire Meditation, to harness energy and achieve seemingly superhuman feats like staying warm wearing very little clothing in frigid temperatures. Westerners also adopted these methods. In the early 1900s, Alexandra David-Néel hiked the Himalayas alone for 19 hours a day without food or water; in the early 2000s, Wim Hof sat in ice cold baths for nearly two hours without suffering from hypothermia or frostbite.
Scientific experiments confirm the benefits of conscious heavy breathing, which forces the body into alternating states of high stress and relaxation and trains it to control physiological responses. Thus, research participants who practiced Tummo could “control their heart rate, temperature, and immune response, and stimulate the sympathetic system” to fight off when exposed to harmful stimuli like extreme cold or E. coli (153).
While Nestor is supportive of Tummo and tries it under the tutelage of a trainer, he is less accepting of another extreme breathing technique called Holotropic Breathwork. Developed by a psychiatrist named Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork is meant to “rewire the mind” (158). Nestor attends a Holotropic workshop but does not experience its transformative effects. He concludes that while it potentially helps patients with psychiatric disorders, most of the participants he witnesses are not breathing heavily and likely experiencing psychosomatic effects.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Hold It”
Chapter 9 opens by describing an experiment conducted by Arthur Kling who, in the late 1960s, trapped wild monkeys, lobotomizes their brains, and released them back into the wild to observe the effects. In every case, the monkeys had “trouble navigating the world” and soon died from accidents and predator attacks (165). Kling’s experiment was investigating the functions of a particular part of the brain, the amygdala, “the alarm circuit of fear, signaling threats and initiating a reaction to fight or run away” (166). Kling’s monkeys all died because they had no sense of fear.
Nestor next turns his attention to a rare human genetic disorder known as Urbach-Wiethe disease, which destroys the amygdala. He describes the case of S.M., a woman with this condition, who expresses no fear, stress, or anxiety about anything—even in situations of bodily harm. When Dr. Justin Feinstein, a clinical neuropsychologist, administers carbon dioxide to S.M. as part of an experiment, S.M. is fully aware that the gas will not hurt her, but after one inhalation, she panics and report feelings of suffocation. The experiment suggests that the amygdala is not the only source of fear, for S.M. does not have one. Fear is also linked to breathing.
The rest of the chapter examines the importance of brain neurons called chemoreceptors, which help regulate the feeling of needing to breathe. “Eighteen percent of Americans suffer from some form of anxiety or panic” (171); studies have shown that people who breathe too much have low levels of carbon dioxide in their bloodstream and are more likely to suffer from panic disorders. As Nestor explains, “To avoid another attack, they breathe far too much and eventually become hypersensitized to carbon dioxide and panic if they sense a rise in this gas” (177). To help mitigate these fears, Feinstein’s experiment uses carbon dioxide as a type of exposure therapy. Controlled bouts of carbon dioxide can condition chemoreceptors to become more flexible to the gas, resulting in fewer panic attacks.
Nestor participates in Feinstein’s experiment. While he does not panic during the first inhalation of carbon dioxide, likely the result of his Breathing+ training, he eventually succumbs to panic once Feinstein raises the level of gas.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Fast, Slow, and Not at All”
Chapter 10 opens with Nestor traveling to Brazil to meet with a renowned expert of yoga, Luíz Sérgio Álvares DeRose. Nestor has several questions that he hopes DeRose can answer about Breathing+ techniques and their effects on the body. DeRose answers Nestor’s questions by addressing the centrality of prana to breathing. Nestor translates prana as “life force” or “vital energy” and describes it as “an ancient theory of atoms” that has a long history and connection to breathwork in many different cultures (187).
To frame prana in scientific terms, Nestor draws on the work of Albert Szent-Györgyi who, in the 1940s, developed a theory about the excitability of electrons within atoms. Oxygen is a strong electron acceptor: “The more oxygen life can consume, the more electron excitability it gains, the more animated it becomes” (193). Nasal breathing, along with breathing slowly and less, “balances the levels of respiratory gases in the body and sends the maximum amount of oxygen to the maximum amount of tissues so that our cells have the maximum amount of electron reactivity” (194).
