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The Perfect Mixture – Breath Blog

“No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are-none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly.”Breath, by James Nestor

Scientists have determined how special the circumstances had to be to create the perfect mixture of elements we know as air. Once the Earth cooled enough to have water on its surface the first signs of life came in the form of a bacteria known as cyanobacterium. At the time the air was still too toxic, much like Mars or Venus’ atmosphere, for human consumption. Fungi also played a critical role in the growth of our atmosphere by mining phosphorus from rocks, transferring it to plants to amplify plant life through the phenomenon of photosynthesis. As you may recall photosynthesis is the way plants use carbon dioxide, sunshine and water to produce food for themselves with oxygen as a byproduct of the process. With the growing diversity of plant life the Earth’s atmosphere continued its transformation into the stable substance we ALL now consume to provide human life. 

With the perfect mixture in place the dynamics of human life evolved. From the trees to the plains to communities to cities, we continued to spread all over the Earth becoming the dominant species on Earth. All because of the perfect mixture of air. Now this mixture holds its properties due to the symbiotic relationship we share with all the life around us, primarily with the plant species. It is plants having the capability to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen that affords us this gentle breathable elixir of life. Colorless and odorless the air we breathe cannot be seen yet we ALL know it is there otherwise there would be no us. 

It is quite possible that the air we breathe is the most crucial resource provided to us by our home planet. Wilderness experts often refer to the Rule of 3 when discussing the most important resources for survival. The rule of 3 states that one can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. It is well documented that every cell in the human body operates at its best when oxygen is available. Equally important, these cells operate optimally when the greatest toxin produced in the human body is excreted with efficiency. Carbon dioxide is the greatest toxin produced by the human body. Carbon dioxide is produced by every cell in the body as the byproduct of cell life, much like exhaust is the byproduct of energy production in automobiles.

In this moment, you are taking advantage of this very fact as your eyes are receiving the words from the screen and interpreting them in the back of the brain into words that you comprehend. All of the cells involved in that process from photoreceptors in the eyes to neurons in the visual center utilize oxygen to function while producing carbon dioxide as the “exhaust.” Interestingly, there is a center in the brain known as the respiratory center located in the brain stem responsible for altering the rhythm and volume of the breath. The respiratory center is part of a larger system involving specialized sensors throughout the body which relay information regarding how much carbon dioxide is building up. It is this higher reported amount of carbon dioxide that triggers humans to breathe. 

There is a question I ask every person I work with, “Who taught you how to breathe?” I usually get a look of wonder. Truth is no one teaches us how to breathe. From the moment we arrive at birth our first breath is merely the waking of the respiratory system. A system that functions throughout life unconsciously until one decides to begin to better understand the breath. Conscious breathing is the act of paying attention to the breath with the intention of finding ways to increase awareness as in the act of breathing meditation. However, conscious breathing can serve many purposes. For athletes, it is a means of regulating emotions, enhancing performance, improving social relationships, improving focus and concentration along with many other benefits.

At QHP, we believe the breath plays a vital role in wellness. The breath serves as the gateway to an ancient part of the human nervous system known as the autonomic nervous system. Most people understand this system associated with the fight, flight or fawn response. Conscious breathing has been used by our ancestors to learn how to manage the nervous system. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher living 2500 years ago, was recorded saying “what has to be taught first, is the breath.” The breath is the gateway to managing the sympathetic nervous system, yet perhaps more importantly as the path to the unconscious mind. More on this later.

Anxiety, a psychophysiological condition rising in society today, may very well represent a mismanagement of the respiratory system at its core. You see humans are threat detecting systems constantly analyzing the environment for threats. When one suffers with anxiety it is understood that from a breathing dynamic they fall under the category of over breathing. More acutely, mouth over breathing in a shallow pattern and at times holding the breath as a result of panic. I use the case of anxiety as an example of how breathing impacts the physical body and the mind to magnify how breathing impacts each of us. When stress hits any of us there is a tendency for breathing patterns to shift.

A shallow breathing pattern into the upper lungs is the predominant feature. The lungs are narrow at the top widening toward the bottom with the greatest exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide occurring at the bottom. If one breathes shallow, rapid breaths into the upper lungs then one loses a great deal of efficiency. Carbon dioxide builds up further complicating the matter which can impact mood, behavior and actions. Deep diaphragm breathing is a primary tool we teach to help with breathing efficiency. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle located under the lungs. When properly trained it is responsible for 70% of human breathing ability. Unfortunately, due to stress, posture and lifestyle it is estimated that 50% of the US population is mouth breathing into the upper lungs. 

Our breathing program is designed to harness the power of the breath. The techniques we teach empower the individual to gain mastery over actions, such as diaphragm breathing on the way to breathing with full lung capacity. The breathing program is part of the foundation we create during the Fundamentals program which is carried forward when we cross the threshold of the body mind connection during the second 8 week program. The importance of the breath cannot be overstated when it comes to overall wellbeing. Learning the dynamics of the breath creates the platform for a continuous process toward the best possible version of you. Take a moment now to simply sit back and appreciate this perfect mixture that we ALL share in common. An invisible gift we use between 20,000 and 30,000 times a day. Something done so often deserves our conscious attention.

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January 15, 2024
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