Tag: breathe deeply

Breathing To Be 100!

90-year-old Australian Rower, Ralph Howard

The 80 and 90 year old women and men that I see frequently in the medical clinic never cease to amaze me.  Many are still driving, living on their own, dress beautifully (and colorfully!) and have a zest for life reflected in their curiosity, creativity, sense of humor, and varied interests that I find contagious!  I often ask them how old they feel inside and I often get the answer of at least 50 years younger than their actual age.

I remember when I turned 50, and was having a very difficult time of it.  I asked a beautiful woman in her 70’s how old she felt inside and she paused a bit and then said – well I do believe I feel about 24, until I pass by a mirror and happen to glance at my image she laughed.  It was then that I realized that aging is an inside job – and how healthy and vital we remain through the years that we are given is a great deal in our hands, our minds, our hearts – and our practices.

90-year-old Andora Quimby started weight training at age 78!

Here is a portion of a blog post on Living To Be 100 from David Dowell – Creator of OomphTV (who has a mother in her 80’s that teaches yoga and has recently launched, with her daughter, a business called The Green Buddha)

Be sure to look for Breathing Spaces additional “secret”!

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Today I ran across an article from Health magazine.
Apparently those born after the year 2000 are more likely than ever to live to 100, according to research from Denmark. Good news for the kids, but what about us grown-ups?
Genetics do play a big factor in how long you live (thank you grandparents), but only somewhere between 20% and 50%, depending on the experts you ask. That still leaves over 50% up to YOU! Walter Bortz II, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford, suggests how you can improve your odds of a long life and reduce disease.

We can call this The Walter Bortz II, MD, Secrets to a Long Life:
*Bulk up on fruits and veggies, +5 years (plant based whole foods diets reduce disease)
*Exercise five days a week, +2 to +4 years (move and elevate your heart rate for a half-hour a day, minimum)
*Reduce stress, up to +6 years (from meditation to music to movement to art therapy. Find something that work for you.
*Get a hobby, +2 years (provides a sense of accomplishment.)
*Floss, +6.4 years (removing harmful bacteria reduces stroke and heart attack risks.)
*Vacation, +1 to +2 years (leisure is a great stress reliever!)
*Sleep seven to eight hours nightly, +2 years (sleep assists cell repair.)
*Have sex, +3 to +5 years (releases feel good hormones and burns about 200 calories, too!)
Thought you would like to know!

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*BreathingSpaces Addition:

Breathe Consciously and Fully, +7 years (assists body/mind/heart/spirit to stay vital, energetic, and in balance/harmony!  Also great stress reliever and disease buster!! )

After all is said and done my vote is for quality, and the above “good habits” can certainly contribute to that.   By the way, it is never too late to start!  Let us know if there are additional practices that you would add!

Addendum: For more info on Andora Quimby

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www.DivineWealthJournal.com Most Recent Post: Keeping Your Head When Others Are Losing Theirs

CREATIVE LISTENING – A GIFT OF LOVE THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

It takes only one breath to commit to stilling that single moment into a creative listening space.  A space that brings the depth of what it is to live and love NOW.  What better gift can we give to ourselves, each other,  and our planet in a time when there is so much stimulation to distract us from the importance of simply listening…being present.

Creative Listening by Wilferd A. Peterson.
One of the most important habits of a creative thinker is to be a good listener.  Stand guard at the ear-gateway to your mind, heart, and spirit.
Listen to the good.  Tune your ears to love, hope, and courage.  Tune out gossip and resentment.
Listen to the beautiful.  Listen to the music of the masters.  Listen to the symphony of nature–the hum of the wind in the treetops, bird songs, thundering surf. . .
Listen critically. Mentally challenge assertions, ideas, and philosophies.  Seek the truth with an open mind.
Listen with patience.  Do not hurry the other person.  Show them the courtesy of listening to what they have to say, no matter how much you may disagree.  You may learn something.
Listen with your heart. Practice empathy when you listen.  Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Listen for growth.  Be an inquisitive listener.  Ask questions.  Everyone has something to say which will help you to grow.
Listen creatively.  Listen for ideas or the germs of ideas.  Listen for hints or clues that may spark creative projects.
Listen to yourself. Listen to your deepest yearnings, your highest aspirations, your noblest impulses.  Listen to the better person within you.
Listen with depth. Be still and listen.  Listen with the ear of intuition to the inspiration of the Infinite.

