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A Celebration (sort of)
Today marks 24 years with type-1 diabetes. Not exactly the present I wanted from Santa. But it was exactly what I needed to become the person I was meant to become.
My parents were obviously devastated. But, this did have an upside—they gave me some early presents 😂 😂 😂
Me in the hospital at age 11.
P.S. HOmm HOmm HOmm
Alright, on to this week’s 411…
4 Thoughts
1. Why Mind-Body Therapies (like breathing) Seem Like a Panacea: Part 3
“A certain mind body treatment may help hypertension, depression, or insomnia. At the same time, this treatment will counter the overall physical and mental manifestations of stress through the calming of brain activity and altering hormones and gene expression. The mind body treatment performs particular, reductionistic functions on specific health complaints and at the same time tends to the health of the entire biological system.” (my bold)
- Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution
That’s incredibly powerful. It means we can use breathing for our individual needs (diabetes, for me) while strengthening all other aspects of our health at the same time. Quite panacea-ish, indeed 😊
P.S. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.
2. An Inverse Thought Experiment
Think of a time you got really mad or frustrated for a very brief period. Did it actually end when it ended? Or were you upset for another hour? Maybe the rest of the day?
OK, this is exactly how slow breathing works, just opposite. It’s a brief period of calm that lingers just like a brief period of anger does.
The difference: It’s easy to see how anger ruins our day, but sometimes harder to notice how a breathing practice brightens it.
3. Three Healing Breaths You Can Start Using Today
If you’d like to get all of the most powerful practices, guidelines, and science from one of the best breathing books, The Healing Power of the Breath, check out the Book 411 I just released on it.
It has everything you need to use their approach for better health.
Join the Learning Center for the full review. In the meantime, here are 3 core healing breaths from the book you can start using today:
1. Coherent Breathing® is taught as breathing at a rate of 5 breaths a minute with a 6-second inhale, and a 6-second exhale. “Coherent Breathing … calms the mind, slows the heart, lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and strengthens stress resilience.”
2. Resistance Breathing is any technique that adds resistance to our breath. They have two practices for this, ujjayi (or ocean breath) and pursed-lips breathing: “Whether you choose to make a sound in the back of your throat like the ocean or to use pursed lips to create resistance to the flow of air, your practice of Resistance Breathing can amplify the benefits of Coherent Breathing.”
3. Breath Moving: “Breath Moving entails moving the breath in circuits to different parts of the body, moving upward on the inhale and downward on the exhale. … [It]…can be used to elevate energy as well as to relieve pain.”
(All above quotes come from the authors, Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD.)
4. Study
Rather than study every aspect of life, we can study the breath, which can be applied in every aspect of life.
1 Quote
“Breathing involves a continual oscillation between exhaling and inhaling, offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next.”
1 Answer
Category: Oxygen Transport
Answer: Hemoglobin molecules have this many binding sites for oxygen molecules.
…
(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
…
Question: What is four?
For Therapists: Anicca Wellness
“What if you can stay in sync with your breath, wherever you are, no matter what you are doing?”
- Edo Ceder, Anicca Wellness Co-Founder
If you’re a therapist, check out this opportunity to incorporate breathing into your practice using Anicca Wellness. One of the co-founders, Edo, is a 411 subscriber, friend, and just a genuinely good person.
I hope you’ll check it out.
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”
P.S. I used to think adulthood was…
P.P.S. A Secret Breathing Santa
* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.
Sign Up For The Breathing 411
Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.