> You don't have to be taught to breathe.

You sure? Haven't read the book / heard of the author. But after I started freediving and training holding my breath (also called static / dynamic apnea lol) and working a lot on related stuff, I realized I was mostly breathing shallow and with my chest, and not deep with my abdomen.

Now I notice it in others. I don't know if it matters in the end. But I breathe a couple of times a minute and then I hear people next to me quickly breathing in and out constantly like a rabbit. Seems stressful?

> You don't have to be taught to breathe.

That’s where I would disagree. Sure there’s a baseline of breathing that everyone does otherwise they’d be dead, but I think the ceiling towards skillful breathing is very high. The difference is more obvious under athletic conditions like if you’re running or biking, just improving your breathing rhythm can improve your performance. There’s even a proper way to breathe if you’re weightlifting, some people might pick it up naturally but I know it’s also commonly taught.

In psychology I’m pretty sure it’s well established and not pseudo science that certain breathing rhythms can increase your energy or decrease your anxiety, I think I read that they teach box breathing to some parts of the military to help keep them calm during missions.

So there’s definitely a range of breathing ability for specific tasks.

I haven't read his book, so I don't know how much of a kook or grifter I would judge this guy to be, and I'm always dubious about things, but I try to remember that even kooks and grifters sometimes (not always!) have genuinely useful things in what they're saying. They might not be the best person to say it, and their suggestions might not always be the best way to make use of the useful bits. But just because someone is trying to make money from spreading their message doesn't make it all BS.

(I think I'm mostly agreeing with you.)