Please take a few minutes for this deep breathing practice:
Remember the number 6 to take this practice with you.
- Inhale, through your nose, slow and controlled for a count of 6
- Hold your breath for a count of 6
- Exhale, through pursed lips, slow and controlled for a count of 6
Repeat this sequence for 6 cycles, or until you feel relief.
CONSCIOUS BREATH GUIDE SERVICES
In-Person Services
New Client
This is an In-Person New Client appointment held at Haven Resort Yucca Valley. At this appointment you will recieve a device to help measure your lung capacity and look for improvements (cost is included in the New Client Fee).
Coaching/Follow-Up
This is an In-Person Follow Up/Coaching session. Must have booked and completed a New Client session before booking this session
Transform Your life with GUIDED breathwork
The Conscious Breath Guide is a wellness program that offers guided breathwork sessions, promoting relaxation, self-awareness, emotional well-being, and overall lung health. Conscious Breath Guide utilizes the transformative power of conscious breathing techniques, guiding individuals towards inner peace and holistic well-being. Implement a new breath practice to your meditation or further your rehabilitation practice. Discover your improvements, and learn a Deep Breathing exercise to add to your healing practice.
CARDIO PULMONARY SYSTEM
YOUR LUNGS & YOUR HEALTH
Why Practice Deep Breathing
Deep breathing doesn't just help to lower anxiety and stress, it helps to improve your mood, focus, posture, and overall well being. A body that is operating with optimal levels of oxygen is an efficient machine, from head to toes. We can use our breath to aid in pain management, by focusing on sending the oxygen rich healing breath to the injured sight and releasing the pain or clearing blockages on exhale. By eating oxygen rich (fresh picked) real foods and lowering the consumption of foods high in additives and preservatives, along with performing optimal breathing techniques we create an environment in which cancer cells fail to thrive..
The practice of Deep Breathing is actually something that our bodies do naturally. When you've been sitting in one place for a while, maintaining a low activity level, you do not require the full capacity of your lungs and so you exhibit what is known as shallow breathing (taking air in at the chest and not all the way through the lungs down to the diaphragm). After a while though, your body will prompt you to take a deep sigh breath to make sure that you are getting air down to the deep parts of the lungs and releasing CO2.
Now imagine sitting in one place, maintaining a low activity level for the better part of a year. Well many lives and lifestyles changed as a result of statewide, national, and global lockdowns. Workplaces closed and, those that could, began working at home. Schools were closed and kids set up their desk at home. Without the need to actually get up and be somewhere outside of the home by a certain time, a lot of hustle was lost. The morning routines became much more lackadaisical. Energy and motivation levels lowered, and anxiety and stress levels rose. This is where the practice of Deep Breathing comes in to aid in the balancing of these highs and lows.
How Does Deep Breathing Work?
Deep Breathing exercises will help to wake up the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs that carry oxygen over to the blood stream from the air you inhale. When the air breathed in reaches the deepest part of the lungs, the Oxygen is passed through the alveoli in to the blood stream. Carbon-dioxide is then released from the bloodstream, into the expanded lung, and released upon exhale. When this natural flow is interrupted for long periods of time, the alveoli will go to sleep. Alveoli live by the creed: "If you don't use it, you lose it." If they hibernate for too long, the body thinks that there is an injury. The natural, or physiological, response to injury in the body is to send fluids to protect the injured site. In the lungs, this results in pneumonia. For example: After being in surgery for several hours (where anesthesiologist lower the breath rate so that it does not interrupt the surgery with movement), it is generally standard protocol for most post-op patients to receive an incentive spirometer to measure their lung capacity and are given instructions to perform the deep breathing exercises at least once an hour while awake. This exercise is actually called alveoli recruitment, and ensures that the patient does not develop pneumonia and will be able to return home and heal faster.
Another physiological effect of hibernating alveoli (and the subsequential fluid in the lungs) is that the heart will start to work harder, because there is a low oxygen count in the body. When there is a low amount of oxygen in the blood stream, the heart is alerted to pump faster to filter the blood through to compensate for the lack of oxygen. If this physiological event is ignored, the devastating side effect is, Cardiac Arrest (heart-attack). You may be wondering why though? The hearts job is to take deoxygenated blood in through the right side of the heart and pump it into the lungs. The blood then flows through the lungs and performs an exchange through the alveoli, where the deoxygenated blood drops of CO2 into the alveoli (to be exhaled), and alveoli in turn trades the CO2 for oxygen and sends it into the blood stream. After the exchange, the lungs pump the oxygenated blood into the the left side of the working heart, where it is then pumped out through the Aorta and dispersed throughout the body to provide an exchange of oxygen for CO2, to bring it back to the heart and start all over. It takes approximately 10 minutes for all of the blood in your body to have completed an entire cycle, with the outermost extremities (the digits[fingers and toes}) receiving the last rounds of exchange. Some of the first symptoms of low oxygen consumption is an experience of coldness at the fingers and toes.
Covid-19: The Respiratory Virus & Anxiety Inducer
ATTENTION: COVID-19 MAY HAVE A DIRECT OR PASSIVE EFFECT
The direct effects of COVID-19 are on those infected with the Respiratory Virus, causing significant injury to the lungs and circulatory system. The passive effects are found in the increased levels of ANXIETY caused by the direct or indirect effects of the globe wide response of this virus.
C19 and Your Lung Health?
COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, immediately going in to attack and set up camp in the lungs. Upon initial symptoms, I highly recommend beginning a deep breathing treatment at least once an hour every hour that you are awake. Even though most infected are Asymptomatic, or have a low severity level of symptoms, it is still important to understand that this is a respiratory virus and that attention and care to the lungs are crucial to obtain a successful recovery, considering the unknown long term effects of this virus.
