Rhythmic Breath And Four Fold Breath, What does each one do? Options

Ave all!

What are the effects and the advantages of each of these two breathing techniques as opposed to the other? Is there a significance to the ratios of the inhale/ exhale to the held breath?

Much gratuity for your thoughts and replies,

G.L.B.

p.s. As of right now I can do neither without "losing my breath" after about 30 sec's. Just goes to show what being an out of shape 30 year old smoker will get ya! LOL

Bb3,
From my understanding they are breathing techniques used to center oneself before ritual and for meditation. The "Four- Fold Breath" is described by Regardie and others writing on the Golden Dawn as a 4:4:4:4 ratio of inhale/ hold/exhale(inhaling for the count of four, hold breath for four counts, exhale for four, hold for four and the repeat). The "Rhythmic Breath" as described by Denning and Phillips and other places uses an inhale/hold/ exhale ratio of 6:3:6:3 ( or if you're like me and have trouble with that a ratio of 4:2:4:2). To me they seem very similar, but after reading about pranayama and how one can achieve different effects on the body ( both the Physical and Energetic) with different breathing techniques, I was curious as to the effects and/ or the advantages of each of the aforementioned styles.

Hope this makes sense

G.L.B.