The Breath of Life

Hello everyone,

I am starting with what I feel has helped me the most, over the last year, to improve my overall health.

I improved how I breathe. 

Last year, I made a decision, based on what I learned when I was a teen, and was reminded of several times over the years, but really just didn't pay attention to or ignored.

With out going into the history of that statement, which may be better saved for another venue, I chose to start "belly breathing."  I actually made a conscious decision, a few times a day, to slow down, relax and force myself to breathe using my abdomen , instead of using my chest muscles to breathe.

While I am not going to cover anything special as far as techniques, as there are many techniques out there for proper breathing, I will say this. Start.  Pick one and start.  I will put a quick description of the important steps at the end of this post.

Why Start?

Oxygen is one of the most critical chemicals for your body. Period.  Ensuring you have sufficient supplies to allow your body to work properly is crucial.  I found this out during my research.

For me, subjectively,  I experienced the following:

Slowly, I started feeling less depressed and less grumpy.

Almost immediately, the amount of weight I was loosing over a week, increased.

Wait...did you catch that?

Did I just say that this was not the first thing I changed in my life last year to lose weight, well in hindsight, it is definitely the most important.

This is now my Rule #1

During my research over the holidays, I found information relating to the use of your diaphragm, the muscle used to "belly breathe." It affects the overall performance of the lymphatic system.

Huh? I know what you people are saying. I said it myself, So What?

Here's the so what.  The lymphatic system is the waste system of the body.  When it is not working right, things back up.  The best analogy to use, is a slow drain or blocked drain in your house.  Yep the shower water swirls around your feet, the bathroom sink doesn't drain quickly and you end up with a ring in the middle of the sink from the soap and toothpaste you used during the morning and didn't have time for the drain cleaner or just no drain cleaner period.  The same thing happens in your body. 

So take a moment to think about the imagery to go along with that statement.

You keep putting stuff in, and the "goes out" keeps backing up.

Make the commitment, take a few moments during the day and focus on your breathing processes.  The diaphragm is the single, biggest muscle that helps move the fluids in the lymphatic system, and keeping the drainage system of the body flowing properly.

Today, a year or so after I started to focus on belly breathing, I take time to do it 10 or 12 times a day.  Additionally, I add in a deep breathe every time I think about it.

I can't wait to try some of the other breathing techniques I read about.  When I do, and I discover the results, I will clue you in, in a future post.

For now, take breath, use your diaphragm, and be happy.

Simple breathing steps.

1. set up a few minutes of quiet time.
2. Stand up, sit down erect in a chair, or lie down on the floor on your back.
3. take a slow deep breath, by consciously using your diaphragm and not your chest muscles until the very end of your breath cycle.
4. hold it a moment or two...relax
5. exhale over the same amount of time you inhaled.
6. repeat steps 1-5 for a few times.

Then go about your business of the day.

Check yourself after doing this for a few weeks and let me know if you see an improvement or not.

Breathe Happy

Dan W.