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The Breathing 411
How to Walk Farther, Mind Roots, and Breath & Gratitude
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 The Roots of Training the Mind. And here is a quote, "Relaxation is the basic competency and meditation that enables all the others. Mind training without relaxation is like a tree without strong roots. It is not sustainable. The skillful trainee establishes relaxation first and then builds on top of it." End quote. And that is Chading Tan from Joy on Demand, a great little book. And what is the fastest way to establish that relaxation that we can then build on top of? Slow breathing of course, not that I'm biased, right? So this is a good reminder that a quick, even just like two to five minutes slow breathing practice before you train your mind, maybe it's with meditation, mindfulness, you know, any type of or just even learning, whatever it might be, can act as kind of the roots of our mind training program, right? So slow breathing followed by meditation, slow breathing followed by mindfulness, slow breathing followed by reading a book, right? Any of these can aid and serve as the roots to make our mind training stronger. So that is a little reminder on that. And with that, we will move on to thought number two, which is titled "Walk farther without feeling exhausted." And here is a quote, "Efficient breathing allows our bodies to be properly oxygenated, enabling us to walk farther without feeling exhausted." Many of us don't breathe properly as we exercise, gulping rapidly at air through our mouths, rather than matching our full nasal inhalations to our stride. When we walk to the rhythm of our breath or even breathe to the rhythm of our feet, we slow and lengthen our breathing. In combination with good posture, paced rhythmic breathing means that demanding mountain ascents and lengthy tricks feel less tiring." That is Annabelle Streets from 52 Ways to Walk. And in the newsletter, I just have a few clappy hand emojis, right? I don't need to have any commentary on that. That is so good, right? But I will just an irony of the gods. And just to remind ourselves that laughter is the best breathing exercise. I wrote this on a Friday morning and then on a Friday afternoon, I may or may not have popped my ACL, so I won't be walking that much, or at least just aggravate. Let's all say pop. It's aggravated big time and it's challenging to walk. And I thought, oh, that's hilarious. It's like the universe always makes sure you are humbled. So I will not be using this to walk too much farther in the near future, but I hope that you will. And it's a great reminder for this next one, thought number three, to cultivate gratitude. And this one is titled, thought number three now is titled, "Three Thoughts on Breathing in Gratitude." And here's the first one. The best practice for breath appreciation is getting a stuffy nose. And that's inspired by a little cold. I got my daughter started kindergarten this year. And I've got my first little cold, I guess what it's late September. So that's not too bad. We've gone through a few of them. And this is my first one. And I thought, oh, that's so true. Like you don't appreciate your breathing as ever as much as you do when you have a stuffy nose. And same with walking. You don't appreciate how easy it is to walk until it becomes challenging. So take advantage. Alright, sorry for that ramble. Let's go to the second one. Physiological gratitude occurs 20,000 times a day in the space between where an exhale ends and an inhale begins. And here's the third one. Take a few breaths and say to yourself, quote, "This is great. I have an abundance of the most valuable resource known to our species. And I don't even have to work that hard to get it." End quote. That little quote is from a book called Relentless Solution Focus of All Places. And I love that. My daughter can recite it now. And it's one of the fun, these like the best things ever to hear her say it. And it's just so awesome as a reminder that we always have an abundance of the most valuable resource known to our species. And we don't even have to work that hard to get it. Unless, of course, you have a stuffy nose. Alright, let's move on to the fourth and final thought. And so to wrap, oh, it's titled, "How to have happiness immediately." And to wrap up the fourth thoughts, here's a quote from Tiknot Han, who just has an incredible knack for making some of the more woo-woo, you know, idyllic ideas of meditation, concrete, actionable, and just make common sense. You're like, "Oh yeah, okay, that makes sense." Even though a lot of times you hear it and you think that's so far out of my reach, here's how he makes it down to earth. Here it is, quote, "Breathing and walking with awareness generates the energy of mindfulness. This energy brings our mind back to our body so that we're really here in the present moment so we can be in touch with the wonders of life that are there inside us and around us. If we can recognize these wonders, we have happiness immediately. That's so good. And it's just such an easy thing, right? Just being actually here, realizing how awesome life is and we can immediately have happiness because we recognize all these amazing wonders around us, even if your knee hurts, even if you have a stuffy nose, you could still find happiness through that. So beautiful, beautiful way to end the four thoughts. So let's move on to the one quote for this week. It is a great one here. It is, quote, " Repeating simple tasks with a clear intention can reprogram unconscious mental processes. This can completely transform who you are as a person." End quote. And that is John Yates, PhD and Matthew Emergout or Emergout, PhD. I'm not sure. I apologize if I'm mispronounced that. It's from the book, The Mind Illuminated. So good. Repeating simple tasks with a clear intention can reprogram unconscious mental processes. This can completely transform who you are as a person. That is Mindfulness 101. All right. And then let's wrap up with the one answer for this week. The category is breath coupling. And here is the answer. This entrainment or coordination is the name given to our ability to coordinate breathing and vocalization. What is respiratory phonation coordination? Which is what I'm doing right now as I record this and what you do every time you speak. And with that, let's do a quick recap. Remember, the roots of mind training are slow breathing, right? Anything you want to do, you need relaxation first. It's like the roots of the tree and slow breathing can get us there. That's why a lot of ancient traditions, by the way, practice breathing exercises as preparation for meditation, not as an end in themselves. Remember to walk farther without feeling exhausted. First, don't snap your ACL. Second, breathe breath walk where you match your breathing with your steps. Third, remember the three thoughts on breathing and gratitude. If you want breath appreciation, get a stuffy nose and then you'll appreciate it, right? That's the best one. And then remember that great little saying you can you can do any time you can take a breath and say this is great. I have an abundance of the most valuable resource and known to our species. And I don't even have to work that hard to get it. And then remember what tick not Han said that when you come back to the wonders around us, you recognize them, you have happiness immediately. That is pretty awesome. And yeah, just thank you for listening. If you want to join me in the breath learning center, you can. Yeah, just if you want to become a mixed mindful artist instead of a mixed martial artist, right? And use the most powerful tools you have, which are your breath, your mind and your awareness for fulfilling life. You can do that, right? You don't have to worry about limiting yourself to nicks method or so and so's method, right? Or feel guilty about any of your multi interests, right? You may be into a lot of different things and feel like, Oh, it doesn't fit right with this method or am I supposed to act like this because I like breathing? Am I not supposed to like these movies or shows or you know, right? All of that nonsense that we're told, you can just embrace who you are, embrace your curiosity, explore different teachings, understand their core principles and then forge your own path, right? Because that is how all paths are formed by walking. So yeah, if you want to join breath learning calm, check it out, become a mixed mindful artist. And with that, I will just say thank you so much for listening. And I hope you have a great week.