pranayama / Three Part Breath
Dirga
In one breath
Dirga, the three part breath, is done in 12 rounds, about 5 minutes, on a 4:6, inhale to exhale, moving to 4:8 once the exhale lengthens count. Best time: any time, on an empty or nearly empty stomach, and it is the one practice here i would give somebody at two in the morning when they cannot sleep. an hour after a light meal is enough.. Read the list of who should not do it before your first round.
On this page
- What Dirga is, and the numbers first
- How many rounds of three part breathing, and how long
- Rounds and ratio, week by week
- What deep breathing does, honestly
- Three part breath vs box breathing vs Ujjayi
- Where three part breathing fits in a practice
- Which pages here send you to three part breathing
- How to do it, step by step
- What it is good for
- Who should not do this
- What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
- Questions people ask
What Dirga is, and the numbers first
Dirga is twelve rounds, about five minutes, at four counts in and six counts out, with no breath retention at any stage, and it can be practised at any time of day, sitting or lying down. Move to four in and eight out after a fortnight. That is the dose, and it is the most useful five minutes on this site.
Dirga means long. The three parts are three places one continuous inhale arrives, in order: the belly, then the lower ribs, then the upper chest, and then the exhale reverses that order and runs half again as long. It is what most English speaking classes call deep breathing or three part breath, and it overlaps closely with what physiotherapists call diaphragmatic breathing.
It is the practice everything else here is built on. Anulom Vilom, Ujjayi, box breathing and every practice with a hold in it all assume a breath that can go low and stay slow. If that is not there, they are all harder than they need to be, and this is the page to spend a month on first.
How many rounds of three part breathing, and how long
Twelve rounds. At 4:6 with no pause a round is about ten seconds, so twelve rounds is a little under five minutes once you allow for settling at either end.
- Week 1 to 2: 12 rounds at 4:6, lying down with the knees bent over a bolster, hands on the belly and chest. Five minutes.
- Week 3 to 4: 12 rounds at 4:6, sitting, hands on the knees.
- Week 5 onwards: 12 rounds at 4:8. A little over five minutes. This is the finished practice and I do not extend it further.
- Frequency: once or twice a day, and any time you need it. It is the one practice I would use in the middle of the night.
- Retention: none, ever, in this practice. If you want a hold, that is a different practice with a different safety list.
Five minutes twice a day for a month changes how somebody breathes when they are not paying attention, which is the whole point. Thirty minutes once a week does not, and I have watched enough people try it that I am confident about the comparison.
Rounds and ratio, week by week
Almost nobody publishes a ladder for this practice because it looks too simple to need one. It needs one, because the thing that progresses is the exhale and people progress the inhale instead.
| Week | Rounds | Ratio (in : out) | Position | Total time | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 12 rounds | 4:6 | Lying, knees over a bolster, hands on belly and chest | 5 minutes | The lower hand moves first every round |
| Week 2 | 12 rounds | 4:6 | Lying, hands on belly and chest | 5 minutes | The shoulders stay still throughout |
| Week 3 to 4 | 12 rounds | 4:6 | Sitting, hands on the knees | 5 minutes | The order holds without the hands |
| Week 5 to 8 | 12 rounds | 4:8 | Sitting | 5 to 6 minutes | Do not move on. This is the finished practice |
| If you over breathe easily | 6 rounds | 3:6, a small inhale | Sitting, eyes open | 2 minutes | Stay here as long as you need to |
The last row is for the people who get light headed. The answer to that is always a smaller inhale rather than a shorter exhale, because the light head comes from moving too much air, and a big inhale is what moves it.
What deep breathing does, honestly
Deep breathing is the most oversold practice in the world and the claims made for it do it no favours, so here is what the evidence supports.
On stress and mood: a 2023 meta analysis of breathwork found small to medium effects, g of minus 0.35 for stress across twelve trials and 785 people, minus 0.32 for anxiety and minus 0.40 for depression. Most trials were at moderate risk of bias and effects were weaker in clinical populations. That is a real, modest benefit and not a treatment.
