Deep Breathing, The First Step Toward Fitness

Let's face it, getting fit and staying that way isn't easy. Just getting started can be difficult. That's why I decided to begin with "Deep Breathing." It's easy to learn, easy to do, and doesn't cost anything to practice. All you need is clean air and lungs, and you're good to go!

Remember that there are five life-sustaining processes that determine how fit we are:

Breathing (deep or abdominal, using the diaphragm),
Eating (a healthy diet),
Moving (sustained physical activities that increase the heart rate),
Resting (sleep, relaxation and meditation), and
Cleansing (fasting and detoxification).

All of these processes are inter-related. Once you've learned how to deep breathe, and made it part of your daily routine, you will effect positive changes in the other processes, because the breathing process impacts each of the other four directly.

So, of all the changes you may have to make to achieve an extraordinary level of fitness, changing the way you breathe is the easiest, requiring the least effort, and therefore should meet the least psychological resistance from you as you undergo the change. It's also a good place to start because so many of us - even those who make a conscious effort to take good care of ourselves - have unhealthy breathing habits.

We hold our breath when we shouldn't; we breathe high in the chest or in a shallow; uneven way. We breathe in patterns that have been unconsciously adopted or accidentally formed, and that are sometimes the result of an emotional trauma. Some of us have breathing patterns that can actually trigger physiological distress and psychological anxiety when we become stressed.

Most people here in the West just don't think that the way they breathe is important enough to be concerned about it. I can hear them now: "I feel fine" or "I'm in great shape." Then they give a litany of activities that they are engaged in that is supposed to "prove" that being a shallow breather is of no consequence: Run 2 - 3 miles a day; swim 10 laps; take a yoga class at the local "Y" 2 -3 times a week; lift weights 3 times a week; do pilates every day; and on and on... And then they say something like "and I've been doing this so-called 'bad' breathing , since... well forever."

So why should you take the time to learn how to breathe properly - even if it is easy to learn to do? After all, you're a weekend warrior, who runs a 2-minute mile; swim like a fish; does a perfect yoga headstand; bench-presses 200 lbs; and have a wonderfully sleek, toned pilates-look that's all the rage. Or maybe you're a couch potato fatty, who knows that it doesn't take a powerful set of lungs to change a TV channel - that's what the remote is for.

Like a lot of people, you probably feel that you are healthy if you are not suffering from illness or pain. The imbalances that are usually the root cause of many chronic illnesses manifested in middle-age, are the result of not breathing, eating, and moving correctly, or not resting and cleansing adequately over a long period of time. Unfortunately, most people just won't change the y do any of these things, including the way they breathe, unless they are compelled to do so. And while not breathing deeply doesn't appear to do any great harm immediately and directly, it does have its own long-term negative effects on the body. And that is the subject of my next post.

Until then, Peace.
Loriman Rhodell