Breathe

Hello, it's another morning post from me! I woke up early today to attend my last online class for a Buteyko breathing course. In fact I've been waking up early on Saturday mornings for the past 7 Saturdays for this full course. It's been an interesting course so far and now I have learned a new knowledge about breathing heh. And I hope I can incorporate this into my life forward.

Personally I've always been intrigued with the human breath. As an avid meditator, I've learned to watch my breath. And ever since then I've always been interested with this mechanism of the human body that really keeps us alive. And when you think about it, our breath is one of the things we can consciously control. We cannot control our heartbeat, the movement of our organs or the firing of neurons. But we can control our breath. So there's something special and intriguing about it.

I've actually tried doing the Wim Hof method last year. It's also a powerful exercise, but this year I came across the Buteyko breathing training and I'm interested about it too. They're kiiiiind of similar, I mean both involve the control of our breathing but yeah different methods. I took the basic course back in April and have been practising it since then. It's only back in September that I joined the full course. The full course has more options and also deeper training as well.

So according to some studies and people sharing their experiences with the method, it is deemed to have the ability to improve our well being, and even improve some conditions (like asthma etc). The interesting thing is that.... Perhaps why and how I can get through Covid without any severe symptom, is this breathing method that I've been practising? It might be one of them.

I mean okay apart from me eating a plant-based diet, drinking turmeric water everyday, practising Buteyko, taking cold shower in the morning. I believe one of these habit (or all of them) definitely contribute to my prognosis. Okay I'm no expert in explaining how Buteyko helps in the improvement of the immune system or something like that but it has to do with one simple thing: breathing through our nose. It has shown to have many benefits. Like increasing Nitric Oxide intake!

And there are lots of studies showing how Nitric Oxide is a powerful gas that helps to fight infection. So yeah maybe it does help with my infection. Nevertheless I definitely want to make this a part of my daily life. Even though I'm not gonna practise it as often as when I began the course.

Alright that's all from me now. Special thanks to Pak Gobnd and Bu Adel for the course and teachings! If you're interested please check Buteyko method out. Hope you can give it a try too.

Isolation Journal Day 24

Decided to do the Isolation Journal again for day 24! This is something close to my heart.

Isolation Journal Day 24 by Colleen Farrell:

Because breathing is essential for life, it touches every part of our existence. What does it mean to you to breathe? When was the last time you really noticed your breath? What were you doing? Was there ever a time when you realized you had taken your breath for granted?

The human body is a beautiful machine. How each breath gives life to keep this machine going. As an avid practitioner of meditation for 6 years now, breathing has become an essential part of this daily routine of mine. The more I meditate the more I realise how much we've taken our breaths for granted at times, and how truly precious our breath is. And how often humans forget how precious this simple yet amazing mechanism of breathing is. Like today's prompt goes, when was the last time we're conscious of our own breath? And I always try my best to incorporate this awareness to other activities of my day like filling my glass with water, when I look up at the sky and so on.

Even though I've been meditating daily for years now, noticing my own breath every time, one event truly changed my life forever - witnessing death.

Two years ago I lost my aunt and my grandma. It was the first time in my life that I ever witnessed someone dying. As my family members and I surround them, I notice how their breathing slowed down gradually. Until we heard the long beep. And how their chest push the air our for one last time, and not moving up again. Surprisingly it was a peaceful moment to be in, even though we panicked to the nurses, whom we deeply know can never bring them back to life.

As I witnessed that moment, it felt as if all of my aunt's and grandma's life culminated in that gush of air their lungs pushed for the very last time. And in that moment, a lifetime seems so short, yet that moment felt like an eternity to me. Witnessing death has really changed my life. In that moment I realised how truly precious each of our breath is. And how often we forget this blissful fact.

Sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I just simply take a deep breath. And I tell myself.

You're still breathing. You're still here. Keep going.

Take care and stay safe everyone!