Skip to main content

The Unique Legacy of Breath Control & Utilitarian Hacks by Mark Hatmaker


You are amazing.
That’s right, you.
Of all the species on this planet you possess a rather remarkable ability that I wager that you take for granted. 
Before we disassemble and then re-assemble this astounding legacy let’s revel in it.
First, take a deep breath through your nose.
Let it out.
Second, take a deep breath through your mouth.
Let it out.
What you did in both of those instances is demonstrate an ability that no other land mammal possesses.
One, your breathed ably and comfortably through both mouth and nose.
Two, and this is remarkable and significant, but almost invisible in its import as we do this so readily every single day of our lives we take it for granted—you consciously chose to take a breath, hold it for your own determined duration and exhaled at will.
Let’s leave our unusual anatomy that allows for our atypical mouth and/or nose breathing to another day and dig deeper into the conscious control of respiration.
We all breathe automatically, until we don’t and then we’re dead.
We all also know that we can take control of respiration in some small order that turns out to be quite large.
We can choose to hold our breath. Whether that breath-hold is for an exultant sub-surface swim or at the behest of a pushy author of a piece on breath control, the mere act and fact of you being able to control this ability is unique to human beings.
Yes, other land mammals can old their breath, but that is in response to in-the-moment stimulus. 
For example: If I toss my dog into the lake [which I often do] on the occasional occurrences when her head dips beneath the surface momentarily she will hold her breath in response to the water breaching the nostrils.
In this regard she is like all other land mammals ----except man.
What she cannot do is consciously choose to hold her breath pre-lake toss.
The Missus & My Tormented Dog
She’s been tossed before, she knows submergence is a likelihood and yet no breath hold. 
If I teach her speech and tell her to hold her breath, even if she understood my advice, she still lacks the physical hardware to futurize this process.
This cognitive choice of respiration we have is so part and parcel of our being that it is, for some, hard to grasp that this is not a universal ability.
Like other land mammals we are able to breath in context of current stimuli. For instance, I am surprised-tossed into the lake by my dog [perhaps revenge?] and despite my not knowing about the toss I will immediately hold my breath upon submerging.
But I can also “see the future” in breathing regards.
If I see my dog coming with a lake-tossing look in her eye, I can do what she cannot, hold my breath before the toss and escape the sputter of in-the-moment surprise.
We humans also have the amazing ability to breathe as we have in the past. By this I mean, we can alter the very foundations of our current mood by emulating the breathing of past events that mirror what we wish to feel now.
If I am feeling a bit unsettled now, I can recall past calmer times, adopt the long slow easy breathing of calm-breathing and bring a bit of that future to my present.

If I am calm and want to get a bit psyched, I can recall amped-up times and adopt the more hectic breathing of those moods and in turn my physiology will alter towards this past state.



Hacking/taking control of respiration is part and parcel of countless meditation systems, religious rituals, “psyching out” for the big event, etc. Breath control is encountered universally in human cultures.
Now, as for questions of “What’s the best breathing method? Is it yogic pranayama or is it Comanche suakhetu? Or is it this or that?”
In the overall scheme of breath control, these questions are mere appendixes on the wider body of the fact of breath control itself as the key.
We can choose specific “techniques” if that floats our boat but the overall crux is not the fashionable breathing tactic that “works for you” but rather that you choose to take deliberate control of your breath.
By dint of becoming aware of this unusual legacy of human beings, and pondering the fact that you can alter, to a degree, current physiological and thusly emotional states simply by adopting breath control/breath awareness goes a long way towards useful value.
I have catalogued a handful from indigenous traditions that seem to reap rewards in specific circumstances and we will elaborate at a future date in our book on Indigenous Hacks but I leave you with the observation that often it less about the tactic when it comes to breathing than it is the burgeoning awareness that you have this astounding range of control over a process we may take for granted.
I will not leave you high and dry though. Let us conclude today’s sermon with a pragmatic exercise.
Pragmatic Hack: It is surmised that humans have an aquatic heritage somewhere in their past as we share the “mammalian dive reflex” with seals, otters and other shore-to-sea aquatic mammals. If we submerge our faces in cold water [ear immersion is often the tipping point] our heart-rate begins to rapidly slow. It is surmised that…
One-This accounts for our peaceful experiences when immersed in water. Calm heart/calm body suppresses cortisol and adrenalin release. Your body does this automatically. Your dog’s body will not.
Two-This heart-rate lowering prepares the diving mammal for longer breath holds and more efficient subsurface work.
Three-We can hack anxiety/depression by plunging our faces in sinks of cold water. Again, ear-submersion seems to be the tipping point of the full effect, but if you have ever doused your face with cold water while stressed, you have instinctually reached for a hack from your evolutionary past.
The “mammalian dive reflex” can be countered by human supposition. In experiments, those who were concerned with their make-up, or hair, or who simply regarded water anxiously allowed self-determined adrenaline and cortisol to counter the calming aspect. We must give ourselves to our physiology and escape assumptions to be a human animal.
An animal with a remarkable singular ability.

