Summer 2001

With the publication of our first newsletter, Healing Bridge Physical Therapy has much to celebrate. A 19 year old dream continues to unfold and the next phase is our new clinic, being built right now on NE 4th and Penn. Our new location has ample space for you to receive treatments, an area for exercise, stretching, Feldenkrais, and other movement classes, and an in-ground exercise pool!

As I reflect over the past 19 years, and the many lessons I've learned, I am amazed at the unfolding of this dream. Becoming certified as a Feldenkrais practitioner, learning complimentary healing methods, and continuously upgrading my traditional physical therapy techniques has kept me quite busy. Additionally, I've studied scores of books on physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness, incorporating the information into my practice. Since I'm proof that dreams really do come true, I'd like to share some insights I've learned:

My husband, Scott, who helps make all things possible, especially an enriching family life.

Our whole staff has shown such dedication, confidence, teamwork, and support for our growth. Without them, this dream could not have manifested.

Bill Whitford of North Plateau Construction has worked diligently on this project since last September and his commitment, enthusiasm, and skill has provided us with the opportunity for this ideal location and incredible clinic space that is unfolding. I could go on and on, there are so many people to thank!

If you have a dream, I support you and wish you well. If your dream happens to include improving your health and peace of mind, the entire staff at Healing Bridge, and myself, are excited to assist you.

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Fall 2001

There are many metaphors in my life these days. With all of the hustle and bustle of the new building details, it can be difficult to keep the bigger picture in mind. The other day I was marveling at the skills of our contractor, Bill Whitford, when I realized that the way he performs his job, being able to concentrate both on details and the larger picture, is quite similar to how we encourage you
towards health.

Bill's amazing capacity to focus and analyze every detail of the building while never losing site of the whole project is key. He may be supervising the details
of the framing, while organizing the siding, pool, electricity, or any number of aspects to keep the project moving smoothly. He knows that if he loses sight of one area, while problem-solving another detail, the project will inevitably be delayed and progress may halt.

When most people enter physical therapy they begin by telling the story of their pain. They have tried a variety of positions, life changes, medications, or other interventions, in search of some relief. But because of limited knowledge about their bodies, they have lost perspective on the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that their whole system as a physical being is available to support the painful region so that healing can take place.

In our bodies, the presence of pain creates an inevitable focus. While experiencing the pain from a recent injury or muscle tension that has accumulated over the years, it begins to become difficult to focus on other healthy aspects of the body or life. Problem solving may begin in the form of stretching, rubbing, position changes, pain medication; all of which perpetuates our focus on the painful area. Before long the world of sensory experience gets reduced to that focused region of pain. We return to it again and again, hoping to find relief. Yet our hyperfocus begins to create a reaction in our body similar to that of picking at a scab over and over again - ultimately interfering with the body's incredible potential for healing.

Physical Therapy begins with education, not just about the inflammation of muscles, tendons, or joints contributing to the experience of pain, but of the surrounding postural and muscular imbalances that create interference in alignment. Education provides the missing component of how to utilize the whole body, from your feet to your head, to provide alignment, relaxation, and support, so that the inflamed or irritated tissues can be relieved of strain and begin to heal.

Patterns, however, do not change easily. So with each session we gradually increase your repertoire of understanding and sensation of other parts of your body. Over time, pain begins to become a reminder to pay attention to your breath, posture, shoulder relaxation, support from your feet or pelvis, or many other areas. Your body image starts becoming more complete and you are empowered with choices to use your body effectively for health, instead of feeling like you are fighting with it. Eventually, like our contractor, you gain the skills and understanding to care for your injured area while staying focused on the big picture of your whole system.

Life can require even more sophisticated attention and awareness. Many people go along with their focus on the external world and its expectations. Symptoms of pain are often a wake up call. We encourage you to tune in. Re-focus. Relax and breathe. Discover and make friends with your incredible body as a whole and it will be there for you in the future.

