Eye of the Sun

Eye of the Sun sets in motion a constant circular flow of air that comes in through your right nostril and flows out through your left.

Relax your dominant hand so that your fingers curl naturally. Center that hand in front of your nose (palm facing in) with your arm resting comfortably on your chest.

Gently touch the tip of your thumb against the nostril indentation just above the flare, and the tip of your ring finger to the indentation on the other side. This leaves the tips of your index and middle fingers resting on your forehead just above brow level.

Close your left nostril as you breathe in through the right nostril. Seal the right as you exhale through the left. In right. Out left. In right. Out left. Delicate pressure is enough to close a nostril since the passage narrows markedly at that point.

Eye of the Sun is well suited to daytime activity when you need to stay alert and energized. As always, continue for as long as you can maintain good technique and concentration.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

More About Dust Mites

Dust mites are always a breathing hazard to you and especially to young children in your home. Mites are microscopic monster-movie critters that don’t bite but poop a lot. It’s their poop that gives you a lifetime allergy for which there is no cure.

1. Google “dust mites.” Know your enemy. Outsmart them because they outnumber you. A typical mattress may contain 100,000 mites. There are new anti-mite products available that cost a bit extra but then what is the price of an asthma attack?

2. Mites feed on dead skin cells. Your pets shed more skin cells than you do. Treat their bedding with the same care as you do your own.

3. Cover all mattresses and pillows with plastic or mite-proof covers. If you spend many nights in hotel rooms, take along your own pillow cover. Put a Post-it note on the inside of your door to remind you to remove it when you leave.

4. Keep your bedroom temperature below 70 degrees and the humidity below 50%.

5. Invest in a HEPA vacuum. It’s worth the money.

6. Wash your blankets, pet bedding and the children’s stuffed toys every two weeks in hot water. Warm water does not kill mites. Wash sheets every week.

7. Go synthetic. Replace all down and feathers with man-made stuffing. Replace all wool with nylon. Get rid of carpet and drapes in the bedrooms. Dust with a damp cloth.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Sleeping with Monsters

Screen Doors and Saunas

Every incoming breath faces a treacherous ride before it arrives at the relatively peaceful area of your lungs. The fast and furious journey through your nasal cavities flings the breath around like a small boat shooting the rapids.

There is only a second or less to warm, moisten and capture every bit of grit and grime from a breath before it descends into your vulnerable lungs. Lung tissue has heavy responsibilities and is not built to defend itself. That security duty must be completed pretty much by the time the air leaves your head.

Both nostrils are lined with stiff hairs. Like screen doors, they keep out the big stuff like gnats and grit. Then the breath passes through adjacent “saunas” with warm moist walls. The sauna walls are lined with strategically placed floppy shelves (the turbinates) that bounce the air around, slamming it again and again against the surfaces of the inner nose.

The entire route is covered with really sticky mucus. Every time the air is tossed against the “fly paper” some of its garbage sticks. Remember that all mucus is constantly moving toward an exit where you periodically swallow, spit or blow out the contaminated mess.

Having been forced through the tumbling of the nasal cavities, the incoming air almost immediately encounters a sharp right turn just before the downward journey into the throat. More grit is dropped when the air hits that sudden bend, the same way silt is dropped when the stream makes a sharp turn.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Snot Is Your Friend

Folded Leaf Breath

Breathing tends to become ragged, uneven and erratic when you are stressed, tired, frightened, angry or in pain. Since your breathing bridges mind, body and spirit, it is a wonderful tool for getting yourself calm and centered quickly.

This is one of those rare occasions when you are guided to breathe in through your mouth. The narrow, rough, moist surface of your folded tongue will do an adequate (albeit temporary) job of preparing the incoming air for your lungs. The narrow channel for the incoming breath will automatically slow and smooth out your breathing.

1. Stick out your relaxed tongue about one inch beyond your lips. Shape your lips into a small “O.” This should help you to curl up the outer edges of your tongue to form a tongue-trough that will channel each incoming breath.

2. Draw in a slow, steady, deep breath through your folded tongue-channel.

3. Exhale by pulling in your tongue, closing your mouth and breathing out through your nose.

The cycle is: in through the folded tongue-channel and out through the nose. Stop if your mouth begins to feel dry.

Yes, it is true that some people cannot shape their tongues this way. If you are one, then do Folded Leaf by breathing in through a fat drinking straw and out through you nose.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Look Back! They’re Gaining On You!

We are losing a war with bacteria and viruses that could possibly take out our entire species. They breed by the kazillions in no time at all. They adapt in the blink of an eye to overcome our very best defenses. If you were able to observe a viral attack on a single human cell, it would give you bad dreams.

When these invaders come in contact with any antibiotic anywhere, they immediately begin to adapt and render medication useless for human protection. We dump antibiotics and anti-bacterial waste hourly by the ton into our gutters, sewers and streams.

1. TAKE THE APPROPRIATE ANTIBIOTIC FOR A BACTERIAL INFECTION ONLY. ANTIBIOTICS ARE USELESS AGAINST VIRAL INFECTIONS.
2. Be certain that your antibiotic is a correct match to wipe out your particular bug. Be tested.
3. Take every pill exactly as you were told even though you may feel better after the first few pills.
4. Washing your hands thoroughly with hot water and regular soap is quite effective. Use antibacterial gel only when you don’t have access to a sink.
5. Dispose of any unused antibiotics at a facility that specializes in safe and complete disposal.
6. Become socially active in insisting that hospitals and clinics and pharmaceutical companies dispose of deadly waste in a way that doesn’t threaten your survival.

