07/28/2021
I’ve been researching breathing techniques for prevention of burnout and peak performance. How does doing SKY Breath meditation [Sudarshin kriya yoga] compare to doing Wim Hof Breathing? I did SKY for 60+ days to find out.
The classes from the folks at Art of Living are via zoom, and it was easy to learn. It was a couple of hours each day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is an impressive, content rich app which includes a sequence of guided daily sessions for your first 100 days. Each guided session begins with either a small slice of content [ ~3 minutes ] or an optional guided meditation, and then there is the SKY practice. I sit down every morning on a cushion, click on the app, and follow the instructions. Very easy.
The SKY practice consists of five separate simple steps, the entire daily process takes me ~38 minutes.
I would say that compared to the Wim Hof breathing the SKY process seems gentler. The three days of class introduce you into breathwork, and then there is no particular emphasis on effort or pushing or accomplishing, whereas the WHM is very much about ‘overcoming’ and ‘succeeding.’ There is one breathing technique with WHM, with SKY there are four. I can imagine that the SKY breathing is gently putting the body through a wider range of pulmonary “exercises” than the WMH.
My initial experience of SKY was euphoric. The first couple times it made me high for about 10-20 minutes after breathing. After a few days that passed and I just feel ‘good’ after practice.
WHM was very calming. I felt really “flat” during and after breathing, really present. My energy was mostly in the lower part of my body. I was focused. I could, at any moment in the process, shift from doing the breathing to doing push-ups, or yoga, or answering the phone.
SKY seems to produce a more euphoric state, sometimes I get lost in the guided process. It seems to energize the entire body, so at the end of the process I center myself before standing up.
SKY has been taught for over 40 years, and it shows. They claim over 40 million students and 100+ peer reviewed published studies of the results. Their website includes summaries of several research papers and shows charts and graphs showing measured positive effects on depression and anxiety, measured increases in lymphocytes, measured decreases in cortisol. There has been research done at Yale, and something published in the Harvard Business Review. The results are substantial.
Have you tried SKY or the WHM? What was your experience?
There is a more detailed write up on my blog -
60 days of SKY breathing meditation
