Lifestyle Choices

The Body’s Clearing System

While the act of breathing is supplying your cells with the oxygen they need, it is also removing carbon dioxide and wastes from your system. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of oxidation and energy release. If it were allowed to build up it would poison the cells and eventually kill them. So tiny blood vessels carry the waste back to the lungs, where it is eliminated when you breathe out and exchanged for new oxygen when you breathe in. At least that is how it should work.

In most women, however, this vital process of taking in necessary oxygen and eliminating poisonous wastes is neither as efficient nor as complete as it should be. This can be due to many things, from tissue anoxia as a result of a diet too high in fats, from insufficient iron, B12, folic acid, or vitamin E resulting in anemia. But by far the most common cause is simply poor breathing. Most of us use only half our breathing potential and we expel only half the wastes, so in effect we are only getting from oxygen half the support for health and beauty that we should be getting. And because we don’t exhale fully, when we takein new air the old air that is still in the lungs is sucked deeper into the sacs. This means that the oxygen level in the tiny alveoli which supply the body is far lower than it would be if the air they contained were fresh from the outside. Thus the amount of oxygen available to the blood, brain, and nerves, as well as the skin and the rest of the body, is reduced.

From the point of view of skin health and beauty alone, this can matter a lot. Seven percent of the oxygen you take in is used directly by your skin. When skin cells don’t get all the oxygen they need, they are unable to carry out cell division rapidly and efficiently and the elimination of wastes is impeded, which contributes to more rapid aging of the tissues.

Less than optimum levels of oxygen in your body can also affect the functioning of brain and nerve cells. In fact, there is considerable evidence that many of the mental changes usually associated with old age, such as senility and vagueness of thought, as well as certain physical illnesses are the result of too little oxygen being available to the cells, either as a result of limited breathing or blockages in the circulatory system or both. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves giving pressurized and concentrated oxygen, has recently been used experimentally to treat a variety of ailments from osteomyelitis of the spine to brain damage.

Some researchers also believe that the air we breathe may at least be partly responsible for the subtle energy field which surrounds and pervades the bodies of humans and animals and which changes according to their state of health or disease.

On a more simple level, some physicians and therapists such as the late Captain William P. Knowles have had excellent results when treating chronic chest complaints, fatigue, depression, and nervous disorders simply by teaching patients the art of breathing fully. Making changes in the way you breathe or using specific methods of breath control can also help you do a lot of useful things such as increase your vitality, calm your emotions when they are disturbed, and clear an overtaxed mind.

 

The Breath of Emotion

The link between the way you breathe and your emotional state is well established. Not only do your emotions affect your breathing (Remember the last time you were frightened and you gasped for breath? How when you are excited your breathing becomes shallower and faster than usual?), but how you breathe can bring on or turn off emotional states too. Here’s an experiment that shows this: Start to breathe very shallowly so only the shoulders and top of your chest show any signs of movement, and pant in and out quickly for about forty-five seconds. At the end of that time your heart will be pounding and you will have all the feelings of anxiety and fear. Or try it the other way around. The next time you are in a difficult situation and you feel you might lose control, stop. Take three or four long deep breaths from the abdomen and let them out slowly. Then take another look at the challenge. You’ll find your mind and feelings a lot calmer.

The art of normal breathing is something I think every woman concerned with protecting her good looks and preserving her health should know. When your lung capacity is developed and used to the full, you will have more energy, suffer less from fatigue, and be able to think more clearly. It will also make your skin glow with health and your eyes shine. And it is not as difficult as you might imagine. It involves no more than learning a few new habits. Let’s look at four that you can start developing right now. Then we’ll go on to some specific breathing techniques for specific effects.

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