Creating More Wellness thru the Practice of Conscious Breathing.

Theoretical approaches to health and well-being are fine, but real results can only come thru a practical and pragmatic approach. And Conscious Breathing is just such an approach. Our overall health—physically, emotionally and psychologically—is directly linked to breathing. Our ability to prevent and control stress, and therefore to improve the quality of our lives is directly linked to breathing.

To calm a restless mind and to relax an agitated body, breathe in a deep, slow, soft way. By breathing in this way, you naturally quiet the mind and relax the body. When you breathe deeply, calmly, softly, and consciously, you also begin to control two key hormones involved in the stress response: adrenaline and cortisol.

Conscious Breathing is not complicated or difficult. Try it right now. Play with this simple breathing pattern: a 2 to 1 ratio. That means let the exhale be twice as long as the inhale.

If you breathe in for a count of 1, then breathe out for a count of 2.

If you breathe in for a count of 2, then breathe out for a count of 4.

If you breathe in for a count of 3, then breathe out for a count of 6.

Once you get into a gentle easy breathing rhythm, imagine viewing yourself from above or outside of your body. See yourself breathing fully and freely, and feeling rested, peaceful, clear, calm and energized. When we visualize internal harmony and balance, we enhance our intuitive spiritual abilities, and we also calm our logical analytical mind.

By turning to your breath in this way, you can shift from negative thoughts or uncomfortable feelings, and you can regain your comfort and composure in times of stress. Thru the practice of Conscious Breathing, we actually produce physical, anatomical, and structural changes in the in the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent benefits.

By developing the ability to combine relaxation and breathing, by deliberately focusing on calmness and pleasure, we anchor a very resourceful state in our body-mind system. With regular practice, the breathing begins to automatically restore us to a state of peace and balance when we become agitated or stressed.

With just a little practice, you can renew and restore yourself at will. Some people require days or weeks to rejuvenate themselves. But with conscious breathing, you can renew and refresh yourself in just a few minutes. Think of it as learning “the art of minute vacations.”

If you desire optimum health, it’s not enough to just treat symptoms when they occur. You need to switch from being reactive to proactive. In addition to Breathwork, one way of being proactive is this:

Just before you fall off to sleep, take a few minutes to bring to mind at least three positive experiences you had: moments or events during the day that gave you a feeling of happiness. This will not only help you sleep like a baby, it will also set up a subconscious pattern, a habit, a tendency to feel good all the time!

Breathe out for a count of 4…
Breathe in for a count of 2…
Breathe out for a count of 4…
Breathe in for a count of 2…

As you are breathing, deliberately relax the muscles of your body and focus on images and feelings of pleasure…

Don’t underestimate the power of this simple practice. If you do it for a few minutes from time to time throughout the day, you will experience the undeniable benefits for yourself!

There are many different breathing exercises, meditations and techniques that you can use to create more wellness in body, mind, and spirit.

If you’d like to learn more, then I invite you to enroll in the Online Course in Breathwork: 21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Conscious Breathing.

Good luck in your practice!

Love and Blessings

Dan

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For more information about Breathwork, please go to www.breathmastery.com.

Download your free copy of my book, "Shut Up And Breathe!" http://www.breathmastery.com/shutupandbreathe

PS: If you are ready to get onto the Path of Breath Mastery right now, you can enroll in the 60-Day Online Course: "21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Breathwork." Visit: http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse

Or, join my Breath Mastery Inner Circle, and freely access almost 40 years of breath and breathing research, articles, essays, audio/video files, seminar transcripts, workshop handouts, and even complete training manuals!

Visit: http://www.breathmastery.com/breathmastery-inner-circle-membership

The Amazing Benefits of Connected Breathing

Once upon a time, only the most advanced yogis or Taoist masters practiced and taught this breathing technique. Today tens of thousands of people ‘in the know’ have mastered it, and are utilizing it with great zeal and success—including world-class athletes, elite warriors, top martial artists, and peak performers in almost every field.

Connected Breathing was once an occult practice, cloaked in rituals and taught in mystery schools, passed on only to the most deserving students or worthy acolytes. But now the secret is out! Cab drivers, housewives, and corporate executives are learning it from cognitive therapists and behavioral scientists. Spiritual teachers and healing artists are using it and celebrating the benefits!

