Sex and Breathing (or Taking it to the Sheets)

Ok, I have to admit that some of our posts may get a bit geeky from time to time. Information about how brain cells affect the breathing process may not appeal to your average Joe Sixpack. But fear not. Here is news you can use!

Dallas free-lancer Jenny Block wrote a great piece a while back regarding her foray into the world of yoga and how the breathing techniques she learned have provided her with new inspiration (pun intended) and pleasure with her partner.

A great observation that she made was that the simpler the solution, the more likely that people will ignore it or not take it seriously. We have definitely found this to be true with breathing techniques in general. They equate expensive and difficult with effective, but we are slowly converting people - one breather at at time!

Here are a few of Jenny's discoveries:

The New Science of Breathing

It seems like hardly a week goes by that there is not some breaking news regarding new discoveries regarding the breath and the impact that it has on the different dimensions of our lives.

The world's oldest cultures did not concern themselves with the "how" behind breathing, but clearly understood the power and potential that it holds with regards to our health, performance, and emotional/spiritual well-being. Our skeptical western minds however have been busily trying to understand the "how" of breathing and its remarkable impact on nearly everything that we do.

This week there has been a new discovery. Scientists in England discovered that brain cells called astrocytes are able to "taste" arterial blood as it enter the brain and determine the relative levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The astrocytes then secrete a chemical messenger called ATP which then signals the brain to regulate the breathing process. The astrocytes are apparently able to adjust and adapt to different situations and environments.

Researchers are hopeful that this new breakthrough will lead to better understanding and treatments for respiratory malfunctions such as Sudden Infant Death syndrome and others.

The good news is that as each new piece of the puzzle falls into place, more and more people are awakening to this powerful resource that is readily available to them every minute of every day.

How to Improve Your Memory (hint: Breathe!)

I have to say that for as much of a flag-waving proponent of the amazing effects of conscious breathing techniques (CBTs) as I am, I've always been a bit skeptical of some of the techniques and claims.

Alternate nostril breathing techniques fall into that category. I've never seen the kind of convincing studies that have proven many of the other claims around CBTs. But now we have the YOU docs - Drs. Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen making some pretty bold claims around improving memory using left nostril breathing in the ezine "healthzone.ca."

According to healthzone.ca "undergraduates who did left-nostril breathing before a memory test scored 16 per cent higher than those who didn't. And left-nostril breathing improved spatial memory scores in kids by 43 per cent." What is really quite fascinating is that right nostril breathing had no effect (on those tests). We'll have to wait for the sequel to find out if right nostril breathing can help me write that hit song!

You might want to read the whole article. Now where are those car keys...

Healthier Living & Better Breathing with Health Txts

Our good friend Fred Muench over at Mobile Health Interventions just let us know about a great new service they have just recently launched called Health Txts. This handy new service allows you to have specialized messages sent to your mobile device to help you change behaviors and reach your goals more quickly. Message categories span the spectrum - everything from healthy eating and exercise, reducing drinking and drug use, gambling and smoking cessation, to stress management and dental hygiene. Health Care professionals can even create customized programs for their own clients!

This type of messaging has been shown to be a powerful way of behavior modification as it is constantly available and can help guide you through your weakest moments. Best of all, it is free during their launch.

Fred has a lot of experience in this area. He was one of the brains behind the Stress Eraser, a cool biofeedback device for triggering the body's natural relaxation response through guided breathing. He was also one of the key contributors to the Breath Pacer mobile application, which also helps to develop the habit of slow deep breathing.

These are great products that we highly recommend. If you are serious about improving your health, performance, and emotional well-being, learn to develop your most powerful asset - your breath. It can make a world of difference in every dimension of your life.

Please check out our website for more great product information.

Breathing for Pain Management

The benefits of conscious breathing techniques have been demonstrated once again in a study at the University of Arizona as reported in PAIN, the refereed journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain. The study was conducted with patients who suffer from Fibromyalgia, and demonstrated that chronic pain sufferers can reduce their pain through the use of slow, deep breathing.

The study found that when painful heat pulses were administered to both healthy controls and those suffering from chronic pain, the groups that slowed their breathing to approximately 50% of the normal breathing rate (about 8-10) breaths per minute, the level of pain they experienced decreased.

It was also found that the reduction in pain was related to positive effects in mood and levels of depression, demonstrating once again the intricate tie between mind and body.

Read more in the full story at Science Daily.

