I apologize in advance if I’m overdoing the questions, but I had a few more things I was wondering about.
- I’ve heard conflicting thoughts on breathing. In your book you say that appropriate abdominal breathing will eventually lead to you breathing less, which is relaxing. However, I’ve also read that some people don’t breath enough and that their organs are “Oxygen starved” Would you say that you should try to breath as little as is comfortably possible or should you keep yourself on a static breathing pattern? Also, should we be actively thinking about expanding the upper chest, or should be just move the abdomen and allow any upper chest movement to occur?
2)Also in regards to breathing, for years I never really took interest in my nose as long as air was coming through it. It was, but I hadn’t noticed that one of my nostrils was always blocked or at least constricted. As far as I can tell, the blocked nostril seems to change from one day to the next or even several times throughout the course of the day. I think that the original block that seems to return every morning is mucus. With some effort I can clear this out.
One the mucus is out, I can open up the blocked nostril by plugging the other and forcing the air to flow through it. It will open up within minutes. Unfortunately, one of two problems seems to occur. The nostril will reseal itself, or the other nostril will close up.
It seem like a strange thing to be concerned about, but when I cleared the mucus out of my nose and I can (potentially) breath clearly through both nostrils, I feel energetic and in a good mood…almost…light. The mucus always returns though, forcing me to clear it out again. Is this normal? Should one of the two nostrils be closed?
I’m not sure what to make of this myself, but I’m very interested in what you think.
- Before starting Yoga, I suffered from horrible frequent headaches and often had a great amount of trouble falling asleep at night. Learning to do headstands is perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to me physically. A few moments in headstand can ward off an oncoming headache, and a few minutes can get rid of one that was already entrenched. Doing one before bed allows me to fall asleep without trouble. However, I still feel that I am merely addressing a symptom.
The headaches still come, the only difference is that I can fight them off. I can fall asleep, but I rarely feel as though I get a good night sleep. I usually wake up feeling tired and unrested with a mild ache in my head (Leading me to believe that my two problems are perhaps interrelated). Only rarely do I feel as though I wake rested. I go to bed and get up around the same time each night and generally get 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
I’m not sure if this is your area of expertise but I’d appreciate any incite you have on this.
- Last week my father had surgery to remove his prostate due to cancer. His doctor has suggested at least 6 weeks of no strenuous activity but I was wondering if after this period, you could suggest some simple exercises to help with some of the side affects which can be rather unpleasant. The only caveat is that he has a bad back and arthritic shoulders so that should be taken into account. He is in good health otherwise however. I think the exercises have to be simple as my father has a generally suspicious predisposition to Yoga type stretching. A simple routine would be best.
Thanks.