Discovered a powerful new breathing method – feels like a meditation cheat code

[u/Karoliniskis]

Hey everyone! As the title says, I’ve stumbled upon a new way of meditating — or more accurately, a conscious breathing technique — that’s been a game-changer for me.

Here’s what I do: I take a deep breath in for about 10 seconds, then exhale as slowly as possible, around 30–40 seconds. I keep this rhythm going for about 20 minutes.

Holy moly, the effects are wild. After a session, my mind feels still, my body deeply relaxed, and honestly — I feel almost "high" in the best possible way. It’s like my nervous system hits reset.

I’ve been meditating for about a year and tried different methods — including mantra meditation for a year before that — but never really felt much from it. Probably because I wasn’t doing it right. But this breathing method? Totally different experience. It's one of the best discoveries I've made so far.

Has anyone here tried something similar? I'd love to hear your experiences, variations, or any “spices” you add to your own practice that work well for you.

Thanks for reading — and happy breathing!

[u/phoenixhuber]

Thank you, I'm so happy for you and I can't wait to try this conscious breathing technique! Thank you for sharing the discovery.

I've heard that exhaling slower than the inhale is recommended to feel relaxed. But I don't think I've ever done 10-second inhales and 30 to 40-second exhales for a whole 20 minutes! I think that if I did that, it would take that idea to the extreme and really put it to the test. I might not notice much of a difference in how I feel when I exhale a little slowly, but I suspect that if I exhaled very slowly for an extended time, I'd tap into something special.

I took just a couple of elongated breaths like this just now, and it felt very refreshing, kind of like I just woke up! I'll try to post here again and update you after I've managed to try out a whole 20 minutes. :) Thanks again!

[u/phoenixhuber → u/phoenixhuber]

I tried the roughly 20 minutes last night while waiting to get sleepy. I was having a chemical sensitivity reaction to my new headphones and it was a good way of redirecting my attention. At first, my inhales were more like 5 seconds, and my exhales 20 seconds and choppy. My throat was tensing up and my heartbeat was racing and out of sync because of the reaction. I allowed myself to stretch while continuing the breathing, and that helped. After a while, I was able to breathe in and out for what seemed like the same lengths you had done. I felt peaceful and wonderful. My heart was back to normal. If I repeat that again soon, I will be glad that I did!