Breathe Deeply

Sometimes I am reminded how naïve I can be, and how sometimes I just can't see the forest. Only after I got well into my 7th decade I realized something most people probably put together early on. You see, I stupidly smoked cigarettes for 11 years of my life, until I finally caught on that I was being not only dumb, but that I was shortening my life and making those around me smell as bad as I smelled. So I quit. But one thing about smoking stayed with me - any time a smoker gets upset, or something bad happens to them, they immediately light up, take deep drags, pull the smoke all the way into the lungs, and blow it all out. That has a calming effect, and it's universal for smokers. I did it, too. Then all of a sudden we were expecting a baby, and I dutifully attended natural childbirth classes. I learned the right way to relax muscles, and became a breathing coach. Guess what? Deep, cleansing breaths and long, slow exhalations are the best way to remain calm and as relaxed as is possible between contractions. You coach the expectant mother to pull in air all the way to the bottom of her lungs, and then slowly blow it all out. But I didn't get it. I didn't put the two together. Fast forward through breaking the cigarette habit - not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be - and more children, and I still didn't get it. Then, my present wife (yes, I have had more than one) started practicing yoga. And she brought it home to me, in a myriad of poses, conversations, and readings. And guess what, again? The word "pranayama" cropped up. I asked her for a definition, and she said it means, essentially, fresh breath. And then she demonstrated by taking deep breaths, all the way to the bottom of her lungs, and blowing it out slowly. Finally, the light bulb in my brain clicked on. It wasn't the cigarette, or the time between contractions, it was, simply, calming down by concentrating on controlling the flight or fight impulse. Does that sound like a major breakthrough to you? Not to me, either. But as I said earlier, some things come slowly to me. Those guys a few centuries ago in India figured it out. Duh.