Is breathing truly volitional? I somehow doubt it and even if we can control it at times, it largely defaults to automatic mode. We have the power to modify the

Is breathing truly volitional? I somehow doubt it and even if we can control it at times, it largely defaults to automatic mode. We have the power to modify the automatic mode through practice and the power of habit. When I was younger I had a really bad experience with practicing breathing exercises, I was doing them unattended by an professional and perhaps excessively. It was a very very bad experience, momentarily I lost the ability to automatic breathing and was either forgetting to inhale or was hyperbentilating. It took about a month to go back to normal and made my life miserable during all that. I’ve since done it in a controlled fashion at a yoga center and the experience is different: one is aware of their breathing but doesn’t attempt to control it for more than one minute and if so perhaps gently for the duration of the exercise. Our brains pick that up and automatic breathing can and does get better