A.C.Y.A.

I was talking to a friend about my next blog post. It's the one in which I talk about varies ways to do simple deep breathing exercises. Being very supportive, he has provides lots of helpful feedback - usually over the phone, sometimes by email; but he never writes them in this blog's comment section - where I would prefer it (hint, hint).

Anyway, he says that I should post a disclaimer before giving instructions on how to do anything. "A - C - Y - A!!" he shouted into the phone the last time we talked. "Always cover your ass! God forbid that some one with a serious condition tries something you write about and winds up in a comma or something .... even if there's no liability, you'll feel awful when you hear about it... and believe me you will hear about it, 'cause people just love to talk 'bout that kinda stuff." He's a lawyer "want-a-be" with a flair for the dramatics. Still he makes a good point.

Now while I think the chances of that sort of thing happening are one in a hundred million, I am posting the following disclaimer just in case someone uses some piece of information I provide inappropriately. Please read it before trying anything talked about on in this blog or in any other blog, website, podcast, CD, DVD, video, or book, that I may recommend.

• The contents of this blog reflect the opinion of the author only. The postings are for informational purposes only. Opinions expressed should not be construed as medical advice. The particulars of any person's concerns and circumstances should be discussed with a qualified health care practitioner prior to making any decision which may affect the health and welfare of that individual or anyone under his or her care.

Peace, LR

Ain't it funny...?

It's been nearly three months but I'm finally back! I stopped blogging to concentrate on getting my files out of storage. I've been collecting material covering everything from aerobics to yoga for years, and I plan to use a lot of it in this blog. But getting it all boxed and moved to where I am now turned out to be a major undertaking. The storage unit is about 80 miles away and I only had the use of a friend's small pickup. It took several trips, which took several days. Then the sorting and filing of literally hundreds of documents - I started that all this almost 3 months and I am still at it. I think I have enough material for the next twenty years. I especially wanted to find stuff I have that describe various breathing exercises, but that material didn't show up until last week. So I am ready to pick up where I left off.

But... ain't it funny how the thing you're looking for always is the last thing you find?

See you later.

Peace, LR

List of Benefits

To paraphrase Jordan Rubin in his book, The Maker's Diet: Deep breathing exercises fires up the body's fat-burning capacity; floods your brain with oxygen; caresses your innards; and eliminates a lot more gunk from your system. Not convinced yet? Read on! A daily practice of deep breathing exercises does the following:

• Promotes relaxation: it facilitates muscular relaxation, and the relaxation response, thereby relieving feelings of tension, anxiety and nervousness.

• Lowers blood pressure: If you are hypertensive need I say more?

• Slows down your heart rate: The slower your heart works, the longer it can work!

• Improves immune system: I went for years without so much as a cold when I was doing it daily.

• Hastens convalescence: If you do get sick, like when a friend with a bug sneezes on you, and you catch the bug, your won't be sick for very long; and when you're well again remember to stay away from that friend!

• Increases blood circulation: Sluggish circulating blood even sounds creepy.

• Increases oxygen and blood flow to the brain: That improves memory, alertness, problem-solving, and decision-making skills; after awhile you wake-up feeling smarter.

• Improves complexion: You'll look healthier.

• Increases stamina: You'll have more energy.

• Increases metabolic efficiency: That's the increased fat-burning capacity Jordan Rubin talks about in his book.

• Generates inner energy (ch'i) and cultivates the ability to channel it effectively: I'll write about ch'i - what it is and how it benefits you - soon.

• Focuses the breath for meditation: I'll also discuss meditation in a future post - what it is, how it's done, and why to do it.

• Increases the body's ability to eliminate toxins: The more you can get rid of, the healthier you will look, feel and be.

• Minimizes the effects of aging: Some good things come with age - wisdom, patience, senior discounts, Medicare - but a strong vigorous body isn't usually one of them. Practicing deep breathing daily for a few minutes will help you to stay in good shape longer.
  

I've probably forgotten something, but you get the point. Here's all you really need to remember: Deep breathing is good; shallow breathing is bad; and, not breathing is very bad.

