Tibetan rehab day #1
The first two weeks are almost entirely to develop breath.
The goal is to hold your breath comfortably for long periods of time. It becomes very involved and specific but you start here.
Ideally sitting with a very upright spine.
To start do what you can, laying, recline, sit...
Start with 10 breaths. Inflate, hold as long as you can comfortably, deflate.
Breath holding is neurological
We are trying to reset system
I started, sitting crosslegged, 24 breaths.
When you hold breath repeatedly, your heart rate will try to increase.
It can spike.
We are trying to slow breathing, really slow it and not spike heart rate. This is how you know you are accomplishing practice and ready for increased complexity and effort
Here is my heart rate graph.
Not bad
There is fascinating research on effects of breath holding and some people learn to free dive which defies physiological rules.
At my best, I would reduce my respiration to one breath every minute for 108 minutes. I'm nowhere near that now but will be closer in two weeks. Improvement is fast because it's a specific engrained function
Here is an interesting article as a start.
https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/breath-holding-research-2020/
You are correct on cultural and environmental factors, it's not surprising that these practices were developed at extreme elevations.
RainbowBody
Vayl Larkin (they/them)