i can understand in ‘through the nose’, since dust and other bits can be blocked by the nose hairs and mucus, and apparently the air is more likely to warm up when passing through the nose first, reducing irritation of the throat.
but what difference, if any, does exhaling through the mouth make?
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I’ll answer from a narrow and specific functional perspective. I learned breathing techniques as part of karate training, over about 40 years (I am old). It’s important in karate to engage the abdominal core as part of delivering powerful strikes. Ultimately, this manifests as “kiai”, the shout that accentuates a strike. I can swing a heavy bag pretty hard by just punching it, but add kiai and I can lift it off its chains. It’s also important defensively: I recall my teacher tagging me with a full force punch to the gut, as I issued a defensive kiai shout… my abs were engaged, my lungs empty, he knocked me back about three feet but I came right back at him.
The breathing pattern that leads to this ability is “in through the nose/diaphragm expands” then “out through the mouth/diaphragm contracts” (like rolling up a toothpaste tube). It shows up in a lot of meditation disciplines, too.
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