From Grape to Raisin

A moist mucus layer that creeps along your inner passageways defends you from outside danger. The mucus “blanket” needs to be moist enough to be pushed steadily toward the exits of your nose, mouth, and stomach. Ideally the mucus grabs and traps invading infections, toxins and irritants. You then swallow, spit, sneeze or cough out the polluted mucus.

The invention of air conditioning and central heating is both a blessing and a curse. Certainly humans are more productive in Atlanta in August and Fargo in February because man has learned to manipulate indoor temperature and humidity. Unfortunately, your respiratory system struggles with the resulting drying effects.

You cannot afford to have your mucus shield dry out because that would be like wearing a dirty bandage. Since most of us aren’t willing to go back to the old uncomfortable system of no air conditioning and no central heat, we must find ways to compensate.

At home and work - drink more water than you think you need (coffee and alcohol don’t count). Don’t let the AC in the car blow directly onto your face. Use as little heat and AC as you can tolerate. When you feel yourself turning into a potato chip, breathe deeply in a steamy shower, breathe for a few moments through a hot wet washcloth or consider investing in a humidifier. Go outside as often as possible.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Snot Is Your Friend

Breathing Brooms

Deep Breathing – Why?

Lung tissue is composed of trillions of fragile microscopic bubble-thin air sacs that are tightly packed inside your bony ribcage. Since lung tissue itself has no power to breathe but must be breathed into, it makes sense to work WITH rather than AGAINST Nature’s design.

Your ribcage is shaped like a bell or a birdcage, narrow and rigid at the top, wide and flexible around the bottom circumference. Unlike the bell or the birdcage, your ribcage has a stretchy powerful muscular floor (the diaphragm) that plays an incredibly important role in your respiration.

The upper cage is small and tight with the higher short ribs anchored directly to your breastbone. Don’t be fooled by the width of your shoulders! Gently poke around and you will find the actual cage just below your throat isn’t much wider than your hand is long. I regard the upper cage as a kind of additional reserve tank to be used primarily when you are moving fast and you need more oxygen than the main (lower) tank can provide.

Unfortunately, we tend to “shallow breathe” when we are tired, bored, stressed, or glued to the computer for long hours. When you use your “emergency” tank as if it were your main tank, you are forced to expend lots of energy for few rewards. Fewer air sacs in the upper chest mean less oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange. Rigid upper ribs mean less pumping action.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson Three

Swiping your hands under the cold-water faucet for five seconds barely wakes up the germs waiting to give you a cold or a stomach disorder. You’ve watched “surgeons” on television scrub up. Suds everywhere, scrub up to the elbows, fingernail brush working cuticles.

Since you probably don’t plan to take out a gall bladder today you probably don’t have to be quite that vigilant. Let’s settle for a little hot water, a little soap, and TIME. You will bring your hands into the “safe” zone in about the same time it takes to sing Happy Birthday to yourself (silently, please, thank you).

My personal favorite silent scrubbing chant is “Go away colds. Go away flu. Go away colds. Go away flu.” I find that one truly inspiring. It’s 20 or 30 seconds invested at the sink rather than ten days of a cough and runny nose. Your call.

Remember we are NOT playing Howard Hughes here but simply using our common sense to stay as healthy as possible.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson One

Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson Two

The Angry Voice

There is an ancient saying, “Anger blows out the lamp of the mind.”

Anger that is out of control damages your reputation, accomplishes nothing, stresses your cardiovascular system and can even put your life at risk. Then there is honorable anger that focuses energy and helps to fuel a noble cause and often shines a light on a situation that needs to be exposed. Hopefully you avoid the road rage, the temper tantrums and the bar fights but know when to use honorable anger with discretion.

When you are dealing with your honorable anger (as opposed to pitching a fit), it is important to keep control of your sound. If you are angry over an issue or condition and you hope to quickly gain respect or at least understanding for your point of view, then the quality of your voice is important.

The next time you hear someone so outraged that they are completely out of control, notice how their voice becomes high and jagged, their breathing shallow and erratic, their speech and logic stupid and their veins popped. Could someone in this stupid-rage red-faced mode change your mind about anything?

Remember that YOUR VOICE IS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT UPON YOUR BREATHING and you have wonderful control of your breathing. Take a second to relax your jaw and tongue, breathe out stale air, relax your tummy and get air deep into your lungs and then let the justifiable anger rip.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Great Commercial!

Breathe Your Way Out Of Bed

The alarm clock pierces your dream!!! Your feet hit the cold floor and you are flying 0-to-60 in six seconds! Your brain, heart and spine are still in deep sleep mode. This shot-from-a-cannon wake-up leaves you vulnerable to back pain or even a heart attack. A jolt of caffeine slaps the body “awake.” If you take meds for heart or blood pressure, it has been many hours since your last pill.

This flying leap out of a sound sleep is acceptable only if Freddy Kruger is coming through your bedroom window.

Allow your heart, brain and spine to wake up naturally. Take three deep slow breaths, eyes still closed. Three deep slow breaths, eyes open. Curl into a fetal position with your knees at the edge of the bed. Push yourself slowly upright with your lower arm and swing your feet over the edge to the floor. Stand up slowly and stretch. It takes only a few extra seconds and you will feel better all morning.

Try this little trick: as you are drifting off to sleep, command the brain to awaken you five minutes before the alarm is set to go off. You need to be almost asleep for this to work. And here is a wonderful bonus: brilliant ideas will bob up from your unconscious for just a few seconds during that SLOW wake-up stage. These wonderful bits of data will dissipate almost instantly and are never even noticed when you fling yourself out of bed as if your jammies were on fire.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Meditation 101

There are so many rewarding and pleasurable meditation practices available. Most have been passed with great care and respect from master to student for hundreds or even thousands of years.

While some practices and exercises are quite involved and complicated, the simplest and most basic of them remain incredibly rewarding and effective. We all meditate at sometime during the day perhaps when we are so absorbed in a book that we fail to notice the fading light. Or when we are so intent on a project that we don’t notice that we haven’t eaten since yesterday. Meditation is a perfectly natural and normal process. If you don’t already have a meditation practice, you might enjoy meditating intentionally as well as accidentally.

I believe your intent and your respect for the process are more important than the specifics of any particular meditation exercise or ritual.

As a starting point – sit up straight (but relaxed) with your hands in your lap. Soften your jaw muscles and your tongue. Close your eyes. Listen to and feel the movement of your breath as it slips in and out of your body. Observe the breath without attempting to control or direct it in any way. Continue for as long as you can concentrate completely on your breathing. Some days you may be able to focus for only one breath. On other days, fifty. The quality of your effort (or effortlessness) is more important than the length of time.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.