Perfect Breath is this:
- Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds
- Then exhale for 5.5 seconds
- That's 5.5 breaths a minute
- For a total of about 5.5 liters of air
Use it as a tool to increase efficiency within recovery both in and out of the water. Check in with Perfect Breath while you are driving, waiting in line at a store, and when you sense frustration or anger rising.
The concept of "Perfect Breath" has deep connection to yoga. Around 500 BCE, the techniques would be filtered and synthesized into the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Slow breathing, breathholding, deep breathing into the diaphragm, and extending exhalations all first appear in this ancient text.
A broad interpretation of a passage from Yoga Sutra 2.51 reads:
"When a wave comes, it washes over you and runs up the beach. Then, the wave turns around, and recedes over you, going back to the ocean."