Peace, LR

The Benefits of Deep Breathing Exercises

OK, I've written enough about the negative effects of shallow, upper chest breathing. Let's take a look at the benefits of a daily practice of deep breathing exercises.

Jordan S. Rubin, in his book The Maker's Diet, tells us that "...deep-breathing exercises will increase the fat-burning metabolism of your body and 'boost your brain' with rich doses of oxygen."

He points out that "Deep breathing literally 'massages' and moves the soft internal organs inside your rib cage, allowing your lymph system to rid itself of collected toxins and collect even more," - so it can do its job better.

And he concludes by saying: "Only deep breathing allows you to tap the 'bonus power' of your lower lungs."

Now, if this isn't enough to convince you that starting a practice of deep breathing exercises is a no-brainer, maybe the list of benefits I'm going to post tomorrow will.

Until tomorrow, peace. LR

Sweet Poisons

Drinking soda - even occasionally - is definitely not good for you. For one thing the stuff makes you fat. And it doesn't matter whether it's diet or not. According to a new study a daily soft drink will increase your risk of gaining weight and developing diabetes.

Researchers tracked the health of 6,000 middle-aged Americans over the course of four years, and found that the people who drank a soda a day, whether diet or regular, had an increased risk of getting fat and becoming unhealthy.

"We were struck by the fact that it didn't matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed," said Boston University professor Ramachandran Vasan. Both groups of soda drinkers had the same increased risk of becoming obese - 31 percent - and a 44 percent higher chance of developing risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

One researcher, Ravi Dhingra, told Agence France-Presses: "It may be that soft drinks condition a person's palate" for sweets. The researcher went on to speculate that it could also be that diet soda doesn't cause eating habits and disease; instead, it may be that people who already have a weakness for sweets tend to gravitate toward soft drinks.

Well, whether it's the cause of weight gain or not, the study results are clear: there is a relationship between the consumption of carbonated soft drinks and weight gain in America. But there are a lot of reasons to stop drinking soda, all sodas - the low calorie stuff that they call "diet" as well as that "liquid candy" known as "regular." There's the fact that frequent consumption may also increase your risk of osteoporosis - drinking soda while trying to strengthen your bones is just counter productive; then there's the tooth decay problem (due to the large amounts of sugars, mostly high-fructose corn syrup) and dental erosion (due to the acids).

I could say more, but I feel a tirade coming on. It really pisses me off that companies continue to market these concoctions, these sweet poisons, as "refreshing" and wholesome "thirst-quenchers" which we keep consuming, becoming fat and fatter, and more and more unhealthy in the process - so don't get me started!

Peace, LR

Picky, Picky, Picky

Here's an amusing item from the August 3, '07 issue of The Week magazine:

"The rock star Sting arrived at a top Miami restaurant with his personal chef, who cooked a one-person meal for him in the restaurant's kitchen. Italian eatery Casa Tua is known for the quality of its food as much as its celebrity clientele. Sting 55, a health enthusiast, was only interested in food prepared to his own specifications. 'No one could believe it,' a witness told the London Sun. 'His people booked ahead and said the staff could cook for his friends but not for him.' "


Bon appetit, LR

Actually, It Works

Echinacea. First they say it does, and then they say it doesn't. Now they say it does again. After years of studies that have alternately hyped and doubted the value of it as a cold remedy the debate about the benefits of echinacea is still going.

A new review of hundreds of recent echinacea studies has found that the herb really does help people fight colds. The analysis concluded that taking echinacea can reduce the risk of catching a cold by 58 percent, and can even significantly shorten the duration of the illness.

"Our analysis doesn't say the stuff works without question," Dr. Craig Coleman, author the study, tells The New York Times. "But the preponderance of the evidence suggests it does."

There are some studies that found that the herb isn't effective, but Dr. Coleman says that might be because it works on some of the 200 strains of cold virus but not others, or that the doses taken were too small. The bottom line: "I'll probably consider taking it if I fill a cold coming on," he says.

But if you incorporate the practices recommended in this blog into a daily routine, you probably won't need it.