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Winter 2002

Our experience of pain has a physiological root either from injury or chronic strain patterns and it can feel insulting when someone says it's "all in your head." However, as a feeling human being, you cannot help but have an emotional response to pain, even if initially it is the instinctual reaction of fear. If you have been living with chronic pain, your feelings about the pain can influence the response in your body.

Responding to pain with fear is instinctual, and it takes maturity and courage to respond with a new habit. Unfortunately, most human beings appear to need to experience considerable discomfort before considering a change of habit. This tendency is intensified by the illusion propagated by pharmaceutical companies and 30-minute sit-coms that there is a quick fix for everything. I know simple lifestyle changes can have profound affects, and there are documented real-life miracles, yet statistically, these are rare events. Unfortunately, once a lifestyle change has been unsuccessful, people often become discouraged at embarking on further changes. Often, there is a lack of support, knowledge and available time in the medical community for education about changing old habits and making new choices.

There is an alternative to Fear: Exploration and Curiosity! Let's look to a child's wisdom (you have experience here, since you were once one!) Children are infinitely curious. From infancy through the teenage years, they find a variety of ways to explore their environments, providing a rich resource for learning. Curiosity can create an environment of focus, as can pain, yet it's different because the goal is not about getting rid of the pain. Instead, it leads to exploration and discovery.

Your attitude of curiosity will take time to cultivate. Remember, there are no magic bullets. You can make notes to yourself to remind yourself to breathe and ask yourself a new question about your experience. You can ask questions such as; "where do I feel tension on the right side of my body as compared to the left?" Or "how does this pain in my shoulder affect my pelvis when I sit?" Or, "if I move very slowly, does it change the intensity of my pain?" Imagine the amount of time you spend rubbing the painful area, wrestling yourself to sleep at night, or complaining to your friends. Instead, capture 5 minutes a day to be an observer of your pain. If you were a friendly alien, what might you wonder about this human being's experience?

Through this exploration, you may access a different part of your brain. Instead of eliciting an instinctual response to fear, you begin to open yourself up to the possibilities of learning. Neurons are firing, and new connections may be made. This has the potential of releasing different neurotransmitters in your system and allowing a completely different physiologic reaction to occur. This has the potential of supporting your healing process, instead of perpetuating your pain response.

New habits take time and diligence. Overcoming the instinctual response of fear is not easy. Neither is living with chronic pain. Likewise, the various methods we have engaged in to avoid experiencing life because we have associated it with pain, physical or emotional, are life depleting, not enhancing. These include chronic use of medications, drugs, alcohol, TV, work, or even overly rigid and restrictive approaches to diet and exercise. By becoming curious about yourself, your life, and changing the direction of your thoughts about pain, you have the opportunity to participate in the ever-changing process of growth. Through this deeper level of participation you have the opportunity to enjoy a richer and fuller life.

It's a New Year with new opportunities to become aware of new habits! You can retreat from your pain and restrict your options, or step forward in a new direction and take the courageous step towards self-discovery. What kind of life do you choose to create?

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Spring 2002

As our new clinic and my long-time dream were being realized, I often thought about our patients: their willingness to commit to multiple appoint-ments, wellness and change. We honor them:

This building is dedicated to all of the people who have and who will trust us to support their health and their life. We, the therapists at Healing Bridge Physical Therapy, are honored to have such trust and willingness to follow through with the theraputic strategies we feel will most benefit their lives. May we never take this position lightly, or for granted. And may the individuals who are searching for health and change find support and compassion in this.

Spring 2002

When you break a bone, the doctor straightens it. If your appendix is inflamed, you have it removed. If you gash your skin, you have it stitched up. When you have an infection you take an antibiotic. When you have pain, you…

Pain is an elusive concept. For some folks, even the slightest discomfort will motivate them to seek relief. For others, it often takes a great deal of pain, often to the point of interfering with their regular activities, to seek help. Even then, it can be difficult to address the lifestyle patterns that influence the progression of symptoms that interfere with healing the source of pain. Most often, they just want the discomfort to go away.

