Easy Breezy Breath of Health!

Did you know that almost 70% of the toxins produced in your body actually leave through your breath?  So when you don’t breathe right, most of the toxins don’t leave; they accumulate in different parts of your body, and over time cause disease. So,  how about trying to breathe your way to a cleaner, fresher body?
Your nose holds far more than just mucus and nasal hair. It holds the potential to energizing and calming your body and mind.

Left, Right

The breath through the left nostril calms the body and the breath through the right nostril energizes you. When you breathe in through the left nostril, the right hemisphere of your brain is activated. This side of your brain is the ‘feeling’ side, which holds your creativity, emotions etc. Breathing through the right nostril activates the right side of your brain – which is the ‘thinking’ side. It holds your logic, linearity, mechanical and technical perception etc. You need both sides of your brain to work in a complementary and harmonious way, without one overshadowing the other. The alternate breathing technique is the best way to ensure this. When you do this breathing, you calm down your overworked left brain and awaken your ignored right brain.

The Purifying Breath

While you are doing this breathing exercise, you need to hold your right hand in a certain manner. Make a loose fist with your right hand. Now, open up your thumb from the fist, then open up the ring and little finger. You should have your index and middle finger touching your palm somewhere below the base of the thumb. Hold this position without straining your fingers, be easy and gentle. As you do the exercise, you may manipulate the fingers a bit for better comfort. As far as possible, do this exercise on an empty stomach, or three hours after a meal.

1.. Place your right thumb against the right nostril and gently close the nostril. Do not push hard against your nose.

2.. Inhale – a long and gentle breath- through your left nostril

3.. Pause for a second.

4.. With your thumb still holding the right nostril closed, bring your ring finger to your left nostril and close it. Release the thumb from the right nostril.

5.. Exhale through the right nostril.

6.. Holding your hand in the same position, inhale through the right nostril.

7.. Pause for a second.

8.. With the ring finger still holding the left nostril closed, bring thumb up to close the right nostril. Release the left nostril.

9.. Exhale through the left nostril.

You have finished one round of alternate nostril breathing. When you start, do 1-3 rounds. If you are feeling comfortable with this pace, gradually increase the number of rounds. Remember to never force your breath – gentleness and ease of breathing will give you far better results than forcefulness. When you finish the exercise, sit with your eyes closed for a few minutes and breathe normally. Observe your mind.

There are certain variations to the technique that you can try when you get used to the routine. If you breathe in for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 8 and then exhale for a count of 8. As you progress, you can try to hold your breath for a count of 16, and then exhale in 8 counts. Do not hold your breath for a long count if you have a history of high blood pressure. Just do the exercise as it has been described, allow your blood pressure to stabilize and get to normal and then proceed to the more intense practice.

Benefits of Alternate Nostril Breathing

As with any exercise, you will get maximum benefits from this practice when you do it regularly. This is a great way to revitalize your system. So anytime during the day when you feel ‘low’, get to a quiet corner and do a few rounds of this to get your mood up! A few minutes of alternate breathing, gets you prepped up and calms your mind down to face an interview or an exam.

Regular practice of alternate nostril breath has also been found to improve brain function. It improves clarity and enhances focus, bringing in equal amounts of oxygen to both hemispheres of the brain. People who suffer from anxiety or are easily agitated, report that this kind of breathing helps them to naturally and easily calm their minds. No wonder the yogis used to say that regulating the breath helps to control the mind!

Perhaps the greatest benefit that this pranayama brings is the harmonizing of the two sides of our brain. Bringing our brain to its full use and potential could be revolutionary in our lives! Of course, breathing in through just one nostril can also be done to activate a specific brain hemisphere. Try this out for yourself – the next time you want to calm down and relax, try breathing in only through your left nostril and see what happens. Alternately, when you are driving or focusing on something, breathe in through only the right nostril for a minute and notice the difference.

This technique is excellent for cleansing the lungs. Just a five minute practice every morning, will get rid of the stale air loaded with impurities from the bottom of the lungs. Most of us do not use our whole lungs for breathing – we take shallow breaths, using only the top part of the lungs. This is why stale air that if full of toxins and impurities stays collected in the lower lungs. This technique also helps you sleep better – calming down your nervous system and slowing down your heart rate. If you have trouble falling asleep, try lying on your right side, and breathe in only through the left nostril.

So there you have it. One easy way to address many problems. Try it out for yourself, and do it for at least a week regularly to experience the benefits. All you have to gain is better energy flow throughout your body, more oxygen helping all of your systems to work right, and in the long run, protection from many illnesses – which means that you save money too! Don’t forget to tell us how it goes!

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Sick of Morning Sickness?

Pregnancy and nausea often go hand in hand.