The reason it is so lethal for smokers, and those with pre-exsisting conditions that involve the circulatory system (ie: heart failure, cardiovascular diseases, obesity), is that smokers already have compromised lungs that are on a constant task of repairing the damage done by all of the toxins inhaled into the lungs in-between use. Add a virus to the battlefield, and the weakened lungs (depending on the amount of abuse [use] and existing damage [alveoli that are dead]) may not have the resources or strength to win the battle. The fast acting virus also increases the response time of fluids into the the injured lungs, and the more fluid, the more damage, and the more damage, the more fluid. The cycle is vicious and unforgiving.
For the effects of someone with a pre-existing condition, you must understand the implications of disease process. Above all, the entire circulatory system is compromised and already struggles to sufficiently deliver oxygen. Insufficient blood pressure, blockages in the blood stream, weakened heart walls and capillaries are put to their max when introduced with a virus that requires the capability of being able to go into overdrive to combat the virus. These weakened states in a patient with pre-exisitng conditions do not offer the strength to withstand the fight. When the virus is introduced into the lungs and interrupts the important process of gas exchange (CO2 & Oxygen) in the alveoli, the circumstances are not promising.
How do Anxiety and Oxygen Consumption go together?
First, lets take look at what defines anxiety, as described by The American Psychological Association (APA) : "an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure."We all have moments where we experience anxiety, or stress, it is part of the natural human experience, a part of our "Fight OR Flight' responses.
With anxiety, we are able to recognize danger and respond accordingly. However, when the "danger" doesn't seem to stop, because it is everywhere we look, when we turn on the tv, look at our devices, go to the store, reminding ourselves to wash our hands, use sanitizer, bring/wear a mask, all while we have been encouraged to stay away from our loved ones and isolate ourselves (humans are social creatures, always have been, always will be). Throw in the fact that many have lost their job, living situation, or even a loved one. The day in day out effects of all of the heightened awareness, that does not seem to show an end to be anywhere in sight, is going to cause a high probability in the experiencing of anxiety at high levels. (I felt my level of anxiety build up as I wrote that. I'm sure it wasn't easy to read either. Please, take a moment to close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths before continuing to read.)
What are some physical side effects of anxiety that are directly related to your lung health and oxygen consumption?
Per The Mayo Clinic:
- Increased heart rate
- Breathing rapidly (hyperventilating)
- Feeling weak or tired
- having trouble sleeping
- experiencing gastroinstestinal (GI) problems
Lets address each of these symptoms as they are physiologically applied to issues in the circulatory system.
Increased Heart Rate does not allow the proper amount of time the blood stream needs to exchange CO2 for Oxygen at the alveoli. This causes a build up of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the blood stream and a low amount of Oxygen. This leads to hyperventilating...
Hyperventilating is incentively due to the build up of CO2. The brain tells the body to release CO2 through exhale, by increasing the rate of breath. To make this happen, the brain triggers an increased heart rate to produce more oxygen. However, because of the increased heart rate, this can mean that the proper amount of Oxygen is not making its way into the bloodstream. The over exertion of heart and breath rate, without the intended payout of gas exchange, then leads to lethargy...
Feeling Weak or Tired is simply due to the poor perfusion (gas exchange) of CO2 for Oxygen at the alveoli, leaving the bloodstream lacking in Oxygen saturation. Not enough oxygen. Low oxygen levels, along with high CO2 levels, leads to an imbalanced PH of the blood stream, and creates an environment in which cancer cells thrive. Having Trouble Sleeping occurs when the body interrupts rest mode when it feels the physiological response of "Fight OR Flight". Increased heart rate, increased breath rate are indicative of this autonomic response. One who is in the "Fight Or Flight" mode will not be able to sleep, as this response refutes the need, to make way for the need to stay alert to potential dangers.
GI Problems, low oxygen consumption in the GI Tract results in an abnormal release pattern. As in the extremities feeling cold or having a blue tint when oxygen is low in the circulatory system, the stomach, intestinal, and colon linings present systems of poor functioning when there is as altered release pattern, which in turn leads to residual issues that fast tract a multitude od disease processes. In the case of loose stool, or stool that is not solid, means that food/fuel isn't being broken down properly, nutrients are not being absorbed. This leads to malnourishment, malnourishment leads to cellular degeneration, and weakened cells are what cancer cells feed on.When it comes to the form of constipation, generally more common due to an over-induced "Fight OR Flight" response, the stool backs up in the tract trapping toxins. The toxins are then absorbed through the tract lining, leading to infection and sepsis (Blood contamination).
One thing I feel is worth mentioning is... STRESS. All of the systems of anxiety may sound familiar if you describe your anxiety as stress. Down the line, they are completely lateral in description, symptoms, and overall outcomes.
Where To Begin Healing?
The best thing you can do to protect your overall health is to make a conscious effort to practice deep breathing. I always advise setting multiple alarms, on the device you keep with you most, to ensure that you are engaging in your practice once an hour, every hour that you are awake. The first day you adhere to this routine, you will be amazed at the level of relief you will experience. By day 3, you will see a significant increase in your overall health; less tension, more stamina, better digestion, restful sleep, improved mood, and so much more to look forward too. A breathing exercise is provided at the top of this page, take it with you and do your best to committing to it for a day, see how you feel and go for the 3 days. This is where you begin, what comes after that will have you inspiring others to heal themselves to feel their best. I promise, you won’t regret it. You’re worth it.