From 'Economic Times': Watch the Breath. It'll Make You Smarter

Couldn't help but read a recent post in the Economic Times. It contained the usual stuff about breathing, that most of us breathe on average 15 times a minute, that slowing that rate down is better for you, that yogi masters like B K S Iyengar and Sage Patanjali have studied breathing for most of their lives, the latter mentioning that "it’s not for nothing that in the Hathayoga-Pradipika, Swami Swatvarama likens the taming of the breath to the mastering of wild lions, tigers or elephants, to be carried out gradually (shanai-shanai)."

But what really caught our attention was this comment by writer Vithal C Nadkarni: "Modern research has uncovered spectacular benefits of mindfulness breathing. One recent study found evidence, for instance, of daily meditation thickening the very parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex that were responsible for attention, memory and decision-making.

"Research has also indicated that meditation retards the natural thinning of the cortex that occurs with advancing age. Ironically, the same effects cannot be achieved by goofing off or by taking a nap. Doctors have found that meditation restores nerve cells much like sleep but without associated grogginess.

"That may explain why a growing number of MNCs [multi-national corporations, we assume] including Google and Hughes Aircraft are offering meditation classes for their workers. Their EQ soars.

"So watch that breath. It’ll make you smarter."

We've been saying that for years.

Read the full article here.

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Breathe Yourself to Sleep

Fitness guru and Core Performance blogger Joe Kita continues his One Small Change series with some advice about how to use mindful breathing to help those who have trouble sleeping. He quotes us liberally and uses one of the exercises we outline in "Perfect Breathing."

“The breath is the common denominator in everything we do,” says Al Lee, co-author of Perfect Breathing, in Joe's post. “It touches every dimension of life. It directly and dramatically affects your health, your ability to heal, your emotions, your physical performance, your creativity, and it’s used by every spiritual tradition to help achieve deeper states of prayer, meditation and contemplation.”

Learn more at www.perfectbreath.com

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Relax and quit smoking!

It's a bit mystifying, but people still smoke cigarettes. The health risks are well known and documented, but the nasty habit persists.

To be sure it is a personal choice (except for when we have to breathe the nasty second-hand smoke). But we're certain many who still smoke would love to stop.

WebMD's "Stop Smoking Support and Tips by Gina Shaw, however, shares a few relaxation techniques that might help those who would like to quit smoking kick the habit for good," writes TestCountry.com. "The article does mention that there are no hard-hitting scientific facts and observations – not yet, anyway – to back up how effective these techniques are in helping people stop smoking, but the American Cancer Society’s Vice President for Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, Michael Thun, M.D., concurs that these approaches might be of help."

These techniques are held together by a common factor: all involve deep breathing. The reason why these might help is that smokers are generally used to breathing deeply while sucking on a cigarette, and this might be a practice that they no longer do once they try to quit. Forgetting to practice deep breathing may lead to an increase in tension levels, which leads to that “fuzzy,” “grumpy” and “out of sorts” feeling that smokers who try to quit sometimes get.

The techniques include practicing deep breathing, guided imagery, tai chi, meditation and yoga. If you're even thinking about quitting, these are worthy of investigation. Read the full article here and be sure to visit www.perfectbreath.com for more info on mindful breathing. You'll be glad you did.

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Jazz Artist Terrance Blanchard Lauds Breathing

The Blue Note jazz label recently sponsored the PDX JazzFest here in Portland. Trumpeter Terence Blanchard waxed eloquent in a story in the Oregonian. We couldn't resist:

"In the Q&A, a questioner pressed Blanchard for elaboration of a statement he'd made earlier about the importance of breath in connecting to the spirit of music. Blanchard takes breath very seriously. Very. Seriously. He meditates, for example, and chants. When he composes music, he sings it to connect to it better emotionally. 'In a technical sense, it (breathing) makes you stop, makes you pause,' he observed, and that 'gives us a chance to talk.' Meaning that it keeps conversation from being a one-way street. For the past 13 or 14 years, Blanchard has been boxing, which has increased his wind capacity, he says, and made his sound bigger as a result. And each bout is like a concert -- 'You never know where the bout is going to take you.'

"The chanting and meditation and breathing have taught him one important thing: 'You have to allow it to do with you what it wants to do.' He explained that one of his mentors, band leader Art
Blakey, made a big deal of integrating the mind and the emotions. As Blanchard explained it: 'The brain says this is hip; the heart says, yeah, but not right now.'"

We couldn't have put it better ourselves. For more on the power of the breath, visit www.PerfectBreath.com.

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On Death & Dying

We've long been fascinated by the final act, the drawing of one's last breath. Dying is a profound experience, second only to being born. We devoted an entire chapter to it in our book, "Perfect Breathing." We learned a great deal about the dynamics of that final breath in talking with hospice worker Marcella Brady, who shared her experiences in helping dying people find peace as they leave this world. And we've have learned more in a thoughtful two-part piece by Ann Catlin, a licensed massage therapist writing for Massage Today.

In Part One, she talks about the pain of life-limiting illness, and the substantial effect that massage can play in palliative care. In Part Two, she really caught our attention with her use of the breath. She sets up a frame of reference for helping dying people, and offered three key points: Dying is not just a medical event; dying is a part of living; and dying is a deeply personal experience.

She incorporates synchronized breathing in her healing touch, which she teaches to hospice workers. As she states:

"Synchronized Breathing. This technique is effective to help ease difficult breathing. It involves synchronizing your own breath with simple massage strokes. First synchronize the
rhythm of your own breath with slow effleurage strokes; breathing in as
your hands move distally (toward your own body). Then breathe out as
your hands move away from you. Let the sound of your breath be audible.
This is a silent interaction. No words are necessary to encourage a
natural synchronization with the rhythms of your breath and touch. If
the person cannot tolerate physical contact you may remove the touch
and focus only on the breath."

As Marcella Brady told us in our interviews with her, "Consciousness during death is different. It is much deeper when a person is dying. They are standing in two worlds, at the intersection. There is hesitation as they don't know where it leads. It is a very intense moment when it occurs. It is about your body and your spirit separating. You don't live and then die. It is a process that occurs through our entire life, but when someone hits the transition point I can often walk into a room and feel it. I used to bed focused on the shell on the bed and I was not conscious of what was really occurring. But now if I am conscious and aware of breathing, I can feel the presence in the entire room. You can see and feel this light. It is really quite amazing."

Words to live by.

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