Move More, Breathe Less: Rethinking the Breath with Robin Rothenberg

What if much of what we’ve been taught about the breath in yoga is backwards? In this episode, Amy sits down with yoga therapist and author Robin Rothenberg for a frank, eye-opening conversation that challenges one of yoga’s most cherished cues: “take a big breath.”

After a respiratory crisis upended her own health, Robin discovered that the long, dramatic breaths she’d taught for years were making her symptoms worse, not better. The fix ran counter to everything she thought she knew about pranayama: breathe less, build CO2 tolerance, and let the body actually use the oxygen it already has.

Robin opens with a short guided practice, then she and Amy dig into the physiology of carbon dioxide, why “move more, breathe less” became her motto, how nasal breathing transformed her exercise and energy, and why the heart of classical pranayama was never the long exhale but the extension of kumbhaka (breath suspension). It’s a warm, candid, occasionally myth-busting conversation for anyone who teaches, practices, or simply breathes.

Key Takeaways

• Bigger isn’t better. Chronic sighing, yawning, mouth breathing, and “taking a big breath” are often signs of over-breathing and distress — not relaxation.
• CO2 is the catalyst, not the enemy. Carbon dioxide is what releases oxygen from the blood into your tissues. Low CO2 tolerance can drive fatigue, brain fog, achiness, and that “can’t-get-through-the-day” feeling — even when oxygen saturation reads 98–99%.
• Move more, breathe less. Movement and exercise generate CO2; light, nasal-only breathing keeps it in the system. Together they raise your CO2 tolerance and your real aerobic capacity.
• Keep your mouth closed. Unless you’re running from a lion or racing to win, there’s no reason to mouth-breathe during exercise. Let nasal breathing set your pace — you’ll get more out of less effort.
• Pranayama is about kumbhaka. The classical texts emphasize extending the breath suspension after the exhale, practiced several times a day — not the modern habit of simply lengthening the exhale.
• It’s a transformation, not a quick fix. Dialing the breath down can feel uncomfortable at first because you’re bumping against a subnormal CO2 ceiling. Titrate gradually, raise the ceiling toward normal, and expect it to take months — ideally with skilled support.
• This is bigger than yoga. Over-breathing is, in Robin’s view, epidemic in our stressed culture and relevant to chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia, and far more — a call for the whole yoga community to stop passing along breath misinformation.

About the Guest

Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT, is a yoga therapist, educator, and author who has spent decades studying the breath. A past president and board member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), she trained in the Buteyko method and has worked to bring functional breathing science into the yoga world. She is the founder of Essential Yoga Therapy and creator of the Restore Your Prana (RYP) training program for yoga teachers and yoga therapists, which offers both personal and professional tracks.

Books & Resources

• Restoring Prana — Robin’s comprehensive book on functional breathing for yoga professionals.
• The Svadhyaya Breath Journal — the companion guided-practice journal designed to hold you accountable to the work (Amy contributed the foreword).
• 10-hour online course — an IAYT/YACEP-accredited “weekend workshop” format blending education and experiential practice; a good place to start.
• Restore Your Prana (RYP) — in-depth training program with personal and professional tracks, plus mentorship support.
• Recommended reading: James Nestor’s Breath — especially the chapter on his three-week mouth-breathing experiment.

Connect with Robin

Website: EssentialYogaTherapy.com

Instagram: @essential.yoga.therapy