The question: How does breathing actually work in the body?
The short answer: The main job of breathing is gas exchange: oxygen-rich air reaches the tiny air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, and carbon dioxide leaves the blood to be breathed out. James Stewart pictures the lungs as an upside-down tree and teaches that breathing low and slow through the nose, led by the diaphragm, is the most efficient way to use it.
What James explains
Every cell in your body is constantly working, and that work gives off heat and carbon dioxide. That is why you get out of breath and sweat when you exercise harder. When you breathe in, air travels into your lungs and down to the alveoli, where oxygen passes into the bloodstream and carbon dioxide comes out to be exhaled.
James uses an upside-down tree to make the anatomy simple. The windpipe is the trunk, it splits into two branches, then smaller and smaller branches, and the leaves are your alveoli, where gas exchange happens. James points out that much of that surface sits in the lower part of the lungs, so the goal is to get air down there and keep it in the leaves for longer.
The diaphragm is the primary breathing muscle. At rest it sits high, and when it engages it pulls down and creates space for the lungs to expand. Breathing low and slow through the nose uses the diaphragm on purpose and opens up more surface area. James explains that a more efficient breath lets you breathe less often, which lowers heart rate and puts less strain on your system.
Try it: low, slow, nose and balance
- Breathe through your nose as often as you can.
- Let each inhale travel low and slow, down into your belly.
- Feel the diaphragm pull down and make room for the lower lungs.
- Bring balance to your breath by making the inhale and exhale equal in length.
What to watch for
James says most of us are born good breathers, then pick up breathing habits that work against us as life gets busier. Shallow chest breathing and habitual mouth breathing keep air away from the lower lungs. Rather than building on those habits, come back to the two foundations: low and slow through the nose, and a balanced breath.
Key points
- The primary purpose of breathing is gas exchange, which happens in the alveoli, the leaves of the upside-down tree.
- The diaphragm is your primary breathing muscle, and engaging it lets the lower lungs expand.
- Breathing low and slow through the nose with an equal inhale and exhale is James's foundation for efficient breathing.
Common questions
Why does James recommend breathing through the nose?
Nasal breathing that is low and slow encourages a belly breath and expands the surface area being used. James also describes the nose as a natural filter, pressurizer and humidifier that prepares air before it reaches the lungs.
What does a balanced breath mean?
It means the inhale and exhale are equal parts. James explains that a balanced breath sends a more relaxed, balanced message to your body.
Why does efficient breathing matter for breathwork?
James teaches that a more efficient breather can breathe less often, which lowers heart rate and taxes the body less. Understanding this physiology makes any breathwork goal, from athletic performance to stress relief, safer, quicker and more effective.
Research mentioned
Farré R, Navajas D. Ventilation Mechanics. Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2023;44(5):511-525. Explains how airflow and lung volume changes come from basic mechanical laws: airway resistance, lung compliance and chest wall compliance. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0043-1770340
Kocjan J, Adamek M, Gzik-Zroska B, Czyżewski D, Rydel M. Network of breathing. Multifunctional role of the diaphragm: a review. Advances in Respiratory Medicine, 2017;85(4):224-232. Describes the diaphragm as the main breathing muscle with many other roles and anatomical links throughout the body. https://doi.org/10.5603/ARM.2017.0037
Maniscalco M, Bianco A, Mazzarella G, Motta A. Recent Advances on Nitric Oxide in the Upper Airways. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2016;23(24):2736-2745. A review of nitric oxide produced in the nose and sinuses and its role in the airways. https://doi.org/10.2174/0929867323666160627115335
Read the full transcript
Auto-generated from the video captions, so expect small errors.
