Three breath techniques we actually teach outdoors.
Breathwork is one of those categories of practice where the gap between what's well-studied and what's marketed has gotten wide. I was a registered respiratory therapist for nine years before I taught yoga, and most of what I now see promoted as transformative breathwork is, to be plain about it, either over-stated or actually contraindicated for the audience it's being sold to.
So this post is a short look at the three breath techniques I teach on MindTreks retreats — and a section at the end on the ones I don't teach, and why. The goal is to be specific. None of what follows should be read as medical advice; if you have a respiratory or cardiovascular condition, talk to your physician before adding any breath practice.
1. Coherent breathing
Also called resonant breathing or 5.5-breath. The practice is to breathe in for roughly 5–6 seconds and out for roughly 5–6 seconds, with no breath-holding, for a sustained period. The result is a breath rate of about five breaths per minute, give or take. The pace is slow but not extreme; almost anyone can sustain it for ten or fifteen minutes once they get the rhythm.
There is a reasonable body of research on coherent breathing — including measurable effects on heart-rate variability — and a longer history of similar practices in pranayama traditions. I teach it because it is well-tolerated, it is hard to do incorrectly, and the published research is on solid methodological footing.
On retreat I introduce it on the evening of day one and we use it during transitions — before the morning sit, before dinner, in the fire room before bed. I do not claim it will fix anything in particular. I tell participants that if they like the rhythm, it is a practice they can carry home with no equipment, no app, and no further instruction.
2. Box breathing
Inhale for four seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four. Repeat. Some traditions call this square breathing or sama vritti. The U.S. Navy SEAL community has popularized it under the "box breathing" label and it is now embedded in a number of clinical and operational settings as a brief focusing practice.
Box breathing is more demanding than coherent breathing because of the breath-holds, and I am careful with who I teach it to. It is not appropriate during pregnancy, with poorly controlled hypertension, or for participants with a history of panic disorder unless they have already worked with it elsewhere. On retreat I introduce it on day two of the five-day program for participants who indicated they wanted to learn it on the intake form, and I keep the breath-holds short (4 seconds, not 6 or 8 as some sources teach).
The reason I include it on retreat is that the structure — a counted, bounded pattern — gives some participants something to do with their attention that the open formats do not. It is a tool, not a transformation.
3. Slow nasal breathing during walking
This is less a named technique than a deliberate posture toward the breath while on the trail. The instruction is to breathe in through the nose only, slowly, for as long as the terrain and exertion allow, exhaling through the nose as well. When the grade demands more oxygen, participants switch to mouth breathing as needed — no virtue points lost — and return to nasal breathing when the pitch flattens.
Nasal breathing during low- to moderate-intensity exercise has a real research base, mostly around airway resistance and the physical mechanics of breath retention. The marketing around it, frankly, has gotten ahead of the science. I teach it because it pairs naturally with walking practice — the slower nasal breath cadence syncs with a moderate hiking pace better than mouth breathing — and because it tends to slow down beginners who start a trail too aggressively.
I do not teach it as a performance enhancer or a way to train your body to use less oxygen. The claims circulating about that on social media are, at best, badly extrapolated from a small set of studies.
What we don't teach, and why
A short, specific list. Every item here has a real practice behind it; my issue is not the practices but the contexts in which they are being sold to general audiences.
Wim Hof method. The full protocol — rapid hyperventilation followed by extended breath-hold and cold exposure — has produced real benefits in the published research, but it has also produced documented cases of injury (including drowning) when done in water or near it without supervision. The retreat setting around lakes and creeks is not a context where I am willing to teach it. There are competent instructors who teach it safely; I am not running a Wim Hof retreat, and I think the technique deserves a program built around it, not a one-hour add-on.
Holotropic breathwork. Developed by Stanislav Grof in the 1970s as a substitute for psychedelic-assisted therapy. It produces strong altered states through sustained hyperventilation, and it has a history of psychological and cardiovascular adverse events. It belongs in a clinical or facilitated-therapy setting, not on a mindfulness hiking retreat where I have eight participants I have known for one day.
Buteyko method. A breath-restriction practice developed for asthma management. There is some clinical evidence for specific indications, but it is a medical-adjacent practice and should be taught by a Buteyko-trained respiratory clinician. I am not certified to teach it and I will not pretend otherwise.
"Transformational" breathwork. A category of intense, prolonged breath practices marketed for emotional release. I am not making a claim about whether they work for what they advertise; I am saying that they should not be a default offering at a retreat for general participants, and that the consent and screening process around them is rarely as rigorous as it should be.
Practical advice if you want to start
If you have never done any breathwork and you are reading this in advance of a retreat: start with coherent breathing, ten minutes a day, no app required. Set a timer. Sit with reasonable posture. Breathe in for a count of five and out for a count of five. Adjust the count up or down by a second to find a pace that does not feel forced.
Do this every day for two weeks. If you can sustain it without strain and without becoming bored to the point of giving up, you are ready to layer in other practices. If you cannot, that is also fine — you have a useful, completable practice you can keep doing without ever taking another step.
What I am trying to argue, in the long way, is that the most useful breath practices are the boring ones. The ones with the loudest marketing are mostly the ones with the most risk. I do not think this is a coincidence.
Daniel Okonkwo is the breathwork and recovery guide at MindTreks. He was a Registered Respiratory Therapist from 2008 to 2017 (currently inactive) and holds an RYT-500 certification. He does not maintain a personal social media presence; questions about practice can go to hello@mindtreks.com.