On the breath itself: a review of eleven studies in 974 healthy adults found peak expiratory flow and forced vital capacity improved in most intervention groups, though it compared before with after rather than against controls.
On the mechanism: two trials point the same way. The long exhale did as much as box breathing before a stress test, and external pacing of the breath produced bigger heart rate variability changes than self pacing. So the useful variables are the length of the exhale and the steadiness of the count, not the elaborateness of the pattern.
What it does not do: it does not oxygenate your blood more than normal breathing does, since healthy blood is already almost fully saturated. It does not detoxify anything. It does not treat thyroid disease or diabetes. And breathing deeply for a long time without a correspondingly long exhale is over breathing, which makes people dizzy, and that is the single commonest thing that goes wrong here.
Three part breath vs box breathing vs Ujjayi
Three slow practices, and the differences are worth knowing before you pick one.
| Dirga | Box breathing | Ujjayi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern | 4:6 or 4:8, no holds | 4:4:4:4, two holds | Even, with a throat sound |
| Retention | None | Yes, both ends | None |
| Who is excluded | Almost nobody | Heart disease, glaucoma, epilepsy, panic with holds | Few, but keep the sound soft with high blood pressure |
| Position | Sitting or lying | Sitting, including at a desk | Sitting or moving through asana |
| Best first practice | Yes | No, learn a practice without holds first | No, it needs a settled breath already |
If you are going to learn one breathing practice in your life, learn this one. If you want a second, learn Anulom Vilom. Everything else, including retention, is easier and safer once those two are in place.
Where three part breathing fits in a practice
It goes first, and it goes everywhere. This is the practice that opens and closes a class.
- Dirga: 12 rounds, five minutes, to begin. It settles the room and tells me who is breathing into the top of the chest today.
- Asana. Three or four rounds of Surya Namaskar and whatever else the day holds.
- Anulom Vilom: 12 rounds.
- Savasana, and the same three part breath for the first minute of it.
On its own it works lying down at two in the morning, which is the use my students report most. It is also the practice behind the first week of the seven day beginner plan and the one I would put in front of anybody following the home practice guide, before any of the named pranayamas.
Sit for it in Vajrasana, Padmasana or a chair, or lie in Savasana with the knees supported. In the online classes this is the one practice I can teach properly over a screen, because I only need to see whether the shoulders lift.
Which pages here send you to three part breathing
More pages recommend this practice than any other on the site, and none warns against it.
- Yoga for anxiety starts here, with the caveat that a small number of people find attention to the breath itself provoking and should keep the eyes open and the sitting short.
- Yoga for high blood pressure uses it as the substitute for every practice with a hold in it.
- Yoga for back pain uses it lying down with the knees supported, because it is something to do on the days when movement is not available.
- Yoga for beginners over 40 teaches nothing else for the first fortnight.
- Chair yoga and restorative yoga both fit it without changing anything.
If you want somebody to watch whether your shoulders lift, which is genuinely hard to notice yourself, that is what an introductory class is for.
How to do it, step by step
12 rounds, about 5 minutes is a full practice. Stop early on any round that feels like effort rather than ease: strain in pranayama is not something you push through.
Step 1. Sit upright in sukhasana, ardha padmasana, padmasana or vajrasana, or on a firm chair with the feet flat. You can also do this lying on your back with the knees bent over a bolster, and for the first week that is the easier place to learn it.
Step 2. Put the left palm flat on the belly, just below the navel, and the right palm flat on the breastbone. You will take the hands away in a fortnight. For now they are the only honest feedback you have.
Step 3. Breathe normally for half a minute and notice which hand moves. In most adults who have never done this, only the upper hand moves, and often the shoulders lift as well. That is what the practice is for.
