7 Days to Functional Breathing

Day 1 / 7

The Three Dimensions of Breathing

You breathe around 20,000 times a day. Today you'll learn a simple framework for understanding how you breathe, and what your breathing might be telling you.

  • Video lesson with Patrick McKeown
  • 6–10 minutes

Today's practice

Notice how you breathe right now, without changing anything. How fast? Where in your body? Is your mouth open or closed?

Key points

  • Functional breathing is nasal, driven mainly by the diaphragm, light, slow and regular, with a natural pause after you breathe out.
  • Breathing has three connected dimensions: biochemical, biomechanical and psychophysiological.
  • The nose ties all three together. Nasal breathing helps with each dimension at once.

Next lesson

Day 2 arrives in your inbox tomorrow

Tomorrow: the BOLT, a simple way to get feedback on your breathing. Have a timer ready.

Look out for it in your inbox

Go further today

How well do you breathe?

Take the free breathing assessment and see how your breathing, sleep and stress compare.

Community

Meet the Oxygen Advantage® community

More than 13,000 certified instructors teach functional breathing in over 60 countries. Read their stories and catch up on news from the team.

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@oxygenadvantage

Short practices, research updates and conversations with Patrick McKeown, between lessons and after the course.

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