If you want to learn more about breathing I recommend checking out the book The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick Mckeown. It's got a bunch of different breathing exercises and ways to measure progress. It basically reteaches you how to breath too, which is fascinating on its own. Worth checking out for sure.
Oxygen Advantage is a great book. I'd recommend James Nestor's - 'Breath' [0] as a first read, however. I feel like the book has more real world application and I picked up a number of things outside of what I learned studying Hof breathwork. I also studied, prior to both books, with Wim Hof in Poland in 2017 on one of his week long expeditions. The in person experience of group breath work is something to experience if you've never. It's so much different than working on it solo - especially if you're new to any of these methods.
Breath work and cold exposure have been a large part of my life after reading 'What Doesn't Kill Us' by Scott Carney [1]. That was the book that drove me want to experience it first hand.
Commenting on something you haven't read stating that it sounds like something isn't productive. Many of those reviews take statements from the book out of context. For example the one of those comments states the book claims a cure for ADHD. It doesn't. It's an anecdotal reference provided by Dr. Mark Burhenne. Just because a book gathers evidence in support of the books topic doesn't make it "psuedo science".
Wow, you studied with Wim Hof in 2017, thats pretty damn cool! Its funny you say to start with 'Breath' because I was thinking you should start with Oxygen Advantage and then go to Wim Hof, but you sound like you have a much better background for legit recommendations. I had never heard of 'Breath' before. I'll definitely look into it. Is the Wim Hof experience just something one can sign up for? How did you end up there?
I loved reading 'What Doesn't Kill Us', and have been thinking about doing one of the week-long expeditions with Wim Hof. Did you do any prep before going on the trip, or was it your first experience with his breathwork?
Amazing book! My nasal breathing definitely improved from few simple tips from the book, and I wasn't even particularly diligent with following the program very far. I'm sure I could get even more benefits if I adhered to the exercises more consistently.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but is there a tl;dr? Often these "self-help" books are the same concept repeated for 200 pages that can be summed up in a paragraph.
An far as I have understood, the key point is the video. It shows a guy who is sucking air throw tough device called power-meter and the greater the power the better. Also, if I've understood correctly, the very process of training the breath power is something that actually lowers blood pressure. Correct me if I am wrong because my English is not fluent and I may miss some points.
I think tying allergies to this research probably takes some effort. I will say, as someone in a similar boat, that I've gotten a lot of benefit from regular ol' allergy shots, as well as from low-grade steoroids like fluticasone when things get intense.
Separately, if you haven't heard about it already, only being able to breathe clearly out of one nostril at a time is normal, and helps your nose do its job well[0]. You may be noticing it more acutely because of your congestion.
https://www.amazon.com/Oxygen-Advantage-Scientifically-Breat...