Many people know that change needs to happen in order to heal, yet the pain or discomfort they are feeling becomes so familiar that their unconscious my feel fear or risk at endeavors to initiate change. Often the comfort of what is already known and expected, even though it may be painful, can be a greater pull than the effort it takes to overcome the inertia and move in a direction of change.

I notice in my own life, and in the lives of my patients, that change can be difficult. Our society encourages us to seek outside help for our ailments, and we have become disengaged from our own inner wisdom. When a patient comes to me with back pain and states, "If I could just be less stressed, I know my pain would go away." I wonder if this person is ready to begin looking at the choices he is making in his life that contribute to stress, and if he is willing to participate in discovering alternatives. The suggestions towards stress reduction may take a commitment greater than 2 hours a week of therapy, and therefore may not be pursued.

So I ask myself, "Do people really want to change or do they just want to be more comfortable in their same old habits?" Through trial, tribulation, severe pain and suffering, and eventual desperation, many people will finally reach out for help, and allow real change. Whether it's physical, emotional or spiritual, there are many professionals available. They can coach you through an awareness process to understand your habitual way of engaging in your environment, and help you gradually begin to shift these patterns. Asking for help from someone in addition to your doctor often takes courage and a willingness to surrender to the awareness that you may not be able to do this on your own. Asking for help is not a failure. In fact, it may support the greatest successes in your life.

Other people may continue to manifest increasingly intense physical symptoms and, through their physician's well-intended care, continue to try new medications, change medications, and/or add medications in their search for comfort without having to take inventory of their own lives. Or they may try exercise, massage, manipulation, or interventions that may temporarily ease the symptoms. However, until they actively engage in understanding how they play a role in their own life, they will often continue to be frustrated that someone "out there" has not been able to FIX them.

Often healing can be very simple and straight-forward. However the process of change can require more attention. It has been said "it takes as much effort to be unhappy as it does to be happy, so which do you choose?" This is so true. Yet we often don't realize how much effort and energy is being put into maintaining the inertia of our unhealthy, unhappy, or uncomfortable state.

Often, the initial steps towards change can be very simple, even easy. You start small and don't have to change everything all at once. As we follow the path of change, it becomes more interesting, self-motivating, and rewarding. For some, it may not even mean changing the level of their pain, but changing their relationship to it and giving them other aspects of their body and their life to be present to and enjoy. After all, what have you got to lose?

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Summer 2002

Healing Bridge Physical Therapy is not just a place for you receive expert attention for your owies, the building itself was designed for your optimal healing as well. A pleasant environment is nice, not only for clients, it supports happy and healthy practitioners too.

We've incorporated aspects from the art of Feng Shui, creating an environment of balance and safety. Our rounded corners and edges are created so that you feel at ease, safe, and ready to relax and respond to the suggestions made by your therapist for your healing.

Colors, smells and sounds will also affect how you physiologically and emotionally react to your environment. At Healing Bridge, colors, textures and art were all carefully selected and designed to allow you to enter a space of comfort - where breathing feels free and easy.

We have also added gentle, pleasant music, water features, and live plants to bring the beauty of nature inside. Your body was designed to be playing and working in the beautiful outdoors, not sitting at sterile desks, looking into fuzzy computer screens, answering phone calls from faceless people.

Even the front office is designed so that our friendly staff may welcome you as soon as you enter. This layout creates a friendly, warm environment, making you instantly feel like a very important person and valued client!

Many of these concepts are quite simple and easy to implement. You can create a more livable and functional environment for yourself, your family, and your work, by simply changing some furniture, adding some color, and softening some edges. Why not give it a try? You can't know what a difference the environment can make, until the environment has made the difference for YOU!

We invite you to stop by for a brief visit, or tour of our unique facility.

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Winter 2003

I recently read that 90% of New Year's resolutions are either about diet or exercise. Yet so many of us approach our lofty goals with such self-abasement that it is no wonder we can't follow through with our ideals. What we do not need is tougher self-discipline towards our bodies. Instead, consider developing a more compassionate awareness toward your self and the ruthless messages your inner voices send.