For those of you keeping track at home, this is yet another example of the avalanche of research that continues to validate the thousands of years of anecdotal information that demonstrates our powerful ability to take control of our minds, bodies, and emotions and create dramatic improvements in our health & healing, mental, physical, and creative performance, as well as our emotional well-being.

It's yours for the taking, starting with your very next breath!

Breathing Your Way to Olympic Gold

In our book "Perfect Breathing" we spent a lot of time writing about the many ways that top athletes and performers use breathing techniques to elicit the absolute best from their minds and bodies. This week, when it's all about the Olympics all the time, we've come across a couple of great examples from the frozen (or slushy) slopes of Whistler.

First up, Alexandre Bilodeau, the moguls champ and winner of Canada's first gold medal, was part of a Top Secret performance improvement program that taught him and other Canadian athletes how to use breathing techniques to focus their minds and identify and eliminate the anxiety and tension that were holding them back.

Bilodeau learned to identify his unique tension profile through a process called bioneuralfeedback and then learned breathing techiques that specifically addressed his tension points. "Breathing through my shoulders, breathing through my legs and breathing through my mind, it helps you to let it go and bring your focus into the present moment," he said. "The hardest thing for an athlete in any sport is to stay in the right now." Read the whole story here.

In another post from Canada's Times & Transcript, Jim Foster zeros in on the breathing techniques that Olympic biathletes and other marksmen us to put a hole in a bulls-eye from 150 meters at various times during a 20 kilometer cross-country ski race. Not only does the breath play a role in quickly calming the mind and body so that you can make any kind of shot, but the breath has to be used to actually control the shot - if your lungs are full that increases your excitement level and the shakiness or your hands (I'm guessing that's bad), while holding your breath causes fatigue and negatively affects your vision. There are several techniques, but taking the shot during the pause between the exhale and the next inhale seems to be very effective. Read the whole story here.

In every contest we've watched, it is obvious how having control over your mind, body, and emotions can be the deciding factor (except for perhaps curling) and the breath is the most powerful source of control we have over them all!

What is stealing your breath?

I saw the question in Valerie Reiss' post on Belief.net. "What makes you hold your breath?" What a great question! We talk a lot about developing an awareness of your breath as a means to improved health, performance, and emotional wellbeing, but directing your focus to mentally note the things that steal your breath can be quite illuminating.

For one, notice the sheer number of times during the day and the strange things that cause us to temporarily stop breathing. My laptop is at the top of both lists. There are very few things that you can do on a computer that benefit from holding your breath. Have you ever experienced "email apnea?" I'm surprised at how often I find myself not breathing while doing almost any task that requires focus or concentration, especially when it is computer related. You know what? It doesn't help! And unfortunately, those are usually the moments when you can really benefit from being fully oxygenated and firing on all cylinders.

Secondly, once you start seeing the patterns, i.e. holding your breath before speaking at a meeting, or when dealing with bad traffic or holiday crowds, you can preemptively take a few deep breaths to break the cycle and take control.

Lastly, it allows you to ask yourself what it is about these situations that leads you to hold your breath or feel stressed. Once you shine the light of awareness on these fears and anxieties they oftentimes start shrinking or disappear altogether.

Now that we are in the thick of the holiday season, make it a point to notice the things that are stealing your breath so that they don't interfere or mask the things that take your breath away.

Happy Holidays!

New Perfect Breathing Workbook and Guided Relaxation CD NOW AVAILABLE!

Just in time for the holidays!

If you've been enjoying Perfect Breathing: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time ($19.95), you'll want to pick up our new companion workbook, Perfect Breathing: A 28-Day Transformation to Better Living ($17.95), and our new Perfect Breathing Guided Relaxation CD ($12.95). Just head to the Products section of www.perfectbreath.com. We're now shopping-cart equipped!

Take advantage of our gift-pack specials: Get our hardbound Perfect Breathing book, the workbook and CD for only $39.95! If you already have the book, get the workbook and CD for only $24.95. Order now! Click here for all the details!

Digital downloads of our Perfect Breathing Guided RelaxationCD will also available shortly at CDBaby.com. click to www.cdbaby.com/cd/perfectbreathing

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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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Breathing Technique Could Control Asthma

We're always on the lookout for information regarding breathing technique and asthma. An RN named Kathleen Blanchard, writing for EMaxHealth.com, reports that: "Two researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas have developed a program that teaches a breathing technique to help control asthma. The study has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, and should be completed next year. The technique is designed to change the way a person breathes during an asthma attack.