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As you still the breath a gateway to Creative Listening unfolds.  Watch for the many forms that this practice can take.  It can be the self listening that these men did….

TC Bank – Dream Rangers

…or simply receiving the Words of Love from your local community…and Saying It Forward

BREATHE AND LISTEN....

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Trees Are The Lungs Of The Earth

“Don’t cut your trees, because the trees are the lungs of the earth. ”
-Milda Sebris , a resident at Ellen Memorial Health Care Center, turned 100 on 1/26/11.

To breathe is to live embodied.  Without this exquisite process going on day after day, year after year, moment after moment we would not be functional – we would not be alive!  Trees help the planet breathe by turning carbon dioxide into clean, pure oxygen. Plants are considered the lungs of the earth because plants produce oxygen, which is necessary for all life, so in essence, since our lungs keep us alive and trees keep our lungs alive we can consider trees to be a part of our lungs existence.  This is all part of the deep interconnectedness of all life.

Our lungs are quite amazing actually.  Did you know that there are about 300 million alveoli in the adult lung. The alveolar sacs consist of many alveoli and are composed of a single layer of epithelial tissue.  If these alveoli were pressed flat and spread out they would take up the space of a football field.  That is, a football field (including the two end zones) is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide for a total of 57,600 square feet!

Alveoli in the Lungs

The alveoli are considered the functional or foundational unit of the lung. In the spaces between the alveoli of the lungs is elastic connective tissue which is important for exhalation.  It is here, surrounded by pulmonary capillaries, that gases are exchanged and we are enlivened with every inhale and exhale that we take.

“Each alveolus is lined with a thin layer of tissue fluid, which is essential for the diffusion of gases, because a gas must dissolve in a liquid in order to enter or leave a cell.  This is called the “earthworm principle”.  An earthworm will breathe through it’s moist skin and suffocate if it’s skin dries out.

The inner walls of the alveoli are covered with a lipid material known as surfactant. This surfactant helps to stabilize the alveoli preventing their collapse.  Absence of surfactant would be similar to a plastic bag that is wet on the inside.  It’s walls would stick together and not allow for complete expansion.”

This biological process goes on moment after moment for the entirety of our lives, yet in order to breathe fully we need the support of the natural world around us.  As this world is tampered with by humans, the planet lets us know we are off balance with global climate change and other dramatic signs of imbalance.  Just as if we tampered with the alveoli of our lungs by unhealthy practices that caused disease and imbalance in our systems.

Our Earth is like the alveoli of the lungs – if she dries out she will suffocate.  Without the stabilization of the natural order of things there will be no expansion, no breath, no life – no Breathing Spaces.

Could it be that we need to pay closer attention to the smallest and most foundational parts of our Earth’s processes, and our own,  before we tackle the larger things?  Take yourself out into Nature this week and breathe.

Sergey Melnikoff – Breathing Nature – Selective Shots
Music by Zaza Marjanishvili, Produced by MediaGrail

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Everything You Need to Know About Life Is In One Breath

“Everything you need to know about life is in one breath.”

–Dewitt Jones, Photojournalist

 

 

 

 

 

 

After listening to the recent interview with Dewitt done by Sheila Finkelstein of Picture to Ponder I was brought back again to what an important tool and a metaphor for life the breath is.   You fill yourself up and then the biological imperative is that you must give it back out.  We, at times, attempt to hold our breaths thinking that it will make us “safe”and nothing bad will happen. Amelia Earhart said “Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?”

 
That is what holding our breath is about. You can’t not breathe – but you can, if you choose to do so, contract away from your own life experience and the calling and relationships that may be asking you out to play, create, and experience life fully, by shallow breathing or holding the breath.

 

You have to breathe!  Taking in a full breath fills you, gives energy, stimulates natural biological processes, and expands your potential for excitement about life and the contribution that you naturally have to bring.

 

Your contribution is then present in the exhale.   A giving out of the fullness that you have just taken in from a place of enough – to sustain, support, and create new life. For within the exhale a space is created to bring in more.

 

There is always enough, and for most living things this process is on automatic.  It is something that we can trust and relax into, especially during particularly difficult or stressful times.  Can we use the breath as a tool for recognizing the wealth and potential that is our life now?

 

Soft belly, relaxed shoulders, face and mind at peace – take time NOW to enter a Breathing Space of fullness.

