Antioxidants and free radicals are often spoken about, but you almost never hear about how and why they work. I will briefly explain it here. Free radicals are atoms and molecules that have lost one of their paired electrons in the outer shell. Thus, they are highly reactive and eager to steal an electron from the first atom they encounter.
In other words, free radicals change the configuration of other atoms and molecules de- stroying them in the process. Antioxidants have the ability to neutralize free radicals by donating electrons.
In essence, it is wise to eat plenty of antioxidants to avoid aging and natural wear and tear of your cells. This keeps you healthy and resistant to various diseases.
By cutting down on acid-forming foods with sugar, fat and protein, you reduce the oxygen consuming elements in your body.
These not only contain small amounts of oxygen but also require more oxygen to burn. More oxygen can dissolve in an alkaline environment than an acidic environment. Thus, you gain a number of advantages by changing the chemistry of your body. By now, you should have acquired a better sense of the importance of your daily food intake for your health and general well being.
Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to the huge problems re- lated to poor diet, smoking, alcohol and lack of exercise in society. Natu- ral ways to start making a difference include: developing greater self- insight, focusing more on happiness, nurturing consideration for oneself and others, shifting to a healthier diet and increasing your physical activ- ity.
We just have to get going. If you are willing to think out-of-the-box, a pro active approach to breathing could be a good suggestion. Especially in connection with weight loss, the right breathing could be worth its weight in gold.
Breath- ing exercises can be used as a fabulous slimming formula. Sympathetic slimming formula through breathing I would like to add a little story about my friend Umesh who is 34 years old and holds a PhD in atomic and molecular physics.
Umesh is a dedi- cated scientist, and the mission of his life seems to be an infinite focus on natural science. But, he be- lieves in good breathing and has benefitted from it. A couple of years ago he had a problem with his weight. Earlier in his life this had never been an issue, but years of sedentary work in the laboratory, combined with an unhealthy diet and varying mealtimes, had left its mark on Umesh.
He got sick more often and had a feeling of being out of balance. In addition, the weight condition strained his back and he developed back pain. This made it difficult for him to walk far. He also suffered chronic sinusitis which lead to intense migraine attacks with a throbbing pulse in his temples at least once a month. The fact that he was born with the cartilage in his nose blocking the air passage through the right nostril made matters even worse.
While he was living in India, he participated in a course on pranayama breath control with exercises aimed at losing weight. There were no physical exercises like yoga positions, running or weight lifting in the course.
The duration of the course was seven days and most exercises were performed while sitting. The breathing exercises included steady alternate breathing through the right and left nostril and also more powerful inhalations and exhalations. There were largely no restrictions to what the participants were allowed to eat; however, the participants were asked to refrain from drinking coffee, tea, soda, alco- hol and very fatty or heavily spiced food.
The exercises were performed twice a day and each session lasted about minutes. On the second day, his appetite disappeared and he did not even feel hungry. Umesh continued with the exercises after the course and ate normally. The exercises were to be followed for 40 days in a row. If you forgot a session you should start over again on a new day period. Umesh lost 12 kg 26 pounds after 14 days. Since then, more kilos fol- lowed and subsequently his weight has been normal and stable.
Since the course, he performs 30 minutes of breathing exercises each morning on a daily basis. Apart from the weight loss, his right nostril has opened and he no longer suffers headaches or inflammation of the sinuses. Just as hibernating bears and other hibernating mammals may lower their resting metabolism and can do without food for an entire winter, the human body may also markedly increase its metabolism — especially when most of our billions of cells acquire optimal conditions and work together in a well-balanced, synchronous system.
This not only occurs when performing the various exercises, but continues for hours because the nervous system and the organs of the body are vitalized and boosted. By now you have covered quite a few pages and your brain has been working hard, so now it is time for you to activate your body and invite it to join the game. Let us proceed to the practical exercises. There is no other way. The challenge is to re- member to do it in a busy and chaotic everyday life.
Discovering peaceful moments in which you can take a mental or physical break can change your life immeasurably. If an imbalance exists between your body and your thoughts, neither will function optimally. Combining relaxation, concentration and imagery can help you move towards balance and an optimally functioning body and mind.
One reason anyone can learn to relax and achieve greater focus is that we are all breathing beings. Your breath is always with you, and apart from keeping you alive, it is also the best tool you will ever have to ad- just your body and your thoughts.
By consciously grasping your physical breath, you can influence your mental processes. When you make your breathing deeper and slower, your thoughts will automatically follow. Therefore, breathe as softly and calmly as possible during these exer- cises. After a couple of weeks or even a couple of days, you will increase your capacity to relax and concentrate at will, and you can harvest the fruits of you efforts.