Peace, LR

30 Years of Practice

I began a daily practice of deep breathing about 30 years ago. Around the same time I started meditating every day. Both became an integral part of my daily routine. Most days that routine included a lot of physical activity: Aikido, Tai Chi Ch'uan or Karate. In addition, my professional life often required long hours at work. The occasional all-nighter at the office to meet a deadline was a part of the job.

When I wasn't in a dojo or a Tai Chi class, I would often be in a gym lifting weights or running laps. Weekends, and maybe one or two nights during the week, was for dating. Dinner and a movie, of course - sometimes clubbing - but more often than not, if the weather was good, we would go camping, hiking, or biking; or maybe join friends tossing a Frisbee or playing touch-football in a park; or play volley-ball (gals vs. guys) in some one's backyard. Back in the day, I danced a lot, did a lot of running around, jumping up and down, falling on the ground - so I would get lots of scrapes and bruises. But I never got sick. I mean it; no illnesses. Not so much as a cold for years. My daily routine, with deep breathing as its foundation, had a lot to do with that.

I guess my diet had a lot to do with it too. It was partly a legacy of my upbringing - we always got plenty of fruits and vegetables to eat when I was a kid. When I grew up, the healthy aspects of my eating habits were reinforced and influenced by the women in my life. I ate what they ate: streamed brown rice, whole grains, and fresh fruit and veggies. The unhealthy aspects were discouraged: basically eat nothing white: No white bread, white flour, sugar or milk. Some of them did try converting me to vegetarianism, but I drew the line at giving up meat. But I learned to limit my meat eating to lean cuts: grilled or baked. I was doing the "South Beach Diet" long before there was one.

Then I moved to another part of the country, changed jobs and was forced to make drastic lifestyle changes. It became difficult to continue my daily routine. Gradually, probably over a year or more, I stopped altogether: first deep breathing practice and then meditation. The workouts and martial arts practice became sporadic, finally petering out altogether. A few years later, perpetually tired, flabby, and generally miserable, I gradually developed another daily routine, consisting of deep breathing, meditation, and a set of conditioning exercises that I could readily fit into my circumstances.

There would be other times, over the years, when I would stop practicing and working out for long periods. Usually it was when a series of life-altering events would throw me for a loop and knock me off track. Separations, births, deaths are inevitable; live long and hard enough and they happen. Thinking back, it is not surprising that the birth or death of a child would make it difficult - no, impossible - to carry on for a while. What is significant is that the the daily practices that I started more than 30 years ago: deep breathing, meditation, and some form of physical conditioning (currently it's yoga); have continued to be so beneficial - so conducive to good health and well being - that I have felt compelled to return to them time after time.

Peace, LR

9,000 calories a day

Here's another one for the Potpourri file. According to an article in The New York Times cyclists in the Tour de France consume as many as 9,000 calories a day. About four times more than the average man needs. And when pedaling uphill in the mountains, a rider's metabolism increases so much that it is similar to that of a bird in flight. Think these guys know how to breathe properly?

Peace, LR

Jogging when Lightning Strikes

Today I'm editing my next "deep breathing" installment. After that I will be fact-checking a piece I plan to post soon about soy food products. So today, and occasionally in the future, I will be sharing with you a potpourri of interesting (hopefully), and sometimes funny, fitness-related stuff found in print magazines or on the Internet. This one was in the July 27th edition of "The Week," a weekly print magazine. Be well & Peace, LR

Health scare of the week

iPods and lightning don't mix

If you find yourself outside during a thunderstorm, beware: Your iPod may turn your head into a lightning rod. A Vancouver jogger was hit by lightning while wearing his iPod, and the electricity was conducted along the path of his earphones. He was badly burned on his face, his eardrums ruptured, and the muscles of his jaw contracted violently, shattering his jawbone into five pieces. The fact that he was wearing an iPod may not have made him any more susceptible to the lightning strike, but it did focus the jolt on his head, doctors at his hospital tell The Washington Post. Cell phones with earpieces could case the same kind of damage. If you "get caught in a thunderstorm," said radiologist Eric Hefferman, "make sure your iPod is not in contact with your skin, and remove the earphones from your ear."

