8 Weird and Wonderful Facts About Breathing

I’ve been using breathing practices to help my recovery from surgery.  There are many easy practices I can turn to when I want to feel calm, grounded, more connected or more balanced.  And to help my body work more efficiently.  It really works. Over the years of mindful yoga and meditation practice, I’ve become very aware of and very interested in breathing.

So let me ask you this…when was the last time you actually noticed your breath?   

Breathing is something many of us take completely for granted.  We do it automatically without thinking and usually without awareness.  And yet...breathing is absolutely vital to our survival.
 
Breath is life.  It is a living energy and active force within our being.  Every single cell in our body requires the oxygen we breathe to function properly.   Our brain needs a great deal of oxygen each second to process information. Our organs need it to function efficiently. The ability to think, feel, move, eat, sleep and even talk all depend on energy generated from oxygen. And the only way to get oxygen to all those cells is by inhaling and exhaling.   And efficient breathing can greatly impact our well-being in many ways.

Breath connects us directly to the environment that creates the oxygen we breathe, the forests and the oceans.  And it connects us to all other beings.  Think about it - we are all breathing the same air!

And breath is at the heart of every form of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practice.  We move to the pace of our breath during yoga practice, using it to connect with our body and our mind.  We use our breath as a focal point during meditation, as an anchor to ground us in the present moment.  Our breath can take us to places we aspire to go, it can be a portal to higher awareness. 

For all these reasons, I am really interested to be aware of my breath and to know how to use it to to consciously change my energy levels and shift my emotions.  So this month I’ll be offering you some insights, tips and practices to help you harness the power of your breath. 

If you’re like me and want to learn more about how your breathing process actually works, have a look at this: The Science of Breathing.  

And to start the month off, for a short takeaway, here are 8 Weird and Wonderful Facts about Breathing to offer you a new appreciation of this miraculous, life-giving process.

1. Breathing is the only physiological process that we can control...or not control.  We can just let it be, let the body breathe on its own.  Or we can consciously change it and use it to impact our energy levels and our emotions.
   
2. The nasal passage has an alternating cycle.  The dominance of one nostril, or clearest path for the breath, switches from left to right every 90 minutes or so.  It may help to regulate body temperature.  It has been suggested that this alternation is influenced by the sun and the moon.  So perhaps we could say that the alternating nasal cycle is a way our bodies stay balanced and connected to the Earth’s natural rhythms.
   
3. The nose gets erections. The nasal passage is lined with erectile tissue, similar that of the genitals, that can engorge with blood and cause the nasal passage to congest.  This is what causes the nasals to alternate.
   
4. Nasal mucus is the body’s first line of defence. Much more than just a passageway for air flow, the nose performs approximately 30 different functions including filtering dust particles, viruses, bacteria and other foreign bodies before they can get into the lungs. If you are a mouth breather, you bypass this filter and just breath all those nasties in.  Are you a mouth breather or a nose breather?
   
5. Your lungs have up to 500 million alveolito exchange life-giving oxygen for carbon dioxide. Every single cell in our body is fueled by converting oxygen to carbon dioxide.  And the purpose of breathing is to inhale vital oxygen into the lungs where it is exchanged through the thin membranes of the alveoli into the blood (the transport system) and exchanged for carbon dioxide (the byproduct of energy metabolism) which is releases as we exhale. This all happens in the alveoli, the microscopic pockets at the very bottom of our bronchial trees. And this is why it’s so important to breath efficiently in order to get the oxygen down to the place where it’s used.
   
6. Breathing is linked to weight loss.  It’s true!  As you lose weight, your body converts fat to carbon dioxide which is released from the body through exhaling.  Plus, breathing exercises can help lower stress hormone such as cortisol, a hormone linked to increased appetite and fat storage.   So a practice such as diaphragmatic breathing can be a good compliment to exercise when you are looking for weight loss.
   
7. Your lungs are your body’s biggest waste removal system. In fact breathing expels approximately 70% of the body’s waste in the form of carbon dioxide.
   
8. Your lungs can hold up to 6 litres of air, but we only use about 10% of our lung capacity for regular breathing.  And some air never leaves your lungs.  There’s always a small amount of air to keep the small passageways and the alveoli from collapsing and to make breathing easier.  

TRY THE THREE-PART YOGIC BREATH, also called Dirga Pranayama, learn more HERE.  Dirga Pranayama is the Sanskrit name for the complete, three-part yogic breath. It's a simple deep breathing technique that requires little training and provides immediate benefits such as reduced anxiety and stress, increased relaxation and sense of calmness. This technique is often used at the start of a yoga or meditation session to help you settle into the practice, to focus, be more grounded and present. But it can be done anywhere, any time.  It's an ideal practice to get that precious oxygen deep into your lungs where it needs to be.