Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson Two

Keep at hand a little squirt bottle of killer goo during cold-and-flu season. Bad bugs adapt to human defenses at the speed of light but hand-sanitizers are at the moment ahead of the game. Never pass up a chance for soap and hot water but gel can protect you between visits to the sink.

The medical pundits don’t all agree on the effectiveness of sanitizers but let’s go with the weapons we have at hand (sorry about that) until something more effective comes along.

Killer goo is especially valuable when you move through shared spaces. EVERY TIME you exit a library, a store, a theater, a gym, a school, an office, the subway, an auditorium, a hospital (duh!) – squirt your fingers with a few drops of clear sanitizer.

Even when you have used the restroom and washed your hands, you have touched many things since you washed, including the exit door – just you and 10,000 other people. You think all 10,000 washed their hands?!

The “exit squirt” is a cheap and easy habit and takes only a couple of seconds while a cold devours a week to ten days.

Be well and breathe beautifully.

Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson One

Breathing and Your Aging Spine

Our spines shorten and curl forward as we age, almost as if we were returning to our original fetal position. The loss of bone calcium (in men as well as women) coupled with years of careless posture and injury threaten the core architecture of the human body. And since we are now living so much longer, it is a challenge to stay out of permanent pretzel-posture until we make it to the finish line. It is difficult to breathe effectively when your back hurts.

Since the main support pillar of your torso is the stack of vertebrae at the rear of your ribcage, the breakdown of bone quality in those bones will certainly rob you of your youthful and functional carriage as well as your easy, free, rewarding breathing. Your lungs are only as good as the cage they are carried in.

Long years of straining forward at the computer, carrying a heavy purse on the same shoulder, bending over equipment, sitting like a wilted daisy, are finally written forever on one’s body and can no longer be erased in spite of all good efforts. As always, prevention is the best strategy.

Refuse to shrink with age. Stretch. Bend. Research your hormones and your nutrition. Discuss bone health with your doctor. Your body remains deaf to all your best intentions regardless of how frequently, loudly and eloquently you declare those intentions.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Inescapable Stress

You can avoid, prevent or escape most of the frustrating and stressful situations in your personal and professional life. There are, however, some situations you simply cannot walk away from. Since chronic ongoing stress poisons the body and scrambles the thinking, you need to find reasonable ways to get through tough times.

1. Take the time to examine a stressful situation that you can’t escape. Are you truly stuck or have you simply not had the time to explore your options? There are always organizations and support groups out there that offer guidance. You are not alone. Everyone is overwhelmed at some time in their lives.....even the smartest, the richest and the wisest. Google is a blessing when you need to find guidance and moral support.
2. This is not the time for you to skip your own mental and physical health, regardless of how much you are on overload. Your mind and body are at risk and you are especially vulnerable now. Keep mammograms, chest X-rays and flu shots high on the agenda. Quiet time is essential even if it is only a few minutes.
3. There is an ancient phrase that comes up in yoga studies: “This too shall pass.” Never lose sight of yourself on the other side of this situation.
4. Remember that mindful breathing ties together the best of your mind, body and spirit. It is always handy! Turn to your deep, slow, quiet breathing while you are in the midst of the struggle. Amazingly the response takes only a couple minutes. Sometimes your newfound calm alone will alter the situation around you.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Protect Yourself From Colds & Flu: Lesson One

In spite of the fact that you are incredibly careful you may still catch a cold or flu. However, let’s stack the odds in your favor and aim for AFAP (As Few As Possible).

Invading bacteria and viruses love it when you TOUCH stuff. Protect yourself by learning a smarter way to touch disease-transfer points. Perhaps thousands (or at least hundreds) of fingers have touched those shared “hot spots” since they were last cleaned and even then “cleaned” probably means annoying the bugs rather than terminating them.

