How to Circular Breath for a Constant Air Stream

Circular breathing is the act of taking a breath in through your nose, while at the same time blowing air out of your mouth. This is very useful for those of us who play wind instruments, or something like a didgeridoo or the bagpipes. Follow the easy steps below to find out how this can be done.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Take a deep breath and start to exhale.

2. Fill your mouth with the air from your lungs, but keep your lips tightly shut to let only a little bit of air out at a time.

3. When you're ready to take a breath, push the air out of your cheeks slowly with the muscles in your cheeks, not by exhaling with your lungs. You can use your tongue to help you push the air out as well. At the same time, take a breath in through your nose.

4. That may seem like the tricky part, but the real tricky part is trying to keep the airstream constant after you take in the a breath through your nose. After you feel like you have enough air again, start to exhale from your lungs again and exhale as normal.

5. 
    

   When you think you're going to run out of breath again, repeat steps 2 through 4 until you're done. If you get good, you could keep a constant air stream coming from your mouth for hours, but I don't see why you would want to do that.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice, practice, practice!
• When taking a deep breath in, you can store some extra air in your stomach to give you some extra help. While attempting this, it should feel like you are filling your stomach first, and then your lungs.
• Be careful when attempting to circular breath. It can easily cause dizziness because we're breathing in a way we are not used to. If you begin to feel dizzy or faint, stop the exercises and wait until you are back to normal before you start.

Resources

• Circular Breathing for Woodwinds
• Playing the Dideridoo
• Further Circular Breathing Exercises