Step 4. Now the first part. Inhale through the nose and send the breath low, so the belly swells under the left palm and the upper hand stays still. Two counts. The belly moving outwards is the diaphragm dropping, and nothing is being pushed anywhere.
Step 5. The second part, without pausing. Let the breath continue into the lower ribs so they widen sideways. One count. Put the thumbs on the floating ribs once to feel this if the sensation is unclear.
Step 6. The third part, still without pausing. Let the breath finish into the upper chest so the right palm rises last. One count. That is four counts in, in three parts, in one continuous movement rather than three separate sips.
Step 7. Exhale slowly through the nose in the reverse order for a count of six: chest empties, ribs narrow, belly draws gently back towards the spine. The last two counts should be actual work, emptying the chest, and then let the next inhale arrive by itself.
Step 8. That is one round. Do twelve rounds, which is about five minutes at 4:6. Then take the hands down and breathe normally for a minute.
Step 9. After a fortnight go to 4:8, which is a little over five minutes for twelve rounds, and stop there. The exhale lengthening is the progression in this practice. The inhale does not need to get longer.
Step 10. There is no breath retention in this practice at any stage. That is deliberate, and it is why almost nobody is excluded from it.
What it is good for
- It is the practice everything else is built on. A student who can send the breath low and let the exhale run long can learn alternate nostril breathing in one class, and a student who cannot will fight it for a month. This is the observation I would defend hardest out of anything on this site.
- Breathwork of this kind has a small to medium effect on stress and mood, and that is the honest size. A 2023 meta analysis in Scientific Reports pooled twelve randomised trials and 785 participants for stress and found g equals minus 0.35, with anxiety at minus 0.32 over twenty trials and depression at minus 0.40 over eighteen. Most trials were at moderate risk of bias and the authors urged caution against a mismatch between hype and evidence. Effects were weaker in clinical populations than in healthy ones. Source
- It improves the crude measures of lung function, at least before and after. A 2026 systematic review of yogic breathing in 974 healthy adults across eleven studies, four of them randomised, found peak expiratory flow rate improved in 92 per cent of intervention groups and forced vital capacity in 79 per cent. The review pooled before and after changes rather than comparing against controls, and heterogeneity was high, so it is a signal about the family of practices rather than a number for this one. Source
- A long exhale on its own does as much as more elaborate patterns. In a randomised trial of 66 people facing a social stress test, prolonged exhalation performed about as well as box breathing on every measure: heart rate fell rather than rose, a salivary stress marker stayed flat, and state anxiety did not climb. Whatever else you take from that trial, the plainest reading is that the long exhale is the active ingredient. Source
- How the breath is paced matters more than the technique. A randomised crossover trial of 25 healthy adults found heart rate variability rose in every slow breathing condition tested, and rose most when an external cue set the rhythm rather than the person setting it themselves, taking breathing from about eleven to about seven breaths a minute. That is an argument for counting, or for practising alongside somebody, rather than for choosing a cleverer pattern. Source
- It is the practice I give to the widest range of people. No retention, no forceful movement, no abdominal contraction, nothing that raises pressure in the chest or the head, and it can be done lying down. In about forty years I have never had to take somebody off this one.
Who should not do this
- Nothing absolute, which is unusual on this site, and the reason is that there is no breath retention and no force anywhere in it. What follows are the situations where I would change how it is taught rather than refuse it.
- Panic disorder, or a history of hyperventilation. Deliberately deepening the breath makes a small number of people feel worse rather than better, because attending closely to the breath is itself the trigger. If that is you, do four counts in and six out without the three part instruction, keep the eyes open, and stop at six rounds.
- Uncontrolled asthma or COPD during an exacerbation, or a chest infection in progress. Breath control is the wrong project during an attack. Between attacks this practice is often the most useful thing available, and it is what I would teach first.
- Recent abdominal or chest surgery, or a hernia. The practice does not contract the abdomen, but a big inhale still moves the abdominal wall, so keep the inhale to two thirds and stop at the point of any pulling. Ask your surgeon.
