Intelligent Control of Breathing, Humming, and Stopping to Think

1. Intelligent Control of Breathing

“An intelligent control of our breathing power will lengthen our days upon earth by giving us increased vitality and powers of resistance, and, on the other hand, unintelligent and careless breathing will tend to shorten our days, by decreasing our vitality and laying us open to disease.”

– Yogi Ramacharaka, Science of Breath

Just a simple (but always welcomed) reminder of the power of our breath. By using it intelligently—which often means nasal, slower, deeper, and quieter—it can help us lengthen our days and support our vitality and resilience 👏

2. The Power of Humming

“Bhramari pranayama practice is found to be associated with higher levels of attention, quality of sleep, parasympathetic activity and pulmonary functioning and lower levels of stress, anxiety, depression, sympathetic activity and blood pressure across the included studies.”

- Exploring the Health Benefits of Bhramari Pranayama (2024)

This paper provides a well-rounded look at the evidence supporting bhramari as a formal breath practice. As you can see from the quote, the findings showed a wide range of impressive health benefits.

Read the full paper for more, or get my review and practical takeaways when you become a member of the Breath Learning Center.

3. Three Short Thoughts on Mindful Breathing

1. Breathing saves your life 20,000 times a day; mindfulness helps you appreciate this truth.

2. Breathing, with awareness, is gratitude.

3. The shortest definition of mindfulness is breath.

4. I Dare Not Stop…

“Someone once said, ‘I dare not stop to think, because if I did, I wouldn’t know how to get started again.’”

– Anthony de Mello, Awareness

Just a funny quote on how hard it can be to pause sometimes. But let us take it as a reminder that occasionally “stopping to think” may actually help us start back even better.

"The important thing is not to worry about what is going to happen to us but to create inner strength to deal with whatever does happen."

— — Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Category: Lung Connections

Answer: The existence of this two-way communication system between the gut and lungs suggests that breathing-related factors may influence the gut microbiota.

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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What is the gut-lung axis?

In good breath,

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

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