 

Take that full breath and move, breathe and listen to Words From The Hopi Elders:

( from the album Songs of the Earth – Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe)  The music video was filmed by Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe .  Listen to the album on www.majbritteulrikkeholm.dk)

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Words From The Sea – Breathe With The Oceans

The ocean a wise and ageless teacher of breath
reminding you to free your breath to flow as
easily and naturally as the waves
washing onto shore,
washing back to sea.

Easy, liquid wave of breath-
soothing, sensual rhythm
of your own inner being. – Lea Houston

Growing up in San Diego only 5 blocks or so from the beach and ocean has deeply imprinted the feel, sight, smell and tastes of this world inside of me.  It is a place that I am always drawn to, and if truth be told I really need to know that I am close enough to be able to drive to the coast in one day or less.

There are many on this planet that have never been to the ocean, or are even a days drive away,  but all of us share the powerful impact that the oceans have on our very existence – our beginnings in fact – the tides, the weather, food source, diversity of life forms, and a necessary element for the health and balance of our planet and our ecosystems.  All of this and a beauty, power and majesty that cannot be equaled!

About 15 years ago or more now I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii.  It had always been my dream to swim with the dolphins.  I brought this intention with me to a rebirthing retreat that I was attending on the Hilo side of Hawaii.  On the first morning of the retreat the facilitator and I woke up very early and were drawn to go to the beach to swim before the beginning of the day.  Driving to a nearby beach, where we were told by the locals that the dolphins came to play, we carefully negotiated our way down the cliff side as first light broke across the water.

The waves were daunting and quite a barrier to get past, but our intentions were strong to be in the sea to start our day.  Once past the breakers,  I stopped to tread water closing my eyes and asking for the dolphins to come to us.  My intention was so strong that I could feel the interconnection.

Within 5 minutes, way far in the distance it seemed, I saw movement.  My eyes were riveted on this movement attempting to discern exactly what was moving towards us…until I realized that it was them – an entire pod of dolphins in fact – and they were moving towards us very quickly leaping up in the air as if to greet us and welcome us back into the fold. 

At this point there were tears streaming down my face as they came to us and made us one of their pod.  As we played together on their terms I wished that I could make the sound that they did in response to their seemingly absolute delight at being in our presence.  They touched us with their love, their sense of play, and their wisdom – and confirmed my belief that all forms of life are intimately interconnected.

As my companion made her way to shore telling me that it was time to go back, there was a deep reluctance to part from these creatures of the sea.  As if they knew that it was time the pod distanced themselves a little from me as if to make it easier for me to leave.  As I emerged from the sea the feeling of having been “made love to” permeated every fiber of my being.

Climbing the cliffside I found that my friend had gone to the car already – but I had one more thing to do before leaving.  Standing on the cliff ledge I closed my eyes, held my hands at my heart, and thanked these magnificent beings for coming to be with me.  As I opened my eyes the entire pod was in a “V” formation in the ocean before me as if to say goodbye and thank me for engaging with them!

Needless to say this remains a peak experience of my life.  Some years later I had another completely different experience with dolphins in the wild on the other side of the Big Island, and that too remains as a deeply felt opening within me.

Telling this story reminds me of the magic and mystery of the sea and all the creatures that are within.  Many moments of my life have been spent beside the ocean running, sitting by a bonfire, writing poetry, walking, body surfing, boggy boarding, or simply just being and breathing to take in the elements and the life that lives there.

We all know that our oceans are in trouble, as many ecosystems on our planet right now.  Our deep interconnection with the oceans demand that we pay attention to bringing them back into balance – and stop the practices that upset the natural diversity and wholeness.  This is a breathing space that we cannot do without!!

Dear friends of mine – Lea Houston and David Bayles – have recently created a site called Words From The Sea.  Their story is below and I invite you to watch the video and see how a conscious business is unfolded.  David, as a professional photographer, has taken the gifts from the sea foam and created a beautiful art form that reminds us of the the magic, diversity, and abundance that are the oceans.   In addition, a percentage of any profits made from these ready to hang art pieces is given to organizations that are working on behalf of education, preservation,  and restoration of these life giving waters.

I invite you to see what Lea and David have created here….and to remember that our oceans and the ecosystems that thrive from and with them are a breathing space for us as humans – one that we cannot do without!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Words-From-The-Sea/130955040285076?v=wall

www.WordsFromTheSea.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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