An objective of mindfulness and ACT is to get in contact with the present moment, in order to accomplish full awareness to your here- and-now experience and to become open and receptive to what you are doing. With an attentive breathing you will achieve a here-and-now experience because it provides you with a physical anchor point that is connected to your nervous system and mental state. If you find it challenging to relax and concentrate in the beginning of your training, it is perfectly okay.
Often it takes a while for the body and the mind to slow down. Focus on your breathing and let is flow as naturally as possible. Once your body and mind have calmed down it is much easier to concentrate on the specific task at hand. When you master the technique perfectly, a few seconds will be enough for you to relax and concentrate. Are you aware of your senses? We perceive the outer world through our five senses. Spend some time reflecting on what type of perceiver you are!
Are you the more visually oriented type, who remembers things that you have seen more easily, or are you more of an auditory person who remembers things that you have heard? Think about which favorite relaxing past time activity you indulge in — do you listen to music, do you visit a museum or do you pre- fer to be physically active? By tuning in on the senses you spontaneously use every day for relaxation, you also create a greater consciousness about the senses that you can activate in your relaxation exercises.
The obvious way to become more insightful into your nature is to train and intensify the awareness of all your senses, but begin with the sense that is most natural to you.
In time you will learn to re- lax and concentrate even in a noisy and stressful environment, but start in a peaceful place with the exercises. Take off your watch, turn off your cell phone and prepare yourself for a pleasurable activity.
If you are very busy, you can either postpone the exercises or just do one or two of them. Do not hurry through four or five exercises just because you want to get them done. It is anything but productive! The best position in the World When you are going to practice relaxation and concentration, lying on your back is perfect.
Do not lie on something too soft, but use for instance a blanket, a yoga mat or a camping foam mat. The spine has to be relatively straight and follow the floor. If you are very sway-backed, it is helpful to place a little pillow or a rolled up towel under your loin.
This may also be neces- sary with your neck, but remember that it needs to be aligned with your natural posture so that you do not create tension in either your neck or throat. Possibly try pointing your chin slightly down towards your chest. You can also lie on your bed or on the couch — it is up to you to decide whether the surface is hard enough!
When you lie on your back in the Relaxed Position, make yourself as slack as possible. Spread your legs a little and let your feet drop to the sides. Likewise position your arms slightly from the body with the palms of your hands turned upwards and fingers slightly bent. Close your eyes, but make sure that you do not fall asleep. However, if you are very tired, go to sleep and postpone the exercises. Wriggle your toes and feet a bit, move your fingers and slowly open your eyes, when you are ready to do so.
After that carefully roll to your right side and slowly sit up. Rest and smile for a moment before you stand up. You can easily do the exercises on your own, but it may be beneficial to do them with a partner who can read the exercises aloud in a calm and pleasant tone until you are familiar with them. The exercises below can help you in your work with relaxation, con- centration and visualization.
As described, exercises may work differ- ently from person to person, so find the exercises that work the best for you. Focus on all the points of contact with the material below you.
Your heels, calves, the back of your thighs, buttocks, back, shoulders, forearms, elbows and the back of your head. Notice how your completely relaxed tongue lies in the bottom of your mouth. When you become able to release all the tension in your muscles and thoughts and let gravity work on your body, your visceral organs may also feel heavy and relaxed.
Listen care- fully and you will discover that your ears are capable of hearing sounds that you would not notice in your everyday life. Think about how blind and weak-sighted people have a more finely tuned sense of hearing, making it possible for them to hear when they walk past a tree or an open door. You can also train your ability to hear in this exercise, and you should try to picture as many images as possible.
Take your time. If you hear voices then try to imagine what the people look like, how they are dressed, how many there are etc. The more alive your images become, the more you train your hearing and your ability to visualize. Try to move through the entire sound spectrum and listen to details and words without dwelling on them for too long or relating to their meaning.
Completely blue. Now try to imag- ine that you are changing color. Begin with your toes and move slowly up your body — ankles, shin, knees, thighs, hips, loins, stomach, back, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, and finally the neck and head.
Be particularly thorough with the lower jaw, tongue, cheeks, eyes, forehead and the top of your head. Feel how the crown relaxes, add a little smile to your lips, and feel how the part of the body you focus on becomes warmer. It can also be an intense ex- perience like the birth of your first child or a watershed experience in your childhood.
It goes without saying that it must be a positive and powerful experience that makes you happy and relaxed. Try to relive the moment as clearly as possible — what was your feeling?
Where was your feeling located? Also try to make it clear why this incident made you so happy! The more you practice evoking this feeling, the faster you can do it in situations where it can be of help to you. It might be a magnificent mountain, a forest lake, green, wavy hills or a sunlit ocean.
