In his book Meditating to Attain a Healthy Body Weight, author Lawrence Leshan offers up two guidelines for attaining—and, I would add, maintaining—a healthy body weight. While the first of these two guidelines focuses on what—or, more precisely, what not—to eat, the second of these guidelines focuses on how to eat. While opinions vary on […]
Category: Attending to Our Bodies
As I’ve worked with clients over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to clarify many misconceptions about diaphragmatic breathing. Following are some of the more frequently asked questions, along with my responses. Question 1: What is diaphragmatic breathing? Answer: Diaphragmatic breathing—also known as abdominal or belly breathing—is a way of breathing that optimizes the use […]
If you’ve read The What, Why, When, Where and How of Diaphragmatic Breathing, you know that the diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle, situated beneath the lungs, that separates the chest cavity—where the heart and lungs reside—from the abdominal cavity—where the stomach, liver, intestines, and other organs reside (see Figure 1). KAPIT, WYNN; ELSON, LAWRENCE M., […]