Sweet Breath, Sweet Life

I woke up breathing easily, taking in the cool, clean air without difficulty -- something not to be taken for granted. I don't ever have to use oxygen or an inhaler, and I'm really lucky, considering the condition my condition is in, as the barbecued chicken man once said. And with a 50-year history of smoking that barbecued my lungs, I feel like a guy who walked away from a train wreck.

My breathing rate is a little elevated, and I get winded easily, but most most normal activity is no problem.

Returned to the prescribed daily practice today after three days off, largely because of the shoulder. However, I'm beginning to think practicing is good for that, too. It's good for everything else.

I'm using a ready-made routine, from pages 70-88 of Kraftsow's Yoga for Wellness. I have to modify some of the movements, and just skip the headstand altogether; but I only have to adapt three or four out of the fifteen postures I work. An unusual feature of this practice is the instruction to hold the "stay" position for one breath longer on each successive repetition of most of the movements, with four reps. I find this works better than just inahale-up/exhale-down for someone with my condition.

Then I'm doing the breathing/meditation part after, rather than before the exercise portion. It's in the book.

This pranayama has a lot to do with the current sense of well-being. Everything that's been rattling a person seems to come into better perspective, and I've heard it works pretty much the same for everybody. I'm getting these results, too, doing a very imperfect pranayama. I can't claim to be keeping my mind still or always being strictly focused on the breath. But just trying to do it right apparently will get most anyone a real positive effect.

I'm still recovering, and I've got a lot to recover from. Now, from up here, I can see how far down I was, especially when I was in the depths of post-heartbreak depression these past two years.

Mixed media image, "Pranayama," by Ketna Patel.
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