Let’s not go down without a fight!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Know Your Enemies: Bacteria Or Virus

Breath-Counting Meditation

I’m rarely in favor of using an arbitrary count to time a breathing exercise. Our goal is to regain enough awareness of mind/body/spirit that you will know exactly how long to inhale and exhale to meet the demands of the moment. We can then build in a safe additional challenge to improve the respiration as much as possible.

Your entire being changes from minute to minute; superimposing any count based on a teacher’s decision is neither as good nor as safe as it should be (albeit easier for the teacher.) I’m a maverick on this one so you make your own choice.

Having said that, this exercise is one of my exceptions because the count itself becomes the focal point of your meditation. The count has nothing to do with timing the breathing. The length of each breath remains natural and comfortable.

Remember, one complete breath cycle is: one inhalation, a natural pause, one exhalation, and a natural pause. For Breath Counting I would suggest that you silently count each EMPTY PAUSE. Count “one” through “ten” and then begin at “one” again. Continue for as long as you can stay focused. Breath Counting is not a contest. Neither is it a measure of your progress. It is an exercise to help you find your center.

Remember that we are counting each natural pause at the end of each exhalation.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Sweeper Wisdom

To protect and preserve your irreplaceable lungs and to avoid chronic breathing problems:

1. Wear a dust mask EVERY single time you vacuum (which should be often) or,
2. INVEST in a good quality vacuum cleaner with a special filter like a HEPA.

Since the more advanced machines cost a little more, I would suggest you do your homework before purchase to be sure you are getting your money’s worth. There are review magazines available in your public library. Dealers often pad the online reviews.

The old-fashioned sweepers without filters simply churn and blow carpet garbage directly into your face (please do not make me draw another dust mite)!

Huge amounts of irritating airborne stuff will eventually settle onto your carpets and floors. In addition carpets collect all that disgusting street mess that gets tracked in on shoes and boots.

If you have a vacuum with a disposable bag, ALWAYS wear a dust mask when you dump and replace the bag. It’s a good idea to have your carpets cleaned professionally as often as you can afford. The carpets (and your lungs) will last longer.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Sleeping with Monsters

To Smoke Or Not To Smoke

To keep your lungs healthy, the layer of mucus that covers the windpipe and bronchial tubes must be moist enough to be pushed along easily, and the tiny pushy cilia must remain strong and busy. Infection, smoking, lack of fluids, and allergies can stun or cripple the cilia, and can alter the consistency of the mucus.

When this beautiful system is challenged, damaged, or clogged, the incoming irritants and microbes are either trapped against the wall of the respiratory tract like a dirty bandage that rarely gets changed, or the irritants find an unobstructed, direct path into the deep lungs and ultimately into the bloodstream. Without the cooperative efforts of the cilia and mucus blanket, your crippled respiratory system is finally unable to cleanse itself.
Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: The Path From Throat To Lungs

The Extraordinary Exchange

A net of blood vessels (so fine that the blood must squeak through one cell at a time) is laced tightly around each air sac (alveolus). The alveolar walls here are as thin as soap bubbles about to burst. This ingenious design allows oxygen to pass easily from the incoming breath, through the thin shared wall of the air sac and blood vessels and finally into the blood stream.

While the blood is sucking up oxygen from the air sac, it simultaneously gives up its carbon dioxide into that same tiny sac. Carbon dioxide is spent fuel that now must be carried away in the air about to be exhaled from all alveoli.

Your blood at that point has been refreshed with a new supply of oxygen and is ready to resume its unending duties on your behalf. It is the extraordinary exchange of gases in this inner sanctum that fuels all that you do, all that you are.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Link: The Path From Throat To Lungs

Late-Night Snack Attacks

Who hasn’t enjoyed the guilty pleasure of a big bowl of buttery popcorn, a comfy couch and a late movie? Buttery popcorn is probably OK for an occasional treat. But the comfy couch tends to scrunch you down into a position less than ideal for moving food easily into the stomach. The movie is your choice (although Texas Chainsaw Massacre is likely to mess with your dreams).

It takes a couple hours to chew food well, move it down your esophagus and into your stomach. If your popcorn, the dish of Rocky Road and a big slice of cold pepperoni pizza (yes, I was watching) is half-chewed, spread out along the esophagus, the food will lie in there undigested most of the night. There is always the troubling possibility that a lump of food will throw your esophagus into spasm or cause you to choke.

There is the possibility of coughing up food or stomach acid in your sleep and aspirating it into your lungs. I know it is a lot to ask that you chew each bite carefully while you are watching a horror movie. You need and deserve these occasional guilty pleasures but would you at least consider sitting up a little straighter and watching your movie at eight instead of midnight? Thanks.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Finding Your Center

And where exactly is your center and why should you care? YOUR CENTER IS THAT EXACT POINT WHERE YOUR MIND, YOUR BODY AND YOUR SPIRIT ARE IN PERFECT BALANCE. Even though your center is invisible, you have probably sensed it from time to time. We often read about star athletes who describe having been “in the zone” when they did something extraordinary. Amazing things happen when you are “in the zone.”

