Turn your breath into something medicinal
Most of us have been taught to chase oxygen. To breathe deeper, inhale more, fill the lungs.
But what if the real key to your health isn't found in getting more air…
…but in becoming comfortable with less?
Hidden in every breath you take is a misunderstood, undervalued molecule, one so powerful it decides how calm you feel, how much oxygen you actually use, and how resilient your body becomes under stress.
That molecule is carbon dioxide (CO₂).
And once you understand what CO₂ really does inside the body, you unlock a level of health, clarity, and performance most people never experience.
This is exactly what our Breath Masters teach inside The Breath Source App, because when you learn to work with CO₂, your breath stops being automatic… and becomes medicinal.
Learning to work with carbon dioxide, rather than trying to get rid of it, is one of the most profound shifts we can make in our relationship to breath.
We do not breathe because we need oxygen. We breathe because CO₂ rises.
CO₂ is not simply a waste product to get rid of.
CO₂ determines how readily oxygen actually leaves the blood and fuels our cells. It regulates the acidity of our bloodstream (hello anti-inflammatory properties!), influences circulation, and plays a key role in our tolerance to stress.
In short, carbon dioxide is the quiet conductor of the entire respiratory orchestra.
— Travis Steffens, CEO of The Breath Source App
Is Oxygen the Most Important Molecule? No.
Most people assume we breathe because our bodies are running low on oxygen, but that's not actually what triggers the urge to inhale.
At the Hack Your Health Summit in Miami this month, our founder, Travis Steffens, gave a packed session on the power of CO₂, challenging the biggest myth in mainstream wellness!
As Travis puts it: "CO₂ is the most important molecule to both the planet and to your body."
And the research backs it. Decades of respiratory physiology, neuroscience, and performance science show a consistent truth:
Your tolerance to CO₂ determines how well you breathe, how well you handle stress, and how efficiently your cells get oxygen.
If you want better sleep, calmer nerves, more energy, and deeper resilience, your relationship with CO₂ is the place to start.
Visit hackyourhealth.com
Is CO2 Important? by Travis Steffens
A foundational introduction to why CO₂ is essential for health and why breathing less may be exactly what your body needs.
Try This Class on the AppToday's World Has Turned Almost Everyone Into a Chronic Overbreather
Fast-paced living, stress, stimulants, high-intensity fitness culture, and mouth-breathing habits all push us into taking too many breaths.
And inside our community at The Breath Source, we see the same pattern in beginners, athletes, parents, executives, and high performers alike:
Low CO₂ → Tight blood vessels → Poor oxygen delivery → Nervous system on high alert → More stress, more tension, more fatigue.
But here's the good news:
Across our global Breath Source Tribe, thousands of people are learning the opposite path….
to slow down, breathe less, tolerate more CO₂, and reclaim their natural balance.
When CO₂ rises gently and safely in the bloodstream:
-
✓ Blood flow improves
✓ Oxygen is released more efficiently
✓ The nervous system shifts out of threat mode
✓ Calm becomes effortless
✓ Energy becomes stable
✓ The mind becomes clearer
This is why our community focuses on building CO₂ tolerance, not hyperventilating, not "big deep breaths," not forceful breathing.
We breathe intelligently, not excessively.
4 - 6 Breath Bubble by Mike Maher
A soothing guided practice with extended exhales, designed to help you safely raise CO₂ tolerance and feel the benefits immediately.
Try This Class on the App
The Expanding Box Breath by Ryan Bean
A progressive box-breathing journey into extended holds and controlled hypoxia to deepen CO₂ adaptation.
Try This Class on the AppThis is how our tribe trains for calm, clarity, and strength, one intentional breath at a time.
Breathing Less Goes Against Everything You've Been Taught
But once you experience it in your own body….
✓ the warmth in your hands,
✓ the calm in your chest,
✓ the steady rhythm of your mind…
something shifts.
You realize:
✓ You are not fragile.
✓ You are not ruled by stress.
✓ You are not at the mercy of life's pace.
