String of Pearls

As always, breathe sloooooowly, gently, and deeply. And, as always no discomfort ever with a breathing exercise, either mentally or physically.

Lay your relaxed dominant hand in your lap, palm up. With each new breath you will touch the tip of your thumb to a fingertip or to your palm.

First Breath: Touch the tip of your thumb lightly to the tip of your little finger.
Second Breath: Touch the tip of your thumb to the tip of your ring finger.
Third Breath: Tip of your thumb to the tip of your middle finger.
Fourth Breath: Tip of your thumb to the tip of your index fingerFifth Breath: Curl your thumb in toward your palm. Repeat as long as you feel comfortable.

Note: This is an exercise that is wonderfully effective and almost invisible to others. After some practice, you will be able to center yourself simply by touching your thumb once to any fingertip.

Be well. Breath beautifully.

Fluttering

Fluttering is an effective way (albeit silly) to dump some tension from your face. Face muscles are very small, very complicated and, therefore, a bit difficult to unknot.

Considering all the personal and professional challenges that get dumped on you during the day, it is no wonder that you squint, grimace, clench your jaws, wrinkle your forehead, tense your tongue and jut your head forward! Small face muscles eat up an enormous amount of energy. A tense face messes with your breathing and that messes with your speaking and that messes with your accomplishments.

We will stray briefly from the preferred nose-breathing. Keep any mouth-breathing brief and stop for water if you begin to feel dry.

Keep your mouth closed with lips and jaw muscles completely relaxed. Your lips will be parted slightly only by the escaping exhalation.

1. Breathe in through your nose. Softly blow out each exhalation through your relaxed lips until they flutter. Wet your lips when necessary. Horses and babies make this same sound.
2. Inhale slowly through your nose and breathe out through your “flutter.” Gently squeeze out as much air as possible. The gentle vibration will gradually melt away tension from your face and jaws.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Carbon Monoxide

A carbon monoxide detector ($20-$60 from your local hardware store) is considerably cheaper than a coffin (or several)

Because you are priceless and irreplaceable I will be especially annoyed if you croak for preventable and stupid reasons. Carbon monoxide poisoning is high on the Stupid List. It is a sneaky killer that has no color, odor or taste so you could be gone before you notice you are going.

1. Never bring an OUTSIDE heater of any kind INSIDE your house, your garage, your camper or your car. Not even once. Not ever.
2. Go to your calendar right now and make a note to have your central heating system checked for leaks by a professional once a year. Don’t assume because your system is fairly new that it can’t have problems.
3. Always use your fireplace flue correctly. If you forget, put a reminder note on your mantle.
4. Of course, it is tempting in cold weather to warm up your car in the garage. Never. Not even one time.
5. If you have a wood stove, make sure that the door has a really snug fit.

Be well. Breathe beautifully (for a very long time.)

Review #4

What happens if I begin with one breathing exercise and it changes into a different one?

My hope is that you will learn to trust your instincts better than you have in the past. Go with the exercise that your mind/body has handed you. Remember that your brain processes countless bits of incoming data every split second and it gives you its best guidance at any given time. Breathing training and meditation both make us better listeners to internal and external wisdom.

What happens if I run out of breath before I have finished a movement?

This cannot happen because you establish the breathing pattern FIRST and then move to that rhythm! It is typical in a gym to see people set up their movement and then hope the breathing will keep pace. Not a good idea. Remember that breathing is the music and the movement is the dance.

Why am I so tired by the end of the workday?

There is a tendency to build and hold tension from the armpits up. The neck and head muscles are tiny, demanding and sophisticated. Since we are a very visual and very talkative species our speech and vision muscles are pretty pooped by the end of the day. Add to this the invention of the computer which means most of us forget to keep our 12 to 20 pound head directly over our tailbone. All this tension messes with circulation, with joints and with breathing. Take frequent breaks (less than a minute will do) to breathe out all the stale air. Rebuild your posture.

Be well Breathe beautifully.

Muscle Duty

Your breathing muscles are able to survive a lifetime of perpetual motion because they have a very brief moment of rest each time you exhale and before you begin your next intake of air.

In order for you to inhale, your intercostal muscles between ribs lift your ribs slightly out and up. At the same time your diaphragm (the elastic floor of your ribcage) flattens down. This results in a slightly larger ribcage that creates an imbalance of pressure and new air is sucked in. This is the busy, working, active stage of each breath cycle.

The resting stage means that all breathing muscles simply let go and relax. The ribs drop down once more and the diaphragm domes upward into its resting position. And there we have an exhalation as the breath is squeezed out.

The distance the diaphragm must move from its domed up relaxed position when the lungs are relatively empty to the flattened position of inhalation is only about half an inch. However, this slight change of total volume is enough to move all the air you need.

Your breathing muscles also have somewhat easier duty during sleep when you tend to breathe more efficiently.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Frequent Breaks

When you spend a big chunk of your day at the computer, you will be scrunched, crunched, twisted and compressed before the day is half gone. The mounting compression of sitting (usually badly) messes with your body, your energy and your breathing.

I trust that your chair, equipment, light and desk are all ergonomically correct. Unfortunately that isn’t enough.

During the hundreds of thousands of years when our bodies were adapting and evolving, there were no chairs. Since you were never intended to sit at all, at least change and check your position often. Set your computer or watch alarm to signal periodically that it is time to stand up, stretch and take a few deep breaths. There are some interesting studies that indicate that your brain resets itself to a sharper mode when you take a quick break at least once every 40 minutes.

The longer you sit, the more you shallow breathe, leaving your body and brain sluggish. The delicate nerves and arteries of your neck are compressed by the considerably heavy weight of your off-balance head.

Remember that you need an aligned and balanced ribcage for efficient breathing. Try pressing your elbows against the chair back and reach toward the ceiling with the top of your head. Or, hunch your shoulders upward, push them back and pull them down. Notice how your breathing improves.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Alternate Nostril Breath

This is an ancient and beautiful exercise that can do an impressive job of bringing the two hemispheres of your brain into harmony. 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 the thumb (dominant hand) 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. Delicate pressure is enough to close a nostril since the passage narrows markedly at that point.

Avoid the tendency to slouch or to tuck your head down or off to one side. Continue only for as long as you are comfortable and focused. Eyes open or closed as you wish.

The physical setup is the same as for Eye of the Sun, except instead of traveling in a complete circle, the air now flows across an “arch” and backtracks across that same arch. Breathe IN through your RIGHT nostril and OUT through your LEFT. Then back IN through the LEFT and OUT through your RIGHT.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

LINK: EYE OF THE SUN