The Rainbow

The Rainbow is gymnastics for the brain and is so much fun (albeit challenging). Be patient. You may find at first that you have an easier time concentrating on a simple colored object such as a red rose, blue pitcher, green leaf or yellow lemon instead of an abstract color. Eventually you will be able to experience pure color without the need for an image.

Since this may be your first try with this type of exercise, it is especially important to keep your breathing low, slow and steady.

1. Close your eyes and wait for your breathing to slow. Create a mental picture of a bright RED object such as a red wagon. Hold the image in your mind’s eye for as long as the color is vivid. Trust me, you will get better and better at this.
2. When the RED object fades, create an ORANGE image. Stay focused as long as possible.
3. Follow with YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE and finally VIOLET.
4. Take several additional breaths with your eyes closed before you “surface.”

It is preferable (but not mandatory) to work from warm (red, orange, yellow) through cool (green, blue, violet). When you feel ready to move from image to pure color, try initially to enlarge the colored object in your imagination, until it is huge, filling your entire mental screen. Then shift easily to color alone.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Up From The Ooze

Once upon a time, a fish (curious, clumsy, or desperately hungry) flung itself out of a brackish sea onto the oozy mud for the very first time. That premier fish dared the air probably for only an instant before squirming back into the sea, but its offspring dared again and again. They returned until their fins could crawl and their bodies could process air. The rest, of course, is pulmonary history.

Since the beginning, human beings have been fascinated by the mysteries and the possibilities of their own breathing. It was clear, early on, that there is more to this breathing business than a simple shuffling of air. Could it be that our gentle tide of breath provides a delicate, invisible link that connects us physically and spiritually, one to the other, and binds us, in turn, to the rhythms of our planet and our universe?

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Respiratory Superhero

Don’t worry, we aren’t going to go over the top with anatomy stuff but a few basics are helpful to help you appreciate how truly extraordinary your body is.

We’ve already touched on the double layer of intercostals muscles sandwiched between your ribs. Your big diaphragm, however, is simply the superhero of all breathing muscles! It is a complex, uneven elastic floor across the bottom of your ribcage, directly under your lungs and on top of your liver, stomach, pancreas and spleen. Since your lunch has to get from your mouth into the acid pit of your stomach, your esophagus passes through a tight (hopefully) opening in the diaphragm.

Although you can easily find your intercostals between your ribs, don’t even bother poking around in search of your diaphragm because it is fairly well buried. To further complicate matters, it doesn’t lie flat and neat like the bottom of a bucket or the floor of a birdcage. At the finish of each exhalation, the diaphragm resembles a lopsided hill with the high side rising up and over your big liver on the right. The diaphragm is completely elastic, powerful, responsive and cooperative. The domed diaphragm you see in the picture is in the exhalation position. When you inhale it flattens down ever so slightly and that creates a vacuum that draws in your next breath.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Waterwheel

We have made a to-do about getting your basic breathing down from the tight narrow upper chest into your wide elastic lower ribcage. Deep breathing is more efficient, more rewarding and produces more miles-per-gallon (if you were a car).

However, it is important to activate and be aware of all areas of your lungs. During Waterwheel you will direct the incoming air into your MID-CHEST, just behind your breastbone. Accurate placement is more important than how much air you take in so there is no need to swell up like a weather balloon. Waterwheel is more about quality than quantity.

1. Sit on the front edge of a straight-backed chair. Fold your thumbs into your palms and lay the backs of your hands on the chair seat behind you, palms up and fingers pointing backwards (index fingers close together if possible).
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose and gently blow out the outgoing air. Keep your shoulders low and motionless and your bellybutton absolutely still.
3. Let the incoming air fill up the space just behind your breastbone. Imagine that is the only place where you have lungs. Guide the incoming air there. Continue for as long as the exercise is comfortable and pleasurable.
   

Be well. Breathe beautifully.