1. Push an ELEVATOR BUTTON with a knuckle instead of a fingertip.
2. Slide the outside edge of your hand along a STAIR RAILING rather than grasping the rail with your whole hand.
3. Use your palm rather than your fingers to engage a DOOR HANDLE or TOWEL DISPENSER.
4. MARKET BASKETS are like giant Petri dishes on wheels!! Hold the outer part, not the center, of the handle.
5. FLUSH with the outer wrist bone or a knuckle.
6. If you SHARE EQUIPMENT at work, in the gym, or at school carry along a bleach-wipe and (without fanfare) wipe down the common transfer spots at the beginning of your shift.

No need to play Howard Hughes here, a white-gloved prisoner in your own home! You develop some immunity through exposure. But for now let’s try for AFAP.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Get OUT!

The air outside your home is too often loaded with microscopic bits of soot, flying fertilizer, smoke, tires, asphalt, car/bus/airplane exhaust, toxic gases, grit and grime.

However, the air inside your home, office and car can present an even greater threat to your lungs. Have you noticed the thin greasy film that accumulates on the inside of your car windows? The automotive plastics and rubber are deteriorating and radiating gases that can easily find their way into your body. You are exposed daily to construction materials that threaten your quality of life: plastics of all kinds, particle board, veneers, paints, carpets, popcorn ceilings, carpet glues, linoleum adhesives, wallpaper glues, household cleaners, dry cleaning fumes, mothballs, cigarette smoke. You are built to tolerate a few of these irritants at one time for a short period of time.

Sensitivities arise when you have long and repeated exposure to any dangerous substance. Finally your overburdened respiratory system can no longer keep up the good fight and you find yourself with asthma or worse. These sensitivities tend to be permanent.

Lend your most powerful political voice to laws that clean up the environment and the building industry standards. Read the air quality reports every day in the paper so you can avoid unnecessary trips outside on bad-air days but reverse that when the air outside is relatively clear.

Try to avoid staying in any single setting for more than a couple hours at a time. Take a short break in a different venue as often as possible. Leave your office for a quick walk around the block to clear your head and to break your shallow breathing pattern.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Sea in a shell

I appreciate this exercise because it is a simple and elegant way to center yourself quickly when everything around you is turning to mush. It is understandable that you feel fragmented and distracted during a demanding workday. It is easy to lose track of your center, of your true self. Your best decisions, your best plans, your best healing, springs from your CENTER so try not to stray “too far from home” for too long.

Keep your spine comfortably erect and your shoulders relaxed during the entire exercise. Closing your eyes is preferable if circumstances allow.

1. With the tips of your middle fingers close your ears gently by pressing in on the small flap just forward of your ear canals (not to be confused with your ear lobes).


2. Rest your bent elbows comfortably against your chest and keep your face forward.


3. Close your eyes and LISTEN to your deep, slow, steady breathing. The sound of this smooth and rhythmic flow of air is a wonderful relaxing focus. It will seem as if you are listening to the sound of the sea in a seashell. Continue for as long as you feel comfortable. You will find that your breathing slows and deepens fairly quickly without any conscious effort on your part.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Snot Is Your Friend

OK. OK. I know that was a cheap shot but this is a really important subject and I really need to get your attention. Sorry about that.

Mucus often gets a bad rap. The only time we pay attention to mucus is when we have hay fever or a nasty leaky cold and at that point it seems like the attack of the glob. You just want it to go away.

If, in fact, your wish were to be granted by the cold-medicine fairy and snot did go away completely, I doubt that you would be around for your next birthday. You are pretty much lined with this glistening magical traveling stuff that keeps your delicate vulnerable inner tissues moist, clean, and warm.

The trick is to keep the mucus moist enough so it moves along easily but gelatinous enough to trap the bits of junk and microscopic critters that would otherwise dig dangerously deep into your vulnerable lungs and possibly kill you. Be judicious about cold and sinus medications that could dry out your bronchial passages. Stay hydrated. Wear a dust mask when you are exposed to airborne irritants that can overrun the mucus blanket. Treasure this super barrier.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.