Friday, November 2, 2018

Breathing - when did we forget how?

We are surrounded by advertisements,  infomercials,  news articles,  posters, signs, audio, and video telling us that we need to stop and breathe.  Wait a minute if I was not breathing I think I would know it?  Yes, we are all breathing but not like we used to breathe in the days and times when we hunted for our food, pounded our own corn into flour, knitted our own clothes, walked everywhere and even beat our own eggs.  In our faced paced world today we are living in a state of sympathetic overload or dominance.  What that means is that our nervous system and thus all of our organs and brain are running in high gear. When that happens, our breathing is more shallow and rapid thus causing increased cortisol (stress hormone) that signals our immune system to produce lower white blood cells which are used to fight off infections and police our bodies for mutated/potential cancer cells.   Blood is shunted(moved away) from our core to our arms and legs so we can run from this danger or stress our bodies are perceiving.  Our bodies PH changes and that causes all the flora in our gut to change so the bad flora over grows, our skin ph changes so that it smells different and feels different. Our digestive tract at first speeds up but as the stress response continues, day in and day out, our digestive tract fatigues, contracts and spasms.  As a result of the shallow more rapid breathing we are not able to breath in large quantities of oxygen to nourish our cells providing a necessary ingredient in the production of energy.  Additionally,  we are not fully exhaling which causes a built up of carbon dioxide and other toxins in the body.  So, our bodies essentially become a backed up sewer line with all the debris slowing, stalling then backing up,  sitting there and fermenting and stinking up the joint.  In our bodies we experience decreased energy, brain fog, lowered immune system, digestive problems, more frequent infections, dry skin, pimples, need to use more deodorant because we smell different........

In the days when we used to hunt for our food,  walk to gather our food,  sit and have to pound out corn to make flour, darn our own socks, even beat our own eggs  we were able to take the time to breathe correctly.  We had to pace our selves and our breathing otherwise we would not be able to do all that needed to be done. Thus our bodies were in more of a balance between sympathetic (fright and flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) modes of operating.  Let's think about this.  If you were out hunting for your food do you think you would be successful if you were breathing quickly, moving quickly,  acting or feeling jittery.  You would starve to death because the animals would hear you, smell you and sense some strange agitated/unsettled presence in their forest and stay away.  To be a good hunter you have to be calm, blend into the forest,  breath slowly in and out, move slowly and rhymically or not move at all.  That is parasympathetic living.  Very different from our fast paced lives of today.   Let's look at those that did not hunt but rather were in charge of taking care of the day to day needs.  The ability to sit for long periods of time and pound corn into flour  required a comfortable position, focus and developing a rhymical motion, and breathing so that it could be sustained for an extended period of time.  Even the act of darning clothes requires a steady hand,  flowing motion of needle and thread  all of which requires controlled breathing.   If not you would prick your finger with the needle, pound your finger with a rock, get off a bad arrow shot.....

But today in our fast paced world we must take breathing classes, yoga classes, meditation classes to remind us how to breathe normally, restore us to a more balanced state.  If we just put more balance into our day, sometimes quick sometimes slow, we wouldn't need to make time to remember to breathe correctly we would be living correctly.

But, until that time comes let's talk about how to breathe correctly to help our bodies maintain a more balanced nervous system.

Ideally, we should be breathing in (inhalation)  for a count of 6 and breathing out (exhalation) for a count of 6.  This type of breathing help keep our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems balanced.  Inhalation stimulates our sympathetic nervous system.  It puts or keeps us in fright and flight mode.  Exhalation stimulates our parasympathetic nervous system.  This is the state that allows for rest, digest, repairing of our bodies.  It is also the state that allows our brains to focus and perform more efficiently.  Parasympathetic nervous system allows us to have a steady hand to shoot the arrow, type on a keyboard, throw a dart and hit the bullseye.  When we are too sympathetic we lose fine motor skills.  We are just running for our lives.

If you would like to continuing learning about breathing, Richard P. Brown MD,  has done extensive research and teaches how to breath properly.  He also has several books on the subject.  One of which is called Healing Power of the Breath.
http://www.breath-body-mind.com/richard-brown-md.php



Friday, September 21, 2018

How is that for you?

A question we rarely ask our canine companions.  And why not?  A dog's sense of smell is way better than ours.  A dog has 300 millions olfactory (nose) receptors to sense an odor vs a humans mere 6 million.  The area in the dogs brain that is responsible for processing and analyzing what they smell is 40 times larger than the same area in a human.

12 percent of the air a dog breaths in their nose is diverted directly to the olfactory area in the brain.  The remaining air goes to the lungs for normal breathing.  As humans we don't do that.  All of the air we breathe in goes to our lungs.  It does however pass over a very small specialized olfactory area on the roof of our nasal cavity. 

To put another way, dogs can detect some odors in parts per trillion.  What does that mean? Well, in her book Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz, a dog-cognition researcher at Barnard College, writes that while we might notice if our coffee has had a teaspoon of sugar added to it, a dog could detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water, or two Olympic sized pools worth.  

So, when my dog Spike is happily walking on a trail or down the street and suddenly stops, smells the air and does an abrupt about face to high-tail it out of there, I should have always listened.  But no, I thought I knew more.  I thought he should have "sucked it up" and continued to walk.  I wanted to walk and I didn't see a threat.  I would then try to convince him to walk some more which usually just ended with me being frustrated and disappointed and Spike probably thinking, she is dumb and she doesn't trust me?  It is amazing I have any credibility at all in his eyes.  

