Open Cage

It is unfortunate that most of us don’t have a clue how a good deep breath actually feels. Blame poor posture, stress and increasing lack of awareness for the negative drama played out in our bodies.

After awhile, you brain accepts and records your constricted breathing and poor posture as the norm. Once a brain-map is in place, the body will return to that path of least resistance unless you make a conscious effort to do otherwise. The Open Cage is a chance to get some easy oxygen, to stretch out your spine, to fan open your ribs and to re-map your brain as to ideal posture and efficient breathing.

1. Lie on your back across a bed with your knees bent down over the edge of the mattress. Let your lower legs and feet dangle toward the floor (about hip-distance apart). Hold one wrist with the opposite hand (elbows bent). Your hands will be a few inches above the top of your head with your palms facing the ceiling. If they don’t drop down easily on the bed, prop them up with a pillow.

2. Breathe slowly and deeply without any attempt to manipulate your breathing. Just be aware. Notice how much more air you are taking in when your ribs aren’t scrunched down against your delicate lungs.

3. When you finish, roll over slowly onto your side and push yourself up with your arms and hands.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Mindful Breathing. What’s In It For Me?

Why should you, an experienced breather, invest your limited time in the study of CONSCIOUS breathing techniques? The movement of your breath, thus far, seems to have been as dependable, as mindless, as the arc of the sun and the flow of the tides. Why get involved in a system that doesn’t appear to demand immediate attention?

Mother Nature (in one of her generous brilliant moves) gave our species two different methods of breathing. The first is AUTOMATIC. The breath comes and goes without involving the conscious mind at all. AUTOMATIC gear functions quite well except for those times when we interfere with the design by doing something incredibly stupid like smoking.

The AUTOMATIC mode is like having a dependable little Honda Civic in your garage. It gets you from point A to point B with fairly good gas mileage and a fairly predictable ride.

The second option is CONSCIOUS practiced breathing that can be compared to a Lamborghini sitting right there next to your little Civic. You can drive through life quite nicely, running all your errands in the little Civic that is designed to last forever and require very little effort on your part. You may never unlock the Lamborghini (most people don’t) but you will be missing out on power, insight, serenity and wisdom.

Don’t worry. If you want to stay with the Civic, we will work on making the AUTOMATIC mode healthier and more interesting as well. Your choice. Your garage.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Kiss Shy Goodbye. Well, Almost.

Someone said that shyness is the result of focusing too much attention on oneself. The trick is to break the old cycle of nervous anticipation and response. Remember that your breathing is your guardian angel and is ALWAYS there for you.

IN ADVANCE OF SHY-TIME, DROP YOUR BREATHING INTO YOUR LOWER LUNGS AND SLOW IT DOWN.

Decide ahead of time that you will hold onto that breathing speed and placement NO MATTER WHAT. Nothing to lose here! You can always return to palm sweating pulse-pounding misery if the breathing focus doesn’t work. No matter how awkward things may get, never once lose your focus on your breathing.

You (yes, you) have the capability of bringing light, laughter, joy and serenity to any space or any group. You may be shy because somewhere, sometime a long time ago, someone accidentally or intentionally convinced you otherwise. Perhaps the focus could shift to what positive energy you can BRING to a space, what joy can you BRING to a group.

Imagine that you are an artist and that you will focus on “artist” things like how many red ties are there in the room, who has the nicest smile, who has the saddest face. Or imagine that you are a reporter and that you need to come away with at least one good story. Of course, don’t TELL people you are an artist (unless you actually are).

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Improve Your Sound

A beautiful voice is completely dependent upon beautiful breathing. A beautiful voice is a true reflection of the mind, body and spirit of the speaker. While we are stuck with the vocal chords we inherited, they are almost always good enough.

Improve your breathing and you will improve your sound. That’s a fact. It is a good bet that the sound you typically produce is higher, thinner and less resonant than your true and natural tone. You and everyone around you have come to accept this as your normal voice. It isn’t.

How you sound strongly influences the way people respond to you and remember you. This is more than just an aesthetics exercise. To find your true pitch say “uh huh” a few times as if you are agreeing with someone. That sound is close to your true pitch.

A relaxed face (remember your sinus cavities resonate your sound), relaxed tongue and jaws, “tall” spine and a slow deep breath are the strings on which this instrument, your voice, is played. Each rich full exhalation is incredibly important as it flows through your vocal chords. If you doubt this, try speaking while you’re are breathing in!

Take your time when you have something important to say. Actually if it isn’t important then why are you saying it? When you rush, you don’t have time to take a full breath and you will sound like a badly tuned cheap violin when you are actually a well-tuned priceless cello.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Hill and Valley Breathing

When we are tired, stressed, distracted, rushed or nervous, we tend to push our breathing high into the narrow and tight upper chest. Tension begins to build around the jaws, shoulders and throat and we end up investing far too much energy to get too little oxygen in return. Hill and Valley is an easy way to relax quickly and return your breathing to the wide elastic lower ribcage.

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent at 90 degrees, hip-distance apart. Eyes open or closed. Lay your palms down just above your waist with the tips of your middle fingers touching halfway between your bellybutton and the bottom of your breastbone. Imagine that there is a small delicate balloon under your fingertips.

Your breathing will move in and out of that “balloon” (with absolutely no involvement at all in the ribcage). Yes, you can do this because you always breathe this way when you sleep.

1. Inhale slowly and quietly, allowing the “balloon” to fill. There is no need to overfill because you take in a surprising amount of air without much effort when you breathe into your low-resistance lower lungs.
2. Exhale, allowing your abdomen to sink down toward the floor and become slightly concave. Keep the breathing quiet and gentle. Continue for as long as you are comfortable and focused.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Asthma? Call in the Big Guns!

Are you absolutely certain that you have asthma? Are you absolutely certain that you do NOT have asthma? Who said so? Asthma is a reeeeeeeally confusing and complicated problem that can quietly gnaw away on your breathing equipment like dry rot in the attic. Coming up with a precise analysis and treatment plan without expert (I mean EXPERT) help is like spitting through a knothole from across a very wide road. . . you might get lucky but it’s a dangerous gamble!

If you frequently wheeze or squeak when you breathe, have a nagging little cough that won’t go away, are frequently short of breath, if you produce copious amounts of thick or sticky or discolored mucous . . . time to call in the big guns. Yes, I know you have a great primary care doc and you may think you are doing fine with your over-the-counter stuff but until you know exactly the extent of the problem and figure out the combination of factors that sets off an attack, you are losing lung tissue faster than necessary.

A pulmonary specialist is immersed in the latest diagnostic studies and publications, is in touch with other outstanding specialists in the field and is dealing with asthma and other respiratory problems every single day. A couple visits will probably do the job.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.