Connected Breathing is also called “circular breathing” “continuous breathing” and “energy breathing”

It was called “rebirthing” when I learned it in the mid 70’s. I wrote about my first rebirthing session in an earlier blog. Needless to say, it was mind blowing and life changing! I called it “Spiritual Breathing” and decided right then and there to devote my life to sharing it with the world.

Most people back then called it “new age nonsense.” The average person felt that it was “too good to be true.” This was understandable, because the benefits of the practice were often so incredible, so astonishing, and so immediate. Mainstream medical scientists simply wrote off the many reports and testimonials as hyperbole or wishful thinking.

Despite the cynics, skeptics, and naysayers, I have traveled to over 40 countries in the past 37 years, and I have initiated more than 80,000 people into this amazing practice. And I am only one among an army of enthusiastic proponents! In fact several million people have now been introduced to this transformational breathing technique.

Connected Breathing is used to increase energy and to eliminate stress, anxiety, and depression. It is used to bring deep relaxation and to heal post traumatic stress. It is used to prevent and recover from illness and injury.

It is used to release suppressed emotions, to awaken creative energies, and to build up the immune system. Cancer patients use it to alleviate pain, fatigue, and nausea. It is used in tantric practices and during child birth.

Connected breathing is both a doing and a non-doing at the same time. Wrap your Zen mind around that! I love it because it brings together the two fundamental aspects of Breathwork: “Breath Awareness” and “Conscious Breathing.”

This way of breathing establishes a smooth continuous flow of energy and awareness in the body. It is an easy and natural breathing pattern. It is a gentle yet dynamic form of meditation.The Buddha did it. Most animals do it. And if you observe house cats, you will see that they too are masters of it!

And so what exactly is Connected Breathing? 

Simply speaking, the breaths are literally connected. That means there are no pauses or gaps between the inhales and the exhales. The in-breaths merge with the out-breaths, and the out-breaths merge with the in-breaths. Breathing is continuous; it turns like a wheel, smoothly, in an uninterrupted way.

Try it now:

Simply relax your body and give the breathing your undivided attention. Get the breath moving in and out gently, and keep it smoothly turning like a wheel.

Connect your inhale to your exhale, and your exhale to your inhale, without any pauses or gaps between the breaths. No hesitating or holding the breath for a moment between the inhale and the exhale. And no waiting or resting between the exhale and the inhale.

The inhale is slightly active; the exhale is totally relaxed. Pull the breath in slowly and consciously; and let the exhale go quickly and completely. Ride the curve of the breath as it turns from inhale to exhale and from exhale to inhale.

Practice this way of breathing every day according to this formula: 10+10+(10×2).

That means doing it for ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes in the evening, and ten times during the day for two minutes each time.

If you practice it in this way, I guarantee that you will be amazed by the results! If you think that I am exaggerating, then try it for 21 days and experience the extraordinary benefits for yourself. And please be sure to write to me about your personal experience.

Various thoughts, feelings, sensations, and emotions will no doubt arise in the process. If you don’t allow these things to distract you, if you don’t make them important, if you don’t react to them, and instead stay focused on relaxing and doing the connected breathing, you will observe that all those things naturally pass or fall away on their own.

With practice, you’ll learn to make subtle intuitive adjustments to the breathing rhythm. And in so doing, you will develop the ability to overcome or transcend any negative or limiting physiological, emotional or psychological state. When you master it, you will realize that if nothing can disturb your breathing, then nothing can disturb you!

I believe that Connected Breathing is one of the oldest and purest forms of Kriya Yoga.
 
It has been rediscovered and restored in our time. You can be renewed and refreshed by it right now—not through strict effort or a long egoic struggle—but through a natural attraction and open attention to that which is always already present and continuously alive in you:

Try it. You’ll like it!

Good luck in your practice.

Dan

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For more information about Breathwork, please go to www.breathmastery.com.

Download your free copy of my book, "Shut Up And Breathe!" http://www.breathmastery.com/shutupandbreathe

PS: If you are ready to get onto the Path of Breath Mastery right now, you can enroll in the 60-Day Online Course: "21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Breathwork." Visit: http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse

Or, join my Breath Mastery Inner Circle, and freely access almost 40 years of breath and breathing research, articles, essays, audio/video files, seminar transcripts, workshop handouts, and even complete training manuals! 

Visit: http://www.breathmastery.com/breathmastery-inner-circle-membership

Doctor Prescribes A Breathing Prescription For Common Ailments and Serious Medical Conditions!