I now believe him.  Now I ask him in all situations - How is that for you? Why is that so important?  Well, for one thing I have first and foremost acknowledged that his answer to the question "How is that for you"  is DANGER WILL ROGER'S  DANGER !! Let's get the hell out of here!!  By acknowledging his reaction as real, and not minimizing it, tricking, coaxing, luring him to continue thus reinforcing his belief that  - YOU ARE STUPID AND NOT TO BE TRUSTED,  AND YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME !!  Why then should he ever listen to me if I do not listen to him?  Humm.....  Just because I walk on 2 legs does not make me better or smarter than my 4 legged friend.

I have to admit I am a slow learner ( in my own and probably Spike's eyes) in this regard.  Since I have been acknowledging Spike's reactions as real and then giving him choices, our relationship has really become more solid.   

I am wondering if we all employed this simple consideration in all aspects of our lives how it would be?

If you would like to learn more about this ELEMENTAL QUESTION™ and others to improve your relationship with your canine companion, please go to Suzanne Clothier's website.
See your dog, Elemental Questions™ by Suzanne Clothier

If you would like to learn more on the dog's olfactory functions here is the link to a good article.  Dog's Dazzling Sense of Smell



Sunday, January 14, 2018

Meditation - what does it really do?



I have tried to meditate many times over the years.  The usual sitting in a quiet place either on the floor with my legs crossed and my hands on my knees in the traditional meditation pose or sitting on a chair to maintain good posture. Have even tried laying down to minimize thinking about my body posture.  It does not matter the pose or position, my mind still runs away parading a ticker tape of thoughts, words, pictures across my brain.

I know every one says you must "calm your mind", "follow your breath".  Really?  What does that really mean?  All I wind up doing is criticizing myself for not being able to do this for even 5 minutes.  I get frustrated - Not, relaxed and focused. I walk away feeling worse about myself for not being able to just BE.  I have read many philosophical books on the subject and still no help or what I consider a logical explanation as to the real benefits of meditation, how, why and what actually is occurring in the body as a result of meditation.

I came across an article in the NYTimes by a neuroanatomist. He basically said as you breathe in you are stimulating the sympathetic nervous system and when you breathe out you are engaging the parasympathetic nervous system.  Why is this important you might ask?  The sympathetic nervous system keeps us in a state of fright and flight, ready for action, high cortisol levels. This stresses every system in our bodies as they are on guard and prepared to take action at any moment.  On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system is about rest and digest.  This state allows us to take in information, process it and respond appropriately without the adrenaline rush or cortisol spikes.  So,  your breath out should be twice as long as your breath in to activate and achieve more parasympathetic tone in the body.

Another study talked about how putting yourself into a more parasympathetic state several times a day is more helpful for your heart health than a rigorous aerobic workout.  It is the low part of the aerobic workout, the time after you push yourself to the limit that is the most beneficial.  The lower intensity time of interval training is what is teaching your body and heart to function in parasympathetics.  Imagine that.

Back to mediation.  So,  how does one ignore or get past the ticker tape of information running trough your mind as you are attempting to meditate?  Dr. Daniel Siegel MD in his book Mindsight used the analogy of a wheel to get his point across.  He says that the hub of the wheel is where you want your focus to be and as your mind drifts outward to the rim of the wheel you must bring you attention back to the hub.  It is not about quieting your mind!!!!!  It is about learning how to focus, even in the light of distractions!!!  This was a brilliant concept and finally one that made sense to me.

In a conversation with my sister I had a flash of insight on this subject that seemed to pull it all together for me and hopefully others as well.

During meditation we sit in a chair, on the ground, or lay down so that we have contact with our bodies on a surface.  This contact keeps us grounded and we can use the pressure we feel of that surface to our bodies as a place to bring our attention back to when we start to become distracted by the ticker tape in our mind.  We practice our breath to increase our parasympathetics and decrease the sympathetics.  We can also use our breath as another cue that we can bring our focus back to when our minds start to be distracted.  Again,  this is never about quieting our mind!!!  This is about learning to have control over what we think about.  What we allow our attention to be drawn to.

So,  here is  a story I came up with to explain the process of mediation when I was talking to my sister....

Think of the center of the wheel, the hub as the place where you are feeling your body against a surface or the sound of your breath.  This is a real, tangible feeling that you can always come back to.   Maybe even think of yourself as sitting on a rock.  As we know, that is not a comfortable place to sit and we usually are very aware of it pressing into our body.  We are breathing and can hear our breath as the air passes in and out of our nostrils or mouth.  Great so far.  We think yeah, I can do this!  Then the fairies start to dance around the rock.  Fairies can symbolize the distractions that start to surface and run across your mind.  These distractions can be words, pictures, to do lists....  Now, these fairies can be very distracting.  They can be wearing bold colors,  jumping up and down to gain your attention,  even calling out to you.  This is where you must draw your attention back to that rock where it is pressing into your buttock or the sound of your breath.  Let the fairies dance around.  You have no control over them.  What you do have control over is where you focus your attention.  And that is now on you and the present moment.  Sure, you will keep taking a peek out to see what the fairies are doing next (they are cute little things and very entertaining)  however,  bring your attention back to your rock and your breath.  You did it - you meditated.

This is what we must do in real day to day life.  This practice of meditation enables us to filter or block out distractions and remain in a more parasympathetic state that is not dominated by reactivity, flight and fright but rather a state where we can make clear decisions and appropriate reactions.

I find this to be a much better way of mediation rather than criticizing myself for not being able to tame my mind.