21. So You Think You Need Iodine — Part III

We continue here with questions from readers along with my responses:

Q: What would you take iodine with? I read somewhere that tap water should be avoided because the chlorine in the water would replace the iodine. 

A: Yes, absolutely avoid chlorinated water, along with ingestion of and exposure to bromine and fluoride (see previous article). Two of my kids just take their Lugol’s in our reverse osmosis water and don’t mind the taste, but I hate the taste and therefore take it in diluted juice. Just don’t take it undiluted, as it’s too strong for the tender mucous membranes of the mouth. 

Along with iodine, you must supplement with 200 mcg of selenium daily. It’s vital for keeping thyroid balance. It’s very new knowledge that the thyroid cannot convert T4 to T3 without sufficient selenium, so suddenly getting more iodine without the other can make things worse. You should be able to find selenium at any health food store. I buy NOW brand because it’s not derived from yeast (which I avoid). 

Also helpful is extra Vitamin C (1000-3000 mg daily), magnesium citrate (400 mg), and lots of water. It’s wise to start with a small dose of iodine. Whatever you start at, give it 2 or 3 weeks, then increase gradually. Make note of any strange symptoms, rashes, acne (anywhere), frontal headache, sinus stuffiness, metallic taste, excess salivation, sneezing. These do not mean you have a problem with iodine (in spite of what most doctors presume). 

Drs. Brownstein, Abraham, and Fletchas believe these symptoms can result when increased iodine dosage starts displacing bromine stores and the kidneys are struggling to expel these toxins. They recommend the following cleanse (which I have done on three different occasions with prompt success in relieving my symptoms): First thing in the morning, drink a solution of ¼ teaspoon unrefined (i.e. Celtic) sea salt in ½ cup warm water. Chase with 16 ounces pure water. Repeat these 2 steps after half an hour and again in another half hour. 

Q: I stopped taking Synthroid in October. Now (January), last couple of weeks, my hypo-t is beginning to act up. My father had the same hypo-thyroid and he died of cirrhosis of liver though he was a teetotaller. I always wonder if it had something to do with the thyroid medicine he was taking (harming the liver) though he was always under excellent conventional medical treatment. I have to go to a doc, get the current TSH level tested, and then I am starting on iodine (whether the doc agrees or not). 

Same fellow in a later email: I got the iodine and was searching the web for the right dosage. But I came across contradictory statements—saying iodine is good for [both] hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. Now I am totally confused. Wondering if I should (be a good boy and) go back to Synthyroid? 

A: I think you’ll have to decide if you’re going to take the plunge, and be prepared to weather the storm a little, although I recall you said earlier that you’d quit your meds in the fall. That may make the transition easier. You know I have no credentials—just an inquisitive mind, some health challenges, a distrust of pharmaceuticals and what drives them ($$), as well as a sometimes-reckless courage! Just remember that even if you should throw something out of whack by trying this, things will go back to the status quo once you quit. But I really hope it works for you. 

Q: I am reading with interest your blog on iodine. I was wondering how it would interact with the thyroid meds that I have been on for over 30 years. 

A: Regarding your thyroid meds, it will probably mess them up, because likely, as your body starts to get the iodine it’s undoubtedly been lacking all these years, the response of the body is to say, “I’m getting too much Synthroid!” I think a response like this from your body would be a good thing, but if you tell your doctor you’re taking (or planning to take) iodine, he’ll probably try to dissuade you. It comes down to taking responsibility for our own health and being prepared to buck the mainstream once in a while. 

Q: Hey, I made a bit of a mistake today: in my zeal, I thought I read one teaspoon [Lugol’s] in juice. Luckily that’s all I took, but I have been burping like crazy tonight, so I’m drinking lots of water ... oops!

A: Holy crow, girl! One teaspoon equals 5 mls equals 100 drops, which is 625 mg of iodine. Yes, you’d better drink lots of water. That’s way over (more than 6 times over) any maximum therapeutic dose I’ve ever read about. Excess is supposed to flush out in the urine, so flush away. But monitor how you feel and go to the hospital if you think you need to. May God bless and keep you!

