Obesity And Breathing Techniques
March 17, 2009
OBESITY & BREATHING TECHNIQUES
The process of breathing should be dovetailed or taught right from the childhood stage. Improper or incorrect breathing habits lead to complicacies later on.
BREATHING & COMMUNICATION: INTERLINKED
Breathing is also a part and parcel of the communication process. Since a vital part of communication is the use of sound or phoneme (that is produced by the disturbance of air (made of various gases and dust particles), we need to manipulate the air.
Languages (communication media having grammar) or dialects (those communication media that do not have grammar) are either phonetic (when the alphabets represent the sounds) or non-phonetic (when the alphabets do not represent the sounds on a one-to-one basis). For example, the Modern
Indian Languages (MIL) are phonetic languages whereas English, French ” to mention just two” are non-phonetic.
The phonetic languages use both the ingressive as well as the egressive (the in-breath) air. The non-phonetic languages use only the egressive (the out-breath) air.
Proper knowledge of breathing aids the proper articulation of the phonemes (sounds) of a particular language.
WHAT IS BREATHING?
We have been breathing right from the embryonic stage. Breathing includes inhalation (ingressive air/in-breath) and exhalation (egressive air/out-breath).
Inhalation constitutes the process of breathing in oxygenated air into the lungs while exhalation refers to the process of pushing out the used or the deoxygenated air from within the lungs.
WHY DO WE NEED TO CONTROL BREATHING?
Let’s ask a simple question to ourselves.
Do we at all breathe consciously or do we resort to control breathing?
The answer is: NO!
Breathing has been degraded into an involuntary physical process. We rarely feel it.
However, breathing should be a conscious process.
WHAT ARE BREATHING EXERCISES?
Breathing exercises are deliberate attempts to control exhalation and inhalation. Carried on in a systematic manner and in a rhythmic process, breathing is the best way to not just rejuvenate the body but also to purge the body of the accumulated waste substances. This is particularly effective with reference to the lungs.
Breathing exercises have been in use in yogic centres, martial arts training schedules and also in meditation classes.
The most wonderful part of the breathing exercises is that it does not cost any money. One can do the breathing exercises with the help of one’s limbs.
Just the thumb and the first finger can be the means to do the breathing exercises. There is another set of breathing exercises called ‘kapal bhatti’ where one simply needs to breathe out very fast and in quick succession in a set of six-eight times once daily.
There have also been revelations in the Oriental treatises that breathing can also help in determining the sexes of the offsprings at the conception stage.
TRADITIONAL TOMES ON BREATHING
Traditional yogic tomes besides the practitioners of Oriental martial arts have demonstrated that breathing is a vital mechanism of our lives.
Breathing purges out the obnoxious materials accumulated within our bodies. It starts right from the lungs.
The lungs contain hundreds of sacs that store the oxygenated air to be transported into various cells and also the deoxygenated air that is purged out by the cells.
Remember our bodies are magnificent machines well oiled and programmed to resolve all issues and conflicts. All the body needs is good supervisor.
That superintendent is your brain. Yes! It is your mind that matters!
THOUGHT MAKES YOU WHAT YOU ARE
If you think you are old, you are! If you believe that you are obese, you are!
And, if you firmly believe that you’re utilizing your excess fat repositories, say on your tummies, triceps, thighs, chins, cheeks and the sides of your bodies, you are definitely doing a service to yourself.
That’s absolutely correct.
The moment your mind thinks that you are old your body will follow suit. In other words your body language, voice and actions will reflect that aspect.
What if you are 60 years old but always think that you are as fit as a fiddle. Your personality will show those qualities.
So, what are talking of? It is called mind training.
Everything is in your mind.
So change your mindset.
Begin with the way you see yourself.
