Deep Breathing

(Courtesy Col. Sohail Qizilbash -  Retd)

With all the heart problems that people are experiencing today, learning that you can actually do something to create a second heart within your body sounds like a miracle or simply too good to be true. Of course science is always trying to create replacement organs using stem cells, cloning, cell regeneration technology and much more, but such "solutions" are nothing more than band aids, as is everything else that western medicine does to treat various health issues.

The media has convinced people to just enjoy their sugary, destructive foods with zero nutrition, tons of chemicals, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and more, all of which destroys their organs, pollutes their blood and energy and causes their organs to fail.

A second heart

So how do you actually have a second heart within your body? The answer is really very simple...deep breathing. How does deep breathing create a second heart? Through deep diaphragmatic breathing from low down in the abdomen (dan tien area about one inch below the navel) you're bringing the diaphragm itself into play far more than when only performing upper chest breathing. The diaphragm is a muscular but flexible membrane that separates the chest from the abdominal cavity. When you inhale and the lungs expand it pushes the diaphragm down into the abdominal cavity. This gentle expansion during deep abdominal breathing is what helps to gently push huge amounts of blood throughout the system thereby taking a huge load off the heart.

The diaphragm is the most powerful muscle in the body and it acts as a perfect force pump which compresses the internal organs such as the liver, spleen, intestines, lymphatic and blood vessels and greatly aids the venous circulation from abdomen to thorax or middle and upper chest area. Due to the large surface area of the diaphragm, a large amount of blood is moved throughout the body when it is employed via the mechanism of deep breathing. Even though this muscle is moving slower than the heart on a per minute basis, the greater surface area and the amount of blood it moves means that it actually functions as a "second heart" in the body and thus greatly reduces the amount of work that the heart itself must do.

Be aware that when you first start practicing deep breathing, because most people are chronic chest breathers and this is especially true of the elderly, sedentary, overweight and women who want to hold the stomach in! You may feel some tightness or discomfort in that area as this muscle begins to be used and stretches out. With practice and time, this should disappear. In time, abdominal breathing will quickly become second nature.

How to begin

If you have never tried breathing from low down, start off slowly by taking just 5-10 abdominal breaths per day and eventually work up to at least 30 or more. Outside is the best place to practice all breathing exercises as long as the outside air is relatively clean. If you're in an area with polluted air, then indoors in a room with plants or an ionizer would be a better place to practice deep breathing.

So if you're concerned about your heart health, as we all should be, then start breathing from low down in the ‘dan tien’ area every day. Learn to make deep diaphragmatic breathing a daily habit. This will help you to gently move large amounts of blood through the body with each breath, taking a huge strain off the heart and helping it to last a lifetime as it was designed to do.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)