Slow Breathing

excerpt from an email to a patient sent February 21, 2016 at 9:35am:

You can work on slow breathing. I mean really slow, smooth, and relaxed, like you're sipping sweet air through a straw that's the very back of your airways to fill up your lungs from the bottom to the top. I can get down to 2 breaths a minute (15 seconds inhale, 15 seconds exhale) but you can start by timing yourself breathing normally and try to cut that down by half. For example, if you breathe 12 breaths a minute naturally, try for 6 breaths a minute, and when that gets to be easy, then go for 3. For most things (like the flu, and general wellbeing...more energy and stronger immune system yada yada) you want to focus on the sensation in your back about level with your navel, as if somebody is holding your Kidneys in the palms of their hands...for pain down the side of your leg/foot and your shoulders, you'll want to visualize your ribcage is an accordian, opening side-to-side instead of front-to-back and making whimsical music. Remember, slow, smooth, and relaxed. Don't do this if you can't breathe through your nose. You might notice that one nostril is more clear than the other. That is fine. Rarely are we perfectly balanced right-to-left. But if your allergies or the flu acts up and you have to breathe through your mouth, don't bother.