Love Air

I recently read a book written by Dr. Paul Kalanithi, titled “When Breath becomes Air”. The book is about a young doctor doing his fellowship in Neurosurgery, a decade of training. He gets diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and succumbs to the disease. A sad story of a young doctor who dies on the same bed he treated his patients. I spent a lot of time trying to comprehend what the title meant. In my simplistic view I felt that the message was what may be air outside is the gasoline to our body.

For every one of us, this breath will one also one day become air. In our daily lives, like now, our breathing is usually very shallow (chest breathing) and just enough effort to keep us functioning. What if we dedicated some time every day to appreciate this breathing process. To feel our existence with deep breathing exercises, also known as diaphragm breathing . The diaphragm that is located at the base of our lungs is considered the most efficient muscle of breathing. Deep breathing allows you to strengthen the diaphragm. This decreases your breathing rate and oxygen use.

Donna Farhi, has written the medical benefits of deep breathing in her book, “Good health and vitality through essential breath work”. She says the benefits of deep breathing extend beyond in-the-moment stress relief. Many studies have found deep yogic breathing helps balance the autonomic nervous system which regulates the involuntary bodily functions. This releases symptoms of stress related disorders and mental health conditions.

For the past few years, I have following this daily routine. Every morning after I wash up, I sit in a quiet room, back fully erect and eyes closed. You could do this lying down, but it makes me sleepy. I take 60 deep breaths (in and out in a 20 minute time span. The more time you consume for the 60 count, the better. Each breath should be deep into the diaphragm, which encourages full oxygen exchange with carbon dioxide, and not the expansion of the stomach. After the 60 count, I do 10 minutes of meditation.

Meditation is to increase your power of concentration, and is very challenging, but the benefits are unreal. My technique is, I think of a screen in front of me with the 4 words – Om, Namo, Shriman Narayana. I keep repeating these words over and over again for 10 minutes. Easier said than done. It is very challenging when the mind wants to keep wandering.It will be a struggle, but ultimately you will prevail. A simple analogy – think you are stranded on a large island, alone with only a wild horse as a companion. You know that the horse could take you to the other side of the island for help, but it is wild and will not let you mount. The same with your mind. If you train your mind, you will be able to explore areas beyond your imagination.

The benefits of Meditation have been well documented. The practice has been prevalent for many centuries. According to Psychology Today, Neuroscientists in their research, have found that in meditators the stress prone frontal cortex moves to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, depression and anxiety. Also, the Beta waves which process information and are replaced by Alpha waves with are associated with Total Brain Coherence.

You can go for days without eating or drinking water. How long can you go without a breath – half a minute, one minute? This 30 minute routine (for working people) is the best gift you can give your body. I wish all of you the longest consumption of air.