It is understandable that, as the day wears on, we become fragmented – the intellect is wrestling with monster problems at the computer while the neglected body slumps over the keyboard like a big bag of beans. The spirit and the body are often forgotten completely. Fortunately you have the power to quickly center yourself at will. Remember that your breathing bridges the mind, the body and the spirit. Easy access.

Mother Nature wouldn’t have made this centering process difficult since it is essential for your well-being and personal growth. FREQUENTLY during your busy day, straighten your spine, relax your shoulders and your jaws, close your eyes, breathe out the stale air and take four or five very slow and very deep breaths. Nothing fancy.

A pitcher holds more cream if the pitcher is all in one piece instead of broken fragments scattered across the floor. You will be so much more efficient, effective and comfortable if you take a few minutes to pull all parts of you together.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Plague on the Plane!

You are flying home for a wedding and the person in the seat next to you has a super-sloppy sneezy cold. The FAA takes a dim view of your stuffing a passenger into the overhead. The flight attendant will be terribly amused when you ask to be moved to another seat.

Some travel specialists suggest putting a little antibiotic cream in your nose although that won’t defend you from a viral ambush. Vaseline in your nose, however, will help keep you hydrated for the journey and hydration is crucial! Dried out nose, sinuses, eyes and throat cripple your glorious glistening pulmonary mucus blanket that is designed to trap and repel dangerous incoming stuff. Once this protective layer dries out, you are a sitting dried-out duck.

Drink lots and lots of water the day before the trip and lots and lots of water on the plane. LOTS. Notice I did not say coffee, soda, or alcohol, all of which dry you out. Take along eye drops and hand-sanitizer gel that comply with carry-on restrictions. You could wear a tight-fitting mask and tell everyone you are protecting everyone else from YOUR cold. Not very practical but then if you are to be the maid-of-honor . . . . .

You need to be up and moving whenever the aisle is clear to keep your legs free of possible clots anyway and with Typhoid Mary shoulder to shoulder, it is even more important.

And finally, DO NOT SLEEP ON THE PLANE. This is dangerous for your legs and very dangerous for your respiratory system. You will mouth-breathe and you can’t afford it.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Pluck Not

Not even once! Remember that the stiff tiny nose hairs that ring the inside of each nostril provide the initial barrier between the environment and your vulnerable deep lung tissue.

Nose hairs provide an important protective “screen door.” Since our species is oxygen-dependent, there is no choice but to inhale air that is a microscopic mess of pollens, bits of tires, bacteria, molds, soot, dust, pollens, and animal dander.

Breaking the skin in your nose is a very bad idea. Your nose serves as a filter and filters tend to get dirty. Pulling a hair breaks the skin and leaves you vulnerable to infection. Your nose is too close to the brain to take the risk.

After a certain age all the good hairs fly away and the wicked-witch hairs spring up like weeds! It is tempting to pluck. Don’t. Buy a pair of little round-tip scissors and prune if you must.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Northwind

Speaking gobbles up a surprising amount of energy so when you have spent hours on the phone, don’t be surprised if you feel exhausted. Talking is one of the most demanding and complicated processes that you do even though you aren’t swinging your arms around like a lumberjack. Why do you think the nurse won’t let you talk when she (or he) is taking your blood pressure?

Northwind is an exercise designed to drop your breathing down into your lower lungs, to stretch your tongue and open your jaws, sinuses and throat. Not much is visible from the outside because you will continue to breathe through your nose with your mouth closed.

1. Sit up straight, mouth closed and teeth slightly apart.
2. Slowly slide the tip of your tongue rearward along the bony ridge that runs backward along the center roof of your mouth. Stop your tongue when it gets to your soft palate and keep it there.
3. Holding this position, breathe slowly and evenly through your nose. Continue for as long as the exercise feels comfortable. Notice how quickly your breathing slows and deepens.

This position curls your tongue backwards in such a way that, if you could see into your mouth, you would be looking at the underside of your tongue.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Path From Throat To Lungs

Your windpipe is a large flexible hose held open by C-shaped pieces of cartilage open toward the spine (accommodating lumps of food traveling down the adjacent esophagus). The windpipe divides in two just behind your heart, one hose descending toward your right lung and the other toward the left. At this point these two slightly smaller hoses (the main bronchi) enter your lungs, along with essential blood vessels and nerves.

Because your large muscular heart is tucked between the lungs, and is positioned slightly off to the left, things get crowded on that left side. Therefore, you have only two lobes within the left lung as well as a noticeably smaller descending bronchus. The roomier right lung has three lobes, with a larger bronchus.

The bronchial hoses now begin to divide again and again creating progressively narrower bits of hose. This bronchial branching is often described as an inverted tree. Imagine the windpipe as the trunk, the bronchi as the main branches, the progressively narrow bits of air hose as the smaller branches and stems.

By now the microscopic subdivisions of air hose have become too narrow for cartilage-ring support. At the very end of each of the smallest subdivisions of the bronchial tree is a cluster of air sacs (the alveoli). Imagine a microscopic cluster of hollow grapes growing from a tiny hollow stem. Lung tissue is made up of trillions of these microscopic clusters. The cleaned warm oxygen-rich air at this point is embraced by your blood stream.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Reboot Your System

Most of us begin to slide downhill shortly after breakfast. Slowly at first but DOWN even so. Bad hair day. Ragged shallow breathing. Traffic jam. Clenched jaws. Cranky boss. Tight throat. High-pitched voice.