Consequences of Shallow Breathing

You'll appreciate why deep breathing is so important for good health and well-being when you understand the long-term consequences of shallow, upper-chest breathing. So lets look at that now.

Breathing oxygenates every cell of your body, from your brain to your vital organs. Without sufficient oxygen, your body becomes more susceptible to all sorts of health problems. For example, in a study published in the Lancet, cardiac patients who took 12-14 shallow breaths per minute (six breaths per minute is considered optimal) were more likely to have low levels of blood oxygen, which "may impair skeletal muscle and metabolic function, and lead to muscle atrophy and exercise intolerance."

In contrast, deep breathing raises levels of blood oxygen, promoting health in many ways, from stimulating the digestive process to improving fitness and mental performance. Heart attacks, cancer, strokes, pneumonia, asthma, speech problems and almost every disease known to mankind is worsened or improved by how well we breathe. Deep breathing also has a direct salutary effect on obesity, since the cleansing, stimulating action of deep breathing improves metabolism and that, in turn, transforms deposits of fat into body fuel and added energy.

To function properly, our brain needs three times more oxygen than the rest of our organs, unless it's provided, the brain tries to get what it needs by drawing on the overall supply we provide through breathing. This is why so many people who sit on their butts all day doing mental work tend to have rundown bodies and a greater susceptibility to sickness and infections than people who lead vigorous lives. Sedentary people are permanently oxygen-starved. It's a condition that can be avoided with proper breathing.

We reach peak respiratory function and lung capacity in our mid-20s. But we start losing that capacity, from 9% to 25% every decade after that. So, unless we do something to maintain or improve our breathing capacity, it will decline, and with it our general health - and life expectancy. As we reach middle age, our lungs tend to become less elastic as years of shallow breathing begin to take their toll. Even the chest has a tendency to grow rigid, and one consequence of this deterioration in function is an accumulation of uric acid in the blood stream. That often leads to those vague, hard to pinpoint pains and general discomfort that doctors usually dismiss as being part of the natural aging process.

Given an optimal diet, the respiratory system should be responsible for eliminating 70% of our metabolic waste. The remainder is eliminated through defecation (3%), urination (8%), and perspiration (19%). This is an aspect of the respiratory process that we don't think about until we encounter someone with a major case of dragon breath. If you think that doing the bathroom thing everyday, and working up a good sweat every now and then, are important and healthy habits, you can imagine how important proper breathing must be.

If you are tired and cranky all the time, it's probably because you're worn-out and depressed from all the toxic gunk that your shallow breathing hasn't gotten out of your system. But don't worry! You will be well on your way to your old happy-go-lucky self as soon as you learn how to breathe properly.

Until next time - Peace.
Loriman Rhodell

When your friends are Friends

I'm going to digress from Health and Fitness, the primary focus of the blog every now and then, and talk about things that may not seem directly related. This post is about the importance of friends.

My "adopted little sister," Kseniya, sent me an email the other day asking me to sign up as one of her "friends" on FaceBook.com. Now I've always thought of those social network sites as Internet hangouts for kids. And while I'm not yet a complete curmudgeon, I am a bit long in the tooth to be hanging out anywhere. Registering at FaceBook.com is the sort of thing I would do on my own. But Kseniya, a thousand mile from here, reached out and asked me to do so - so I did.

That's an example of supporting a friend that's easy to understand; and it was easy to do. Here's another: Materials for this blog and a number of other projects are being researched, planned, and written from the home of a couple of Friends in Rockland County, New York. Lou and Alice. Quakers. I was talking with Alice as we sat at the kitchen table last night when Lou came in and handed me a framed statement printed on parchment. Here's what it said:

Receive Ye Welcome

Let the guest sojourning here know that in this home our life is simple: what we cannot afford we do not offer, but what good cheer we can give, we give gladly.

We make no strife for appearance sake. Know also, friend, that we live a life of labor, therefore, it at times we separate ourselves from thee, do ye occupy thyself according to thy heart's desire.

