at the risk of some genius replying:

step 1: breathe in

step 2: breathe out

step 3: repeat steps 1&2 as long as necessary

Breathing to me is not exactly a no-brainer. I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. One of the great things about running (or any great cardio activity I suppose) is the heavy breathing (please... I'm trying to make a point here ). I feel invigorated after a run. Part of this, I'm sure, has to do with the way I breathe during the run.

When I do other activities like sitting here visiting with you in the Orchard or even playing my drums or guitar I notice that I don't breathe very well. I have to remind myself to take cleansing breaths (breathe deeply a few times). Yoga, I think, seems to focus on the activity of breathing.

Anyhoo, this thread is about breathing... thoughts?

i studied classical voice for many years...13 in fact, and so i usually have pretty good posture and breathing techniques.

funny thing is, people often don't realize how important breathing truly is. although yoga is getting pretty popular, it hasn't reached much outside of the *yuppie* circles.

i don't know...i sometimes find myself not using the proper techniques for breathing. i also was told at the age of 20 (when i interviewed for the cincinnati conservatory) that i did not know how to breathe and was too old to learn. that's ok...i like musical theater better than opera anyway.

"too old" to learn how to BREATHE???

i practice yoga, and the breath is the central, most important thing. if you're struggling in a pose or your cardio is going too high etc. for your breath to keep up in a deep, even, long way, you're supposed to drop into downward dog or even child's pose until your breath is deep/even again. vinyasa is there the movement follows the breath (not the other way around).

i was reading an interesting article about breath and the sounds that you hear at the beginnings and ends of long breaths, and they are tied to sanskrit words etc. i forget the details, but it's considered the universal mantra.

The words are "Hong Sau". A google will lead you to many theories, papers, books, and meditations.

One of my parting salutations, esp. amid stressful situations, has always been,
"Don't forget to breathe"
~m

I'm a long-time runner, and over the years have developed a very mechanical and efficient method of breathing during runs. It steps up or down with pace in terms of frequency, but its form doesn't change.

When cycling, I find that same breathing method to be useless... cyclists "dog breathe," and it's so very different.... I find that I'm either killing myself on the bike trying to breathe hard, or killing myself trying to breathe at all. It's a learning curve.... I need to learn to 'lose' the pattern when I'm on the two-wheeler.

I studied Aikido for a few years, where every single technique should be executed in one exhalation, one power explosion from the core of the body. A loud out rush of air matched with a fluid motion, start to finish. And the breath was the key to it all.

And then I meditated for years (and keep saying I want to begin again... I'm so slack). That was just sitting on a cushion, eyes out of focus, counting breathes to ten and then starting again, or starting over when any stray thought enters my mind. Just the breath. In, 1, out, 2. In, 3... that there was nothing, anywhere, at all, other than that... one... breath.

So, breathing, yes... important stuff. Not to mention I turn very unflattering shades of blue when I stop doing it altogether.

I'm definitely in favor of breathing as well. I'm a big fan of hyperventilation myself. That's what keeps us going in the world of management!

And hippies! And New Agers! And one helluva lotta dancers of all cultural backgrounds....

I've had bronchitis thirteen times, pneumonia twice, and half a dozen referrals to asthma clinics which always conclude I don't have asthma. I also sing and play soprano and alto recorders to some amateurish-but-adulty extent. Air is precious.

Mmm, yeah. I've been diagnosed with asthma by a couple docs, then told by others that I don't have athsma. I wish they would make up their minds.
Regardless, my lungs are not as good as some. I did some reading a few months back which states that many infants who have surgery develop breathing problems - due to something about formation of the lungs and the oxygen masks used during surgery and a few other things. If this is the case, that would totally explain my lungs - considering i had several surgeries when I was a baby - one of which was almost right after I was born.