The decision to face the unconscious messages of the mind is a much more courageous journey than continuing with the typical patterns of trying to "whip" yourself into shape. When you push, self-criticize, compare, and focus on what you aren't or don't have, you give your mind ammunition to fight back, rebel, and ultimately fail in reaching your desires-like a disobedient teenager.

I've learned through Feldenkrais that compassion is the most important tool to include in our backpack for this journey called "life." As you decide to become aware of your internal messages of dissatisfaction, you can choose to think about yourself differently. Learn to listen to the messages that bring you down: "I hate my thighs," "I'm just too tired," "that was so stupid," and "I've had such a hard day, I deserve these treats." Only when you allow yourself to hear your internal self-talk, can you begin to choose differently.

Find what is good and true about yourself and focus on that. Learn to hear the ugly, harsh, and often mean words that sneak into your thoughts. Then, instead of pushing the unwanted thoughts away and contributing further to your self-put-downs, find a way to breathe with yourself. Bring kindness to these moments, like nurturing an emotional baby who is angry and frustrated, and really just needs to be held and loved. You may also bring laughter and lightness to yourself when you realize just how often you put yourself down, just as you lovingly joke with an old friend who needs a smile.

You can also empower yourself to appreciate the positive, in every simple or difficult task you encounter. Your first morning breaths, standing in the shower, and having the mobility to dress yourself, and walking through your house, are all blessings we take so easily for granted. The gifts we have as Americans are abundant - from the food we eat, to the cars we drive, to our families, our jobs, and, of course, getting to live in this incredibly beautiful part of the world.

Focusing on our blessings can take a certain kind of self-discipline. But to be effective, the discipline must come from a loving attitude towards oneself. As you become more loving towards yourself, your desires to be healthy can then come out of a deeper caring and appreciative attitude. You can thank your body for all that it does for you, and all of the places it takes you, and your love for this body can naturally lead you to making healthier choices. In addition, you may eventually realize that you are not meant to look like Superman or Wonder-woman, but instead appreciate your own unique qualities and how they carry you through life.

May you enjoy a New Year of compassionate health, and may your kindness be contagious to those who are dear to you.

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Summer 2003

I have recently noticed from patients and friends alike, that many of us are experiencing a new level of fatigue. As if we weren't already pushing ourselves to the limit, most of us are deeply affected by recent world events. It doesn't matter whether you support the current administration - we all care for our countrymen and soldiers. We all care about the Iraqi citizens. And we all hope for greater peace, freedom, and safety for our world. Yet how able are we to support one another in these times of added stress when we don't even know how to simply take care of ourselves?

Do you know how to listen to your body? I mean REALLY listen? Sure, most of us know how to listen to our exhaustion as we drag ourselves to bed and fall into unconsciousness. Or worse, we're so wound up that we are unable to sleep. We also know to listen to our body once it speaks up in pain - like a 4 year old it shouts, "Hey, you're hurting ME!"

We know how to listen to the demands of the outside world. In the morning we're busy rushing to get ourselves and our family out the door. At work, we're trying to meet the demands of our boss and the endless tasks at hand. Meanwhile, our minds are busy making "to do" lists for shopping, cleaning, and, oh yeah, it's time for those spring chores.

But when was the last time any of us paused to experience a FULL BREATH? The air being drawn into the nose or mouth, inflating our lungs, lifting the ribs, and during the exhale, shoulders drop and the neck relaxes. Or we pause and feel our feet fully touching the floor, connecting and supporting our legs, hips, pelvis and back. We can learn to connect to the support from the ground or our chair so that our upper back and neck does not suffer from fatigue at the end of the day.
Additionally, most of us have spent a lifetime training our minds to think in self-defeating patterns. We support the belief that our bodies are meant to deteriorate as we age, and run to the doctor for insomnia, ulcers, and the aches in our bodies. Alternately, we can listen to the wisdom of many health experts and learn to give ourselves pause to quiet our thoughts and settle into our bodies.