This last reader is a friend of mine, and we still laugh about this scenario sometimes. She has affirmed more than once that the extreme dose of iodine (amazingly) did her no harm. One of these times I reminded her, “But you said you were burping a lot.”

“Yes,” she said, “but I remembered afterwards that I had cabbage for lunch, and cabbage always makes me burp.”

20. So You Think You Need Iodine – Part II

In my last article, I left off talking about factors in our lives today that have increased our need of iodine. Most prominent is our exposure to and ingestion of three halogens other than iodine: bromine, fluorine, and chlorine. These other three are all toxic to the human body, and they displace what little iodine we do manage to take in from our diets. 

Bromine: Dr. David Brownstein, a well-known name in iodine research today in the U.S., now routinely tests every new patient for iodine deficiency and bromine toxicity. In 4000 tests, the results flag a staggering 96.5%. 

Want to avoid bromine? Avoid citrus-flavoured soft drinks, pesticides—especially those on Californian strawberries, and enriched flour. Bromine is banned in bakery products in Canada and the U.K. now, but not in the U.S. Some asthma inhalers contain bromine, which is pretty scary when you consider that bromine also aggravates asthma. Fire-retardants containing bromine are used in children’s clothing (how sad!), upholstered furniture, carpet and underlay, bedding, and vehicles. Fortunately, since 2005 there have been stricter guidelines regarding fire-retardants. 

The plastics used in electronics of all kinds contain bromine. Some companies are now pledging to move away from using this toxic substance, at least in some of their products. Ask questions! Bromine is also found in toys, cosmetics, swimming pool and hot tub chemicals, and hair permanents and colouring. 

Fluorine: Exposure to fluorine is something else to avoid in the interest of thyroid health and well-being in general. I now make sure the toothpaste I buy is fluoride-free and I forego fluoride treatments when I have my teeth cleaned. I’ve got rid of all non-stick cookware. Teflon is made from a fluorine compound. “In two to five minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfaces can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year.” (http://tuberose.com/Teflon.html)

 Do you remember hearing stories of how they used to keep canaries in the mines as a kind of toxic-gas early-warning? If a canary died, the men would run for their lives. Well, there have been multitudes of pet birds die from haemorrhaged lungs in the heartland of our homes. Heed the warning! 

The full-scale fluoridation of municipal water supplies, not to mention chlorination, is scandalous. If you have no alternative but to drink town water, at least spend $20 on a Brita filter. Stop and think about beverages that you reconstitute with tap water: frozen juices, powdered juices (don’t even go there!), infant formula, tea and coffee. Iced tea mixes are already really high in fluoride; mixing them with tap water gives you a double whammy. Many soda pops, ready-to-drink juices, wines, commercial soups, and baby cereals come high in this toxic, iodine-banishing substance. 

Chlorine: Three major sources of chlorine exposure are municipal water supplies, cleaning products (avoid anything with the syllable “chlor” in the ingredients), and swimming pools. Inhalation of the fumes from pools is bad enough; the amount absorbed directly through the skin is worse. Competitive swimmers can take on toxic amounts of chlorine in just one training session. My naturopath tells me that he commonly finds thyroid dysfunction in people who have swum a lot in chlorinated pools. 

These three toxic halogens will take up receptor sites in the body intended for iodine, and they alone are reason enough to consider a hefty iodine supplement. Over time, sufficient iodine will help to bump these three foreign elements from our bodies and allow both subtle and profound healing.

Q. I am moved to follow up on your suggestion that an iodine supplement can be helpful ... and I am wondering what product you actually use, or would recommend. I surfed about a bit on the web and see that there are some choices, different types of iodine, and the drops you mention would not be normally taken internally. Can you advise further? Thank you for your blog. 

A. Lugol’s Solution, which I use and therefore recommend, has been used safely internally and with great efficacy for over 150 years. In the 1930s the first synthetic thyroxin medication hit the market and started the gradual marginalization of the use of iodine for thyroid issues. Most doctors do not even consider prescribing iodine when they diagnose thyroid problems, but the fact remains: iodine is absolutely vital for thyroid health and, as researchers are seeing now, is actually needed in every cell of the body.