We will not defer to thee in opinion or ask thee to deter to us, what thou thinkest ye shall say, if thee wish, without giving offense. What we think, we shall also say, believing that truth has many aspects, and that love is large enough to encompass them all.

So, while ye tarry here with us we would have thee enjoy the blessing of a home, health, love, and freedom, and we pray that thou mayest find the final blessing of life - PEACE.

Reader, know that I am able to do what I do because I have had the wise counsel and loving support of friends today, and in days past; here and near-by. Some of them are many miles away; and some are on the other side of the world. But they all abide in my heart.

Be well, and Peace.
Loriman Rhodell

Breathing from their heels

One of my first martial arts instructors was an ex-marine who had studied karate while stationed in Okinawa. He knew enough to teach the basics, but we were a brunch of NYC 12-year old "know-it-alls." We could tell that he was no "Bruce Lee" and we had no problem telling him that whenever we had a mind to.

Maybe to support his rather shaky martial arts bona fides with us, he started dropping vague Eastern philosophical aphorisms during class, saying things like, "the sage Chaung Tzu says that most people breathe from their throats, but superior people breathe from their heels"

"Their heels!? Hey teacher, what were you talking about?" we would ask after class. He wanted us to call him sensei (which is what high ranking Japanese instructors are called), but he didn't look like a sensei to us. This was around the start of the martial arts craze in this country, and at the time we thought you had to be from Japan to be a real sensei; he was from New Jersey.

To us he looked just like one of the teachers at our junior high, so we called him what we called that guy, which was "Hey teacher." He stopped asking us to call him sensei and counted himself lucky that we just called him "teacher" when he heard some of the things we called a couple of the other instructors at the community center where we trained.

"Hey teacher, sounds like you've been reading those little pieces of paper they put in Chinese fortune cookies, again. Nobody breathes from their heels." Now if he were a "Bruce Lee" he might have been able to explain what the sage meant and perhaps showed us how to breathe from our heels as well. But he wasn't and he didn't. So I had to wait several years to learn how to do it. I'll tell you all about it soon.

Stay well and Peace,
Loriman Rhodell

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

When Lightening Strikes, Breathe Deep

I haven't finished writing about deep breathing yet. There are two, maybe three more installments to come before I discuss other practices that facilitate health and fitness. I was in the process of posting the next deep breathing article when we were hit by lightening. Well, we weren't actually hit, but it came close enough to necessitate an immediate change of plans - and put the fear of God in me.

Thunderstorms always seem to start somewhere else. You hear thunder, see lightening flashes and sometimes the rain in the distance, all long before any of it reaches you. Even when you are too busy to check the sky for signs of a storm, the increasing loudness of the thunder is usually a pretty good indicator that one is headed your way.

We pay close attention to the signs of thunderstorms around here. The lightening can wreak havoc on electronics like computers, so we routinely turn everything off at the first sign that a thunderstorm is headed our way. Surge protectors notwithstanding, it's better to be safe than sorry.

There were intermittent thunderstorms here the day I was ready to post the second breathing article. We would hear the sound of thunder in the distance, turn everything off, the storm would come, and after it passed on we would turn everything on again to squeeze in a bit of work before the cycle started again. It was during one of the lulls in the storm that I turned on my computer to post the article, when suddenly - without warning - the storm hit us again. And this time it was right outside the window. There was a simultaneous crack of thunder, loud enough to set my ears ringing, louder in fact than anything I can remember experiencing, and a blinding flash of lightening that produced a wave of electrical energy strong enough to disrupt our telephone transmissions. That was Thursday, July 21st, around four in the afternoon.

At first I thought that the lightening had hit the house or the ground near it, but the house wasn't damaged, and the wasn't a telltale scorch mark or grass fire outside. It was a tree across the road that got hit. It was blasted to bits, sending flaming pieces flying and starting a small fire on the roof of a neighbor's shed. The fire was quickly put out, the shed was saved, and we thought that that was the full extent of the damage, until we tried to get back online. The next day we learned the lightening strike had fried the modem. It took several days to get a new one, and several more days for me to get the laptop I use to access the new modem.