By lunch you feel like a giant knot with legs and a headache. Mounting tension makes you sound more like Minnie Mouse than your usual resonant self. Although this is a typical day for the typical professional, the gradual hour-to-hour build-up of physical, emotional and intellectual tension robs your energy, weakens your concentration and waters down your incredible business instincts.

You can find yourself weary and cranky with hours of grinding work still ahead. It is understandable that you go for a quick energy boost of a double espresso and a big chocolate chip cookie. Unfortunately, sugar and caffeine jazz you up and then slam you down.

What we need is a true “reset” that quickly washes away the accumulated tension leaving you fresh for another few hours. It is important to return to “default” mode EVERY FEW HOURS. A true reset must be quick, portable and without side effects.

1. Stand and stretch your body from stem-to-stern.
2. If you are working under artificial lights, try to change your light source, even if only a couple minutes.
3. Empty out your stale air comfortably. Take a few deep slow fresh breaths.
4. Close your eyes and lay your palms over your eyes for a few moments.

There you are, good as new. Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Easy Come Easy Go

Lung tissue has a full-time job just getting oxygen out of the incoming air and into your blood stream while it simultaneously grabs up the spent fuel from the blood so that can be dumped from the body.

It is left to your breathing muscles to actually move air into and out of the body. Muscles and lung tissue of course take orders from the brain where a second-by-second record is kept on exactly how much oxygen is needed by each muscle and body process at any given moment. A pretty fancy dance when you think about it. The brain sends orders for faster or slower breathing down to the respiration department.

A double layer of intercostals muscles is sandwiched between each pair of ribs and the big elastic diaphragm stretches across the bottom rim of your ribcage. To draw a breath in, the intercostals lift and swing your ribs gently out and up while the diaphragm flattens down. This effort creates a slightly enlarged ribcage. Fresh oxygen-rich air rushes in from outside the body to fill this new vacuum (similar to the action of a syringe or a bellows).

To exhale, the intercostals and the diaphragm simply relax and collapse. The ribs drop down out of the upward flare while the diaphragm rises to its domed-up resting position. This overall relaxation results in a slightly smaller ribcage with smaller capacity. There is no place for the contained air to go but out. Exhalation is simply a letting go of the breathing muscles without slumping the spine. Inhalation is active. Exhalation is letting go of that action.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

After The Crisis

Slowing down your rapid breathing is like pumping your car brakes to come to a gradual, controlled and safe stop. If you are racing to catch a bus you will, of necessity, breathe hard and fast for the moment because your body demands that extra measure of oxygen. However, if you find your heart racing when you are doing nothing at all, it is time for a chat with your doctor. Rapid breathing to accommodate activity is part of your inherited innate fight-or-flight ability to survive.

Unfortunately, there are so many aggravations and pressures in your professional and personal life that, too often, the body sometimes can’t perceive that the actual crisis is over. Your muscles remain tense for hours and your breathing stays shallow and fast. Eventually the brain accepts rapid shallow breathing and residual tension as the norm!

This unproductive post-crisis tension screws with your body’s chemistry. Eventually the system that was designed to protect you begins to eat you alive.

As always, change begins with awareness. This week, pay attention to how your ribcage expands. How fast are you breathing? How do you breathe when your supervisor is talking to you? How do you breathe when the line in the bank is moving too slowly? How do you breathe when a stranger is rude to you? Your homework this week is simply to BE AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOUR BREATHING.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Toss Pills Into A Puddle

What does breathing have to do with eating or taking pills? Remember that your descending food tube (esophagus) and your descending air tube (trachea) are basically Siamese twins. They descend more or less in tandem from the back of your mouth to deep down into your chest. When you irritate one tube, you generally annoy the other.

A tiny swallow of water will probably float your pills as far downstream as your second shirt button. Your job is to get those marbles ALL the way down, OUT of the esophagus and INTO your stomach. The esophagus doesn’t take kindly to having stuff stuck along the way. You risk spasm or rupture and that threatens your breathing!

Take a few swallows of water FIRST before the pills and then take your pills so that you are sending your pills down into “a puddle.” Chase the pills with a full glass of water. Remember, “Puddle Before Pills.”

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Upgrade Your Phone Tone

Tone trumps content. The way you sound hits a listener’s brain first and only then do they process with what you say. Perhaps our primitive ancestors didn’t have the luxury of the lengthy chat but had only a split-second to evaluate the mood and intent of a potential adversary. Since the era of the caveman, communication has evolved into a powerful and beautiful tool but the old split-second analysis is still with us and perhaps for good reason.

Obviously, if you work the phones professionally, it is absolutely essential that your phone presence be outstanding. You may be the only direct contact a client will ever have with your company. How you sound affects how much the client/customer trusts you, likes you and is willing to listen to you.

Even when you speak to your mom, your neighbor or your banker, tone matters! Everyone has to get past your sound before they will open up to your brilliant content. Remember that speech is only as good as the breathing that supports it.

