Yoga & Breathing
Pick a session and follow the circle. It expands while you breathe in, holds while you hold, and shrinks while you breathe out. No app, no subscription, no account. Just the pace and the count.
Noor Haddad found movement through her own injury recovery, when breath was the only thing she could train. That is the root of how she teaches, and why she leaves silence on purpose.
Noor, breathing
Watch how little moves. The shoulders stay down, the belly does the work, and the exhale takes longer than the inhale. That is the whole technique.
Noor Haddad, RYT-500. "Quiet and low, not big and deep. If anyone can hear you breathing, it is too much."
Read this once, then forget it
Never do breath holds in or near water. Not in a pool, not in a bath, not in the ocean. Holding your breath before or during swimming can cause shallow water blackout, where you lose consciousness without warning and drown. People die this way every year, and they are usually strong swimmers.
Never do breathwork while driving or operating anything. Sit or lie down.
- Lightheadedness and tingling in the hands or face mean you are over-breathing. Stop, breathe normally, and it passes within a minute.
- Talk to your clinician first if you are pregnant, or have epilepsy, uncontrolled high or low blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, glaucoma, a history of fainting, or a panic disorder.
- Skip the strong retention practices entirely if any of the above apply. The slow, gentle sessions here are still fine for nearly everyone.
Noor: "If it feels like effort, it is not the practice. Make it smaller."
Noor leads these. Jaque Tremblay co-leads meditation with her across the Gym and the Dose, and his sessions live over at the Dose.
Reach for this when
Skip it when
Noor's four rules of breathing
- Longer out than in. If you remember one thing, remember this. A longer exhale is the lever that shifts you toward the parasympathetic side, the rest side. Everything else on this page is a variation on it.
- Through the nose, if you can. The nose warms, filters, and humidifies the air, and it slows you down, which is most of the benefit. Mouth breathing is not a moral failure, it is just faster and less filtered.
- Quiet and low, not big and deep. Deep breathing is usually taught as large breathing, and large breathing is often over-breathing. You want the belly to move gently and the shoulders to stay still. Less is the skill.
- Short and often beats long and rare. Two minutes a day for a month does more than forty minutes once. Noor would rather you do one round at a red light than plan a session you never start.
Noor Haddad
The breath-first voice that down-regulates a room without seeming to try. Leaves silence on purpose.
- Coach Dom and Dr. Sana — when those two are arguing about whether it is one more hard day or a deload, Noor ends it by making them both breathe. It works every time, which Dom finds annoying.
- Dr. Sana Qureshi — the wind-down sessions here feed straight into her Sleep Lab. Breath is the on-ramp, sleep is the outcome.
- Dr. Lena Brandt — for pain that is guarding and breath-holding rather than tissue damage, Lena sends people to Noor and stops talking.
- Jaque Tremblay — co-leads meditation with Noor across the Gym and the Dose, the soft cross-link between the two sites.
How the staff verify (so you don't have to take our word for it)
Breathwork is one of the areas where genuine, well-supported practice sits right beside enormous overclaiming. Noor teaches the parts with evidence and names the parts without it, which is unusual in this corner of wellness and is the entire reason she is on the floor.
Green means the evidence backs it. Amber means it depends, and here is on what. Red means a popular claim that is wrong, sometimes dangerously.
Educational, not medical advice. Breathwork is not a treatment for anxiety disorders, panic disorder, asthma, COPD, sleep apnoea, or any cardiovascular or neurological condition, and it is not a substitute for medication or therapy. Stop immediately if you feel faint, and never practise breath retention in water or while driving. If you are pregnant, or have epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, glaucoma, a respiratory condition, or a history of fainting or panic attacks, speak with your clinician before beginning. If you are struggling with your mental health, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available in the US by calling or texting 988.