Recently I had the pleasure of spending a day with Richard Brown, MD. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, and practices a body-mind-breath approach to health and healing. How can you not love him!

Dr. Brown and his wife Dr. Patricia Gerbarg (also a psychiatrist) have co-authored a book called “The Healing Power of the Breath.” They have been taking breathwork to veterans and military families, to disaster victims, doing wonderful in the areas of PTSD and TBI.

I found Richard to be a very bright, clear, and conservative teacher. His introduction to conscious breathing and breathwork was easy, basic, gentle, and not scary at all!

I love that in addition to preaching the benefits of conscious breathing, yoga, chi kung, martial arts, and meditation, he also practices these things in his own life for his own personal well-being.

He teaches a very simple, safe, breathing method that triggers the body’s natural healing mechanisms and re-sets the nervous system. He combines breathing with movement, breathing with sound, breathing with visualization/imagery.

He teaches people to use breathwork to deal with stress, to manage emotions,to lower blood pressure, to “treat” fear, pain, anxiety, depression, and much more.

His uses as a core breathing exercise called the “Coherent Breath,” which is basically a slow gentle breathing rhythm at a steady rate of about 5 breaths per minute.

He teaches the 4-4-6-2 exercise: inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 6, hold 2. He also teaches the “Ujjayi Breath,” and the “Ha Breath” together with simple tai chi movements.

He incorporates the “Open Focus” method and a simple Chi Kung series called the “4 Golden Wheels.”
He teaches a simple integrated practice, involving:

1. Movement
2. Breathing
3. Meditation

The movement is to awaken and raise energy, breathing to circulate and distribute energy, and meditation to gather and store energy.

He uses an analogy/metaphor of washing clothes. Movement is the prewash, breathing is wash and rinse, meditation: dry and fold. I love it!

I love that he uses a body, mind, spirit—holistic—approach. And he sites many medical/scientific studies that support the healing effects of breathwork.

He talks a lot about energy—Prana, Chi, Ki—about awakening it, circulating it, and storing it. And he encourages people to “move” energy through their hands, and to move it up and down in the body between the base of the spine and the top of the head.

I love that he advocates 20 minutes of breathing practice every day, and that he continuously reiterates the importance of a daily practice.

He encourages people to accept and allow, and to relax into whatever feelings, sensations, thoughts, images, or emotions that come up. That is so important in Breathwork! And he wisely considers these symptoms to be natural signs of healing and stress release.

I am so happy to see more and more mainstream medical doctors moving toward integrative medicine, using alternative remedies, and prescribing things like breathwork.

The world has come a long way since the early 1970’s, when most medical doctors denounced and disparaged those of us who chose breathwork and other holistic modalities over the mainstream drug and surgery approach!

I celebrate you Dr. Brown! And I thank you for the work that you do!

Dr. Brown’s website is www.haveahealthymind.com

He endorses www.robertpeng.com, www.openfocus.com, www.STWS.org

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For more information about Breathwork, please go to www.breathmastery.com.

Download your free copy of my book, "Shut Up And Breathe!" http://www.breathmastery.com/shutupandbreathe

PS: If you are ready to get onto the Path of Breath Mastery right now, you can enroll in the 60-Day Online Course: "21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Breathwork." Visit: http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse

Or, join my Breath Mastery Inner Circle, and freely access almost 40 years of breath and breathing research, articles, essays, audio/video files, seminar transcripts, workshop handouts, and even complete training manuals! 

Visit:http://www.breathmastery.com/breathmastery-inner-circle-membership

In Praise Of The Diaphragm And Why It’s Called A Spiritual Muscle

At the Breathing Seminars in Russia this month, we have been focusing on relaxing and releasing the biggest muscle in your body: the diaphragm.

Fairuz Bikayev, a Bashkir businessman who deals in precious and semiprecious stones and gems, is also a seasoned martial arts practitioner. On the 3rd day of a recent 5-Day Breathwork Intensive, he shared this:

“I finally got what it means to completely release and relax my diaphragm. And something remarkable has happened: the chronic back pain I have been dealing with for more than ten years just disappeared. It melted away. I amamazed!” 

He said: “In my spiritual practice, I have been struggling lately with what felt like a deep split or a conflict in myself. During the breathing session today, I had a powerful insight and I was able to mend that split and end the conflict.”

