24/04/2026
I've been a yoga teacher for almost 10 years, and practicing for much longer. But it wasn't until a few years ago that I realised I was "bad" at breathing.
I could do all the "advanced" pranayama techniques, I knew a lot about the bandhas, and I could flow through sun salutations with a one movement, one breath pace.
But when it came to actual functional breathing - the 20,000 ish breaths we take each day, not the three minutes of square breath at the start of a yoga class - I realised I was making a lot of mistakes. 🫣
I've spent the past four years on a breath-based adventure, experimenting, studying with the experts, and reading the research, and I can confidently say that the various breathwork sessions, or pranayama techniques, won't work unless you understand the foundations of functional breathing first.
If, like me four years ago, you're rolling your eyes assuming breathing is a basic skill you mastered at birth, then here are a few things that made me realise I may have more to learn (or un-learn)...