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Hi, it's Nick. Welcome back to another episode of The Breathing 411. Let's jump straight into this week's four thoughts. The first one is titled, "A Humorous Breathing and Mindful in His Practice." And here is a quote, "I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it." End quote. And that is the writer and cartoonist Frank A. Clark is where that quote came from that I found on our website about funny quotes or laughter quotes. And this is a perfect quote, "breathing in mindfulness practice we can try." First, we use mindfulness, right, to find some humor in a problem to remind ourselves it's a small problem overall, right, and to find some humor in it. That problem we can't solve that is. And then number two, we use breathing to laugh at ourselves and at the problem. That might be the most effective breathing in mindfulness practice ever created unintentionally, right? So give it a try next time you run into a problem you can't solve, try to find some humor, try to laugh at it and enjoy watching it dissolve pretty quickly. And if not, it's still better than the alternative, right? So with that, let's move on to thought number two, which is how to live well, loving attention in the breath. And here is a quote, "Living well therefore is merely a game of learning how to steer our energy toward life. It requires us to direct our loving attention toward the pulse that ebbs and flows within us, finding the precise rhythm of how that energy moves and immersing ourselves in it. When we do so, life comes alive." And that is Gladys McGarry MD from one of my favorite books, if not my favorite book ever written, The Well Lived Life. Such a good book. If you haven't read it, go read it. And what better way to, quote, "direct our loving attention toward the pulse that ebbs and flows within us," end quote, than with, you guessed it, conscious, deliberate, right, mindful breathing. That is literally what mindful breathing is. As John Cabot-Zinn says, tuning into the breath, quote, "Immediately anchors our awareness in the body in a fundamental rhythmic flowing life process," end quote. So that's our reminder to direct our loving attention toward the pulse that ebbs and flows within us through mindful breathing. And that can be our ticket to living well, as Gladys McGarry says. And with that, we will move on to thought number three, which is titled, "The first step towards self-regulation." And here is a quote, "But one of the best reasons to breathe through our nose as a regular practice and as a mindful practice is that it helps us to slow and regulate our respiratory rate." This is the first step towards self-regulation. End quote. And that is Eddie Stern from another one of my favorite books. This one's an audiobook only titled, "Healing Through Breathing." Such a good book. If you haven't listened to that, it's a short one and just packed full of wisdom on the breath. So go get it. And this is the first step towards self-regulation, right? Breathing primarily through our nose. This one step helps us to slow down and to regulate our breathing, which I probably need to do now, right? Slow down a little bit. Good talking so fast, which then helps us slow down and regulate our mind and body. I love that. So thank you, Eddie. And remember, that's it. There's a lot of things after that, right? But the first step is simply nasal breathing. And with that, we will move on to the fourth and final thought. It is titled, "You are still carrying her." And it is a Buddhist story that I found in advice not given, which was written by Mark Epstein M.D., and it is about two monks crossing a river. Here is the story. Quote, "The two men come upon a young woman who is having trouble getting to the opposite shore. One of the monks, despite his vows to never touch a woman, picks her up and deposits her on the other side of the water. As they continue on their way, the other monk, the one who has kept his vows and not touched her, can't stop chastising his overly benevolent friend." "How could you do that?" he asks. "You know touching a woman is against our vows, and you were holding her." "I put her down long ago," replies the first monk. "You are still carrying her." "That's it. Let that sink in." Read it a few times. "I have my ideas of what it means to me, but you can find and discover what it means to you." "That is so good. I put her down long ago. You are still carrying her." "So, so good to contemplate." And yeah, amazing. All right, with that, that is the fourth thought. So let's move on to the one quote for this week. It's a great one here. It is quote, "By changing patterns of breathing, we can change our emotional states, how we think, and how we interact with the world." End quote. And that is from Patricia Gerbarg, MD. "So good. By changing patterns of breathing, we can change our emotional states, how we think, and how we interact with the world." Just a great reminder of the power of the breath. And with that, let's move on to the one answer for this week. The category is the nose. And the answer is a significant portion of this food-related sensation, some say as much as 80% is attributed not to the mouth, but to nasal breathing. What is taste, of course. And the nasal breathing is smell, right? That our smell determines as much as 80% of our taste. I tried to find a reference for that number and couldn't. It's listed a few places. And then I found one podcast where someone said, "Yeah, it's kind of an arbitrary number. I guess it's really hard to distinguish how much of a percent of taste is so subjective and unique. So yeah, I get it." But a big part of it comes from the smell, right, which is what the take home message is. Yeah, so that is it for this week. Remember that you can practice that humorous breathing and mindfulness practice. Use mindfulness to find humor in a problem. Then use breathing to laugh at the problem and at yourself. Remember bringing loving attention to the breath allows us to basically get in, find that rhythm, how that move, how that energy moves and immerse ourselves in life and bring life alive, right? And remember the first step toward self-regulation? Nasal breathing. That's simple. And then go from there and remember that great story of the two monks crossing the river. One of them picks up the woman, brings her across the other monk who kept his vows, chastises him. And then the other one says, "Well, I set her down a long time ago. You are still caring her." That is so good and so important. And as always, if you are interested in breathing, reading and meditation for a well-lived life, check out the Breath Learning Center. There is no secret breathing technique that will solve all your problems or heal all of your woes. But it is a super effective and proven way to improve our lives steadily, progressively getting daily toward our goals of a well-lived life, of becoming the type of people we want to become through actual changes through how we breathe, how we think, and how we basically show up every single day for the world. So if you're interested in that, go check out breathlearning.com. And if you have diabetes, go check out the Breathing App for Diabetes because you can get a 28-day program designed for people with diabetes around breathing and then endless amounts of goodness after that 28-day. So go check out the Breathing App for Diabetes. If you are interested in that, and with that, just thank you as always for listening. I'll see you next week.
