Dear Richard,

The two key reasons for inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the
mouth during systema breathing is:

1. Inhaling through the nose filters the air and also brings it closer to body
temperature before it enters the lungs making it cleaner and easier to process.
Inhaling through the nose also cools blood vessels in the head.

2. Exhaling through the mouth is preferred as it's a bigger opening which
allows the processed air to escape easily. If there's restriction during the
exhale (like the small opening of the nose) it can introduce tension into the
rest of the body.

Remember to inhale deep into your lungs, you should see your stomach move in
and out. Shallow breathing, chest breathing, is not very efficient and can also
bring on things like pneumonia as you're not moving the air around the entirety
of your lungs. Deep breathing will also massage your internal organs so they
don't become stagnant where they sit against each other.

I hope my comments assist you and answer some of your queries.

I'm assuming you're from Melbourne. If so, I met Adam in Canada and he's very
good. He can teach you a great deal about Systema. Ask him about an exercise
you can do to clear out your lungs. People have accredited it to helping their
asthma a great deal, but everyone is different. It's something we did at the
Summit of Masters.

Next year will be a big year for Systema. Hope you enjoy,
Scott Schmidt.

Quoting munkeymind <munkeymind@...>:

> I just started training with Adam. It's so great to finally have a
> school here. Me and some mates have been training ourselves all year
> from the DVDs, but now the real training begins. Thanks Adam.
>
> My question concerns breathing. I am asthmatic, and have found
> enormous benefit from Systema breathing. I was inspired to do a
> Buteyko course (another great Russian breath technique). This requires
> always breathing through the nose (inhale and exhale), in order to
> build up CO2 levels in lungs (more CO2 = less asthma symptoms).
>
> This is a bot at odds with Systema (ie inhale nose, exhale mouth). I
> have been training inhaling and exhaling through the nose, and only
> exhaling through the mouth when I feel tension entering my body.
>
> This seems to work. However, I would welcome any input or ideas about
> this.
>
> Richard.
>
>