To learn to bring our attention back to ourselves in the moment takes discipline and desire. What if you were to give yourself just 5 minutes a day? 1-2 minutes in the morning and the evening for a moment of quiet meditation, contemplation, or prayer. Then several other 15 second moments throughout the day to just breathe, feel, and pause. Many of us would find that even this is difficult. As I said, since we were young, we have been exercising our minds to think, think, think. However, a few moments a day of decompression can multiply the moments of pleasurable existence.

So, how do we take these moments for ourselves? The trick is remembering to do this and building these moments into your day. It is usually when we feel "bad" that we are reminded to do something for ourselves. In contrast, when we feel "good" (i.e.; energetic, clear-headed, task-focused, etc.) we just want to keep "accomplishing" - until we run out of steam. Thus, our accomplishments have become our addiction. We can set up ways to remind ourselves to pause throughout the day, but we must have clear intention, balanced with self-compassion.

A commitment to one's Self, is also a commitment to family, friends, and community. The more centered we are physically and emotionally, the more balance we can support in the lives of others. Why not use the intensity of the world news as a reminder to bring ourselves back to the "home" of our bodies: To breathe, to pause, and to be grateful that we live in the wealthiest, most abundant country in the world? May we use this gift well by finding a place of peace within ourselves that we can share with others.

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Winter 2003

Be Quiet! Sit Still! Don’t play with that! That’s too risky! You’ll get hurt! Calm down! Sit up straight! Don’t make faces! Young ladies keep their knees together! Color within the lines! Oh, that could never happen!

How many of us have heard these phrases used during our childhood. We may even find ourselves regurgitating these same words to our own children. But GUESS WHAT? Your body was made for moving, playing, exploring and creating unique experiences. Your back is NOT straight. Your hips were not designed to hold your knees together. Your voice was designed to use all tones. Coloring within the lines can be boring and inappropriate at different developmental stages. Our minds are designed for creativity, imagination, and learning through exploration and manipulation – not rote memorization and learning through diligent boredom. And anything is possible! (Almost!)

By the time most of us became young adults, the unique creative learning capacities available to humans have been largely trained out of us. We learned what was necessary to get a job, to provide a home and food, to propagate our species, and thereby we run ourselves diligently ragged until our bodies begin screaming out for attention.

Often the attention our bodies so badly crave comes in the form of further diligence to exercise routines. Our bodies perform such exercises with the limited movement capacities that we have imposed upon ourselves – or learned to impose from the messages we were given in our youth, or the injuries we have accumulated. By exercising our bodies in the limited movement patterns available to us, we may develop more aches, pains and discomforts.

Exploration, curiosity, and playfulness are essential elements that are often missing in our experiences as adults. We have mastered will-power to force ourselves to perform and complete a number of tasks, skills, or accomplishments, yet at what cost? Playfulness and exploration come from a less tense state of curiosity, a willingness to be spontaneous – even silly, and a desire to feel ourselves fully present in our bodily experiences, as opposed to our endless mind-driven thoughts.

Children do this naturally. After a Spring rain last May, I observed a young child who was wearing water-sandals. He walked into a puddle with the intense interest and delight that only comes from the ability to be fully present to this experience. To sense and enjoy the cool water squishing between his toes. To watch the amazing circles of waves that make it to the edge of the puddle and cover the rocks that are still dry. To watch the light and shadows shimmer and reflect his image back at him. While he was doing this I overheard his mother remark, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could all enjoy such simple pleasures.” YES, wouldn’t it!

Take every opportunity to reconnect with your basic life giving instincts: Play with your children, have a silly moment, wiggle your body, lose yourself in the beauty of the colors bursting forth in the Fall, feel the breeze on your face, and think creatively – out of the box. We are a culture that has learned to “think” about everything, living our lives in our heads. Try getting back to basics, and don’t let life pass you by without allowing yourself to FEEL your experiences fully.