- Late pregnancy, in the sense that the belly cannot expand the way the instruction describes. Move the attention to the ribs, which can still widen, and do the practice sitting rather than lying flat on the back.
- Blocked nose, a heavy cold or sinusitis. Breathe through the mouth for these few days if you must, keep the exhale long, and do not force air through a closed nose.
- Immediately after a full meal. An hour after something light is enough, which is a shorter wait than any of the forceful practices need.
- Dizziness or tingling in the hands or lips at any point. That means you are over breathing rather than deep breathing. Stop, breathe normally until it clears, and next time make the inhale smaller and the exhale longer.
- Do not do this practice lying flat on your back if that gives you reflux or breathlessness. Sit up, or put a bolster under the head and chest.
Breathing practices change blood pressure and heart rate for real, not metaphorically. If any of these describe you, say so before you start, and leave breath retention alone until somebody has watched you practise.
What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
What goes wrong most often in this practice, on the left, and what to do instead, on the right.
Taking three separate sips of air instead of one continuous inhale.
The fix. The three parts are three places the one breath arrives, in order, not three breaths. Say belly, ribs, chest to yourself as one flowing count of four rather than counting one, two, three with a pause between each.
The shoulders lifting on the inhale.
The fix. Lifting shoulders means the breath is going into the top of the chest first, which is the habit the practice exists to undo. Put a palm on the belly and refuse to let the chest move until the belly has. Lying down makes this obvious within two breaths.
Pushing the belly out with the abdominal muscles rather than letting the breath fill it.
The fix. It is a filling, not a shoving. If the belly is being pushed out by effort, the breath is not going low. Make the inhale much smaller, two counts, and let the belly move only as far as the air takes it.
Making the inhale enormous, so the practice becomes a series of big gulps.
The fix. Two thirds full is plenty. A huge inhale followed by a short exhale is over breathing, which produces exactly the light head and tingling fingers people then report. Deep breathing means low and slow, not large.
The exhale quietly shortening until the ratio is 4:4.
The fix. Count the exhale out loud in your head, all six, and let the last two counts empty the chest. When somebody tells me deep breathing does nothing for them, the exhale has almost always collapsed.
Keeping the hands on the belly and chest for months.
The fix. Take them away after a fortnight. The hands are there to teach the order of the movement and after that they become a prop that keeps the shoulders tense. Use them again for one round if you lose the thread.
Treating it as too simple to be worth practising, and moving straight to something with retention.
The fix. Give it a month on its own. Everything with a hold in it is easier, safer and less dizzy on top of a breath that already goes low and runs long, and I have never regretted making somebody wait.
Where these claims come from
Anything on this page stated as a fact about the body is sourced below. Anything not sourced is written plainly as what the teacher has seen in his own classes, and is labelled that way in the text.
- Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials, Scientific Reports 2023
- Yogic Breathing Practices as a Non-Pharmacological Alternative for Managing Pulmonary Functions of Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Indian Journal of Community Medicine 2026;51(Suppl 1):S27-S38
- Box breathing and prolonged exhalation reduces markers of physiological stress reactivity in response to a virtual trier social stress test, Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology 2026
- Investigating Components of Pranayama for Effects on Heart Rate Variability, Journal of Psychosomatic Research 2021;148:110569
From Vaithialingam's class
If somebody gave me one class with a new student and told me to teach one thing, it would be this, and I would spend the whole hour on it. Not because it is advanced. Because almost every adult who walks into the hall breathes into the top of the chest with the shoulders lifting, has done for thirty years, and does not know it. The two palms are the whole teaching method. I ask them to put one on the belly and one on the breastbone and to tell me which one moves, and about four in five say the top one, and several of them are surprised. Then we lie down, because lying down the belly moves whether you intend it or not, and within two breaths they have felt what I have been trying to describe. The other thing I insist on is that the exhale is the part that grows. People want to work on the inhale, because taking a big breath feels like doing something, and a big inhale with a short exhale is simply over breathing and will make them dizzy. Six counts out, then eight. Smaller in, longer out. That is the whole progression and it takes a month.
