Breath and the way we breathe have always been part of the conversation at Inna, particularly when we’re looking at nervous system regulation, oxygen, energy and the body’s ability to adapt. What this book has done is take my understanding of it to another level, because there is so much happening within every breath beyond simply taking oxygen in and breathing carbon dioxide out.

We spend a lot of time at Inna talking about the foundations that influence how well the body can produce and use energy, including nutrition, light, sleep, movement, circulation and nervous system regulation. Breath sits beautifully within that picture, and it has also made me look at some of the things we already do at Inna, particularly Forest Air, with an even greater appreciation of why breath, oxygen and the way the body uses oxygen are such an interesting combination.

Oxygen is only part of the story

Most of us were taught a fairly simple version of breathing: we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. What Nestor explores so well is that carbon dioxide isn’t simply something the body needs to get rid of; it has an important role in helping us actually use the oxygen we breathe.

Oxygen travels around the body attached to haemoglobin in our red blood cells, while carbon dioxide helps influence the release of that oxygen into the tissues where it is needed, a relationship known as the Bohr effect. This means there is an important distinction between having oxygen circulating in the blood and being able to deliver and utilise it effectively at tissue level.

This is also why bigger breaths aren’t necessarily better breaths. If we breathe very heavily or rapidly, we can exhale more carbon dioxide, while quieter, slower breathing can help maintain the balance between oxygen and CO₂ that supports oxygen delivery.

One of the sections I loved in the book looks at research around a breathing rhythm of approximately 5.5 breaths per minute, roughly a 5.5-second inhale followed by a 5.5-second exhale. Nestor also observes that very similar breathing rhythms appear naturally in traditional prayer, chanting and mantra.

When Buddhist monks chant, when Om is drawn out slowly, and even within the traditional cadence of prayers such as the rosary, breathing naturally slows towards rhythms surprisingly close to those now being studied for their relationship with cardiovascular and autonomic function. We have been using breath to influence our physiological state for thousands of years; science is now giving us a much better understanding of what may be happening underneath the surface.

The importance of breathing through the nose

The nose is doing considerably more than simply providing another route for air! Nasal breathing filters (through vortexing!), warms and humidifies the air before it reaches the lungs and creates a different resistance and breathing pattern compared with breathing through an open mouth. The nasal passages are also involved in nitric oxide biology, which is particularly interesting because nitric oxide has roles in blood vessel dilation, circulation and respiratory function.

Nestor goes much deeper into nasal versus mouth breathing, including what happens during sleep, exercise and throughout the day, and it has certainly made me even more conscious of how I breathe myself.

The interesting thing isn’t about trying to breathe perfectly all day long; it is about becoming curious about something our bodies are doing continuously. Noticing whether your resting breath naturally moves through your nose, how quickly or slowly you breathe and how it changes when you are concentrating, exercising, stressed or deeply relaxed can start to tell you a lot.

Even our two nostrils have different roles

Another fascinating part of the book looks at the nasal cycle, where airflow naturally shifts between our nostrils throughout the day, with one side tending to become more dominant before the balance changes again.

Nestor explores research looking at how nostril dominance may interact with the autonomic nervous system. He describes the right nostril as something like a gas pedal, associated with greater sympathetic activity and alertness, while the left acts more like a brake and is associated with parasympathetic activity and a calmer physiological state.

We already see this relationship between breath and the nervous system every day because our breathing naturally changes when we’re frightened, excited, concentrating, exercising, sleeping or deeply relaxed. What makes breath particularly interesting is that the relationship works in the other direction too, because consciously changing the rhythm and mechanics of our breathing can influence the information being fed back into the nervous system.

Breathing slower and more efficiently

Breathing efficiently is more important than simply moving larger amounts of air.

At rest, our breathing can be quiet, nasal, rhythmic and surprisingly gentle. A simple way to explore this is to sit quietly and breathe through the nose, gradually moving towards around five or six breaths per minute if that feels comfortable. You could try approximately five seconds in and five seconds out for five or ten minutes and simply notice how your body responds as the rhythm settles.

So much of health can become about adding more things to our lives, while breathing brings us straight back to basic physiology and something available to us every minute of every day.

Where Forest Air fits into this

We’ve been using Forest Air at Inna for some time and have seen some really lovely responses from our clients, but learning more about breath physiology has given me an even greater appreciation of why this technology sits so well within the work we do.

Forest Air works with ordinary room air, passing it across a light-activated catalyst. During this process, oxygen is briefly excited into a higher-energy singlet state before returning to its normal state, with the released energy transferred into the humidified airflow that is then breathed gently through a nasal cannula.

What I find particularly interesting is that the conversation isn’t simply about getting more oxygen into the body. It brings us back to something much more fundamental: how efficiently the body is able to use oxygen and turn it into energy.

Inside our mitochondria, oxygen plays an essential role in producing ATP, the usable energy that powers virtually everything our cells need to do, from repair and movement to maintaining normal cellular function.

There is also some interesting research beginning to emerge around energised oxygen therapy. A recent human study looked at exercise with and without exposure to singlet oxygen energy and found that participants required less oxygen at comparable exercise intensities, alongside lower heart rates and lower blood lactate. The researchers interpreted these findings as improved oxygen utilisation and greater energy efficiency during exercise.

A Forest Air session also creates a lovely opportunity to become more conscious of the breath itself. You’re sitting comfortably for around 30 to 60 minutes, breathing gently through a nasal cannula while the device is running, so as we learn more about slow nasal breathing, CO₂ balance and nervous system regulation, we can start to make that time even more purposeful.

For me, the two ideas sit beautifully together: how we breathe and how efficiently the body uses what we breathe.

If this has made you curious about your own breathing, or you would like to explore Forest Air with us, let us know when you’re next in clinic or give us a call. We also offer Forest Air devices for home use and pro devices for other practitioners for anyone wanting to incorporate it into their regular routine – at the moment with 20% of (code Inna20).

And as for where we’re going next with breath at Inna… watch this space!

20% of the Forest Air home and Pro with code Inna20