Nicephorus the Solitary

Blue Mindfulness, Worry & Hurry, and a Natural Way to the Heart


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Reading Time: 1 min 49 sec

I hope the next 27’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.



4 THOUGHTS

1. Blue Mindfulness

“What science is also revealing is that there’s an additional simple, watery means to mindfulness. Indeed, think of it as Blue Mindfulness.”

– Wallace J Nichols, Blue Mind

This refers to the idea that being around water (and nature in general) can invoke mindfulness. And even if you can’t make it into nature, it turns out that just listening to the sound of water can elicit some of its benefits.

So, this is your nudge to get out into nature or put on some ocean noises during your next breathing or meditation practice to get a little extra “blue mindfulness” 😊

2. A Water Breathing Walk

“Importantly, rain washes away the vestiges of pollution. Air is always cleaner during and immediately after a downpour…As rain tumbles through the atmosphere, each drop attracts hundreds of pollutant particles…Leaving the air bracingly fresh, scrubbed clean.”

- Annabel Streets, 52 Ways to Walk

I’ve shared this one before, but it felt right to re-share after the previous thought. Consider getting out and breathing some freshly cleaned air after the next rain—it’s an effortless “breathing exercise” 😊

3. Why Worry Goes With Hurry

“Worry goes with hurry because people in a hurry don’t have time to think clearly and make clear decisions, so they are always worried about results. … If you slow down enough to think clearly and act wisely, you have no need to worry because you know you are doing your best.”

– Eknath Easwaran, Original Goodness

One way to slow down enough to think clearly and act wisely? Slow, mindful breathing, which slows body and mind, thus reducing worry.

***

P.S. Of course, thinking clearly and acting wisely doesn’t mean we’ll make perfect decisions. It just means we won’t have to worry as much because we’ll know we’re doing our best with what we have 🙏

4. Some Advice to Follow (for the rest of our lives)

“Receive wisdom skillfully. Try it on for size and see how it fits. Incorporate what’s useful. Let go of the rest. And no matter how credible the source, test and tune in to yourself to discover what works for you.”

– Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Ironically, that advice goes for this passage, too 😊


1 Quote

You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ which serves for this is the lungs which lie round the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart.”
— Nicephorus the Solitary

1 Answer

Category: Synchronization

Answer: This refers to the measurement of the interaction between lungs and the heart during sleep.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What is cardiopulmonary coupling?


In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. We didn’t think everyone would bring a bag!

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Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.


 

Breath is Heart, How it Should Be, and the Breathing Benefits of Water

 

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4 Thoughts



1. Breathing Blue: Why Being In or Near Water is Good for Your Breath

I usually include blog posts as an extra, but I’m super excited about this one, so I’m including it as a full thought. It’s a short 5-min read, but here are the key takeaways in case you don’t have time right now:

  • Being in water is natural resistance breathing;

  • Being near water may naturally trigger the relaxation response;

  • Just hearing water might help you relax deeper and easier.

Breathing Blue: Why Being In or Near Water is Good for Your Breath

2. Separation of the Heart & Lungs is “an interesting historical question”

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems exist in series with the lungs, situated between the right and left sides of the circulation. Thus, breathing directly effects the cardiovascular system. How the circulation and respiration became separated into different “systems,” disciplines of study, and specialties in clinical medicine is an interesting epistemological and historical question…

- Michael Joyner, MD & Sarah Baker, PhD, 2021

A nice reminder from the Journal of the American Heart Association that breath is heart, and heart is breath.

And since it was written by an MD and PhD in JAHA, it’s one to keep in your back pocket to explain the power of breathing to people who are new to it 🙏

3. How it Should Be, and Letting Breath (and life) Unfold Naturally

Our tendency is to ride the breath, push it along, help it out, especially when we hear that the breath is part of this marvelous sutra, that it is the life force itself and can lead us to enlightenment. … We hear that a deep breath relaxes the body and figure that an accomplished meditator will be breathing deeply all the time, so—sometimes very subtly—we try to make the breath a little deeper.

- Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath (my emphasis above)

I felt like Larry was looking directly at me when he wrote this last sentence 😂 I definitely find myself trying to breathe certain ways, because that’s how The Breathing Diabetic “should be breathing.

But more generally, I think we can interpret breathing in this passage as a metaphor for all aspects of life.

We might ask: In what ways am I trying to make something “the way I think it should be” rather than accepting it how it is? (I have about a million.)

Then, we can use Larry’s advice, literally or metaphorically:

If we can learn to allow the breath to unfold naturally without tampering with it, then in time we may be able to do that with other aspects of our experience: we might learn to let the feelings be, let the mind be.

4. Practice is an Art and Science

Every breathing practice rests somewhere between an art and a science.

The goal is to find an enjoyable sweet spot for you.


1 QUOTE

You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ which serves for this is the lungs which lie round the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart.
— Nicephorus the Solitary
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Water and Breathing

Answer: Because water is about 800 times denser than air, it exerts pressure on the chest wall that makes breathing about this much harder.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What is 60% harder?



In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. sorry I didn't answer your call

Breathing for Diabetes Online Course ($99):

If you love learning about breathing, want to live a healthier life, or just want to support my work, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.


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