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.