1. NEVER rush to answer the phone and always take your time with your greeting.
2. BEFORE you respond, EXHALE as much air as is comfortable.
3. Take in a SLOW deep breath and answer.
4. Keep your chin tilted slightly upward.
5. Use an old radio announcer’s trick and smile a little while you are talking.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: True Voice

Review #2

How long should I continue a breathing exercise?
You can stay with it for as long as you feel mentally and physically comfortable. Working mindlessly is a waste of your time and does not honor the subject. If you lose focus, stop. Rest a few moments and begin again. This isn’t a race. It's an adventure.

How long should I wait after a meal to practice my breathing exercises?
Remember the diaphragm (your main breathing pump) is stretched directly over top of your stomach. I suggest that you give your food the right-of-way for a couple hours after a full meal. Both your digestion and your respiration are incredibly complex processes. Each needs to take its turn at center stage.

How do I find a proper breathing rhythm?
Unless otherwise suggested, allow your breathing rhythm to be set by your brain. Your natural feelings take into account the ever-changing needs of your body and mind. Breathing by the numbers dictated by someone else is like painting by the numbers. . . a respectable way to pass the time, requiring only that you follow orders.

Ancient Wisdom: There is no need to push the river. It will flow by itself.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Review #1

Organs, Lobes And The Diaphragm

In addition to the intercostal muscles between the ribs, the multiple-muscled diaphragm stretches like a complex, elastic floor across the bottom of your ribcage, and serves as the most powerful and important breathing tool you have. Now your bony cage, with its strategically placed muscles, has become a powerful pump, able to move air in and out of your body on command.

The elusive muscle floor of the diaphragm attaches around the bottom rim of the ribcage and to the waist-level lumbar spine at the rear. This big diaphragm serves simultaneously as the elastic floor of your ribcage, and the elastic ceiling of your abdominal cage.

The constant rising and flattening action of this powerful sheath as it pumps the air in and out, gently massages the heart and lungs as it rises, and in turn, the stomach, liver, spleen and intestines as it flattens down to pull in new air.

Since the partition of the diaphragm slices more or less horizontally all the way through the standing body, it remains out of sight, and is almost impossible to touch. To further complicate matters, it does not lie flat and neat like the floor of a bucket or a birdcage. At the finish of each exhalation, the relaxed diaphragm resembles a lopsided hill with its high side stretched up over the mound of the large liver on your right.

Inactivity encourages a lazy diaphragm. An active diaphragm is essential for efficient breathing. If you are stuck at a desk, take frequent deep breaths to keep your energy up.

Be well. Breathe beautifully and efficiently.

Winged Breath

Breathe gently and slowly in and out through your nose all the way through this exercise. The Winged Breath gives you the opportunity to concentrate on the often-neglected LOWER, LATERAL areas of your lungs. As always, CONTINUE ONLY AS LONG AS YOU CAN HOLD YOUR CONCENTRATION AND YOU FEEL COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE. Eyes open for now.

1. Stand (or sit) with your feet hip–distance apart, toes pointed forward. It is important to keep your shoulders down and relaxed at all times. ONLY THE ELBOWS MOVE, floating up as you breathe in and down as you breathe out.
2. Join your palms in front of your chest, with your elbows resting near your sides. Your hands never move during the exercise.
3. Empty first. Then take a full and gentle breath, floating your elbows up for as long as you are breathing in.
4. Float your elbows down as you breathe out.

THE LENGTH OF YOUR BREATH ALWAYS DICTATES THE LENGTH OF YOUR MOVEMENT. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Sleeping with Monsters

Your sleeping body sheds copious amounts of dead skin cells because that’s what skin must do to keep you looking fresh and beautiful. To make matters worse, you are not able to be careful about your breathing when you sleep. Mouth open and all that.

Your skin cells are everywhere in your bedroom. So are the microscopic dust mites that feed on them and grow fat. Remember, Mother Nature doesn’t waste much. Mites survive because humans and their pets shed and, as thanks, they irritate your respiratory system because humans are super sensitive to proteins left behind in the mites’ feces.

Mites are microscopic, eight-legged, spiderlike, sightless super ugly critters that would be great in a horror film if they were as big as a cow. They eat. They poop. You cough. No symbiosis here.

They thrive by the millions in dusty, dark, humid, warm places. STARVE THEM OUT!

A perfect bedroom is bright, cool and dry without upholstered furniture and clutter (sorry, kids). If possible replace your carpet with flooring that can be wet-mopped. If you can’t bear to part with your lovely new bedroom rug, then steam clean it often. Shutters or blinds are better than drapes.

Vacuum and dust thoroughly at LEAST once a week. Wash your bedding OFTEN in HOT water. Keep pets and food out of the bedroom or at least bathe your pets frequently. Sweet dreams.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Two O’clock Crash

Two o’clock in the afternoon, Monday through Friday, is a dreadful time of day for most of us. Your body is busy digesting lunch and couldn’t give a flying fig about your report deadline. If you had any caffeine or sugar at lunch you are probably crashing about now from that very brief high. And yet you are still facing hours of appearing brilliant and perky. That’s what you get paid for.

Eat a lighter lunch. You are not a lumberjack (apologies if you are). Drink plenty of water. Coffee and sodas definitely do not count. Movement is king. Move your legs. Take a quick walk down the hall or on the stairs.

