What you can do for yourself – part 1

Breathe deeply and slowly….breathing is an essential function that cleanses our bodies every minute of every day. Consciously caring for our breath through breathing exercises is a daily habit in many cultures. Yogis believe that we can extend our lives by taking fewer, deeper breaths. Many of the yogi masters practice breathing with a goal of taking one-breath per minute. The Dalai Lama recommends beginning everyday by taking 9 cleansing breaths that involve alternate breathing from each nostril. Jon Kabat Zin’s Mindfulness Base Stress Reduction form of meditation asks us to focus on our breathing, letting go of judgment, so we can relax. Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg found that cancer can not not survive in high levels of oxygen. And, the deeper and slower we breath, the more oxygen we are taking into our each cell in our bodies. Practitioners of Qi Gong use deep cleansing breaths during their practice. Kundalini practitioners use the ‘breath of fire” to cleanse the endocrine and nervous systems. Many studies have shown that taking deep, relaxing breaths can immediately decrease blood pressure. In other words, while we don’t need to be conscious about our breathing, taking some time each day to do so can make a difference in our health. Here are some suggestions to consider:

• Take five deep breaths once or twice each day. If possible, hold for 1 to 3 seconds on the in-breath and hold for 1 to 3 seconds for each out breath


• Practice alternate nostril breathing. For more detail on the practice see http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_breathing-ex-nadisodh.htm


• At some point each day, observe your breathing (without consciously changing it) for 5 straight minutes. When you are ready, close your eyes while you are observing your breathing


• After 3 weeks of practicing some type of breathing technique, see if you feel more relaxed and in better spirits. If yes, it may be a practice you want to develop into a daily habit.