[For more Rough& Tumble history, Indigenous Ability hacks, and for pragmatic applications of old school tactics historically accurate and viciously verified see our RAW Subscription Service.]
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apache Running by Mark Hatmaker

Of the many Native American tribes of the southwest United States and Mexico the various bands of Apache carry a reputation for fierceness, resourcefulness, and an almost superhuman stamina. The name “Apache” is perhaps a misnomer as it refers to several different tribes that are loosely and collectively referred to as Apache, which is actually a variant of a Zuni word Apachu that this pueblo tribe applied to the collective bands. Apachu in Zuni translates roughly to “enemy” which is a telling detail that shines a light on the warrior nature of these collective tribes.             Among the various Apache tribes you will find the Kiowa, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Chiricahua (or “Cherry-Cows” as early Texas settlers called them), and the Lipan. These bands sustained themselves by conducting raids on the various settled pueblo tribes, Mexican villages, and the encroaching American settlers. These American settlers were often immigrants of all nationalities with a strong contingent of
Post a Comment
Read more

The Empirical Fighter: Rules for the Serious Combatant by Mark Hatmaker

  Part 1: Gear Idealized or World Ready? 1/A: Specificity of Fitness/Preparation If you’ve been in the training game for any length of time likely you have witnessed or been the subject of the following realization. You’ve trained HARD for the past 90 days, say, put in sprint work and have worked up to your fastest 5K. Your handy-dandy App says your VO2 Max is looking shipshape. You go to the lake, beach, local swimmin’ hole with your buddies and one says “ Race you to the other side!” You, with your newfound fleet-of-foot promotion to Captain Cardio, say, “ Hell, yeah!” You hit the river and cut that water like Buster Crabbe in “ Tarzan the Fearless ” with your overhand stroke….for the first 50 yards, then this thought hits as the lungs begin to gasp for air, “ Am a I gonna die in the middle of this river?” This experiment can be repeated across many domains of physical endeavor. ·         The man with the newfound Personal Record in the Bench Press getting smoked in
Post a Comment
Read more

The Original Roadwork by Mark Hatmaker

  Mr. Muldoon Roadwork. That word, to the combat athlete, conjures images of pre-dawn runs, breath fogging the morning air and, to many, a drudgery that must be endured. Boxers, wrestlers, kickboxers the world over use roadwork as a wind builder, a leg conditioner, and a grit tester. The great Joe Frazier observed… “ You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to the reflexes you developed in training. That's where roadwork shows - the training you did in the dark of the mornin' will show when you're under the bright lights .” Roadwork has been used as a tool since man began pitting himself against others of his species in organized combat. But…today’s question . Has it always been the sweat-soaked old school gray sweat suit pounding out miles on dark roads or, was it something subtler, and, remarkably slower? And if it was, why did we transition to what, and I repeat myself,
Post a Comment
Read more