In the meantime, I used computers at the public library to check my email. I had gotten a lot of feedback from an initial group of 100 that I had invited to check out this blog. About 60 of you actually did take a look during the first 24 hours after I launched it. And some of you contacted me with observations and suggestions.

While most of you said that you liked the forest green motif, including the contrasting light green print against the dark green background, there were a few who said that that background made it difficult for them to read the text. That observation coupled with the fact that it is easier for search engines to read and index pages that have black text on a white background has prompted me to make some minor changes in the design. Now it should be easier for everyone, including search engines, to read the text.

In my next post I will tell you about long-term negative consequences of shallow, upper-chest breathing, as promised, that is, "God willing and the creeks don't rise." That's what my grandmother used to say whenever she made a promise to do something. Maybe grandma should have added "and if lightening don't strike" - but that's probably covered by the "God willing" part.

Until next time, Peace.
Loriman Rhodell

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing, or abdominal breathing - as it is sometimes called - is the kind of breathing we were all born "knowing" how to do. It is done using the diaphragm to move air in and out of the lungs, which causes the abdomen (the stomach or belly) to expand and contract a bit during the process. Which is why people who insist on being technical about it also refer to it as diaphragmatic breathing. And since the diaphragm is that sheet of muscle between the chest and abdominal cavities that makes deep breathing possible, they are technically right. But, right or not, "diaphragmatic breathing" doesn't quite roll off the tongue as easily as "deep breathing."

Of the five essential processes necessary for survival -

• Breathing
• Eating
  
• Moving
• Resting
• Cleansing

- none is more important than breathing, for obvious reasons. Just try not breathing for more than a few minutes - what happens? You pass out, that's what - and your body, thinking that you must have lost your mind, starts breathing for you. Awake or asleep, conscious or not, most of us breathe more than 20,000 times a day, every day of our lives. We do it believing that the way we breathe is natural because it is done without thought and usually without much effort. But, it has been estimated - by the people who estimate these things - that at least 95 percent of us are "shallow breathers," who only use a small part of our total lung capacity. Which means that most people, and that may include you, are missing out on the fantastic benefits that deep breathing provides. So let's start this journey to extraordinary fitness by understanding the importance of proper, i.e., deep breathing.

So what's wrong with the upper-chest, shallow breathing that most of us routinely do? Well, for starters, people with shallow breathing habits don't live as long as people who are deep breathers. (How's that for an attention getter?) One of the findings from the Framingham study, a clinical study that observed a group of 5,200 over a 30-year period showed that "pulmonary function measurement (or how well a person breathes) is an indicator of general health and vigor (fitness) and is literally, the primary measure of potential life span." In other words, there is substantial evidence that the most significant factor in long-term good health and a long life is how well you breathe.

That's probably why Dr. Andrew Weil, the alternative health icon who has written all those best-selling books on how to stay healthy, says that if he could give one tip for better health, it would be to breathe properly. I will write about some the long-term negative consequences of shallow, upper-chest breathing, as well as the benefits of deep breathing, in my next post in a day or two. After that I will tell you how to do it so you can make it part of your daily routine, establishing it as a life-long, life-sustaining habit.

Until then, Be Well.
Loriman Rhodell

Extraordinary fitness for ordinary people

This blog is dedicated to ordinary people who want to achieve an extraordinary level of fitness.

In my future posts I will share knowledge gathered over the years about what it takes to be healthy and fit, including details about practices that I know from experience to actually work, that can be made part of everyday life; practices that have transformed ordinary people - people that I know - into paragons of health and fitness.

The level of your physical fitness depends upon five essential and inter-related processes: Breathing, Eating, Moving, Resting, and Cleansing. We do them all every day. If we didn't, we certainly wouldn't live very long. But, it's how well we do them that both determines, and reflects, how fit we are. My primary reason for writing this blog is to identify and share many of those practices.

If you've never been physically active, starting now may be difficult. Usually it's the inertia that comes from long periods of inactivity that's the problem. So I'll explore ways of dealing with that and other stumbling blocks that you're likely to encounter along the way in future postings.

Ready to get started? We'll start with "Breathing" in my next post.

Loriman Rhodell