Try to sense all the different smells the place you are imagining had — the long grass with morning dew, the many colorful flowers, the freshness of the clean air in your nostrils, feel the temperature, humidity etc. Likewise imagine all the sounds — trick- ling water, chirping birds, buzzing insects, wind blowing leaves etc.
In time you will be able to train your mind to such an extent that you can enter your own paradise at any time and any place. People breathe in very different ways, but how you do it is not unimpor- tant!
The purpose of breathing is to gain oxygen O2 from the air and to remove carbon dioxide CO2 from the body. The more you can control this process, the stronger your health will become. When you breathe and air enters your lungs, oxygen is delivered via your blood, to every cell in your body.
The more effectively you breathe, the more energy you will be able to store in your body. A byproduct of this cycle is carbon dioxide which blood transports to the lungs where it is released back into the air upon exhalation. If your breathing is sloppy and untrained, you will not be able to cleanse your body properly, which may lead to fatigue or headaches and affect your visceral organs negatively. Plants utilize carbon dioxide and release oxygen using solar energy in a process called photosynthesis.
Plants and animals thus depend on each other and live together in symbiosis. Each cell can be viewed as an independent organism, since it produces its own energy and has its own cleaning mechanisms. For you to stay healthy and well, it is essential that your cells are given the opportunity to maintain a good balance. An important component of this balance is to breathe properly. This does not necessarily mean that inhalation and exhalation should take the same amount of time, but that equal amounts of air should be exchanged.
If you exhale very slowly, your body will accumulate carbon dioxide. Conversely, if you exhale quickly or forcefully, the body will suddenly lose much carbon dioxide leading to dizziness and a prickly sensation in your fingers and lips.
Of course, this is not a good way of breathing either. Scalene muscles Chest bone Outer rib muscles Diaphragm During inhalation the rib cage expands and the diphragm is lowered.
Most people are not aware of the fact that they are breathing in an ineffective way. However, it is easy to learn how to improve your breath- ing. When it comes down to it, the aim is to inhale the same amount of air that you exhale. By strengthening and making the muscles of your rib cage more flexible, a more natural and harmonious breath can be achieved. Inhalation begins with the outer muscles of the ribs contracting, mak- ing the ribs move out and upwards, which increases the volume of the rib cage.
This leads to a lower pressure in the lungs, which through two membranes are in direct contact with the rib cage. The greatest increase in volume is caused by the diaphragm. Its dome- shaped roof contracts and moves down towards the abdominal cavity drawing air into the lungs like a large piston.
Because this movement is a result of muscle contractions, it requires energy and is thus called an active process. In contrast, as a result of the elasticity that the lungs, thoracic cavity and diaphragm have achieved during inhalation, a normal exhalation is completely passive.
The outer muscles of the rib cage relax and so does the diaphragm, which slides back into its natural curved position. This causes an increase in pressure in the lungs and the air to be exhaled. If you are nervous or stressed, a bad habit can arise where your ex- halation is performed actively.
In this case you use energy on both ex- halation and inhalation and create an unnatural tension in your body which in time will spread to your psyche. A relaxed breathing, with a Chest bone Inner rib muscles Diaphragm During exhalation the rib cage collapses and the diaphragm returns to its initial position.
You may want to try breathing in different ways yourself, and with your hands, feel where and when the muscles contract and relax. The large dome-shaped diaphragm is the pivot of the breathing pro- cess, and consists of a set of muscles and tendons, which in a relaxed state is convex and situated like an arch up in to the chest cavity. If you hold your hands around your body below your rib cage, you can feel how a large inner plate moves towards your navel, when you take a deep breath.
This is the diaphragm. The name stems from the Greek word diaphrassein which means to separate or to be between. In the upper part of your body the diaphragm separates the chest cavity, which contains your heart and lungs from the abdominal cavity and its organs such as the liver, spleen and stomach.
It is penetrated only by the esophagus and larger blood vessels. The diaphragm can be viewed as a large inner piston that can change the pressure of the chest cavity, as well as the abdominal cavity, and thereby influence all the organs in these areas. Not only does the dia- phragm afford a steady and even breathing, but it also has an enormous influence on blood and lymph circulation in the body, which has not been thoroughly investigated yet.
In our everyday lives, the diaphragm functions in coughing, throwing up, or when we go to the bathroom. This is also where the cause for hiccups lies, which is a row of involun- tary contractions of the muscles in the diaphragm.
The most important function of the diaphragm, however, remains to be the ventilation of the lungs. Nonetheless, only a few use it optimally, and many are thus cheated of the physical benefits a correct usage can provide. But with only a few daily exercises you can become best friends with your diaphragm. In order to train your breathing, it is im- portant to understand how the respiratory passages and lungs function.