He also said: “As I was meditating on my diaphragm, feeling into it, I relaxed beyond a point I was never able to go, and I was suddenly filled with a peace I have never known. This peace is now affecting everything I do, and I know in my heart that it will never go away.”

No wonder the diaphragm has been called a spiritual muscle!

“Diaphragm” comes from the Greek word meaning ‘partition’. “Dia” means ‘through, apart’, and “phragma” means ‘a fence’. And here’s an interesting point: the Greek word “phren” refers both to the diaphragm and to the mind or brain.

The diaphragm is a very unique muscle. It separates—or one might better say—it connects the chest and the belly. It forms the floor of the thorax and the roof of the abdomen.

When the diaphragm contracts we automatically breathe in, and when it relaxes we automatically breathe out. A healthy relaxed diaphragm takes a dome shape, like an open parachute or umbrella; and as it contracts, it flattens downward.

The movement of the diaphragm naturally massages all the abdominal organs that lay beneath it, and it also massages the heart that sits on top of it. That’s why the greater the excursion rate (up and down movement) of our diaphragm, the healthier we are.

The diaphragm is hard-wired to the respiratory center in the medulla and pons in the brain stem—which is the most ancient and primal part of our brain. It is also wired to the limbic system—the source of our emotions; and it is wired to the motor and pre-motor cortex—areas responsible for conscious control of our movements.

In a way, the diaphragm is where emotions meet rational thinking, where body meets mind. It’s where conscious and unconscious processes meet. Not only is the diaphragm connected to the left and right hemispheres of the brain: it is also where the oldest part of our nervous system interacts with the newest part in a creative and practical way.

No wonder the diaphragm has been called a spiritual muscle!

Like all skeletal muscles, the diaphragm is attached to bones, although it does not directly move any joints. But unlike other skeletal muscles, it never stops working. And in addition to being the primary breathing muscle, it also helps us maintain posture and balance.

The diaphragm is structurally attached to the body in a number of ways. It is tied to the 12th thoracic vertebrae, to the upper lumbar vertebrae, and also to the six lower ribs.

One way of looking at what might be called optimal structural alignment in terms of the diaphragm and rib cage, is the analogy of a “ball and socket” joint. When relaxed after an exhale, the diaphragm should fit nicely up into the rib cage, like a ball fitting perfectly into a socket.

When the diaphragm contracts, the muscles between the ribs (intercostal muscles) also contract, lifting and separating the ribs. This decreases pressure and increases the space inside the chest cavity, which causes air to rush in.

When the diaphragm relaxes, it returns to its dome shape, the intercostal muscles relax, and the chest cavity shrinks. This increases pressure, which causes air to rush back out again.

And so breathing is actually a divine play of air and energy, of internal and external spaces and pressures.

To bring ourselves into conscious harmony with this divine play of space and energy, we often practice this Spiritual Breathing Exercise: We meditate on “opening and expanding” ourselves. We create a sense of spaciousness in the body, allowing the breath to ‘pour’ into us, rather than the familiar experience of ‘pulling’ the breath in.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: Do you know the “side stich” that runners often get—that sharp pain just under the ribs? This happens when the diaphragm doesn’t sit high enough in the rib cage. As a result, it rubs up and down against the lower ribs as we breathe. This common problem can be permanently eliminated with just a few hours of focused breathwork training.

Our relationship to the diaphragm is more than just physical. The diaphragm contracts in response to threats—real or imagined. It responds to pain—actual or anticipated. It expresses and reflects our stress responses. Contraction of the diaphragm is part of the body’s emergency response system: fight, flight, or freeze.

When a feeling comes, the diaphragm responds. When we relax into the feeling—when we surrender to it—the diaphragm releases, and we experience a felt sense of deep peace.

When the diaphragm swings freely, the ego relaxes and expands. When it does, our sense of separation dissolves a bit and we feel a natural loving connection with everyone and everything around us. We feel a unique sense of peace and “oneness,” of coming home to ourselves, and to God or universal love.

On the other hand, stressful, anxious, angry or fearful states and reactions create tension in the diaphragm that we may not feel; and that tension remains in place during the exhale. Just when the diaphragm is supposed to physiologically relax and rest, giving us a sense of peace and ease, we get a stress signal instead.

This sets up an internal feedback loop: Tension in the diaphragm acts as an emergency signal, causing a vague sense of systemic anxiety and stress. That anxiety and stress creates tension in the diaphragm. That tension feeds the anxiety, and on and on it goes, until…

Focused awareness and breath release techniques interrupt and break that vicious cycle, producing a unique sense of peaceful energy that can be very surprising—even to people who feel that they are already relaxed and calm.

