Every Breath You Take

Sting sang about "every breath youI take."  In my last post, I quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson on clearing the mind of all the "absurdities" of yesterday in order to face the "serenity" of today. You are probably asking your self, "Just how do I go about doing that?"  The answer is really quite simple and it is something we do unconsciosly every day.  The difference is we never think to pay attention to it. The way to clear the mind is to finally pay attention and use it as an opportunity to improve not only our state of mind but also our physical well-being.  What is it?  You  have probably guessed it by now: breathing. Not just any breathing, of course.

Dr. Andrew Weil, the anti-aging guru, has a CD set called Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing, which describes a number of breathing techniques and leads you through them. One of the simplest is to inhale for a count of four, hold the breath for a count of seven and exhale to a count of eight.Doing this three times with your tongue behind your upper front teeth is designed to reduce anxiety. I have tried it and it really does work.

Another widely popular breathing technique is mindfulness or meditation as it used to be called. Basically, it involves sitting in a chair quietly with your eyes closed and monitoring your breathing. You should not try to breath any specific way but you should just concentrate on breathing, paying attention to to exhalation and inhalation. When other thoughts come to mind, just let them float away since they are not real.  It takes a while, but you will get used to it.  Start with a minute or so and work your way up for as long as you can.  The important thing is not to get discouraged.  Keep at it.  You will be surprised how quickly your mind will clear. A good book describing several more techniques is Mark Williams' Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. It is available on Amazon for the Kindle and well worth the price.

If you really get into breathing techniques, you might want to pick up The Art of Breathing by Nancy Zi.  It describes breathing techniques for almost every occasion. Let me know if you like it.

Just remember to breathe easy!