Deep breathing rounds

How to do it

1. Sit with your back supported or lie on your back, somewhere safe, away from water and with nothing to rush to afterward. Never standing.
2. Take 30 full breaths in a row: in through the nose for 1.5 seconds, out through the mouth for 1.5 seconds. Let the air fall out. Don't blow.
3. After the last exhale, stay empty. In round one the guide counts up to 60 seconds. That's a ceiling, not a goal: breathe as soon as you want to.
4. Recover: breathe in through the nose for 3 seconds, hold for 15 seconds, and breathe out for 3 seconds.
5. Round two: another 30 breaths, an empty hold the guide counts up to 90 seconds, and the same 3-15-3 recovery.
6. Round three: 30 breaths, an empty hold with a ceiling of 120 seconds, and the recovery. The same rule applies every round: your body decides when the hold ends.
7. When you finish, stay still and breathe at your own pace for a minute or two before you get up.

What deep breathing rounds are

Each round has three parts. First, thirty full breaths at a brisk pace: a second and a half to take air in through the nose, a second and a half to let it out through the mouth. Then a pause with your lungs empty. Last, one recovery breath that you hold for fifteen seconds.

Two things set it apart from bellows breath and kapalabhati. The breaths are slower and bigger, and the hold is long and done on empty. In this guide the ceiling for that hold rises by 30 seconds each round: 60, 90 and 120. All together, the three rounds come to about ten minutes.

Where it comes from

The sequence is best known from Wim Hof's method, which pairs it with cold exposure. His website describes thirty deep breaths, a hold on empty until you feel the urge to breathe, and a recovery breath held for fifteen seconds, for three or four rounds. There the hold has no set length. The 60, 90 and 120 second ceilings belong to this guide.

Breathing fast and then holding isn't a new idea: yoga has practices with that outline, bellows breath among them. What you get here is the breathing alone, with no cold and no promises.

What people use it for

People who practice it are usually after energy and a strong, clear sensation in the body, most often in the morning. The method's site suggests doing it right after waking or before a meal, on an empty stomach. Others treat it as an attention exercise: staying still through the hold and watching what happens.

Those are uses and experiences. This is not a breath for calming down in a hard moment or for winding down before bed, and it is not the place to start.

What the studies say

The study cited most often came out in 2014 in PNAS (Kox and colleagues). It involved 24 healthy men. Twelve trained for ten days with Wim Hof and his instructors in meditation, breathing and cold exposure. Then all of them were given a bacterial endotoxin, which brings on flu-like symptoms for a few hours. The trained group released more adrenaline, had lower levels of several inflammatory proteins and reported fewer symptoms. The authors note they can't separate the effect of the breathing from the rest of the training.

The same study measured what happens during the exercise: carbon dioxide in the blood dropped, pH rose, and oxygen saturation fell during each hold, with lows near 50% for about ten seconds. That is why this practice asks for so much care.

In 2023, a Stanford trial with 108 adults compared three five-minute daily breathing practices with meditation. A group of 33 did a short version: thirty breaths and only 15 seconds on empty. They reported better mood after practicing, with no significant difference from meditation. These are small studies. A response measured in a lab does not show a benefit against any illness.

What it feels like and what to notice

Fast, deep breathing is hyperventilation. Carbon dioxide drops, and that brings lightheadedness, tingling in the hands or around the mouth and, sometimes, tight hands. It usually fades once you breathe normally again.

Carbon dioxide is also part of the signal that tells you to breathe. With less of it, the urge to breathe arrives late while oxygen keeps falling. That is why the hold feels easy, and why it's possible to pass out with no warning. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented 16 drowning cases in New York State between 1988 and 2011 tied to hyperventilating or holding the breath underwater. Four were fatal.

Stop if you feel very dizzy, your vision blurs, your chest hurts or you feel afraid. Breathe normally and stay on the floor or in your chair until it passes.

Variations

• Gentler (variation): a single round, with shallower breaths, and an empty hold of 15 to 30 seconds.
• The 2023 trial's version (variation): thirty breaths and 15 seconds on empty, three rounds.
• The Wim Hof Method's way (variation): the hold isn't timed. It ends when the urge to breathe arrives, and you do three or four rounds.
• If you want energy without long holds: bellows breath and kapalabhati have short pauses, and cyclic sighing has none.

Common mistakes

• Treating the hold as a record. The counter runs to 60, 90 and 120 seconds, but there is nothing to win. The moment you want air, move on to the recovery breath.
• Blowing the air out. The exhale is a release. Push it and you hyperventilate more and get dizzy sooner.
• Doing it standing, in the shower or in the tub. Fainting on your feet means a fall. In water it can kill.
• Fighting through the hold. A clenched face, a hard belly, spasms: it was already time to breathe.
• Getting up right away. Give your body a minute or two of normal breathing.

How often and how long

No study has established a frequency. The 2023 trial used five minutes a day for 28 days, with 15-second holds, not two-minute ones. If you practice it, one three-round session is plenty for a day, on a rested body and without pushing harder to last longer.

Many people keep it for a few days a week and use slow breathing the rest of the time. If it still brings dizziness or discomfort after several sessions, it isn't your breath, and that's fine too.

Before you start

• Always practice sitting or lying down, somewhere a dizzy spell can't put you in danger. Never standing.
• Never in or near water: no pool, bathtub, shower or ocean. Never while driving or right before you drive.
• If you feel very dizzy, your vision blurs, your chest hurts or you feel unwell, stop and breathe normally.
• Ask a health professional first if you are pregnant or have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition, epilepsy, or a history of fainting or panic attacks.
• This is a practice for adults. The empty hold is a ceiling, not a goal: don't compete, with yourself or anyone else.