Belisa Vranich

Remember that stale air stays in your lungs unless you consciously exhale it. Just keep training yourself to blow out every last little bit.

On the inhale, you should be thinking two things: Lower-body Breath and expand. On the exhale, think: Lower-body Breath and squeeze/contract. Remind yourself: ‘Inhale . . . expand. Exhale . . . squeeze.

If you’re trying to be healthier, wanting to live longer and better, or wanting to heal, you must have a meditation or mindfulness component on your to-do list. Period. Recent research has been confirming this conclusion with ever more evidence as chemical changes, physical brain volumes, and meticulously set physiological markers are tracked and recorded.

Take two athletes with the same amount of talent, heart, and strength. The one who’d followed a breathing-muscle workout will indubitably dominate.

The most important and underappreciated muscle in your body is the diaphragm.

When you pack your knapsack or suitcase most efficiently, you use up every little nook and cranny, shifting things around to maximize space. This is what you’re going to do with your lungs, which may result in your ability to access fuller lung capacity.

Relearn to breathe by moving the breathing back down to the lower part of your body, where it belongs.

Your energy level is low because you don’t fuel your cells with the one thing that they need to make all those expensive organic foods and supplements digestible: oxygen. Every time you breathe, you nourish your body and brain. So why don’t you feed them better?

Your body’s main source of energy is oxygen. Period.