Move your diaphragm (no, I did not say remove your diaphragm). Without straining, gently blow out all your air, relax your abdomen and breathe in deeply and slowly. Stretch arms and legs. Remember your leg/bottom muscles and your diaphragm act as secondary hearts to deliver oxygen and keep your blood moving.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Review #1

Define a “single breath cycle.”
One inhalation + a comfortable pause (full) + one exhalation + a comfortable pause (empty) = one cycle or one breath. A pause is not forced in any way but rather a natural turning point in the cycle. The air (as Nature intended) can change direction smoothly without jamming on the brakes.

Does attitude matter?
Of course. Breathing training is delicate, powerful, complicated, important and joyous work. You will be richly rewarded if you approach your studies with a sense of humility, respect and gratitude for your potential. Actually that’s a good way to approach all living beings.
Ancient Wisdom: Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark.

What should I be feeling as I do breathing exercises?
There is never a need for even the slightest physical or psychological discomfort with advanced breathing training. If you ever feel uncomfortable or apprehensive during an exercise, STOP. Re-evaluate your technique and your feelings. Begin again only when you feel completely comfortable.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: Review #2

Healing Yourself

Will mindful breathing exercises make you well? Probably the better question is, “Will mindful breathing exercises prevent you from becoming ill”? Estimating the number of times you have dodged illness through your own efforts can only be measured statistically, but trust your instincts and your common sense as you puzzle over the question.

Can you use your mindful breathing to heal yourself? You honor your mind, body and spirit by making the effort. Since breathing is directly related to every aspect of your being, then breathing becomes a practical way to set up a dialog with mind, body and spirit. The final outcome of a problem may not be yours to decide, but conscious breathing will help to focus your clearest brightest light on the challenge. Be not like the child who kept digging up a seed he had planted to see if it was growing yet.

Gathering and Giving to Yourself

1. Breathe slowly, quietly and deeply. With each inhalation imagine that you can draw energy from a universal source into your hands.
2. When your hands begin to feel warm, lay them on the area of your body that seems weak.
3. With each inhalation continue to bring light and energy, a powerful force, into your hands.
4. With each exhalation, energy flows easily from you hands into your body.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Healing Others

There is an ancient and respected belief that GOOD INTENTIONS THEMSELVES HAVE GREAT POWER. The clear and focused INTENT to contribute to the healing of another person may gather energy unto itself and launch your intent across a great distance. The breath seems an appropriate vehicle to intensify and deliver such intentions.

Gathering and Giving for Others

1. Breathe deeply and quietly until you feel centered and calm.
2. Imagine you are inhaling a measure of universal energy with each incoming breath.
3. When you feel serene and energized, select an image, a message or a feeling that you believe is the most appropriate for the circumstances. Remember, it is your INTENT that matters more than the content of your thought.
4. Let your heartfelt intentions and thoughts travel with each exhalation to the person or situation you have chosen. It is important, of course, to keep your own energy level up so you continue to have something to give.

Nothing is lost by contributing your strength and courage to someone in crisis. Your INTENT is a gift of hope, given with an open heart and with no strings or expectations attached. Send positive energy on its way and have faith that it was the right thing to do. Did your friend or the stranger improve? Survive? Hopefully. But, if not, you have not failed. TO TRY AND TO CARE IS TO SUCCEED. As old Erasmus said, “Give light and the darkness will disappear by itself.”

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Silkwind Breathing

Part of the complexity and brilliance of your pulmonary system is that your breathing changes speed in accordance with demands being placed on your body/mind at any given second. All this happens automatically (although you have the power to intervene and go from Auto to Manual when it suits you). Cool.

However, when you overburden the pulmonary system you interfere with this exquisite engineering. Your pulmonary system is brilliantly designed to handle occasional assaults but modern man is piling on errors beyond what the body can handle at this point in human evolution: stress, drugs, cigarettes, air pollution, building toxins, inactivity, too much sugar, not enough exercise. . . .

The breath should flow easily and smoothly in and out of the lungs at a speed that is appropriate for who you are, where you are and what you are doing. Notice for a moment if your breathing is steady, even and smooth as a silk ribbon sliding between your fingers. Or is it uneven and raggedy? Are you holding your breath? Does the breath feel as if it is flowing all the way down to your bellybutton or does it stop behind your second shirt button?

Slow steady smooth breathing allows your body time to do triage on the incoming air. Since breathing is the bridge that spans mind, body and spirit, steady breathing has the power to calm your nerves and make your spirit more available.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Death By House?!

Indoor air pollution is rated as one of the top five environmental risks to health and quality of life. Did we actually believe that once we were locked inside our homes that we would be safe from harm?

Smog alerts come and go. Fortunately for us and for our children, they are not a constant threat (yet). Your lungs get a few days relief in between the bad-air days.

I trust you have carbon monoxide alarms around the house, that you have had all appropriate appliances checked for possible gas leaks and that all containers marked “danger” are safely locked up.

But consider the potential pulmonary damage from the synthetic stuff inside the house because these irritants are CONSTANT and RELENTLESS and CUMULATIVE. Man-made glues, plastics, preservatives, paints, stains, and such let off volatile fumes that irritate delicate respiratory tissues especially in children.

