Niraj NaikFounder & CEO of SOMA Breath | Music-Powered Breathwork Pioneer | DJ, Speaker & Author

Most people think it’s the nicotine that calms them.But it’s not.It’s the breath.

15 Oct 2025 · 0 min

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Niraj Naik explains why smoking feels calming: the breathing pattern, not nicotine. Smokers inhale for 2 seconds, hold for 1, exhale for 4 through pursed lips. Three to five minutes daily of this paced breathing activates your vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system.

Questions this video answers

Inhale 2 seconds, hold 1 second, exhale 4 seconds (through pursed lips).

Three to five minutes per day.

Slow Richaka.

What relaxation technique do smokers use? Without even realizing it, they breathe in for 2 seconds.
Hold for 1 second, and then breathe out for 4 seconds through pursed lips. If you breathe like this for three to five minutes a day, it actually really relaxes you because it turns on your vagus nerve and your parasympathetic nervous system. There's actually a breathing technique from yoga called Slow Richaka.