This is what he sees in class, not a medical claim. Where this page states what a practice does for a condition, the evidence is in the sources cited on the page.
Vaithialingam, founder and teacher, 40 years of teaching.
Questions people ask
What is dirga pranayama, and is it the same as deep breathing?
Dirga means long, and it is the three part breath: one continuous inhale that arrives first in the belly, then the lower ribs, then the upper chest, followed by a longer exhale that reverses the order. It is what most English speaking classes call deep breathing or three part breath, and it overlaps closely with the diaphragmatic breathing taught by physiotherapists. Four counts in and six counts out, twelve rounds, about five minutes. The glossary has the related terms.
How many rounds of three part breathing should I do?
Twelve rounds at four counts in and six counts out, which is about five minutes, once or twice a day. Lie down with the knees supported for the first fortnight and put a palm on the belly and one on the chest. From week five go to four counts in and eight out and stop there: the exhale lengthening is the progression, and the inhale does not need to get longer.
Who should not do deep breathing?
There is no absolute exclusion, which is unusual, because there is no retention and no force in it. I would change how it is taught for a few people: anybody with panic disorder or a history of hyperventilation should keep the inhale small, the eyes open and the sitting short, since attention to the breath can itself be the trigger. Leave breath control alone during an asthma attack or a chest infection. In late pregnancy move the attention to the ribs and sit rather than lie flat.
What are the benefits of three part breathing?
A 2023 meta analysis of breathwork found small to medium effects on stress, anxiety and depression, around a third of a standard deviation, with most trials at moderate risk of bias. A review of eleven studies in 974 healthy adults found peak expiratory flow and vital capacity improved in most groups. In the hall the benefit I would defend hardest is different: a student who can breathe low and slow learns every other practice in one class instead of fighting it for a month.
Why do I feel dizzy when I breathe deeply?
Because you are over breathing rather than deep breathing. A large inhale followed by a short exhale moves too much air and blows off carbon dioxide, which narrows the blood vessels in the brain, and that is the light head and the tingling in the hands or lips. The fix is always a smaller inhale, never a shorter exhale. Try three counts in and six out, and stop at six rounds.
Does deep breathing increase oxygen in the blood?
Not meaningfully. In a healthy person at rest the blood leaving the lungs is already almost fully saturated with oxygen, so breathing harder does not add much. What changes with slow breathing is carbon dioxide, the pattern of nerve traffic from the lungs and the rhythm of the heart, and those are where the measured effects come from. Any page telling you deep breathing floods your cells with oxygen is guessing.
Should I count, or just breathe naturally?
Count, at least while you are learning. A randomised crossover trial of twenty five adults found heart rate variability rose more when an external cue set the breathing rhythm than when people paced themselves, taking breathing from about eleven to about seven breaths a minute. Practically, that means counting, or practising alongside somebody counting, does more than choosing a cleverer pattern such as box breathing.
Can I do three part breathing lying down?
Yes, and for the first fortnight I would rather you did. Lying on your back with the knees bent over a bolster, as in Savasana, the belly moves whether you intend it or not, which teaches the order of the movement faster than any instruction. Sit up for it if lying flat gives you reflux or breathlessness, and put a bolster under the head and chest if you need one.
What is the best time of day for three part breathing?
Any time, which makes it the exception in this family. An hour after something light to eat is enough. It is the practice I would use in the middle of the night when sleep has gone, and the one I would use at a desk in the afternoon as part of the desk sequence, and the one I would open a morning practice with. There is nothing stimulating in it and nothing sedating either.
Practise live, from wherever you are
The same class, taught live over video, camera on and corrected by name. Slots that land in the evening in the Gulf and the UK, and an early-IST slot that is a US evening.
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