EVERY DAY, even in winter (sorry), you need to bring fresh air into your house. Open windows at opposite ends of the house. Turn the oven vent on “high” at the same time to help draw the air in. Every few minutes of cross-ventilation helps.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Good Green. Bad Green

Green peas. Green apples. Green tea. Green eyes. Green green grass of home. Lovely.
Green snot? Not so much.

When the beautiful clear protective mucus that you normally spit, swallow or blow out appears green for longer than ten days, you may have upgraded your basic run-of-the-mill viral head or chest cold to a bacterial sinus or bronchial infection. Congratulations! REMEMBER THAT ANTIBIOTICS ARE USELESS WEAPONS IN A VIRAL WAR BUT THEY CAN ALMOST ALWAYS KNOCK THE CRAP OUT OF BACTERIA.

Get thee to thy doctor immediately for an evaluation, expert advice and pills that work against your particular bug. Of course, you are smart enough to continue taking your antibiotic until the bottle is COMPLETELY EMPTY. Even though you may feel better after the first few pills, you need to obliterate the few remaining bugs that can lurk in the damp and dark nooks and crannies of your head or chest. From the few come the many!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Snot Is Your Friend

True Voice

We work up so much tension in our tiny visual and speech muscles that eventually the feeling of tension becomes the norm. Haven’t you caught sight of your face in the mirror and been surprised at the grimace? This frequent frown can come from something as simple as harsh light or high-decibel noise or your need for new glasses or a hearing aid. Or the frown may be an involuntary physical expression of intense concentration or concern.

Tension in these small and complicated muscles interferes with your breathing and, therefore, the quality of your voice.

1. Say your first name aloud several times and memorize the sound.
2. Then, relax your tongue as if it were asleep on the floor of your mouth.
3. Let go of any abdominal tension and loosen the “drawstring” muscles that circle your mouth.
4. For several breaths just concentrate on the slow steady “tide” of your breathing.
5. Inhale slowly and deeply and then as you exhale, say your name aloud again. Note the change in the quality of your voice.

Be well. Breathe (and speak) beautifully.

Size Matters!

The tape measure does not deceive! Remember that deep lung tissue is dedicated to the delivery of oxygen and the dumping of garbage gases like carbon dioxide. Lung tissue cannot breathe all by itself. The miniscule delicate air sacs that make up your lungs are at the mercy of respiratory muscles.

The muscles sandwiched between adjacent ribs (intercostals) and those stretched across the floor of your ribcage (diaphragm) are designed to pump and squeeze air in and out of the chest. All breathing muscles need to remain pliable and unobstructed if they are to work effectively. The passages between your nose and your lungs need to remain open and free.

What, you ask, does this have to do with a tape measure? When was the last time you actually measured your neck, your chest, and your waist? Like so many of us, you may have been squeezing yourself into clothes two sizes too small for so long that strangulation now feels normal! Don’t hang onto your college measurements when you buy a new necktie, belt, collar, or bra.

When you restrict your windpipe, your neck, your rib muscles and your diaphragm, you have distorted and inhibited breathing. Go get the tape measure. Update your clothing sizes. Your lungs will thank you. You are gorgeous at any size!

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Way We Breathe

Diminished Sense of Smell

Your nose has a lot in common with the nose of your caveman ancestor. Your convoluted nasal passages filter out microscopic garbage. They warm and moisten the incoming air so it will be user-friendly by the time it reaches your delicate lung tissue.

It is probable that man’s sense of smell has diminished considerably over tens of thousands of years. It is difficult to know to what degree the nasal nerves (responsible for evaluating odors) have diminished in size and number over the ages. It’s a good guess that the brain “map” assigned to command your sense of smell is smaller now than it was in primitive times.

Once upon a time man’s survival depended heavily on a highly developed sense of smell. His nose told him the food was tainted, the water was polluted, the grass fire was dangerously close or that elephants were nearby. Members of the same tribe could probably recognize each other by their familiar smell.

Today we rely on the FDA to validate our food and water. We scrub off our individual odors (I’m not complaining) and trowel on the deodorant and aftershave. Energy gravitates to our busier parts and our eyes seem more important than noses these days.

EVEN A DIMINISHED SENSE OF SMELL CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE. You still automatically SNIFF when faced with an unknown odor. This tiny exploratory breath samples the air without actually filling your chest with potential toxic gases. You have a few seconds to back away safely.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Tension Increases Pain

Make a tight fist with your dominant hand and hold it tight while you count slowly to 20. How does it feel now? How does it look? Nothing has changed except for the addition of physical tension.

Most tension is OPTIONAL, destructive and painful. Of course, there are times when you must tighten muscles briefly to accomplish a specific task. We run onto the rocks when a tension “knot” has been there for so long that the brain accepts the knot as normal.

Does the tension accomplish something or is it just hanging around? Chronic tension strangles veins, arteries and nerves and pulls your bones out of alignment. It doesn’t serve you to put up a tension dam that slows the river of oxygen that flows through your body. The hurt you feel is your brain sending you an alarm that you are doing something very wrong.

The length of an EXHALATION is an ideal time to let go of unnecessary tension as if you are letting air out of a balloon. Let’s play with your jaw-hinge muscles first. Sit up comfortably straight. Relax your belly so you can drop your breathing down into the lower lungs.

