I followed this for my entire 21 Km run today. That’s my mantra for running.

Every incoming breath energises you and every outgoing breath relaxes you. For every 3 steps take a breath in, that energises you and a couple of steps of breathing out relaxes you. That step you take now and whether it’s time to breathe in or breathe out is the only thing that matters.

This technique balances effort and relaxation and also balances both sides of our body, because the odd number of steps involved over a cycle of breathing in and out (5 in the above example) ensures that we are alternating the foot that lands on the out breath. When we breathe out our body relaxes and a tremendous amount of impact goes through the foot that lands. Alternating the landing foot on the breath out ensures we don’t stress just one side of the body which would happen if the number of steps over an in and out cycle is even.

It helps to keep the in-breath effortless. When I tire, I just focus on expelling a little effort-fully and allow the lungs to fill up following the out breath easily and without much effort over 3 steps to avoid over-filling the lungs, which can be tiring too.

Practicing this each time you run or even when you walk can make this a very meditative process. When you find you are unable to keep this rhythm it means you are overdoing the activity. It helps to build the ability to consistently maintain the breathing rhythm for the whole run. The only variation to this I take is when I have to sprint or tackle an elevation in which case I do a 2-1 cycle. Breathe in for 2 steps and breathe out for 1. That can be for a short burst and then I come back to the more comfortable 3-2 cycle.

Life and running are similar. In life it helps to take 3 steps forward and then reflect and relax for 2 steps to ensure we maintain our production capacity for the long haul.