EITM: Breathe The Pressure 10/8/26

Elliot Segal (0:00)

I learned some yesterday, but I don't know how to implement it. I don't know how to implement it. So, if I said to you, in breathing, just regular breathing, right? Just regular breathing, right? How many, I can hear you breathing. How many phases to a breath?

My words, not theirs. How many phases to a breath?

SPEAKER_2 (0:24)

Is it like, inhale, exhales a phase, exhales a phase?

Elliot Segal (0:29)

Right.

SPEAKER_2 (0:29)

Or is there some phase in the middle?

Elliot Segal (0:31)

Yes, there is.

Inhale, so now you're going, not hold it, but there is a gap, no, don't hold your breath, Kristen. There is a gap between when the air goes in and goes out.

SPEAKER_2 (0:44)

Well, that was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.

Elliot Segal (0:49)

No, no, but like, now if you think about it, it's very hard to breathe. No, you will think like, I'm inhaling.

You know, think of it this way. If you take a ball and you throw it in the air, right? It goes up and comes down, but there is a moment where that ball stops.

SPEAKER_3 (1:09)

Yeah, okay, it's milliseconds, but yeah.

Elliot Segal (1:12)

But it stops, where it is neither going up nor coming down. Your breath is the same way.

There is a point where you go from inhale to exhale, where you're neither inhaling nor exhaling.

SPEAKER_3 (1:26)

That's funny you mentioned that, because when I do breath work occasionally, you do get tripped up, because the only instructions are inhale and exhale. So that moment when it switches you over and you're supposed to do the exhale, you kind of trip over yourself.

Elliot Segal (1:39)

Yeah, a little bit.

SPEAKER_3 (1:40)

And it makes it feel very unnatural.

Elliot Segal (1:43)

And now the other part is, unlike the ball theory, where it's either up or down, you can, so what is that called?

SPEAKER_2 (1:51)

Like suspended?

Elliot Segal (1:52)

No. What is it called?

SPEAKER_3 (1:56)

Let's not be mean.

Elliot Segal (1:57)

No, is it the vortex? Is it the vortex?

SPEAKER_3 (2:01)

So when it's at its peak?

Elliot Segal (2:03)

When it's stopped. I throw the ball in the air. It's going up, and right before it comes down, it stops where it is neither up nor down. What is that called?

SPEAKER_3 (2:14)

I don't know. I have to look it up.

Elliot Segal (2:17)

Anyway, whatever that moment is, you don't control that.

SPEAKER_2 (2:21)

That's gravity.

Elliot Segal (2:22)

But you can control it with your breath.

So there's the inhale and the exhale, but there is that moment where you are neither inhaling nor exhaling, and you can extend that by holding your breath. So you go, now she's excited. Exactly, exactly. I was getting you there, so you can watch. Regular breathing.

SPEAKER_2 (2:48)

Why are you breathing through your nose?

Elliot Segal (2:51)

Because that's how I breathe. What, are you a mouther?

SPEAKER_3 (2:54)

You're supposed to inhale.

Elliot Segal (2:57)

Oh, yeah, through your nose, and exhale through your mouth.

SPEAKER_3 (3:00)

Yeah, isn't that what he's doing?

SPEAKER_2 (3:00)

No, mouth.

SPEAKER_4 (3:01)

No. You exhale through your mouth.

Elliot Segal (3:04)

For every breath? I 100% don't do that.

SPEAKER_2 (3:07)

When you're, if you're trying to calm yourself down?

Elliot Segal (3:10)

Right. I'm just breathing.

SPEAKER_2 (3:11)

Okay.

Elliot Segal (3:11)

Yeah, I'm just breathing.

SPEAKER_3 (3:12)

Well, when do you give the traffic report?

Elliot Segal (3:16)

Robber workmen! Anyway, you can control that in and out, right? So watch.

See what I did? What? Why are you laughing?

SPEAKER_3 (3:37)

He's a nose-breather.

Elliot Segal (3:38)

Yeah. I am. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_2 (3:39)

You got a little squeak.

Elliot Segal (3:40)

The, yeah, I have a lot of activity in my nose today. So anyway, they did a study.

When is your reaction time best? And that's what I mean. I don't know what to do with this. When is your reaction time best? When you're inhaling, when you're exhaling, or when you're not breathing? And I don't mean like you're dead, but when are you, when is your reaction time the best?

SPEAKER_2 (4:12)

So they test it by, I don't know, some sort of dexterity test?

Elliot Segal (4:18)

No, I know how they did this. So they, for just this test that they did, they had people, they had men, they had women, they had left-handed, they had right-handed, they had whatever, but they're relatively healthy people, right? And so they put them in front of a computer, and they said, when the red box turns yellow, click.