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Spring 2004

When was the last time you thought of your own bones? Your doctor has most likely mentioned the benefits of calcium for healthy bones. And, you’ve probably heard about osteoporosis, bone fractures, and bone density scans. But in everyday life, how do you really feel your own bones inside of you?

We live in a society obsessed with surface appearance. Skin, hair, nails, muscles (or the lack of), and soft tissue (the nice word for fat) are imprinted into our mental awareness to the point that most adults cannot pass by a mirror without considering their exterior appearance. When a health issue affects something on the inside, you may feel helpless, powerless, or confused. This is also true with your skeleton. When you stand up from sitting, if your muscles are weak, you may notice some soreness or difficulty; but when was the last time you considered the organization of your skeleton in this activity? Unless you’ve received some Feldenkrais lessons, probably never.

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais believed that moving with effortless freedom meant discovering the optimal organization and alignment of your skeleton. Through this discovery and the intelligence of your nervous system, your muscles can learn how to support new ways of moving. Ultimately, you have the potential to change the way you learned to move as a child, and to discover a way of being and moving that is more satisfying and less stressful and hurtful to your physical system.

Strengthening and stretching your muscles can contribute to optimal health in a number of ways. However, if you’re simply stretching and strengthening inefficient movement patterns you may not be freeing your system from the stresses of poor alignment, posture, or body mechanics that may have been ingrained in your body for decades.

The benefits of engaging your awareness to consider and explore how your bones are interrelated through all of your movements does more than help you on a physical level. When you learn to use less energy to move your body, you have more energy to live your life. As you train your mind to attend to your own living experience through your body, you can have more appreciation for each moment of life with the potential of less mental obsession in the past or future. As you learn to feel your inner responses more deeply, you have the potential to respond more thoughtfully to your environment, friends, and associates with less unconscious and potentially harmful reactions to unpleasant situations.
So next time your body is speaking to you, begin to listen to your skeleton. How are your hips aligned over your feet? Is your body aligned over the front, back, inside or outside of your foot? And which way helps you feel tallest, lightest, or allows greater freedom in your breathing? When you lean forward to stand up, just how does your knee track over your feet? Does your back and neck extend and tighten, or can you find a way to stand up that doesn’t cause increased tightness in your back and neck muscles? What about paying attention to how you breath? The simplest way to tune in, is to feel the movement, or lack of movement, in your ribs, chest, and back with each breath. Whether you’re sitting in traffic, standing in the grocery store, preparing dinner, or involved in your work, it’s relatively easy to pause and bring your attention to your bones through your breath. It just takes practice.

Learning to live in your bones means letting your bones, your skeleton, and your current physical organization be your teacher. This curiosity can lead you to become more authentic in your relationships with others and yourself, and to truly show up for this powerful living experience called LIFE!

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Fall 2004

Remember when you were in school? As your teachers attempted to cram their pearls of wisdom down your throat, you might have found yourself complaining to your friends and parents, "What's the point? What does this have to do with anything I'll need to know in the 'real' world?" As an adult, you may look back to those precious, innocent years, and wish you had paid a little more attention. Or, you may wish that your teachers had instead explored the questions with you. It is often in the exploration of the question that a satisfying answer can emerge.
When a patient recently asked me the same "what's the point?" question, I realized that my job is not to give a "pat" answer. Instead, education is a process that we can explore together which allows the patient to discover an answer that emerges from the creative parts of the brain that have great potential to affect change in the body.

In a world where many of us are bombarded with promises of quick fixes and half-hour sitcom solutions, we may have lost or forgotten the skills of the innocent toddler who desires to explore, play and use his/her innate curiosity to understand the world. Many of us even experienced negative reinforcement, such as punishment, shame, or embarrassment when attempting to ask questions in our educational settings or at home.

These experiences taught us to suppress our natural state of curiosity and interest in our environments, to the point that we may experience conscious or unconscious fear when faced with a question. Questioning thus becomes risk-taking behavior.

