{"id":17719,"date":"2024-04-29T07:54:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T13:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somaticmovementcenter.com\/?p=17719"},"modified":"2024-04-29T11:44:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T17:44:37","slug":"qa-2-nose-breathing-mouth-breathing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somaticmovementcenter.com\/qa-2-nose-breathing-mouth-breathing\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A 2: Should I breathe through the nose or the mouth while practicing Clinical Somatics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q&A Video #2: Should I breathe through the nose or the mouth when I’m practicing Clinical Somatics?<\/h1>\n

Transcript of video:<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I’m going to answer a question I’ve gotten a number of times from students, which is: Should I breathe through the nose or the mouth when I’m practicing Clinical Somatics? And does it matter?<\/p>\n

First, the most important thing is that you keep breathing.<\/strong> If you hold your breath, you’re reducing your oxygen intake, triggering your stress response, and making it more difficult to relax your muscles and retrain your nervous system.<\/p>\n

Second, I don’t want you to be so focused on how you’re breathing that you can’t focus on the movement that you’re doing.<\/strong> The way in which you’re contracting and releasing your muscles is THE most important thing to focus on. Slowly, consciously pandiculating your muscles is how you retrain your nervous system. So, let yourself breathe in a way that feels natural to you, so that you can focus your conscious attention on your movement.<\/p>\n

Now, to answer the original question: If it’s easy for you to breathe through your nose or your mouth without taking too much focus away from your movement, then I definitely recommend that you breathe through your nose<\/strong>. Nose breathing is preferable for several reasons.<\/p>\n