The Hill: a walk that teaches you to breathe, Mondays, Ide, for men

I have found that a steady hill is the best breathing teacher there is. The one above Ide is near enough perfect: two miles of even, continuous climb, no flat and nothing steep, so the work builds slowly and your breathing has to find a rhythm that holds. We walk it together, at one pace, breathing through the nose with the mouth closed, and the hill does the rest. I'll be there to show you how to use it, how to settle your breathing on the way up, and what to do when your nose stops being enough (shorten your step; don't open your mouth). It isn't a talking walk. Nobody will ask you about yourself, and the way up is mostly quiet; on the way down, talk or don't.

Good breathing underneath everything else is worth having, and a hill is the plainest place to practise it. That's the whole of it.

We meet in the top car park at Ide (what3words: sheep.goals.draw). New? Come at 5:35pm and we'll have five minutes; there are only two rules and I'll tell you both. At 5:45pm we set off up the lane. At the top we stand for a minute and look down over Exeter, then walk back down. Back at the cars by about seven.

Two miles up, about 570 feet of climb, tarmac the whole way, then two miles back down, walked at the pace of the slowest, so nobody is left behind. There's minimal talking on the way up, not as a rule but because the whole aim is to breathe through the nose only, and that takes your attention. The aim underneath is simple: better functional breathing, and learning to stay steady while you're moving and under demand. Because we all walk at one pace, the fitter men borrow a weight vest, so that the load on everyone's breathing is about the same whatever their age or fitness; there are poles too, and breathing techniques that go with the hill, and I bring the kit and show you how. My father does it at eighty.

Bring water, shoes you can walk two miles uphill in, and a jacket for the top. From October to March it is dark by the time we come down, so a head torch or your phone's light. It goes ahead in any weather.

I'm Alexei Janssen, and I run it; a learning and performance coach with 25 years of experience, seventeen of them with the Royal Marines. The Practice is new and small, and the walk goes ahead whatever the numbers, even if it's just me.

Free, every Monday. Not sure? Message me first and ask me anything: https://wa.me/447424799151

The WhatsApp channel confirms the week ahead each Sunday (one-way; nobody will message you): https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbCxatp0VycN8w2ynv0A

Full details: https://thepractice.works/hill