Light. Slow. Deep
Light. Slow. Deep. These three words are what describe functional breathing in the simplest of terms.
And functional breathing is what we’re all about here because when we breathe functionally, everything else is, well, better!
Light
Light breathing simply means breathing less air, ensuring that the volume of each breath matches what your body actually needs. There is no forcing or restricting, just a gentle shift toward more efficiency.
Many people unknowingly over-breathe at rest, and breathing more does not lead to better oxygen delivery. In reality, the Bohr Effect proves that when we take in more air than needed, we also breathe out too much CO₂. Lower CO₂ levels cause blood vessels to constrict and make it harder for oxygen to be released from the blood to the tissues that need it.
The opposite is also true. When we breathe in the optimal amount of oxygen, we breathe out the optimal amount of CO₂, and our hemoglobin happily releases the oxygen where it needs to go. Everything stays in balance.
You may have felt this during a cathartic breathwork journey if you’ve done one. Tingling, lightheadedness, or cramping can happen when CO₂ drops quickly through faster or heavier breathing.
This kind of response is not a problem on its own when done intentionally every so often. When your baseline breathing is functional, your body can move into that state and then return back to light, slow, and deep without difficulty and you get to experience all the other magic of cathartic breathwork!
But if your everyday breathing is already heavy, fast, or shallow, you’re experiencing these responses along with a whole slew of other consequences all the time, it just might not be as obvious that it’s tied to your breathing.
Slow
Slow refers to maintaining a reduced breathing rate and allowing the exhale to be naturally long and unforced.
Most people breathe around 12–20 times per minute at rest. With slow breathing, we gently bring that down to around 6–10 breaths per minute over time, without strain.
Slowing the breath down gives your nervous system a steady rhythm to follow, signaling safety to the brain and helping shift you out of a reactive, fight-or-flight state.
Our main drive to breathe is CO₂. But as I mentioned earlier, CO₂ is not just a waste gas; our bodies need a certain amount of it for oxygen to be efficiently released from hemoglobin. When we blow off too much CO₂, our urge to breathe becomes paradoxically urgent. While there might be plenty of oxygen circulating in our blood, our tissues feel starved of oxygen, because they are, so the urge to breathe stays strong.
When we slow down our breath, carbon dioxide levels rise, which can feel uncomfortable at first. This is especially true for chronic over-breathers. Because they are used to constantly blowing off too much CO₂, their tolerance to the gas is low. Their nervous system reacts to even minor increases with urgency or anxiety, turning simple activities like walking up stairs, slowing down, or trying to relax into triggers. This chemical imbalance often manifests as that 'wired but tired' feeling, leaving them physically exhausted but unable to completely switch off.
Therefore, the core goal of breathing retraining is to rebuild a normal tolerance to CO₂, allowing the body to maintain slow, healthy breathing automatically and comfortably, and to no longer have that constant urge to take in a bigger breath.
Deep
If I said to you right now, “take a deep breath,” what would that look like for you?
Before reading further, take that breath that comes to mind.
When people think of deep breathing or the phrase “take a deep breath,” they often are actually thinking of taking a big breath, not a deep breath.
It’s often through the mouth, or at the very least, the exhale is through the mouth. The shoulders raise up on the inhale and drop on the exhale, and it’s audible. But this is a big breath, not a deep breath, and unfortunately doesn’t really do much for actually releasing stress from the body as most people use it for.
While the psychological sigh can be useful, if we do it over and over again, it reinforces a pattern of over breathing. And, as you learned above, breathing in too much air reduces oxygen delivery and keeps us in a sympathetic state (flight-or-flight).
So, what a deep breath actually means is breathing with good recruitment of the diaphragm. The lower ribs should gently expand on the inhale, the belly should not balloon out, and the upper chest should remain still.
When you breathe through your nose, you are automatically using the diaphragm more effectively.
However, when you breathe through the mouth, your diaphragm efficiency lowers and you are more likely to shift towards upper chest breathing and use accessory muscles to help you breathe such as the neck and shoulders.
Using these accessory muscles to help you breathe causes tension in these areas. Hello tight neck and back!
Do this kind of “take a deep breath” when you feel stressed:
The simple exercise of slowing down the exhale as much as you possibly can without strain, supports a shift towards rest-and-digest (parasympathetic). This is particularly effective for those who are constantly living in fight-or-flight (sympathetic), for recovery after exercise, eating, and going to sleep.
Try this:
Take a light, slow, and deep breath in through your nose
Take a short pause at the top
When you feel the urge to breathe out, do so lightly and slowly through the nose
Pause again at the bottom
When you feel the urge to take in another breath, repeat the process 1-3x or until you feel your nervous system starting to rest
The Gradual Build
This functional breathing pattern of light, slow, and deep is built throughout your day, in every breath you take.
You practice it intentionally, and then you integrate it into your daily life. Over time, your breath stops working against you and starts working for you, supporting your energy, your focus, and your nervous system.
One Question For You
I’ll leave you with one question.
If your breathing isn’t light, slow, and deep, what might it be costing you? What is it quietly taking from you each day?
Your sleep? Your stress levels? Your focus? Your movement?
And what would you be able to achieve if your breath was working for you?