"The four week program seeks to help asthma sufferers reduce the severity and frequency of asthma attacks by teaching specific breathing techniques, and is designed by Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meuret, both in SMU's Psychology Department. The goals are to breathe more slowly, control stress, and prevent low levels of carbon dioxide that can lead to more difficulty breathing and increase the severity of future asthma attacks.

"Teaching breathing techniques to control asthma also reduces irritation to the airways that can occur with hyperventilation. Faster breathing can harm individuals with asthma by restricting blood flow to the brain."

Promising news. Read the full article here.

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6 Lessons from a Month of Better Breathing

Joe Kita, a respected health fitness author, wrapped up his month-long exploration of mindful breathing, and his verdict is in. Joe has been blogging his findings on his Core Performance One Small Change site using core info from our book, "Perfect Breathing."

We're happy to report that he found great benefit in breath awareness. Over the course of the month of July, he used mindful breathing techniques for Sleep, Game-Day, Pressure, Performance and Healing. Though his results ranged from spectacular to mixed (in other words, for him the jury's still out), he arrived at one thought that we felt was particularly salient:

"A yoga teacher once told me that control of the breath leads to control of the body," he wrote,
"which eventually leads to control of the mind. This experiment helped me understand more fully what she meant. When I was regulating my breath, I could feel my heart rate slow and muscle tension depart, which, in turn, helped me relax and focus."

For that alone, developing breath awareness and learning some simple mindful breathing techniques is worth the minimal effort it requires. And no gym membership, new sneakers or special diet is required!

We are thrilled and grateful for Joe's interest in our work. We hope you'll do your own 30-day breathing experiment. We think you'll find the results dramatic, and will give you a valuable tool you can use in everyday life -- even if you've never set foot in a yoga studio or studied meditation. Mindful breathing is for everybody.

Read Joe's full breathing series here. And don't forget to visit www.perfectbreath.com

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Joe Kita Uses the Breath for Healthier Travel

Health and fitness author Joe Kita has been blogging on his Core Performance One Small Change site about the use of mindful breathing and how it can be used in everyday life. Joe is using core info from our book, "Perfect Breathing," in his month-long exploration.

His post today talked about travel and how to stay healthy. Love his lead paragraph: "I’m sitting deep in coach between a fidgety three-year-old with a runny nose and, across the aisle, a middle-age woman with a frightening cold sore who for some reason keeps smiling at me. I’m trying to focus on my newspaper and not worry, but the lead story is about an outbreak of swine flu on a cruise ship.

"I’m doomed, I presume. Just about every time I fly I catch a cold or flu, and this time will probably be no different. Unless…."

Joe immediately begins using a technique we call "Healing Breath." (See the full exercise here).

His evaluation: "Although it sounds a bit out there and I worry that all the extra inhaling might actually bring in more germs, I give it a try. Besides helping take my mind off the kid and that woman’s lip, it settles and centers me like all the other breathing exercises I’ve tried so far."

And did it work? "Although it may be coincidence, 10 days later as I write this I have none of the anticipated sniffles or scratchiness from the trip. In fact, I’m intrigued enough to have written the drill on the back of a business card that I tucked into my travel briefcase. I intend to experiment some more the next time I’m at 30,000 feet."

Read his full post at here. And don't forget to visit www.perfectbreath.com

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Joe Kita Gives Performance Breathing a Try - And Likes It

Noted health and fitness writer Joe Kita continues his month-long exploration of the efficacy of mindful breathing on his blog site at Core Performance. His One Small Change column finds him investigating little changes he can make in his life.

For the month of July, Joe's been practicing conscious breathing, using core information from our book, "Perfect Breathing." This week he tried Performance Breathing, to try and improve his athletic performance.

Writes Joe, "In our single-minded pursuit of fitness, it seems we’ve forgotten that muscles need oxygen to perform optimally, and we get that nourishment through breath. Because he suffered with asthma, marathon great Alberto Salazar had to be particularly conscious of his respiration. He learned that by breathing more efficiently, he could “grow” his cardiovascular system so it could process and utilize more oxygen."

