Connection, a Wordless Mantra, and 4 Thoughts on Nose Breathing

1. A Wordless Mantra

A wordless mantra you can always come back to is your breath.

2. We Are All Connected, not Just Figuratively but Literally

“The air I inhale enters my body and becomes part of me.

The air that I exhale moves into someone else and becomes part of her.

Just by looking at how the air moves, we realize we are all connected to one another, not just figuratively but also literally.”

- Haemin Sunim, The Things You Can See Only…

I’ve shared this before, but it’s always worth revisiting timeless wisdom like this 🙏

3. You Can’t Live There: A Mountain Story to Consider

“I was once talking with the teacher Steve Armstrong, who had trained as a monk in Asia. I asked him if he could tell me about nibbana. He looked at me intently and then got a faraway look and said something I’ve thought about many times since: ‘It’s as if you live in a deep valley surrounded by mountains. Then one day you’re standing on top of the highest peak. The perspective is amazing. Still, you can’t live there. And so you come back down to the valley. But what you’ve seen changes you forever.’”

- Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Neurodharma

Of course, not many of us will reach nibbana (I even had to look it up to make sure it was the same as “nirvana” 😂😂).

But, this story is an excellent reminder that we can’t prolong peak experiences forever, whether they’re from meditation, surfing, running, yoga, etc. “You can’t live there…But what you’ve seen changes you forever.”

4. Four Tiny Thoughts on Nasal Breathing

Slow, nasal breathing is like driving a Tesla; fast, mouth breathing is like driving a Hummer.

Most of the time: the nose is part of the respiratory system; the mouth is part of the digestive system.

Nasal breathing doesn’t make you feel better: It makes you feel how you’re supposed to feel.

“There’s the saying that sometimes when we go looking all over the world for answers to our life questions, that the answers were there, right under our nose, the whole time. In the case of breathing, it’s literally true.” - Eddie Stern

"Laughter is the language of the young at heart and the antidote to what ails us. No drugstore prescription is required; laughter is available to anyone at any time."

— — Barbara Johnson

Category: Brain Function

Answer: Slow breathing has consistently been found to improve this functioning of the brain, allows us to better plan, monitor, and execute our goals.

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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What is executive functioning?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

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