“She no longer needed the pills . . .” Rose was plagued with
lifelong allergies, asthma, recurring bronchitis and pneumonia,
and healed her symptoms through Full Wave Breathing. There are
other success stories using this lifestyle management approach
taught by Tom and Caron Goode of the International Breath
Institute of Tucson, Arizona.
Henry overcame severe depression and alcoholism. Marilyn
conquered her marijuana and cocaine addiction. Heather lost
weight and improved her physical appearance and health. Joe
kicked his smoking habit, and Leah was able to better manage her
fybromyalgia pain.
The results of a breathing technique as documented in the case
studies by the International Breath Institute brings up the
question of how does Full Wave Breathing affect health,
attitude, and lifestyle so as to achieve such dynamic results?
Why does any breathwork have such a powerful effect on health?
Physical Health
Working with your breathing in specific patterns can lower
blood pressure, increase digestion and assimilation, makes the
heart patterns more stable, decreases anxiety, remarkably
improves depression, and integrates stress. Specifically Full
Wave Breathing brings more oxygen to the mind and body than
other breathing approaches and triggers the ability to relax and
calm oneself.
Breathing is the only body function that you do involuntarily,
and that you can voluntarily work with. You can influence your
autonomic nervous system and thereby positively influence other
systems in your body-circulation, respiration, digestion, and so
on. In addition, deeper and more effective breathing increases
lymph flow, helping the body to detoxify.
Emotional and Mental Health
Your emotional reactions affect your breathing. Fear
accelerates breathing. Anger pumps your breathing like an
awakening volcano. Sadness and grief inhibit breathing. Are you
a person who sips at life? Or do you get up each morning with a
full deep breath and new outlook on life? How you breathe is a
predictor for your quality of life and satisfaction. Full Wave
Breathing is the single most important exercise for emotional
management and integration.
International Breath Institute confirmed that how people
breathe affects their attitudes. Deep breathers are more relaxed
and balanced. Shallow breathers are more anxious and impulsive.
Remember that a resilient child contains impulsivity and
regulates emotional responses. Full Wave Breathing is an easy
and successful tool to help them develop this capacity!
Research from the International Breath Institute shows that
first grade children who sat for long periods of time in their
seats, breathed shallower and shallower as the day progressed.
Their postures slumped and their eyes glazed. Learning cannot
take place under such conditions. But, when their teacher led
them through deep breathing exercises for ten minutes each day
after lunch, something amazing happened. They felt better! They
learned and concentrated more easily. They were relaxed and
could shift attention without difficulty after recess. The first
graders reminded each other to use their breath before each
assignment, and they practiced breathing while walking in the
hallway, which helped them not chatter and disturb others.
Teens also use this approach to manage stress, addictions, and
fears. Allison Howard and Margaret Townsend, trainers for the
International Breath Institute, used breathing with at-risk
youth. They reported that after the first resistance to
something “weird,” this technique was the one the youth
remembered when they learned to say no to drugs and yes to life.
The Oxygen Principle
The first step in the breathing process is the inhale. After
oxygen enters the lungs, it is picked up by hemoglobin in the
blood and sent to all the cells. Once in the cells, oxidation,
the method of combining the nutrients from food with oxygen,
creates energy.
The following equations clarifies the relationship:
Low Oxygen = Low Energy = Fuzzy Mental Focus and Unbalanced
Emotions
High Oxygen = High Energy = Clear Mental Focus and Balanced
Emotions
Oxygen maintains cells. It keeps them clean and healthy. At the
same time, oxygen helps remove waste from the body. Breathing
that is more effective increases oxygen in the body. It is the
greatest health and energy boost we get, especially if used as a
daily exercise program by the entire family. These are some of
the latest reasons that successful breathing provides immune
support and a health advantage.
- New studies of hospital admissions and emergency department
visits have linked exposure to particulate air pollution with
increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. As few as two hours
after being inhaled, tiny, invisible air pollutants penetrate
the lungs’ natural defenses and may trigger a heart attack,
according to a report in today’s Circulation: Journal of the
American Heart Association.
- Common air pollutants slow children’s lung according to
results from the University of Southern California-led
Children’s Health Study. The 10-year-long study is considered
one of the most comprehensive studies to date of the long-term
effects of smog on children.
- Exposure to two common air pollutants may increase the chance
that a pregnant woman birth a child with heart defects,
according to a UCLA study. It provides the first compelling
evidence that air pollution may play a role in causing some
birth defects.
- When children living under polluted, hazy skies move away to
communities with cleaner air, their lungs grow more quickly,
according to a study by researchers at the Keck School of
Medicine of USC.
- …’environmental toxins, notably dioxins, have been suggested
as contributing factors to a 49 percent increase in diabetes as
reported in the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
published by the Centers for Disease Control.
- Today, one in every twenty children develops asthma. This
represents about 3.8 million children. The evidence from
developed countries suggests “that the increase in allergic
diseases such as asthma may be associated with air pollution”
A Single Foundational Exercise
While we cannot always control the environment, we can control
and make as healthy as possible our inner terrain. To use Full
Wave Breathing to bring more oxygen into the body and mind can
take as little as five minutes a day or maybe thirty minutes
day. It depends upon how healthy you already are and how optimal
you want to be! It is a foundation exercise to all other
exercise programs, and is used first to increase vitality, lung
expansion, and circulation. Consider it the warm up exercise.
And if you don’t work out everyday, you can do Full Wave
Breathing everyday for better health.
A Way to Manage Your Lifestyle
The Full Wave Breathing program is more than a breathing
technique. It is a way to manage your life from a place of
acceptance. What the directors, Drs. Tom and Caron Goode, have
learned in the past twelve years of teaching and researching the
field of wellness is that all people must come to a place of
acceptance within themselves. Acceptance means achieving a calm
and peaceful place in the heart center, which radiates the peace
throughout the body, mind and spirit. It really doesn’t matter
whether one is facing an illness, preparing for a bicycle race,
leaving home for college, or dealing with life transitions.
Programs of Instruction and Certification
Weekend and One-day programs of instruction are available in
various locations throughout the year. A weeklong certification
seminar for therapists and those wishing to offer Full Wave
Breathing as part of a professional practice is offered once
each year.
For further information, visit the website,
www.InternationalBreathInstitute.com or call
(520) 886-0538.
Tom Goode, ND
International Breath Institute
5921 east Miramar Drive
Tucson, AZ 85715
520-886-0538
thomasgoode@earthlink.net