He continues, "Based on research and discussions with athletes like Salazar, Lee and his partner, Don Campbell, devised a drill called Performance Breathing. It’s best for any endurance sport that involves a repetitive motion (running, cycling, swimming…). It’s designed to help you find that sweet spot where the energy coming in balances the energy being expended, and you feel that tireless high so many athletes strive for. Here’s how to do it:

• Inhale through the nose for 2 seconds
• Hold for 2 seconds
• Exhale through the nose for 4 seconds

"The important part is to synchronize this breath with your activity. For instance, if you’re walking or running, inhale for 2 steps, hold for 2 steps, then exhale for 4 steps. Similarly, if you’re cycling, inhale for 2 pedal strokes, hold for 2 pedal strokes, then exhale for 4 pedal strokes."

His conclusion? "I tried Performance Breathing during a 20-mile bike ride over rolling terrain, and it was challenging to maintain. In cycling, your cadence changes so frequently that it’s difficult to find a consistent breathing pattern that doesn’t eventually leave you gasping. But I’m confident that with practice it will come, because I’ve had a similar experience in ashtanga yoga, where the breath must be controlled through a series of flowing poses. Although it seemed impossible at first, I can do it easily now."

Read the full post, and his others on mindful breathing here

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Mindfullness Reminders

Although there is nothing "hard" about breathing - or at least it shouldn't be - the most difficult aspect of the practice is remembering to do it. Our breathing is automatic, we don't have to think about it. It just takes care of itself. There are myriad benefits to your health, performance, emotions, and spiritual experience that come from the conscious use of the breath. The challenge lies in transforming an unconscious act into a conscious one.

In a recent article in Examiner.com, Jordann Rawlings recommends training yourself to take a moment to breathe and be mindful each time a stressor enters your consciousness - your cell phone ringing, a meeting alarm going off, etc. This can be a very effective approach.

There are a number of other proactive strategies that we recommend as well. Put a couple of recurring daily reminders to stop and take a couple of deep breaths in your calendar or cell phone. Put a note on the bathroom mirror or refrigerator door. Hang something from the rear view mirror in your car. You get the idea. Find a way to remind yourself. It doesn't take long to develop the habit once you set your mind to it.

For those of you who would like some assistance, you can sign up for our Twitter reminder service. It sends a short "remember to breathe" text message to your phone two time a day along with a short affirmation or interesting fact or quote. For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it only takes a moment to sign up and it is free. Just remember to turn on the updates to your phone.

The address of our Twitter reminder service is "@remembr2breathe" (yes that last "e" is missing in "remember"). We also host a PerfectBreathing micro blog with the lastest news and information at "@perfectbreath".

With just a few minutes of attention each day, you'll find that the habit of mindful conscious breathing will grow and provide you with a host of benefits that will continue to grow with each passing day.

Joe Kita Fights Road Rage with Breathing

Health and fitness writer Joe Kita's latest blog for his One Small Change blog at the Core Performance website tackles abject stress and the effects of road rage. His post, "Breathe Better Under Pressure" - part of a month-long series he's doing to explore the effects of mindful breathing on his life - finds him in a car, harrowingly cut off by another driver. His heart pounds, his face goes pale, his hands shake.

Writes Joe: "No doubt you've had a similar experience. This is the body’s fight-or-flight response kicking in. Whenever we’re threatened, this mechanism instinctively prepares us to either run or rumble. Heart rate quickens in order to pump blood where it’s needed most, at the same time that blood is drawn away from extremities as a protection against injury. It's simultaneously invigorating and debilitating. Rational thought is replaced by caveman impulse.

“Research shows that there are two pathways to the brain,” explains Al Lee, co-author of Perfect Breathing. “One is for rational or attentional thought, while the other is for emotions. The two pathways are inversely related. So when your emotions start heating up, your ability to think rationally diminishes. That’s why you have crimes of passion or road rage.”

"The key," concludes Joe, " to retaining control in these situations is, as Lee explains, 'to focus on an attentional task that brings down the emotional side and lets you be more objective.' And researchers have found that breathing does this best."

Joe offers our Pressure Breathing exercise to help alleviate the stress, to good result.

Read the full text here. Or visit our Perfect Breath website

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Bareback Breathing

One of the more unexpected discoveries during the research and writing of our book "Perfect Breathing" was the fact that the breath plays a critical role in the training of horses, horse trainers, and riders.

Who knew?