When we ask a question or receive an answer while we're in a state of fear, the fear triggers our fight or flight response. This changes the blood flow and neural connections in our brains, limiting our ability to learn, in a way that can permanently change our behaviors. The behaviors we want to change, in the case of healing from injury, strain, and pain, are the behaviors that interfere with our capacity for complete healing. They can lead to recurring symptoms and painful experiences, where we don't fully understand "why this keeps happening to me" and can lead to feeling victimized by the unknown movements that are contributing to our injury or re-injury. Often this state of not-knowing-why results in even more fear -- or giving up.

As a Feldenkrais Practitioner, my approach may be different than what many of us are accustomed to, which is: Patient asks a question to the "all-knowing" practitioner, and receives an answer delivered with succinct confidence.
Instead, the answers my patients receive may initially seem more ambiguous, as I guide them into redeveloping their own skills in self awareness and curiosity. In a safe environment, they are guided into self-exploration, confronting those unconscious fears that were developed long ago, which have thus far been successful at suppressing their innate curiosity. As they begin to approach their movement experiences from an attitude of open curiosity and self-questioning, the blood-flow and neural patterns in their brains change and the capacity for new learning and improvement in movement becomes possible.

So the next time you find yourself asking, "What's the point?" be skeptical! If you end up with a quick answer, you may be satisfied for the moment, but when nothing has truly changed, you may find yourself back at square-one, with pain and limitations still present. Instead, begin to develop the skill to linger with the question and approach it from many different view points, thus engaging your brain in a way that truly engages the full capacity of your body's ability to change and heal.

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Spring 2005

At the moment of birth we take our miraculous first breath. From then on, breathing is natural, easy, and peaceful -- right? Not Exactly…

For infants, healthy, full breathing comes spontaneously. Their whole body is involved in the gentle inhalations and exhalations of life. However, as we learn to participate in and cope with the environment and circumstances around us, we shape our breath to meet the changing demands of life. As we mature, the changes in our breathing are unconscious and imperceptible...until one day, voila! We have become adults and have transitioned our natural breathing pattern into one primary breath per day: The big INHALATION at the beginning of each day, the final EXHALATION when our heads hit the pillow at night. So, what is happening in between — all day long?

If you choose to observe your breath, you will notice countless times throughout each day that there is not much breath going on. In our modern, highly-demanding lifestyles, it is not uncommon to find ourselves breathing shallowly. Often we maintain a shallow breathing pattern in the upper chest, never fully exhaling. Occasionally, folks will breath shallowly closer to the “bottom” of the exhalation, never fully inhaling. Either way, we are restricting our overall oxygen flow (see Brent’s outstanding article about the physiology of breathing on page 3). One of the tricks to “healthy breathing” is to observe your breathing, without straining to inhale or exhale.

There are many breathing exercises which can be extremely useful. But you don’t have to take time out of your day to integrate a fuller, healthier breathing pattern into your life. Begin with driving. Turn off your radio. Before you even pull out of your driveway pause for 3 to 5 breaths. Just count them. If you can learn to “belly breathe” as Brent suggests on page 3, this is even better. As you pull out of your driveway and drive down your street, your body and your thoughts can start to go into “auto-pilot” mode. Sometimes you show up at work and don’t even remember the details of how you actually got there. So begin noticing your breath. At the stop sign, when a car pulls out in front of you, or as you rehearse what you’re going to say to your boss today…just pause and notice your breath. Then count the next 3 to 5 breaths. Notice how difficult it can be just to stay present for 3 to 5 breaths. Don’t be hard on yourself if it’s difficult to focus. Be gentle, kind, even playful about those silly repetitive thoughts that demand your attention all day long, and restrict your healthy breathing capacity. Simple, right? Not exactly...

The seemingly natural act of breathing can take a significant amount of attention and discipline to remember to tune in. Yet, it is one of the easiest things you can do to support more balance in your life. Breathing fully, allowing the expansion your lungs, ribs, and abdomen can affect the health of your physical being dramatically. Try it for yourself.