With the right breath, you can slow your biology, reclaim your peace, and influence your entire internal world.
And the science supports this transformation!
10 Research-Backed Benefits of CO₂
- Improves oxygen delivery through the Bohr Effect.
- Enhances blood flow via natural vasodilation.
- Calms the nervous system and reduces anxiety under stress.
- Supports pH balance, essential for cellular health.
- Improves breathing efficiency by stabilizing respiratory rhythm.
- Builds physical resilience and reduces overbreathing in exercise.
- Strengthens respiratory control through CO₂-sensitive chemoreceptors.
- Boosts energy efficiency and stabilizes oxygen use.
- Improves mental clarity through increased cerebral blood flow.
- Helps reduce anxiety & panic sensitivity by increasing CO₂ tolerance.
Hypoxic Hypercapnic by AJ Fisher
A powerful, athletic-style session using controlled low-oxygen breathing to train efficiency, CO₂ resilience, and calm under intensity.
Try This Class on the AppThe Takeaway: It's Not About Oxygen… It's About Balance.
In a world addicted to fast, shallow breathing, reconnecting with your natural physiology may be the most important step toward health you ever take.
When you:
🟐 slow your breath
🟐 raise your CO₂ tolerance
🟐 trust your body's intelligence
…your entire physiology reorganizes itself around calm, oxygen efficiency, and resilience.
And that's the heart of our mission at The Breath Source:
to help you transform your breath so you can transform your life.
Ready to Feel It for Yourself?
Download The Breath Source App, explore our guided CO₂-focused breath sessions, and start building a relationship with your breath that supports your mind, your health, and your future.
Breathe less. Gain more.
We'll see you inside.
Download the Source AppREFERENCES
🟐 Aubier, M., Laghi, F. & Tobin, M.J. (2018). The Bohr/Haldane effect: A model-based study and its impact on oxygen delivery to tissue. Journal of Applied Physiology, 124(4), 1041–1051.
🟐 Bailey, D.M., Rasmussen, P., Steinback, C.D. et al. (2021). The magnitude of the Bohr effect and its influence on oxygen equilibrium curves in human blood. Journal of Physiology, 599(1), 85–101.
🟐 Georgiadis, M., Murias, J.M., MacLeod, K. et al. (2022). Perceptual and ventilatory responses to hypercapnia in athletes and sedentary controls. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 301, 103889.
🟐 Gorman, J.M., Fyer, A.J., Goetz, R. et al. (1990). High-dose carbon dioxide challenge test in anxiety disorder patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47(7), 601–610.
🟐 Griez, E., Lousberg, H., van den Hout, M.A., et al. (1992). Response to hyperventilation and inhalation of 5.5% CO₂-enriched air across anxiety disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders, 26(1), 45–48.
🟐 Horvath, S.A., Desouza, A.M., Bennett, K. et al. (2022). Influence of graded hypercapnia on endurance performance in healthy humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(10), 2167–2178.
🟐 Jensen, F.B. (2004). Red blood cell pH, the Bohr effect, and other oxygenation-linked phenomena in blood O₂ and CO₂ transport. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 182(3), 215–227.
🟐 Meuret, A.E., Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Rosenfield, D. et al. (2023). Capnometry-Assisted Respiratory Training for anxiety and asthma: A randomized controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 162, 104203.
🟐 Riva, C.E., Logean, E. & Falsini, B. (2003). Response of retinal blood flow to CO₂-breathing in humans. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 44(4), 2070–2074.
🟐 Rupp, T., Perrey, S. & Estivalet, M. (2011). Simple breathing exercises significantly increase cerebral blood flow and oxygenation. Cerebral Cortex (preprint via arXiv).
🟐 Silverthorn, D. & Bains, A. (2022). Physiology, Bohr Effect. In: StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
🟐 Willie, C.K., Tzeng, Y.C., Fisher, J.A. & Ainslie, P.N. (2012). Cerebrovascular response to carbon dioxide in humans. Journal of Physiology, 590(14), 3261–3275.