Initially, an article by horse training expert Dr. Ron Meredith caught our attention. He cautions his students to use their breathing to calm and control their emotions when working with a new horse. “You start by paying attention to your breathing so that you develop a rhythm before you even get near the horse.” Throughout the process Meredith reminds his students to constantly check with their breathing to make sure it is rhythmic and relaxed. If the student loses control of their emotions and begin to hold their breath or breathe in an excited fashion they must leave the arena immediately until their breathing is back under control. It is a long process but Meredith states that, “Ultimately your breathing will give you the calmness you want whenever you walk up to a horse.”

We were intrigued and a bit more digging led us to an excellent book by Zen expert and riding trainer Tom Nagel called "Zen and Horseback Riding." It turns out that horses are extremely sensitive and the way a rider breathes directly affects the interaction between the horse and rider. When the rider's breath and posture are are in alignment, they provide a very effective communication channel with the horse - even through a saddle. This communication channel lets the horse, in the words of thoroughbred trainer Jamilee Shaffer "know what you want them to do even as you think it." This seemingly supernatural awareness of our body language and breath makes them “absolutely spectacular to ride” says Jamilee.

The calmness, relaxation, and grounding that result from slow, deep, intentional breathing can profoundly our own experience and performance, but it can also impact those around us - friends, familiy, co-workers, clients - even horses!

If you'd like to read about how we put our new-found horse-whispering skills to use with a real live thoroughbred, check out our latest article "Tall in the Saddle."

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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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Joe Kita - One Small Change

We are pretty excited that Joe Kita - who writes the "One Small Change" blog for Core Performance (www.coreperformance.com) - will be focusing on his breath this month and blogging about it.

Joe is a writer, editor, motivational speaker and teacher. Besides being a contributing editor for Men's Health and Women's Health magazines, he is the author of five books. These include: Another Shot, in which he relived his 20 biggest life regrets, and Accidental Courage, in which he faced his 12 greatest fears.

Each month Joe make one small, healthy change in his life and shares the pros and cons with his readers. Previous changes have been drinking 95 oz of water everyday, napping for 20 minutes, giving up caffeine, and stretching for 30 minutes.

Joe interviewed us to get the specifics of our Perfect Breathing program and will be giving it a go for the next 31 days. Should be fun to follow his progress!

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Control Your Fear of Flying with Breathing

Afraid to fly? You're not alone. With summer comes vacation travel, so we offer this info for those of you climbing aboard airplanes (and even for those of you business travelers who hate to fly).

Just before takeoff, people with a mild fear of flying should take a deep breath, immediately exhale forcefully and then hold their breath for six to 10 seconds.

That is the advice of Professional Association of German Psychiatrists (known by its German initials BVDP), which said the technique relaxes muscles and takes the mind off one's fears.

BVDP chairwoman Christa Roth-Sackenheim advised affected persons to refrain from alcohol and caffeinated drinks like coffee, black tea and cola so as not to heighten the body's state of agitation.

Fear of flying can manifest itself in nervousness, an abnormally fast heartbeat, heavy sweating, anxiety and nausea.

People who repeatedly show these symptoms should seek medical help. "People should admit to themselves that they have a fear of flying, especially business people who have to fly a lot," said Roth-Sackenheim, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist.

She added that fear was a serious symptom of a disorder, not a figment of the imagination that one ought to be ashamed of.

"With the help of education and confrontation therapy, affected persons can break the vicious circle before they try to solve their problems with avoidance behaviour and alcohol," Roth-Sackenheim said.

About one in three airline passengers is believed to fear flying. According to a survey by the German Fear-of-Flying Centre, most sufferers are frequent fliers. Many have experienced a critical situation during flight, others are suddenly gripped by fear of a crash.

Knowing and using your breath can help in high-anxiety situations like these. Visit www.perfectbreath.com for more information.

New Breathe Break Videos

We are excited to announce the release of the first three episodes of our new Breathe Break video series. These YouTube videos are designed to give you quick insight and exercises that you can start using immediately. The video series will cover all of the different dimensions of breathwork in short easy to understand installments that you can work through at your own pace, whenever it is convenient. Topics will include the fundmentals, health & healing, sports and creative performance improvement, emotional intelligence, panic and anxiety attacks, as well as spiritual pursuits such as meditation, prayer, and contemplation.

Breathe Break #1 - Developing Breath Awareness, covers the first step in taking advantage of this powerful engine, and that is becoming aware of it! Check it out below:

Breath Break #2 - The Six Second Breath, shows you how to incorporate the first and most powerful breathing technique which is the six second breath. Developing this habit will cause a ripple effect through every other dimension of your life.