Let us take a closer look at the passage that air takes through our body and what occurs during this passage. If you close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths, try to feel the air flow in your body. Where does air enter, where does it flow to, and how does it feel? There are two en- try points for air: Air can enter through the nose or through the mouth. Let me make it clear from the beginning, the mouth is for food and should only be used for breathing when the nose is clogged or when working hard.
There are many good reasons for breathing through your nose including the fact that your blood is better oxygenated in the lungs. When air enters your nose, the many small hairs in your nose imme- diately filter out larger particles. Air then proceeds to the nasal conchae where it is humidified and warmed, and at the same time, smaller par- ticles are filtered out by the surrounding mucous membranes.
Indeed if we use our nose properly, we will be able to appreciate this extremely sensitive organ. In the upper part of the nose there is a number of delicate sen- sory cells that can detect various smells and odors, and the information from these are directed via nerve fibers to the brain.
In spite of its impressive sensory function, the nose does not receive much attention either culturally or medically in the Western world. This could be rooted in the fact that in our age, where information has to be fast and accessible, visual communication is preferred. However, unconsciously our nose is constantly in use and receives a wealth of information from our environment. Olivier Roland offers an inspiring road map to help readers get more out of life as an 'Intelligent Rebel' and find success and fulfilment by breaking out of the system.
Do you dream of a less stressful life? Break out of the system, embrace your purpose and shape your own journey to success and fulfilment. We're not designed for a one-size-fits-all education or lifestyle-so why not choose a path where you can make your own rules, follow your passions, and live a rewarding, purpose-fueled life? Breaking out of the "system" and becoming an entrepreneur or a creator can be daunting, but with this step-by-step guide to taking charge of your life, realizing your individual potential, and building a sustainable business with minimal risk, you'll discover that the way of the intelligent rebel is ultimately a path to freedom and self-realization.
Big meeting jitters? Anxiety over a test or taxes? Hard time focusing? What if you could control your outcomes and change results simply by regulating your breath? Just Breathe reveals the truth that elite athletes, champion martial artists, Navy SEAL warriors, first responders, and spiritual yogis have always known—when you regulate your breathing, you can moderate your state of well-being.
So if you want to clear and calm your mind and spark peak performance, the secret is just a breath away. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live.
And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
Paul Kalanithi died in March , while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. How to rewire your brain to improve virtually every aspect of your life-based on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology on neuroplasticity and evidence-based practices Not long ago, it was thought that the brain you were born with was the brain you would die with, and that the brain cells you had at birth were the most you would ever possess.
It turns out that's not true. Your brain is not hardwired, it's "softwired" by experience. This book shows you how you can rewire parts of the brain to feel more positive about your life, remain calm during stressful times, and improve your social relationships. Written by a leader in the field of Brain-Based Therapy, it teaches you how to activate the parts of your brain that have been underactivated and calm down those areas that have been hyperactivated so that you feel positive about your life and remain calm during stressful times.
You will also learn to improve your memory, boost your mood, have better relationships, and get a good night sleep. Reveals how cutting-edge developments in neuroscience, and evidence-based practices can be used to improve your everyday life Other titles by Dr.
Arden is a leader in integrating the new developments in neuroscience with psychotherapy and Director of Training in Mental Health for Kaiser Permanente for the Northern California Region Explaining exciting new developments in neuroscience and their applications to daily living, Rewire Your Brain will guide you through the process of changing your brain so you can change your life and be free of self-imposed limitations.
All I could do was negotiate where the impact would happen. Meant to be the ultimate test of his flying skills as a pilot,the journey would take him to the ends of the earth and over some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. He diligently prepared himself and his plane, the "Spirit of San Diego," for the excursion. Having previously flown to far-off places, he thought he knew what to expect.
More importantly for you, not requiring mechanical ventilation makes it much less likely that you would not survive COVID infection. As someone who has made breathing his life, Stig Severinsen felt strongly that it was his responsibility to share his knowledge with the world.
Remember me Log in. Lost your password? Share 61K. Jacky Lam Asia. Jeremy Price North America. Johnathan Lecky North America. Jonathan Bigler Europe. Julien Bouille Europe. Karima Jambulatova Europe. Karl Faes North America. Kate Morsley Europe. Kevin Stucki North America.
Klaas Vooijs Europe. Lars Leknes Auran Europe. Leigh Ewin Europe. Lou Corleto North America. Luca Minichino Europe. Mahdi Hamidi Europe. Marc Romain North America. Max Belpulsi Europe. Meer Janjua North America. Most of us breathe.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Breatheology at Amazon. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Only when your nose is clogged This is a free breateology champion, doctor and yoga advocate.
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