“These exercises do a better job moving the lungs than the ones I’ve learned in school!”
~ Charlotte
respiratory therapist, Satori student since 2010 – give or take
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I am happy to report that we are fully recovered and back at it!
A big THANK YOU to all of you for your concerns, and get better wishes.
We spent Easter weekend exploring the backcountry of Jasper on skis.
The temperatures were mild, and breathing the fresh, clear mountain air was just the right kind of therapy for both of us.
The super exciting part was that climbing hills felt much easier this time.
What the heck?
It hasn’t been even a month since we both had Covid.
The only reasonable explanation for this wild and magical development was that we’ve been doing our breathing exercises RELIGIOUSLY ever since Covid hit us about a month ago!
Right now, our breathing practice is aimed at improving the movement of the rib cage. So far, the fringe benefits included smoother digestion, reduced upper body tension (yey shoulders!), deeper sleep, and, yes, an easier time climbing some pretty darn steep hills.
It can be hard even to visualize what full-body breathing looks like.
So if a picture is worth 1000 words, a good video is priceless!
I’ve been sharing this particular video with my students ever since I found it in 2014 on the advice of Clair Diab, the Chopra Center Senior Yoga Yoga Teacher Trainer, to demonstrate the dynamics of full-body breathing.
The only smallish problem is that it is in French (or Italian? I don’t know!)
I thought about narrating it, but the video’s pace was so fast that I would have to speed talk through the entire thing.
Watch the video as it is this week.
It does a fantastic job illustrating how remarkable the human respiratory system is and how intimately our breathing apparatus is connected to everything in our bodies, right down to our eyeballs!
I will unpack the video a lot more next week – watch for body awareness pointers and movement suggestion ideas next Wednesday.
And yes, it is the lower digestive tract you are looking at right now…
Enjoy full-body breathing. Let’s do it together sometime!
Hey, my name is Julia
Living with chronic pain has taught me to look for solutions in unlikely places – places where most people see only problems.
Over the years I’ve gotten to be pretty good at this problem-solving and silver-lining finding thing.
So good that I felt compelled to share what I’ve learned and help others to find their sea legs while navigating, living, and winning their battle with chronic pain.
