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A better mind, body, and soul in ONE simple step!

Let’s talk about deep breathing and the most vital and basic of necessities, AIR. Did you know that most people only consider FOOD and WATER as basic nourishment? And given a choice between eating food and drinking water, most will point to eating as primary or use food only to define nourishment. That’s insane! That’s inane! That’s lame! Besides, that’s only 1/3 correct! Let’s start to think holistic now.

Of our three, water is more important than food; however, what is more important than water? Well, AIR! Let me explain.

If you consider AIR, WATER, and FOOD, you can rank the importance of each based on the interval of time you can go without them. So, importance is inversely proportionate to the amount of time you can go without either AIR, WATER, or FOOD, which is to say that the longer you can go without something, the less important it is. Conversely, the less time you can go without something, the more important it is. That’s just called survival!

If AIR and WATER are so doggone important, why does FOOD get all the hype? Why does food get center stage and the rock star, lead-singer glam life and air and water play drums and bass? Well the answer is simple: we live in a food culture! Food can be plated, combined, roasted, toasted, poached, fried, carved, juiced, burnt, seared, combined with other food to create an unlimited amount of culinary delights. Food is also planted and cultivated by our own hands and represents something uniquely human that provides a wonderful context to the story of our evolution and conditional relationship to the land. Air and water are best served in their pure, unadulterated forms, not always with food.

Anything that the imagination can serve, food can be imagined to serve. 🙂

Air and water are simple molecular structures each with a singular definition, which makes them so primal! Food, on the other hand, cannot be so easily defined. We need a complex array of chemical categories and subcategories to define food beyond ‘nourishment’ and that’s what often makes food cultural. Food science, if you didn’t know, involves a fair amount of chemistry. Thank goodness for that, to be honest because we all love to eat! Another point to consider is the tongue. Yes, that’s right I said the tongue. If you think about it the tongue is an amazing piece of evolutionary technology that allows food to be tasted and savored in all of its potential complexities.

However, we are not here to praise the epicurean delights of food, there are thousands of television shows, websites, and restaurants to do that! What is of concern to us is AIR vis-à-vis the health benefits of deep breathing.

Anyone that knows me knows that I love instrumental music! From drum and bass, to house, to electronica I have always loved music that has that deep, driving, electric sound. There is no shortage of ironies here in that I styled AIR and WATER as the instrumental parts of the band (drum and bass), sans vocals! Food for thought, no pun intended.

Of the three, AIR is the most important for us. I want to share a quote from a book that sums up the importance of deep breathing and air eloquently and lucidly.

“Every part of our body is composed of many trillions of tiny cells. It is through breathing that oxygen is carried to these cells by the bloodstream. No red blood cells can be built without oxygen.

A single cell could be compared to a toy balloon. Inflate it with air and it is firm, young, ready to lift into the skies. But let the balloon develop a leak, and it soon loses its tone, begins to shrivel, finally sinking wearily to the ground.

It is the same way with an individual, minute body cell. Unless provided with sufficient oxygen, it becomes depleted, tired, and lifeless. As a result, the whole body begins to lose its youthfulness and vitality.

Actually oxygen is more important than food; without enough oxygen, food cannot be changed into nourishment the body demands. One can exist without food for a considerable time. Without air life ceases in minutes.

Blood feeds cells, organs, glands, nerves, tissues, hair, teeth, bones, skin, and nails. If we have healthy oxygenated blood, we can count on a body resistant to infection and illness.”

Source: Carter, Mildred and Tammy Weber. 1994. Body Reflexology: Healing at Your Fingertips. New York: Penguin. Page 129, 130.

It only takes a few minutes! Sit up straight, feet on the floor, close your eyes and breathe in through the nose! Hold a few seconds! Release through the mouth! Repeat!

Feel your body getting stronger as you breathe in, imagine yourself strong, imagine yourself wealthy, happy, confident, where you want to be. Clear out all the negative and refocus your mind!!! This quick meditation is your RESET BUTTON for your current situation. Stop negative momentum, take control of your thoughts and emotions, and through a quick deep breathing exercise create positive momentum. Our Universe was not created to be difficult, but EASY and FUN!

I also touch on this subject in my article: Finally Revealed: The Secret to Successful Visualization Unlocked!