Remember, no matter how relaxed you are you can always relax more. And when you do, a certain peace that passes understanding will come to you! We are renewed and recharged in those precious moments of total relaxation.

There is so much more to breathing and to the diaphragm and its workings than we realize. I hope you will begin to meditate on this spiritual muscle, and that you will practice more breath awareness and more conscious breathing.

I especially hope that you will learn to release and relax your diaphragm, as my friend Fairuz the gem dealing martial artist from Ufa has done!

I invite you to attend a breathwork seminar, workshop, or training, or to schedule a private individual session. Check my schedule and meet me on the path! Or come to Mexico between November and March for one of our 21-Day Breathwork, Healing Arts, and Life Skills programs.

Visit: www.bajabiosana.org to learn more about our Los Cabos paradise and the community there.

I also invite you to enroll in my Online Course: 21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Breathwork.

All the information is here: http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse

This month, you can take advantage of my subscriber’s discount and save $300. Enroll right now for only $150! (Regular tuition is $450)

Here is a Breathing Technique that will bring you a myriad of benefits: 

1. Blow all your air out, exhale completely.

2. Hold your breath.

3. Move your diaphragm up and down ten or twenty times.

4. Relax and let the breath come and go by itself.

5. Meditate on the feelings and sensations of energy on your body.

Here is another exercise that you can practice right now:

Simply slow your breathing down. Let your exhale be more full and complete. Don’t rush into the next inhale before giving your diaphragm a chance to rest and re-set itself before continuing on its never ending life giving service to your health and wellbeing!

You can also get a lot of information from my new book:

Shut Up And Breathe! Exploring the Art And Science of Breathwork.
You can download it here FREE: www.breathmastery.com/ShutUpAndBreathe

Good luck in your practice, and many blessings on your way!

Dan

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For more information about Breathwork, please go to www.breathmastery.com.

Download your free copy of my book, "Shut Up And Breathe!" http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse
Or, join my Breath Mastery Inner Circle, and freely access almost 40 years of breath and breathing research, articles, essays, audio/video files, seminar transcripts, workshop handouts, and even complete training manuals! 

Visit: http://www.breathmastery.com/breathmastery-inner-circle-membership

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The Three Basic skills in Breathwork

People often ask me: “What is the single best exercise to practice—what is the most important technique we need to master?”

Actually, there are three basic skills I think every Breathworker needs to learn—three things I teach to just about everyone who comes to me for Breathwork training.

The first skill is Breath Awareness: I teach people to become more conscious of their breathing. You can call this mindfulness training—meditation. Simply observe the breath. Sense it, feel it, watch it, listen to it. Tune into the details of your breathing.

What feelings and sensations occur when you breathe? What moves when you breathe? Is your breathing quick and shallow or slow and deep? What muscles do you use? Are the inhales longer than the exhales, or vice-versa? Are there pauses in the breath?

The idea is to just sit and turn your attention to the breath. Look for details in the breathing. Then you can take the practice into your everyday life. Observe how you breathe in different situations and circumstances.

How do you breathe when you are upset or in pain? How do you breathe when you are peaceful and calm? How do you breathe when someone insults you, or praises you? How do you breathe when you are listening to music?

How do you breathe when driving your car—or stuck in traffic? How do you breathe when you are confused, drowsy, excited, etc.? How do you breathe when you are trying to solve a math problem, or when you are having sex?

Begin to notice how your breathing pattern changes according to your psychological, emotional or physiological states. Begin to notice when it is affected by different thoughts and feelings and activities, by the food you eat, and by other people’s energy.

This is Breath Awareness. It’s the first basic skill: becoming more aware of your breathing. Notice it, listen to it, watch it, sense it. Don’t breathe in any certain way. Let it come and go by itself. Develop the habit of witnessing. Meditate on your breathing. The more breath awareness you have, the more benefit you will get from Breathwork.

The second skill is “Engaging the Exhale.” This means we practice using the exhale to relax—to trigger relaxation. We practice releasing the breath. It’s the skill of letting go. Master the art of letting go of the exhale go. Learn to set the breath free, to reflexively release it.