Breath Break #3 - Performance Breathing, shows you how the breath can directly impact your mental, physical, and creative performance. Not only can you breath more efficiently, but the focus provided by breath awareness also directly improves your performance.

Take a look: www.youtube.com/perfectbreathing

Stay tuned to this channel. More episodes will be coming soon!

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Kissing Your Way to Better Health

Well it’s a little late for Valentines Day, but this news from our Department of Heavy Breathing is information that you can use all year long!
The latest research in philematology (the science of kissing) is just in and shows smooching to be very effective at reducing stress. Apparently those long lip-locks are not only enjoyable, but they result in a decrease in cortisol, indicating a reduction in stress in the body. Commitment-phobes beware however – it also increases the levels of oxytocin, the chemical that increases the desire to bond. Holding hands creates the same response, but to a much lesser degree.

Funny, I don’t recall my college counselor telling me that it was possible to get a degree in kissing…
The Associated Press has the whole story. Now get out there and reduce some stress!

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The Earth Breathes, Too

Space.com offers up a celestially intriguing article, "Earth's Atmosphere 'Breathes' More Rapidly Than Thought."

What? The Earth breathes? You bet it does.

According to the article, by Andrea Thompson,"Earth's atmosphere was known to 'breathe' in a cycle lasting nearly a month. Now scientists say the planet takes a quick breath every few days.

"The breathing-like activity is the result of high-speed solar wind
disturbances that cause a recurrent expansion and contraction of Earth’s atmosphere every few days, satellite observations show. This atmospheric mode could affect radio communication,orbiting satellites and possibly the Earth’s climate, researchers say."

This actual expansion and contraction occurs far up in the Earth's
thermosphere, the layer of the atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 300 miles (96.5 to 483 kilometers) above the planet's surface. It is constantly interacting with the sun's upper atmosphere as it expands out into the solar system, according to one of the researchers who made the discovery, Jeff Thayer of the University of Colorado in Boulder.This interaction causes an energy exchange that can change the density of the thermosphere (how closely the gas molecules within it are packed together). As its density changes, the thermosphere expands and contracts.

We're not sure of the actual implications of a breathing Earth, but we like the thought of it a lot.

For more on breath and breathing, visit www.perfectbreath.com

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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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Losing Sleep? Just Breathe!

You can't throw a rock these days without hitting a news article or blog post about how much stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness is resulting from all of the changes that are crashing down on our lives resulting in more lost time from work, more visits to the doctor, etc, etc.

As we have mentioned many times in previous posts, one of the most powerful and effective stress remedies is your conscious intentional breath. In a nutshell, your breath counteracts nearly every negative effect that stress and anxiety have on your mind, body, and emotions.

One of the most effective exercises that we teach is called "The Healing Breath", and although we normally recommend it for those situations where you feel a cold or the flu coming on, it is a very powerful antidote to insomnia. Not only does it quiet your mind and body,but the breath-focus also takes your mind off all the pressing worries that are stressing you out and keeping you awake. We've found that often times you'll be back in slumberland before you can complete the exercise.

There are also several other great breath-based sleep remedies in a recent blog from Kate Dailey at Newsweek. She relays an interview with sleep expert Michael Krugman who has several excellent suggestions for getting the zzz's flowing again.

Sweet dreams!

Excess Belly Fat Inhibits Breathing

If you were waiting around for just one more reason to lose those extra pounds, the wait (weight?) is over! We already know that if you are a woman with a waist size greater than 35 inches, or if you are man with a waist greater than 40 inches, you have a higher probability of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and a host of other health issues that are collectively known as metabolic syndrome. But now French researchers have shown that abdominal obesity is strongly linked to decreased lung function as well.

Why an over-abundant belly impairs breathing is not fully understood, but researcher speculate that the additional fat increases inflammation in the body while decreasing the body's ability to deal with it. It may also change the way the diaphragm and chest function. Everyone agrees that the relationship needs to be better understood.

The good news is that that battle of the bulge can be won through exercise and proper diet - and now is the perfect time to start shaping up for summer and the rest of your life!

To get the full story, you can read Sara Dun's post in the Phoenix Health News Examiner.

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Breathing and Weight Loss

Here is something new. Through the miracle of modern technology, it is now possible to very accurately determine how many calories you can burn every day based on your breath. The breath is the fuel that your body burns to create energy. By precisely measuring your breath, you can calculate how much food you can safely eat and still lose or maintain your weight. Read the full story here.

health science