Here’s your guide to the phenomenon of morning sickness.

Anyone who has had a baby will tell you that the glow of health that lights up a woman’s visage during early pregnancy is almost always accompanied by a ‘not- so-welcome companion’ – morning sickness. This is a feeling of nausea, which often leads to vomiting that occurs during the first few months of pregnancy.

     Some women have the odd bout of mild queasiness when they first wake up, while others may have to endure weeks or even months of feeling or being sick all day long. Morning sickness reportedly affects 80% of pregnant women. Since each woman is different and each pregnancy is unique, the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) will vary from woman to woman. Fortunately, this condition is generally mild and self-limited and can be controlled with conservative measures.

     No one knows exactly what causes nausea during pregnancy. Most researchers believe it is caused by a combination of the physical changes that take place in the mother’s body such as the elevated levels of hormones. There is also some research that indicates that the mother’s diet may also be a contributing factor – since  women who had a healthier, plant-based diet were found to have less or no morning sickness, whereas those with a high meat based diet were seen  to suffer more.

     Characteristically, nausea and vomiting begin around the sixth week of pregnancy. This is called ‘morning sickness’ because it occurs most often in the morning, but this does not in any way mean that the sickness is limited to the daytime. Many women experience NVP several times during the day and sometimes, at night. For 80% of expectant mothers, this condition wears off around the 12th week of pregnancy. The remaining 20% are usually afflicted by the condition for a longer period of time.

     Triggers for the NVP are usually smells and foods, with the most commonly reported aversions or repulsions being towards meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Interestingly, some doctors who research the condition, point out that these are the very foods that are most likely to carry harmful micro-organisms or parasites. This indicates that NVP could be the body’s own highly developed radar that encourages the mother to eat foods that are most beneficial to the baby during the most crucial days of fetal development.

How does it affect you?

     Most cases of nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy aren’t harmful to the mother or the unborn child. Rather, there are indications that the body could actually be expelling foods that were hard to digest, or were potentially damaging to the fetus when its developing internal organs are most vulnerable to parasites and chemicals. While short-term dietary deficiencies do not appear to have any harmful effects on the pregnancy’s outcome, severe and persistent nausea and vomiting pregnancy symptoms can affect the mother’s health.                                Most women experience nausea or have episodes of vomiting at certain points of the day, and can eat and manage to keep food down during the rest of the day. However, mothers who are acutely affected may be missing or skipping meals for days together, which could mean that the baby may not be getting all the necessary nutrients for optimal growth. Excessive vomiting in early pregnancy could lead to the loss of almost 5% or more of the mother’s body weight.

     About 1% of pregnant women worldwide suffer from excessive vomiting in pregnancy-medically called “hyperemesis gravidarum”. Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of morning sickness, with “unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids.” Hyperemesis is considered a rare complication of pregnancy but, because nausea and vomiting during pregnancy exist on a continuum, there is often not a good diagnosis between common morning sickness and hyperemesis.       

                One of the main things to watch out for during morning sickness is dehydration. This happens when the body does not have adequate amounts of fluids which may be caused by losing the fluids that were taken in, or by not consuming enough. Severe cases of dehydration may require intravenous fluids and vitamin supplementation from the hospital. Systematically rehydrate or seek medical attention if the mother shows signs of dehydration – such as infrequent urination or dark yellow urine.

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Tips to control nausea and vomiting

DIET – Food

• When you wake up, eat a few crackers, or similar carbohydrate –high substitute and then rest for 15 minutes before getting out of bed.    

• Eat small meals or snacks often so that your stomach does not become empty (optimally every 2 hours). Try not to skip meals.    

• Do not hesitate to eat whatever you feel like eating, whenever you want to.     

• If cooking odors trigger the condition, try to get soemone else to cook. If you have no other option, ventilate the room as well as you can.   

• Try eating cold food instead of hot (since cold food may not smell as strong as hot food).

DIET – Drinks

• Drink small amounts of fluids frequently during the day.    

• Avoid drinking fluids during meals and immediately before or after a meal.

LIFESTYLE

• Get plenty of rest since nausea tends to worsen when you are tired. Taking naps during the day is ideal since a pregnant woman needs more sleep in the first three months of pregnancy.    

•  You may need to take some time off work or make other arrangements for household chores and childcare.    

•  Do not hesitate to enlist the support of friends and family.     

•  Get plenty of fresh air and avoid warm places. Feeling hot can add to nausea.     

• Try ginger, an alternative remedy that is often effective in settling the stomach. Dosages of up to 250 mg four times a day appear to be safe.    

• Try taking your prenatal vitamins (one with a lower amount of iron if that mineral makes your nausea worse) with food or just before bed. If multivitamins make your nausea worse, take folic acid alone on a daily basis.

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