This second skill looks and sounds and feels like an exaggerated sigh of relief. The idea is to not control the exhale, but instead to let it go quickly and completely. When you let go of the exhale, let go of your muscles: the jaw, neck, shoulders, etc.

If you can’t let go of your exhale—fully and freely, quickly and completely—then don’t be surprised if you can’t let go of pain. Don’t be surprised if you can’t let go of fear or anxiety. Don’t be surprised if you can’t let go of thoughts that are going around in your head, keeping you stuck or obsessing.

However, when you master the skill of letting go of the exhale, you will surprise yourself at how easily you can let go of many other things on many other levels.

It help’s to take a full, deep, expansive inhale in order to trigger a powerful reflexive release on the exhale. And that leads us to The third skill.

The third skill is Conscious Breathing, or Breath Control. Here, we explore and experiment; we play with the breath. We gently test the range and the limits of our breathing. We practice giving the breath a certain pattern, a certain quality; or we breathe with a certain intention.

We practice breathing slowly as well as quickly. We practice breathing thru the nose as well as thru the mouth. We practice breathing high in the chest as well as low in the belly. We discover what feels easy, natural, or automatic; and what feels difficult, requires focus, or takes effort.

We can add visualization, or we can combine breathing and movement. We can also begin to practice some advanced techniques, like “connected breathing.” This means taking away the pauses between the breaths; it means circulating the breath—getting it to turn like a wheel. This is a very powerful breathing technique that I believe everyone needs to learn.

So, those are the three basic skills: breath awareness, relaxation, and breath control. They are the three pillars of breathwork. You master them and then you build on them.

So, what is the most important technique? What is the best thing to practice?

1. Practice observing your breath. Do some “breath watching.” Tune into the details of your breathing.

2. Practice engaging the exhale—releasing the breathing mechanism. Get good at letting go, at relaxation.

3. Practice conscious breathing. Explore, experiment. Breathe deliberately, in a way that is interesting, challenging, or simply feels good.

For more info: http://www.breathmastery.com/

Sneezing Snoring Hiccups And Some Fun Facts About Breathing

Newborns babies breathe between 30 and 60 times per minute. The average adult breathes about 15 times per minute, or about 900 times per hour. That’s over 20 thousand breaths a day.

It’s a good idea to
practice breathing at half that rate, because 6 to 8 breaths per minute has proven to be a “therapeutic” zone. And many conditions like stress and high blood pressure, PTSD, ADD, chronic fatigue, asthma, anxiety, nervous disorders, and behavioral problems can be improved or even eliminated with Breath Control.

When we breathe, oxygen in the air is taken into the lungs and carried in the blood to every single cell of our body. Oxygen is used to burn glucose: and this is called cellular respiration. The blood returns waste products like carbon dioxide to your lungs to be breathed out of the system.

By the way, the body creates and kills an astounding 15 million blood cells every single second! Read that again! I love this stuff!

During a hard run, your respiratory rate can climb to 80 breaths per minute.

A normal adult at rest takes in about ½ liter of air per breath. With a deep breath we can take in 10 times that much.

We breathe about
11,000 liters of air per day. We also breathe out ½ liter of water each day. In all, the lungs process about 4 million liters of air per year.

And you will inhale about 45 pounds of dust if you live to the age of 80.

The lungs are amazing. They can survive outside the body longer than any other organ. And it’s the only organ that can float!

The word “lung” comes from the 13th century European language, which means “light,” as in not heavy for its size.

There are 300

to 400 millions alveoli in the lungs. (Those are microscopic air sacs that look like tiny clusters of grapes out at the tip of the smallest branches of the bronchial tree.)

The total surface area of the lungs is almost 100 square meters, or about the size of a tennis court! Fully developed adult lungs contain about 1500 miles of airways!

The chemistry of breathing is fascinating. For example, the primary stimulus for breathing is carbonic acid (H2CO3): this is what you get when
you mix carbon dioxide with water. It’s the fizz in champagne and soda. It’s also found in rain.

Carbonic Acid plays a vital role in keeping your pH in balance. The bicarbonate ion released from acid serves as a buffer—this means it can act as an acid or a base, depending on what is needed in the moment. Amazing, isn’t it?

You turn over in your sleep every half hour or so, mostly to balance the breath thru each nostril. And, in case you are interested, the nose produces about 2
eggcups or shot glasses of mucus every day!

Did you know that a row of buttons was first sewn onto sleeves to keep soldiers from using them to wipe their noses! Some people say Napoleon came up with the idea; others credit George Washington.