Here we go. So, are you a golfer? Do you play tennis? Maybe you play paddle. How much time do you spend optimizing your game? Maybe you're a chef. You cook, whether that's at home or in a commercial kitchen. How much time do you spend optimizing a recipe, changing things up, trying to improve taste, flavor, texture? Think about when was the last time you thought about improving your breath? When was the last time you tried to optimize your breathing? Hey, I'm James with the Breath Work channel. And today I want to have a conversation with you about your breath, the muscles, body parts you use and
you recruit when you inhale and when you exhale, and maybe some of the parts that you shouldn't, and really how we use our physiology and can become a more efficient breather. In our last conversation, you know, I asked you that question, you know, what outcomes were you looking to get from starting a breath work practice? And in order to maximize that, in order to be able to achieve those things, I think it's important you understand what our lungs look and feel like and the breathing physiology that we use. What is the primary purpose of our breath? And the simplest way to describe that or to
understand that is to have gas exchange. And the more efficient we can have gas exchange, the more efficient we're breathing, the less taxing it'll be on our system. So that's cellular respiration that's happening all the time in our body in each and every cell gives off two things, heat and carbon dioxide. That's why when you exercise more, you get seemingly out of breath and you sweat because they're the two biggest byproducts. So as we breathe in this oxygen rich air, it comes into our into our lungs and then down into our lungs where in alvoli it it comes into our bloodstream and that carbon dioxide
comes out of our bloodstream and we exhale that out. So let's take a look at what our breathing physiology looks like. So when you when you think about your breathing physiology, I want you to maybe think about a tree, right? So a tree, if you think about a perfectly symmetrical tree, it has a trunk, then it splits off into two branches, then smaller branches, and then it's covered in leaves. So if we take that tree and we invert that here, we've got a trunk that breaks off into two branches, smaller branches, and then we have leaves. Those leaves are your alvoli. That's where that gas
diffusion happens. And obviously in order to optimize that physiology, we want to put that air in our leaves for longer. So that's why breathing low slow through your nose gets that air down to where your alvoli are. The reality is more than 2/3 of your alvoli are in the bottom half of our lung. Most of us are born perfect breathers. And up until about the age of three, we breathe normally and perfectly. optimizing that physiology. Then somewhere around the age of three, we interact with life a little bit more. We become a lot more audible and we gain and take on all kinds of breathing
dysfunction. So it's really important that we don't build on dysfunction and we understand how to optimize that breathing physiology. Surface area is the big equation here that we want to improve. And by our introducing you to your diaphragm, which is a muscle at rest that sits up here. And when we engage that diaphragm, it pulls down. It creates space for our lungs to expand into. They're not just big empty sacks, right? So as we engage our diaphragm, our primary breathing muscle, it pulls down, creates space. Okay? So again as we breathe low slow through our nose we are engaging our diaphragm in a purposeful way
intentional way to expand down that into the bottom part of our lungs to expand that surface area. If we are able to become more efficient breathers we can reduce our respiration. When we reduce our respiration we reduce our heart rate. We put less tax on our system. That's why it's one of the really important reasons to understand and to feel as I take control and become more conscious of my breath. The trickle down effect on my physiology is always very positive. And like I said, if you if you've thought about what outcomes you're looking to get, whether I want to improve efficiency as an athlete,
I want to reduce my stress, you know, I I just want to feel a different way. I want to be able to change my state on Q. Optimizing this physiology within us is key to not only making it safe, but making it quick and effective. As you become a better breather, you have a better life. You have a better quality of life. So, that's a lot of information. Some of it may or may not be familiar to you. And I'm no golfer, but I know that there are so many parts you can work on to improve your swing, for instance. So I want to give
you just two things, two things to become aware of and they really are foundational pillars of improving your breath. The first one is use your nose as often as you can to breathe. Breathing low slow through your nose activates a belly breath expands that surface area and you become a much more efficient breather. And nose is also the perfect hepailter, pressurizer and humidifier for air to be received in the lungs. And the second thing is to bring balance to our breath. By that I mean inhale and exhale to equal parts. As I talked about in our last conversation again we you know that message what
message are you sending? And as you bring balance to your breath you improve a more relaxing and balanced message to your body. So those are the two things right think about low slow through the nose and bringing balance to your breath. So I'm looking forward to our next conversation and I want to chat a little bit with you about as breath work explodes is trending as I mentioned um a lot of with with that explosive nature comes you know some misinformation disinformation both intentional and unintentional. So I want to clear off some of the myths give you an important foundation to build upon. So remember,
low slow through the nose. Bring balance to your breath.