Circular Breathing Made Easy for Didgeridoo: The Long Inhalation

Circular Breathing with the Long Inhalation
by AJ Block

To perform this exercise you will need your lungs to be mostly empty. Essentially you will play a drone and inhale through your nose for as long as possible while still maintaining the didgeridoo sound. The goal is to develop circular breathing in a way that you keep a strong drone while bringing air in through the nose. Don't miss the video below!

The Long Inhalation:

1. Exhale the majority of your air by blowing out
2. Put the didge up to your mouth and play a drone making sure your cheeks are full
3. Inhale through your nose at the slowest rate possible. Keep the sound of the drone strong by contracting the muscles of your cheeks and jaw to expel air. The air should flow at the same rate
4. Let the sound die out once you have run out of air

It’s important to let the sound die out at the end of each attempt (at first). This will allow you to fully focus on the principle of inhaling and making sound at the same time. Once you can do this successfully, move on to the following exercise.

The Long Inhalation followed by Abdominal Burst:

Now you will perform the same steps 1-3 from the previous exercise with the following ending:

1. Exhale the majority of your air by blowing out
2. Put the didge up to your mouth and play a drone making sure your cheeks are full
3. Inhale through your nose at the slowest rate possible. Keep the sound of the drone strong by contracting the muscles of your cheeks and jaw to expel air. The air should flow at the same rate
4. Before the sound has a chance to die out, send a new wave of air through the instrument by engaging your abdominal muscles in a quick burst.
5. Play the drone for a while until you feel that your air supply is low
6. Repeat steps 3-5

Practicing this exercise will seem difficult at first, especially if you are new to circular breathing. Once you can master it, however, it will allow you to perform circular breathing without losing any of the force of your air stream.

Read our most popular Circular Breathing article, "6 Steps To Circular Breathing on Didgeridoo":

[cortisolblue]

Anyone out there struggling with the didj, keep practicing you'll get there! I was bat shit confused for the first couple months but eventually after messing around for a while a switch gets turned on in your brain I promise.

[Grant-kjeq]

Inflate your cheeks and keep your diaphram ifnflated as well, as you feel the pressure in your diaphram dropping use the air in your cheecks and push it out gradually with your cheeks to keep the vibration going and at the same time breath in deeply and quickly through your nose to fill your lungs and keep your diaphram up . If you let you diaphram drop too low you will run out of air and when you breath in it will be too late to keep the vibration going  . Its all about regulating your diaphram and keeping air in your cheeks . Its similar to how a scottish bag pip player has to blow into teh bag to keep it inflated and then forces the air out by compressing the bag with his arm . As the bag pressure drops he will blow into the bag again . With a digeridoo  the bag is your cheeks ..  hope this maybe helps someone .

[argusink]

Great video! I bought one for my sleep apnea, let it sit in the corner for a year and a half, and now I'm addicted to playing it. Only one breaths-worth though. Hahaha. It is go time now! 😀

[siriandweller]

Thank you for this video 🙏🏼 Guys this really works. I have been practicing this exercise 2hrs a day for about a week maybe 10 days and I improved massively. I just need to close the circle with the abdominal movement now 😉
Thank you so much 💓

[markboblove]

You can increase the amount of air molecules in your mouth by increasing volume (opening jaw, relaxing cheeks) and pressure, so adding an abdominal thrust immediately before the inhale gives you a longer inhale.

[Fulphilment]

Nice Shipibo art in the background ;)
And thank you for all the tips. I got my first Didgeridoo two days ago and I've already made quite some progress thanks to you!

[patrickmclfilm]

when ever i start to breath in the done cuts out immediately

[arnthjortkilde]

Good inspiration I have played Manny years, but never really thought about what I was doing .Thank you

[ferencrozsa]

Sok videót végignéztem. A te videód segített megtanulni a körlégzést. Nagyon köszönöm!!!!
Thanks from Hungary!!! :-)

[katemariano]

Thank you! Very to the point. Just what I needed.

[HuwDanielRowlands]

I know everyone is gonna be different but how long generally did it take to grasp this? And how often and for how long did you practice.
I can’t seem to make any progress!

[propagandaBreaker]

very good explanation thanks a lot !!!

[mikailz]

Great vid! I'm getting the hang of circular breathing, however I run out of air after 30s.
I get the feeling I exhale too much to maintain the drone, so that the inhalation isn't enough to keep going.
I think my inhalation is also quite shallow during.


Is it me? Do I need more practice (is my 2nd day now)?
Do I exhale too much (if i lessen it, the drone fades away).


By the way, I'm playing the didgeridoo to try to solve my mild apnea.
I really hope this helps!

[mattnobrega]

I feel like an old bagpipe with a hole in it 🤣🤣🤣

[amandaleigh]

wow wow wow. just when i was about to give up <3 thank you for this

[emilycoles]

Is it best on the side or front of mouth??

[АнтонАлександрин-чх]

There's no problem for me to circular breathe without didgeridoo, but when I blow into the didge, the air flow required for maintaining the sound is too large, so my mouth exausts before i can inhale. Is there any method for reducing the air flow?

[lukaslesnjakpelko]

i cant do both. my lungs fill up with air and i outhale i cant do both at once

[_Jitterbug]

Idk if this helps, but first day of picking up my didge again to try learn this circular breathing, i found using a "what the fuuu, what the fuuu" type rhythm, helped me to introduce that abdominal punch and extend the time i have to circular breath, happy didging all other noobs like me, we'll get there!

[slowking]

the sound just dies when i breathe in.