Got a tip on how to breathe so you don't go through your air?

[Chugwhump]

Yoga is good.
Breath control is good.
Physical fitness is also good.
Diving a lot, being calm, being at ease while diving, both when dry and when submerged, is the best way to get the most time out of your tank.
And coincidentally, Faber 149's ain't so bad either.
I am generally better than all the youngsters I dive with....
and they are in the gym regularly.
I am regularly into the Jim Beam and the Slim Jims.

Chug
Dives with a bunch of over 50 old pharts that consistently out performs the youngsters.
The same as it ever was.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

First and foremost, slow down. Look for as many tiny life forms as you can find before swimming off to the next rock. If you have a camera, shooting macro guarantees you will get better air consumption. I sometimes spend an entire dive without finning.

Streamline your gear. Big pillow shaped BCs and danglies create drag, causing you to breathe more heavily. Avoid gear that makes you work more. Watch videos of divers using split fins and you'll be amazed at how many kick cycles they go through to get anywhere.

Proper weighting. Carrying too much or too little weight adds to your workload.

Thermal protection. If you are cold you will breathe harder. If you dive in water where a drysuit is appropriate don't skimp by buying a wetsuit.

Descend/ascend a lot slower than you think you need to. Most people go too fast anyway, but going up and down in the water column takes breath control and constant adjustment to your BC and or drysuit.

Slow down, relax, try not to get too excited and dive as often as you can.

 

[spectrum]

Chugwhump sort of summed it up. There's how it works and how you make it happen.

The buildup of carbon dioxide is what triggers the need to breathe. The more you empty your lungs with deep exhalations the "cleaner' you will be when you refill them with fresh air. This will delay the need to breathe again. An additional benefit is less "dead air" is wasted. When you breathe fast and shallow a higher percentage of the air you draw is lost just going up and down your windpipe. Taken to an extreme you can be panting shallow and suffocate.

Diving when practiced well borders on being an anaerobic activity. Efficiency is what it's all about. Swimming at a pace compatible with your physical conditioning goes along way and technique can make up for less than stellar fitness. If I'm gently kicking and gliding I don't need to be an Olympic superstar.

Wanting to breathe deeply and diving in good form are all nice goals but if you are a nervous wreck, flapping and thrashing and fighting for buoyancy control it will not come together for you. Develop confidence, find your Zen, get horizontal in the water column, dive with a gentle kick, glide and get your buoyancy to where you can stop and hang and you will be on to something. If the very act of getting you act together does not drop you into deep deliberate breathing then something like Yoga to build that pattern will suddenly make it all click. It sounds like in the case of the OP's wife yoga class provided the missing link and voila!.

Pete

 

[TMHeimer]

I like Chugwhump's summation as well. While assisting courses I of course go through a fair bit less air than most students--using split fins (and I do believe I do a lot more kick cycles with them, but they're good in preventing cramps). I don't think my gas consumption has changed much, if at all in my first 10 years.
Comfortability in water before OW course may account for that. There are of course things such as Yoga and other ideas to help with breathing. As long as you have enough gas to do the dive(s) you want, all is good.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Don't under estimate Diving More. The more you dive familiar sites or the more you dive the more confidence and less anxiety build up you get. To the point where if you are diving more than 40 or 50 dives a year you begin to feel better and can actually slow down and not just think you are slowing down.

When I was diving 10 to 20 times a year my rate was much higher than it is now. So if you are in decent shape and you think you are relatively efficient under water - look at the number of dives or frequency that you are diving. The more you dive the better you feel - the better you feel the more relaxed you become and it becomes a positive cycle.
Have fun and keep diving.

 

[Patoux01]

Get a bigger tank, forget the "oh my god, he uses so much air"....

 

[chillyinCanada]

As I became a better diver my breathing cycle just slowed down naturally. The long slow breaths and exhaled became the norm and I'd often experience a sensation I'd often refer to as zen (a zen dive). Many years later, I took up yoga and meditation and that's when I realized that I'd been breathing "yoga" during my dives long before. So, of course I'm in complete agreement with the OP's recommendation. Ooommmmmmm

 

[seeker242]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing

"Belly breathing" because it's just the most efficient way to breathe. But I guess one could call it "yoga breathing" as yoga breathing is nearly the same thing. But you can learn belly breathing without having to do yoga or martial arts, etc. One great benefit is that it "activates" the parasympathetic nervous system, which has a natural calming effect, further contributing to the reduction in air consumption by inducing the "relaxation response" as some people call it. As opposed to the "fight or flight response".

That, AND only moving body parts that are actually necessary and only when necessary.

 

[Chugwhump]

You "Yoga people" are going to hell.
I have it on good authority that "meditation" and "looking inward" is Satanic.

Is it Okay for Christians to Do Yoga? | RELEVANT Magazine
Just sayin'.

Chug
Ommmmmmmmm.........
**snicker**

 

[Rich Keller]

The more time you spend in the water the more comfortable you will feel. The more comfortable feel the less air you will breath. There is no real shortcut that I have ever seen that actually works.