Imagine that during each exhalation some of the tension drains out from the jaw muscles leaving them soft and loose. This usually takes only three or four breaths. Experiment with dropping your shoulders with each outbreath. Work your way through the body, releasing tension as you go.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Falling Leaf Breath

Sit on a straight chair with your weight distributed evenly along the back of your thighs and your feet flat on the floor. To balance your spine and lungs correctly your tailbone should never touch the chair seat. Rest your palms on your knees and let your shoulders stay down and quiet during the entire exercise.

During each inhalation “float” your hands up in front of your shoulders and over your knees.

Float your arms down, returning palms to knees, as you breathe out. The outgoing air exits through an almost silent “shhhhhh” – so quiet that the person nearest you wouldn’t hear. The movement and the breathing are smooth and steady.

Lead upward with the backs of your wrists and down with the insides of your wrists. As always, first establish a comfortable natural breath cycle and only then match the movement to it. Think of the breathing as the music and the movement as the dance.

Continue only as long as you feel comfortable and can remain focused.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Faster Isn’t Always Better

When you are trotting on the treadmill or sweating through a tennis match, your heart rate and breathing will accelerate to deliver the necessary oxygen to your hungry muscles and to dump the mounting burden of carbon dioxide. Your body will respond automatically to the increased physical demands by ramping up your heart and lungs. This is, of course, a good thing.

Unfortunately, strong emotions (especially those you can’t act upon) can also speed up breathing and heart rate even when you don’t actually need extra oxygen. Even an imagined threat can overheat your engine.

FAST breathing often means SHALLOW breathing. Shallow breathing is INEFFICIENT. Remember that the top of your lungs are small, narrow and locked in by unyielding ribs and muscles. Ideally, you fill the top of your chest AFTER the lower more elastic lungs are full. Even when you are running, breathing ONLY into your upper lungs generates tension and gives you a very poor return for the energy invested.

When we are nervous, impatient, angry or apprehensive, it is critical that we stay calm, centered, and relaxed. Next time your emotions try to bully your breathing, exhale and shift to low, slow and deep breathing. Your mind will be clearer, your voice deeper and your demeanor more self-assured.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Guard Your Child's Lungs

When your children and grandchildren are grown, many of their adult breathing problems will have originated with respiratory mistakes made in childhood. Because so many pulmonary problems are IRREVERSIBLE, it is crucial that we devote ourselves, as responsible adults, to PREVENTION. Prevention is far cheaper and less painful than chronic bronchitis, breathing allergies, asthma, and even lung cancer. Many toxic substances that can be temporarily irritating to adults are devastating to young lungs.

1. Keep ALL second-hand smoke and smoke-polluted materials away from children.
2. Have all filters, fireplaces, and vents checked and cleaned regularly.
3. Allow for good overall ventilation in your home (especially basements and bathrooms) and try to air things out even in winter. Appliances should vent to the OUTSIDE.
4. Be cautious with any spray or aerosol product around children – air cleaners, cleaning ingredients, pesticides, disinfectants, moth repellents, hair spray and such.
5. Ventilate well when you bring in new furniture, carpets, flooring and drapes. Research the adhesives and padding being used before you purchase. Freshly dry-cleaned clothes aren’t so swell either.
6. Vacuum often. Keep a child’s room free of anything that catches and holds dust. Keep the pets out of your child’s room since pet dander and dust mites are a lethal combination.
7. Be careful choosing the lawn and garden ingredients you use around a child’s play area.
8. Never idle your car in an attached garage.

Be well (you AND the kids). Breathe beautifully.

Insomnia, Impatience And Wasted Time

WASTED TIME is actually FOUND TIME. Such fragments actually add up to a potentially productive total by the end of your week if you prepare ahead of time.

In ADVANCE select a couple of your favorite breathing exercises that don’t require a lot of movement. Actually, deep slow steady breathing will do or you could simply begin by counting your breaths.

Since there never seems to be enough time to practice mindful breathing, meditation or contemplation, planning ahead will help you do something useful during those unscheduled disruptions of your schedule. You will be taking charge of the situation and using your time wisely.

So when the bus is late, when the elevator is slow, when you are on “hold” for days, when you are stuck in gridlock, launch one of your pre-planned breathing exercises and be grateful for the luxury of that rare bit of found time.

Otherwise, you will trigger stress chemistry that squirts into your body and your time will be worse than wasted.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Elegant Engineer

Mother Nature had to engineer a system that would (24/7) feed oxygen into your blood stream, remove the spent carbon dioxide as the same time, scrub, warm and moisten all incoming air, press down gently to massage your guts every few seconds and upwards to massage the lower lungs and she had to do everything within about a 12-inch stretch from nose to lungs as the crow flies.

Nature also had to compensate for the human body moving at vastly different speeds and stretching into extreme positions. The design had to compensate for the fact that some of us are quite small and some are huge (some start small and become huge) and some are two years old and some are ninety.

Some live in the desert and some live where the snows rarely melt. Some live below sea level and some at 12,000 feet. Nature had to find a way to mend broken ribs stronger than new.

The entire pulmonary system had to function either on automatic or manual, as necessary, and as life evolved, the system had to be stable and yet adapt to changing external conditions over time.

Mother Nature is determined that you Live Long and Prosper. May you be worthy of Her brilliance.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.