Perfect Breathing

Oregon winters are cold, damp and gray. The sun, if it can be seen at all (which doesn’t happen often mind you), doesn’t even rise above the tree line. There are many places with colder temperatures and much harsher winter weather, but our special combination of elements here makes for a penetrating chill from October to April.

For me, winter weather always went hand-in-glove with frigid fingers and feet. Handshakes were always accompanied with an apology: “Sorry about my freezing hands”, and a shriek from my wife went she made first contact with my feet at night.

I've recently become fascinated with the work of Dr. Candace Pert, a noted neurologist who has done some groundbreaking work in the realm of neurotransmitters in the body. Her basic contention is that our bodies are actually "wired for bliss." She disputes the age-old model that all control rests in the mind, and declares that your entire body is one giant receptor.

We’ve written previously about the connection between the breath and pain management, but after yet more personal experience and new research findings, we though another pain-post was in order.

It is very gratifying to watch science and medical research slowly but surely validate the seemingly outlandish claims that have been made for thousands of years about the powers of the breath and conscious, intentional breathing.

The last few weeks have seen a few more important advances. The first, which we blogged about recently, was further validation of improved immune response through the use of breath-based mindfulness techniques. The latest is further evidence of the connection between stress management and aging.

I couldn't help but watch with sadness as Irish golfer Rory McIlroy imploded on the final day of the U.S. Open. He had played confidently, brilliantly in his three earlier rounds and had a commanding lead. On Sunday, he lost his mojo and drove shot after shot out of bounds and himself out of contention. It got me thinking once again about that elusive place psychologists call The Zone, and how the breath can help all of us athletes and performers come closer to finding it.
 

I believe that the most powerful concept that we addressed in the book “Perfect Breathing: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time” was the concept of awareness. Not that this was our brain-child – I think someone beat us to the punch by five or ten thousand years – but it is hands down the most important tool at our disposal when it comes to making changes, improving our lives, and dealing with stress.

Here at PerfectBreathing.com, we cover a lot of territory when it comes to using the breath to improve your life. In our vast Articles Library, we offer myriad ways to take advantage of the breath's powerful effect on every dimension of your life, especially this time of year. Spring is time for renewal. cleaning out the unwanted, changing bad habits, and planting new seeds for a fruitful year. We can help.
 

We're continually fascinated by the emergence of new devices that are related to breath and breathing. One that just crossed our path was developed in Europe by a company called Anaxsys Technolgoy, and claims to detect a heart attack up to 45 minutes before it occurs in a hospital patient. It's based on on the simple principle of measuring water in a patient's breath.

A while back I heard a funny and yet disturbing term – "Email Apnea". This term was coined by Linda Stone a few years ago after she noticed that she held her breath while opening emails. She also noticed that nearly everyone else that she observed was doing the same thing.