Bought it and Breathing

[Monkey]

So I bought the Z HEalth Package on line and now I wait for delivery.

Been looking at the archives for articles on breathing and wondered if anyone could help me on....


Breathing when doing nothing (or a t least nothing strenuous) what sort of breathing should I be utilising and what is the ideal breath per minute rate.

Breathing during exercise (Cardio) is this performaance breathing and is it covered in the Z-Health Series?

Any help appreciated. ANy UK guys tell me how long delivery has been on products?

Monkey

[Cilian McHugh]

Within a week sometimes

[Ken Harper]

Monkey:

There are all kinds of breathing exercises and all kinds of resources, either on line or at a library.

First,


Breathing when doing nothing (or a t least nothing strenuous) what sort of breathing should I be utilising and what is the ideal breath per minute rate.


It all depends on what kind of "nothing" you're doing.

I'd suggest starting with The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. He teaches very simple practices for becoming aware of your breathing.

There are a number of breathing exercises/protocols in the Z-Health Package, including Perf. Breathing, although it may not be called that. My simple-minded explanation of "performance breathing" is to simply exhale explosively (think of clinching your stomach as you do it) & let the inhalation happen. Once you've become aware of how you breathe doing nothing, try becoming aware of your breathing when you're doing "something," no matter what it is.

There are different breathing protocols that will produce different effects: inhaling through the nose for a specified count (say 8); holding the breath for a specified count (8, 16, 24, etc.); explosively exhaling w/o consciously inhaling for a count; and then not breathing for a count. Then starting the whole cycle over. You can check for resources on the yogic practice of pranayama, which involves similar protocols where you alternate closing one nostril.

These are just starters until the Z-Health Package arrives. Then you'll learn all about breathing, structure, and alignment, etc.

Ken

[Monkey]

Ken,

Thanks for that.

One of my weaknesses is my impatience, when I decide to do something then waiting really drives me crazy.

Hoping to get the Z Health this week, looking forward to seeing it.

Take care and thanks again.

ATVB

Monkey

[James Boelter]

Suggestion: the basics of 'performance breathing' can be found in the 'control pause' where you hold the expelled breath with empty lungs for a few seconds before relaxing and letting the diapragm and belly pop back out. This is also the foundation of a very important yogic/buddhist breath meditation. To wit: the idea is that the mind tends to begin a new thought with the beginning of the 'in' portion of the breath. To wait at the end of the exhalation cycle of respiration is to allow the mind a chance to experience stillness and calm.

The application is very simple. Let the breath out (or expel it out with ab and obliques) to a level which is comfortable (mostly empty). Then wait a few heartbeats before you begin the inhale. DON'T lock your throat or tense your chest or do anything else to keep the air in...simply wait for a few seconds in a relaxed manner until it seems time to relax and let the diaphragm and belly 'rebound' down/out and the air is effortlessly sucked in (preferably through the nose). As you repeat the cycle, you will find the length of time you can 'rest' before inhaling (and the length of the the exhale) increasing considerably (by a factor of 3-5 times) until you are easily inhaling only 2-3 times a minute. With this slow, restful rhythm, you will probably find that your thoughts have slowed considerably with it and your stress levels have also dropped.

This is a very basic method, but it is a foundational one, and can serve you very well. See Coach Sonnon's expansions on these ideas in 'Be Breathed' and one of the volumes in 'Maximology' for explanation and fulling in many of the implications of this technique.

Good luck, and happy training!