by Stephen Lau
All centenarians have at least two things in common: they all breathe deeply and slowly(i.e. correct breathing); they get their solar energy from green food and salubrious sunshine. Clean air and sunshine provide for healthy living and a healthy lifestyle.
Correct breathing
You began life with a long, deep breath that was your first breath of life. Some day you will take your last breath, a loud gasp, before you end your life.
Breathing gives you invisible food. Oxygen from your breathing is transported through blood, providing each and every one of the cells and organs in your body with invisible food. Therefore, breathing right is important for healthy living. But what gives life, ironically enough, also brings about death. In the process of breathing, toxins in the form of carbon dioxide are also released in exchange for the life-giving oxygen derived from your breathing.
If your intake of oxygen is surpassed by the outgo of carbon dioxide, your health will be adversely affected. This may be due to the quality of air your breathe in, and wrong breathing techniques. So, it is important to breathe right at all times. Don’t take breathing for granted. You must breathe right for healthy living.
How to breathe right
To breathe right, you need to breathe deeply and slowly, that is, diaphragmatic breathing, which makes your belly and diaphragm move noticeably– like a baby.
Sit comfortably in a relaxed mode, with your feet on the floor and you hands on your stomach.
Breathe in slowly through your nose on a count of five, while gently pushing your hands up on your stomach.
- Hold your breath for a count of five.
- Breathe out through your nose also on a count of five, while pushing your hands down on your stomach.
- Repeat. Allow your eyes to close as your breath deepens so you belly begins to rise and fall.
Begin with five to ten minutes of deep breathing at a time, several times a day until you breathe right, or breathing becomes second nature to you.
To breathe right is to be mindful of your breaths. Avoid the pitfalls of taking rapid, small, upper-body breaths, which will starve your body of oxygen. Deficiency in oxygen disturbs the balance of acidity and alkalinity (known as pH levels in your blood) — a source of disease. Always breathe right for healthy living.
Healthy sunshine
Your body is designed for exposure to sunlight through your eyes and your skin. Your pineal gland, which governs your endocrine system, responds directly to light and to darkness. Inadequate sunshine may trigger an episode of mental depression.
The sun is a great healer: its eternal sunshine not only gives you solar energy which kills germs, but also provides you with vitamin D, which is good for your bones.
Gentle sunshine at dawn and at dusk not only soothes your nervous system smoothing out your stresses and strains of daily life, but also contributes to vision health. However, sunbathing should be done slowly and gradually. Sunshine should be a stimulant and a toner, never a tanner. Let gentle sunshine massage your skin and relax your body and mind. Give yourself a dose of sunshine in the early morning or late afternoon for healthy living.
In addition, eat sun-soaked food, such as green plants, capturing the tonic solar energy in the form of chlorophyll, which is essentially sunshine at its best.
However, the sun is also photo aging because its UVA and UVB rays can cause irreparable damage to your skin by promoting free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules capable of damaging cells. Free radicals can age you:
- They are responsible for the reduction of collagen (protein under your skin), causing your skin to become thin and loose.
- They accelerate the release of copper and iron from your skin cells, promoting the growth of more free radicals.
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
The content of this page cannot be copied or reproduced in any form without the author’s permission.