Nestor next focuses on the historical origins of yoga and some of its more famous practitioners, like Swami Rama. Nestor differentiates ancient yoga, or Yôga, from modern yoga. Whereas Yôga focuses on prana, sitting still, and conscious breathing, modern yoga functions more like an aerobic exercise to improve fitness and flexibility. DeRose informs Nestor that “Yôga practices were never designed to cure problems” (198). Rather they were created for healthy people to reach a higher potential and to “live longer and more vibrant lives” (198).
Nestor ends the chapter by asking DeRose to explain to him why he experienced a profound sense of transformation when he practiced Sudarshan Kriya breathing for the first time. DeRose tells Nestor that this was prana. Though he did not have the tools yet to process it then as a subtler experience, it still was a good vision (su darshan). After ten years of practice, Nestor now knows how to regulate his breathing to balance prana.
Epilogue Summary: “A Last Gasp”
The last chapter to Breath summarizes Nestor’s main points, which he organizes as seven axioms: “Shut your mouth” (206), “Breathe through your nose” (208), “Exhale” (209), “Chew” (209), “Breathe more, on occasion” (210), “Hold your breath” (211), and “How we breathe matters” (212). The final axiom describes the perfect breath: “Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That's 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air” (212).
While Nestor devotes the final chapter to the benefits of breathing correctly, he notes that these techniques are not a panacea for all ailments: “Breathing, like any therapy or medication, can’t do everything” (204). Nestor is not anti-science, and he explains the necessity of using modern medicine and technologies to save lives. Still, he posits that biomedical interventions works best for emergencies and are not as well equipped to deal with milder, chronic maladies. Breathing can be “preventative maintenance, a way to retain balance in the body so that milder problems don't blossom into more serious health issues” (205).
Nestor ends the book with a brief description of his return to the Victorian house in San Francisco where he first tried Sudarshan Kriya ten years previously. He sees the same instructor and attendees and once again experiences the restorative effects of conscious breathing.
Part 3, Chapter 8-Epilogue Analysis
Part 3 of Nestor’s book acknowledges that Breathing+ is not for everyone, for it requires substantial training, dedication, and a willingness to withstand discomfort. Nestor even adds a disclaimer that many Breathing+ practices are dangerous if used incorrectly or for extended periods of time. This barrier to accessibility differentiates Part 3 from the rest of the book.
Part 3 counters many of the tenets of good breathing that Nestor proposes in Parts 1 and 2. For instance, while several chapters in Part 2 explained why it is best to breathe slow and less and to exhale fully to restore balance in the body, chapters in Part 3 suggest the opposite—at least to a certain degree. Nestor’s central point is that Breathing+ techniques—such as breathing heavily, holding one’s breath, and radically alternating the tempo—should be practiced only on occasion for a few minutes or hours a day. As Nestor explains, “Sometimes the body needs more than a soft nudge to get realigned. Sometimes it needs a violent shove” (148), which is why Breathing+ methods, in moderation, work so well.
Another key distinction Nestor makes is that Breathing+ techniques are conscious or deliberate acts used to reset the body. They build on previous breathing practices, so, while they can be dangerous, they sit within a larger context of learning and training that already has conditioned the body to respond well to its interventions. This is why at low levels carbon exposure therapy does not make a large impact on Nestor—he already has trained his body to function well in an oxygen deficient environment.
Similar to Parts 1 and 2, Part 3 uses extended case examples from scientific studies, ancient texts, and personal experiences. It also makes frequent use of cross-cultural examples to highlight the continuity of Breathing+ practices over time. One overarching theme in the book is that those who use Breathing+ techniques were not born with superior abilities or physiologies; rather, anyone with enough patience, fortitude, and practice can accomplish seemingly superhuman feats through breathing. Part 3 provides evidence of this with examples of practitioners from modest backgrounds and means.
A strength of Nestor’s writing is his ability to synthesize information from many different kinds of sources—scientific, historical, cultural, and religious—while framing these findings through the lens of his own experiences.
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