Sneezing

The medical term for sneezing is “sternutation.” It is sort of a re-booting of the nose. It’s an automatic expulsion of air through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. Sneezing helps keep your body safe.

The sneeze center is in your lower brain stem. It’s a complicated and coordinated event, involving muscles in your back, neck, abdomen, diaphragm, throat, vocal cords, face, and chest—with some muscles contracting and others relaxing. Even your eyelid muscles are involved. We close our eyes when we sneeze.

The ancient Greeks thought that sneezing was a sign from the gods. And this theme cuts across many cultures.

In some people, sneezing can be triggered by sudden exposure to bright light. These people are called photic.

Plucking your eyebrows can trigger a facial nerve, resulting in a sneeze!

It is believed that sneezed air travels up to 100 miles per hour, and the spray can travel more than five feet!

Most people sneeze once or twice or three times in a row. The longest sneezing spell is said to be 978 days: a record set by a woman named Donna Griffiths.

New research suggests that

if we pinch our nose shut while sneezing, the backpressure triggers a surge in the production of nitric oxide (NO) in the sinuses. Nitric oxide is a natural vasodilator and a powerful antibacterial.

And here’s an interesting fact: We never sneeze in our sleep. It cannot occur when we are sleeping.

Snoring

Forty-five percent of normal adults snore occasionally, and 25 percent snore habitually. Twice as many men snore as women. And the louder you snore, the higher the odds are that you are overweight.

The loudest snore (recorded in the Guinness Book of Records) was 92 decibels, by Melvin Switzer. That’s about the same as a pneumatic drill or a food blender.

Snoring can occur when we are in a very relaxed sleeping state, or when there is poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue. Alcohol, certain drugs and too much fat tissue can cause it.

When muscles are too relaxed, the tongue falls backwards into the airway and/or the throat muscles draw in from the sides, narrowing the passages. When air tries to pass through these obstacles, the snoring sound results.

The UK patent office lists over 2000 devices to prevent or treat snoring! Yet in many cases, simply turning onto your side may be all that is needed. By the way, learning to play the didgeridoo strengthens the throat muscles and can cure snoring!

Sometimes snoring can be a sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea or some other serious medical condition. So, heavy snorers may want to seek medical advice.

Hiccups

Food and breath can enter the body thru the same channel—up to a point. Then the passage separates into the esophagus, which leads to the stomach, and the bronchial passage, which leads to the lungs.

Standing guard at that fork in the road is a very important little flap of skin called the epiglottis. When we swallow, the epiglottis closes off the windpipe to prevent food and liquids from getting down into the lungs.

Sometimes, if we eat or drink too quickly, the epiglottis can’t do its job and we say something “goes down the wrong pipe.”It has probably happened to all of us at some point.

If a serious chunk of food goes down the wrong pipe, the airway can become completely blocked. This is a life-threatening event and the “Heimlich Maneuver” may be required. (If you have not learned this procedure, you should! And you should also learn CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation), because, well, you just never know…

Anyway… From time to time the diaphragm contracts due to spasm. When this happens, an inhale is inadvertently triggered. Normally when we inhale, the epiglottis gets the message that breathing is happening and it remains open to allow air into the lungs. However, when a spasm of the diaphragm occurs, the epiglottis isn’t notified that a breath is happening, and it slams shut.

That’s what a hiccup is: spasm of the diaphragm followed by the sudden closing of the glottis.

Did I tell you I love this stuff?

Sometimes hiccups can go on for quite a while. The average is five minutes—regardless of what “cure” you employ to stop them.

When I was young, I hated the hiccups! I found them to be very painful, so I learned to prevent them by keeping my epiglottis open. As a result, I experience a rush of air into my lungs with each spasm of the diaphragm instead of the usual hiccup! And the spasms stop after only two or three “rushes.”

We will get back to some “serious” stuff next month! In the meantime, if you come across any interesting information or fun facts about breathing, please send them my way!

And please go to www.breathmastery.com.

Download your free copy of my book, “Shut Up And Breathe!”http://www.breathmastery.com/shutupandbreathe/

Enroll in the Online Course: 21 Lessons in the Art and Science of Breathwork. http://breathmastery.com/onlinecourse

For more info:   http://www.breathmastery.com/sneezing-snoring-hiccups-and-some-fun-facts-about-breathing/