Mouth Exhaling

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 4 years before Jun 22, 2018

MiBeloved 4 years ago

Query:

Hey Michael, in a video where you and Alfredo are doing breath infusion together.. There is this phase where both of you are inhaling, holding a bit, and forcing an exhalation through the mouth. Once I read somewhere that the exhalation through the mouth is done (blowing candles off) to increase lung capacity.

MiBeloved's Response:

In the practice exhaling through the mouth is done spontaneously when one feels that the carbon dioxide has shifted a little to the back of the body and that it would be more efficient for it to be released through the mouth. This decision is made intuitively.

We do not focus on increasing lung capacity, even though that is a side effect of the practice. We focus on using whatever lung capacity is present to the best of our ability and with the most efficiency. By doing the practice regularly at least once per day, lung capacity increases but that is really no big deal because it is not the size of your lungs that is the key. It is, rather, the absorption rate of the lungs regarding how much of the air it actually ingests with each inhale.

Let us say for instance that my lungs take in 8 cubic measures of air with each breath during the breath infusion practice; then the question is what percentage of that air is actually absorbed by the lung cells? Suppose then my lungs take in 2 cubic measures and the rest of the inhaled air just sits in the lungs or are expelled on the exhale.

Now say for comparison sake, that your lungs are small, by genetic construction you have pee wee lungs of about say 4 cubic measures of air. But the absorption rate of your lungs is 3 cubic measures for each intake of air. Then we have to conclude that your situation is better than mine, even though my lung capacity is greater.