In your busy modern life, have you ever stopped to think about our most instinctive behavior – breathing?
Breath is not only a symbol of life, but also a bridge between body and mind.
But did you know that the wrong way of breathing can be quietly eroding your health?
The book "Breathe, for Healing", written by Dr. Yang Dingyi, unveils the untold secret between breathing and health.
Dingyi Yang, Chinese-American, M.D., Ph.D., Biochemistry from The Rockefeller University-Cornell Medical College in New York, former host of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Cell Biology at Rockefeller University, and a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cancer Institute.
Next, let's explore how to heal your body and mind through breathing.
1. Breathing, do we really understand?
Breathing, the action we perform every moment from birth to death, seems too natural to pay much attention to. However, a profound question lies ahead of us: Do we really understand how to breathe properly? Wrong breathing habits, such as breathing through the mouth, can lead to poor sleep quality, susceptibility to colds, poor sleep, cold hands and feet, and even misaligned teeth. These questions are closely related to the way we breathe.
Nasal breathing, on the one hand, has a filtration function (filters the air through the nasal mucosa and removes pathogens, increasing the humidity of the air), on the other hand, it can also control the amount of gas in and out of a breath to improve the situation of excessive breathing; Nitric oxide produced in the sinuses and nasal cavity also has a vascular-relaxing effect.
The counterpart to nasal breathing is mouth breathing. Mouth breathing, lacking the air filtration of nasal breathing, makes it easier for pathogens to enter the body; In addition, the amount of gas in and out of the mouth is too large, which will cause excessive breathing; It also affects posture and face shape.
If you snore when you sleep, wake up and find that you are drooling, or feel dry in your mouth, teeth and throat, have a bad smell in your mouth, and have no energy all day, then you are likely to breathe more through your mouth when you sleep.
2. Where does the breathing revolution begin?
"Breathe for Healing" gives a solution to heal yourself with the right breathing.
Through years of research, Dr. Yang Dingyi has proposed a series of ways to improve breathing, including adjusting diet, increasing exercise, and improving mental state. The book combines a number of practical cases, such as sleep snoring, daytime fatigue, respiratory infections, etc., and uses data and facts to speak, so that readers can intuitively feel the importance of the correct way of breathing.
3. Specific action plans
So, how do we apply the knowledge from the book to our lives? First, we need to be aware of our breathing habits. Do you often feel tired, or do you have trouble sleeping? It could be that your body is telling you that the way you breathe needs to change. Next, try the following action plan:
- Watch your breathing: Pay attention to whether you breathe through your nose or mouth, and if you breathe quickly or shallowly.
- Learn proper breathing techniques: You can learn how to breathe deeply, especially abdominal breathing, through yoga, meditation, etc.
- Practice before bed: Give yourself a few minutes before you get ready to sleep. Put down your phone, put on the tape, and let yourself get used to the tape and the quiet time. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and then exhale for 8 seconds. Repeat this 4-7-8 breathing technique a few times, and you will soon relax and feel drowsy. At this point, let yourself go and go to sleep.
- Practice the breath of rebirth/four small and one breath, which is very helpful for friends who are traumatized physically and mentally, enter a frozen state, and need to open obstacles. Take 4 short breaths in quick succession, followed by long breaths. No matter how long or short, in and out, keep your nose and breathe. There's no room between inhaling and exhaling, just do it continuously, with each breath being the same, inhale gradually, and then release it abruptly. If you are proficient, you can extend to nine small and one large. Points: Inhale easily and let it go refreshingly. It is recommended to practice for 5 minutes before bedtime. This approach can help us release negative emotions.
With simple breathing exercises, we can have a profound impact on our bodies. Breathing, a seemingly simple action, actually contains great power.
As the book says, "Breathing is the rhythm of life, and the right way to breathe is the first step to a healthy life." ”