As I was preparing to write this article, I had an entertaining thought. What would our society be like if we had regular “healthy breathing” announcements throughout the day on our radios? Instead of “this is a test by the Emergency Broadcasting System,” we could hear, “this is a reminder from the Healthy Breathing National Support System…”

Remember, life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. Do you want your breath taken away by stress, anxiety, work, bills, and traffic? Or would you rather have your system well-tuned to respond to the beautiful sunset over the mountains, the snow gently blanketing the city and illuminating the atmosphere, or the awe that fills your soul at the sight of a newborn infant and it’s natural, spontaneous first breaths of life.

Fall 2005

“Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Many of us remember these words whispered to us when we were children. But as adults, the last thing we want to feel, as we try to drift off to sleep, is tight!

If no conscious break is taken during the day, by the time a person drops his head onto the pillow at night, his mind and body may be so “cranked” up that it’s a wonder that he can get to sleep at all. Below I’ve summarized a typical day. If you visualize a “crank,” or a screwdriver, placed somewhere in your body, see how it can make things tighter in your system as the day progresses:

• Wake up to an insistent alarm (crank) • Rush around to get ready for your day (crank) • Drive to work and get behind slow people, the train, or too many lights (crank) • Arrive at work to your schedule being changed and not having the time to do the tasks you had planned (crank) • Rush around to do errands during your lunch break (crank) • Or, like many people, skip lunch (crank, crank) • Stay busy at work, never feeling like you can ever “do it all” (double crank) • Leave work later than you had hoped, rush home (crank) • Figure out what to have for dinner (crank) • Watch the evening (bad) news (crank) • Clean the kitchen, do some laundry, tidy up, get ready for tomorrow (crank) • Read or watch TV to relax (this may not be a crank up, but it’s not necessarily a crank down either since the adrenalin rush of a “stimulating” TV show can result in poor sleep

Now, when you lay down to go to sleep, there’s no need to wonder why your system is so “tight” it can’t relax and go to sleep. Yet, we know the relief that sleep brings is just what we need if we want to be fresh for another busy day of life!

So, what to do? How do you relax into sleep when challenged by physical pain, or mental “busy-ness”? How do you just “turn off” the pain or the unending thoughts which prevent you from falling into much-longed-for slumber?

You will need to make a conscious choice, each day, to incorporate rests or “relaxation breaks” throughout the day. When you find a window of opportunity, use that time to YOUR benefit! You’ll find, as you learn to implement intentional relaxation breaks throughout your day, your system will be more ready to unwind at the end of the day because there will be so much less unwinding to do. This is just as helpful for people experiencing pain, because an injured body benefits from the use of intentional, relaxing breaths which bring oxygen to the muscles and improved blood flow to the areas that are healing.

What is a relaxation break? A good example is sitting in your car at a stoplight. This is a perfect opportunity to take a few deep, relaxing, unwinding breaths. While listening to music (any kind you like!) you can consciously choose to use the time to rest your body and mind from the day’s events. Just by keeping your attention focused on the music, you can dismiss intrusive thoughts, as they pop up, and feel refreshed. (A CD is better than the radio, since it has no blaring commercials, no (bad) news of the day, no stories from the DJs to distract you from using this time to unwind.)

“When?” you may ask, when your day seems so busy and overflowing with your “to do” list. Why not implement a relaxation break any time you find yourself waiting in line, going to the bathroom, filling up your water/coffee/tea cup, each time you set the phone back down on the receiver. It only takes 5 to 30 seconds!

Taking the time to care for ourselves is more of a “being” experience, than an act of doing. Although many of us are driven by the “doing” tasks that we set before ourselves each day, learning to implement small relaxation moments that will put you in a brief state of “being” will allow you to be so much more effective at whatever you are “doing.” And what better way to “be” than to “be” able to sleep well each night.

Doing these exercises isn’t as hard as remembering to do them. Changing your habits, incorporating new cues into your daily patterns, will provide a path for successful relaxation and improved sleep.

May you sleep deeply.