Long Exhale

Sitting tall, breathing out for twice as long as you breathe in. The only thing in the method where the breath is the work rather than the pace.

· 3 min read

yoga · breath · nervous system · seated · recovery

The lesson

  1. 1

    Sit tall, however you can

    Cross-legged on a cushion, kneeling, or with your back flat against a wall and the legs out in front. Height under the hips is what lets the spine stack without effort.

  2. 2

    Let the ribs be free

    Sit up out of the low back rather than puffing the chest. The ribs need room to move — that is the whole reason this is done sitting rather than lying down.

  3. 3

    Breathe in for four

    In through the nose, unhurried, for a slow count of four. Fill low first — the belly and the bottom of the ribs move before the chest does.

  4. 4

    Breathe out for eight

    Out through the nose for a count of eight, letting the air leave steadily rather than dumping it and then waiting. This is the half that does the work.

  5. 5

    Shorten it if it strains

    Four in, six out is the honest version for most people starting out. A ratio you can hold calmly beats a longer one you have to fight for.

  6. 6

    When the mind wanders, count again

    It will wander within about three breaths. That is not a failure — noticing and returning to the count is the practice, and you will do it many times.

  7. 7

    The test

    By a few minutes in the shoulders drop, the jaw lets go, and the breath feels slower without you making it slower. If you feel light-headed or air-hungry, the ratio is too long.

Long Exhale

How to do it

Sit tall in whatever way you can hold for several minutes without effort — cross-legged on a cushion, kneeling, or with your back against a wall and the legs straight out. Breathe in through the nose for a slow count of four, then out through the nose for a count of eight. Keep the air moving steadily on the way out rather than releasing it all at once. If eight is a strain, use four in and six out. Then keep going, and start the count again every time you notice you have stopped counting.

Why it's good for runners

This is the one shape in the method that trains the breath rather than being paced by it, and it is not a soft addition to the practice. A lengthened exhale is the most direct lever anyone has on their own nervous system: breathing out for longer than you breathe in slows the heart on every cycle, and a few minutes of it moves a body out of the switched-on state that a hard training block leaves it in. On a night when sleep will not come, or the day before a race, it is worth more than any shape you could get into.

It also transfers, which the rest of a wind-down does not. An athlete who has practised finding a long, steady exhale on demand can find one at 32 km when the wheels are coming off, and that is a genuinely different last 10 km from the one where the breathing runs away. Controlled breath is one of the capabilities this method is built to produce; this is where it is trained directly rather than as a by-product.

Common mistakes

Don't force the ratio. Air hunger, light-headedness or a gasp at the top of the inhale all mean the count is too long — shorten it, and lengthen it another week. Don't take a huge inhale; the size of the in-breath is not the point and a big one makes the long exhale harder. Don't dump the air out and then sit there waiting for the count to finish, which is a held breath wearing a disguise. And don't treat a wandering mind as a failed practice — it wanders for everyone, within a few breaths, and coming back to the count is the thing being trained.

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