Author Archives: akenner

How bad is air pollution for your health? Is it just about your lungs and respiratory system? Are people with existing conditions (such as asthma) the only ones who should be concerned, or should we, as a society, be concerned about how air pollution affects our bodies? The resounding answer is ‘yes’, we are all impacted by air pollution, and the affect goes beyond our lungs.

An article published in this week’s U.S. News and World Report explored the issue of air pollution, explaining the extent to which pollutants like greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) and particulate matter impact the body. Although we typically associate air pollution with lung disease, the lungs are merely the first organ hit by air toxins. If we think about how the lungs function – as a zone of exchange where air is received, converted, and transported to different places both within and back out of the body – it’s easy to imagine how the lungs (and the air that the lungs receive) impact other organs. Most of the time, different parts of our body are thought of, spoken of, and treated in isolation – heart, brain, right arm, muscle, blood – but really they are all intimately and intricately connected. And the cellular level is just one way to think about physiological connections.

According to Aruni Bhatnagar, an environmental cardiology researcher at the University of Louisville, “People thought that when we inhale pollutants the lung is the main target, but the lung is surprisingly resilient. It turns out the cardiovascular effects are predominant.” Bad air days may be responsible for more than asthma attacks and seasonal allergies; a broader range of acute symptoms and chronic conditions may be implicated when air quality hits hazardous levels. Air pollutants “incite processes that lead to high blood pressure, blood clotting, and electrical instability in the heart, which can translate into heart attack, stroke, and sudden cardiac death. Even short-term exposure can be hazardous. Research shows spikes in cardiac deaths, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions in the hours and days that follow a spike in cities’ levels of particulate matter.” You can get a sense of how respiration affects your body by taking a few minutes to observe your breathing.

Sitting, standing, or lying down, close your eyes. Take a deep breath in, the deepest breath you can muster. Your stomach and chest should expand. Your shoulders and collar bones might rise. You might feel tense, and if that’s the case, try and relax. When you’ve filled up completely, take a second to note how you feel. Are you uncomfortable? Trembling? Struggling? Calm? When was the last time you inhaled so deeply? Exhale, slowly, and watch your body contract. You probably feel a bit different? A little empty? Relaxed? Take another deep inhale, but don’t rush it. Try counting to see how long it takes you to fill up. Then exhale and count back down trying to match the length of time it took you to inhale. Draw your breath out, inhaling and exhaling as slowly as possible. Do this cycle (inhaling and exhaling) ten times. At the end, how do you feel? Probably a bit different. There is a good chance you’ll notice that your body and mind are in a different place then when you started this exercise. Your heart rate has slowed. Muscles have relaxed. You may feel a sense of calm. You may be more aware of your surroundings. What else has changed?

If, in the few minutes that it took you to take ten deep breaths, you experienced any change in state, you can probably extrapolate and recognize that breathing is always affecting your entire body, regardless of whether or not you’re paying attention. This includes the nervous, circulatory, digestive, and muscular systems, all of which function ceaselessly, and in conjunction, without our noticing. The more deeply you breath, the greater the effect, but always, the breath is moving air in and out of your body – and anything in that air as well. In the case of particulate matter, which can be as small as one-thirtieth width of human hair, particles may easily get lodged in the pulmonary organs, and the smallest particles could even make their way into the blood stream.

While the U.S. News and World Report article ends by saying there is little individuals can do to reduce air pollution – instead citing the need for policy measures that would cut fossil fuel emissions – the fact that our lung is “surprisingly resilient” makes me wonder if improved lung function might help filter toxins. Might we carry tools for toxic defense? What anatomical systems and processes might we draw on to ward off the impact of air pollution? Food for thought; food that can, in no way, substitute for much more effective air quality policies…

you can learn a lot about life by paying attention to your breathing. right now, take a deep breath in and hold it. feel the increasing discomfort that builds as you resist the natural impulse to let go. when it becomes too uncomfortable, release your breath & notice the immediate relief that you feel. holding on to anything when it is time to let go creates distress in your body and mind. now take a breath, fully empty your lungs, and hold your breath. become aware of the increasing discomfort that develops when you resist something from entering your life that you are meant to accept. notice the relief that you feel as you take your next breath.
- Deepak Chopra from THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF YOGA

December is a great time of year, one of my favorites! … but if there is any time of the year when I find myself more susceptible to losing focus, getting carried away, or just not being mindful… it’s December. There are obvious reasons for this – the end of the academic semester, the AAA meetings, and holiday culture are all notable. And its not that I’m not mindful; I’m mindful of lots of things, too many things maybe… The disconnect for me is that I’m less mindful of my body. I find that there is so much going on around me that it’s easy to be everywhere except present in my body, conscious of appetite, fatigue, energy, breath, and joy. I’m of the opinion that its pretty important to be in your body, to cultivate an awareness of how you feel and move. So a few weeks ago I did something that I’ve been wanting to do for awhile – I went to a workshop led by Daniel Orlansky called Kundalini Yoga: The Power of the Breath. I thought this would be a perfect way to cleanse and re-focus myself before the new year, and also to learn more about what yoga has to say on breath and life.

Of course, if you practice yoga you know that prana, or life force, is most directly controlled by breath; this is what pranayama is all about – the suspension, restraint, and control of breath, or life force. Pranayama is the fourth limb of yoga; its foundational for asana and dhyana, the third and seventh limbs of yoga. Breath control allows for detoxification, concentration, and the general ability to work with your own personal energy. Its very powerful.

Much of the workshop focused on pranayama and Daniel talked a lot about the relationship between how we breath and our experience of the world. Our mornings began at 6:30 with an hour long session of yoga. This, in my opinion, is the best time to practice kundalini yoga. It really starts your day off on the right foot. This was followed by a break for breakfast, a morning session, a break for lunch, an afternoon session, dinner, and then some event in the evening. All of our sessions were filled, not only with pranayama and kriyas but also with chanting. As Daniel said, chanting is about breath. When you’re chanting, your breath moves rhythmically.

Needless to say, I left the workshop feeling very focused and energized. I highly recommend pranayama, kundalini yoga, and Daniel Orlansky. And I doubt it will be long before I follow up with posts on all three… particularly since I’ll be embarking upon a yoga teacher training program with Sondra Loring and Raghunath later this Spring.