19. So You Think You Need Iodine — Part I

I have received quite a number of responses to my iodine articles. I try to answer fully, but it’s difficult to address everything that might be pertinent in each individual case. Following is the first of three comprehensive articles combining some of these questions and answers. 

Q: What was the reason you started supplementing with iodine? In what form do you take iodine? Thank you for sharing what you have learned. 

A: If you read the first blog article, “Anxiety and the Iodine Intervention,” it will answer your first question. Also read articles 2, 3, & 7 for more on iodine in general. I use Lugol’s Solution, which is water-based and hence safe for oral use. It’s important that one not use an alcohol-based iodine internally. If you think you would benefit from iodine supplementation, phone a pharmacy and ask them to bring in Lugol’s for you, and ask them to find out the exact percentage of potassium iodide and iodine. There are different strengths of Lugol’s now (as well as other different kinds of iodine), so we need to know the concentration up front. If you find out the specifics on the strength of a solution, I can help you calculate how much to take to achieve a particular dosage. 

Q: When we went to the health food store and asked for Lugol’s, they did not stock it as she said that Naka vegetable iodine drops were much superior. As a result, that is what I bought. According to the bottle, each 20 drops contains 1 mg of potassium iodide and the recommended dosage for adults is 10 drops per day. I don’t know if this helps to convert or not. I have looked on the internet and can’t seem to figure it out. 

A: In order to get the same dosage that I am taking (which is equivalent to what the average Japanese gets in his diet daily), you would have to take 250 drops of this product per day! I’m guessing it’s a 30 ml bottle, so it won’t even last 3 days! Their recommended dose, ten drops daily, would give you 500 mcg, which is a little more than triple what the RDA is for iodine, so to some people that would seem generous. This product is, you say, potassium iodide, which is the form your thyroid wants. However, ovaries, breasts, prostate, and other organs utilize molecular iodine. Lugol’s contains both. Lugol’s is 125 times the strength of the product you bought. You will pay $11 or $12 for a 100 ml bottle. At 12.5 mg daily, that will last you for a thousand days at just over a penny a day. While you look for some Lugol’s, I would suggest that you get started with 20 drops daily (1 mg) of what you have. Do that for a couple of weeks and let me know if you feel any different in any way. 

Q: Iodine is really important—and salt has it in it. 

A: Yes, most table salt is iodized, but there are several problems with assuming you can get enough this way. First problem: Salt hasn’t got nearly enough iodine for our needs (based on current research). A little history: A hundred years ago, the region surrounding the Great Lakes was called “the goitre belt.” Soils in this area are so deficient in iodine that this condition of enlarged thyroid was wide-spread. In the 1920s however, the U.S. government began requiring that iodine be added to salt. It was determined that 150 mcg per day would prevent goitre, and so based on how much salt the average person then consumed daily, they calculated how much iodine to add. This plan almost entirely wiped out iodine deficiency in the U.S. “Deficiency” here might be defined as levels insufficient to prevent goitre. However—there are many functions of iodine within the body beyond the needs of the thyroid. Second: Even if the amount of iodine added to salt had been truly sufficient 90 years ago, for decades now doctors have been warning people to cut back on salt. Every time someone cuts down their salt intake, they cut into that already-minimal intake of iodine. Third: Current researchers say and Wikipedia echoes: “Iodide-treated table salt slowly loses its iodine content through the process of oxidation and iodine evaporation.” Fourth: The kind of salt that is iodized (refined) is not good for us. For more on that subject—and the benefits of unrefined salt, read Blog #6: “Salt of the Earth.” Fifth: There are complicating factors that have increased our need for iodine in recent decades. We’ll pick up there next time.

18. Yummy Partial-Wheat Bread

About ten years ago, I received a bread-maker as a Christmas present. Ever since I got into the habit of using it, our family has enjoyed the delight of fresh bread on a regular basis. Once I found that I could buy organic whole-wheat flour from a local mill, I had the added confidence that I was serving my family the healthiest bread on the face of the planet. Or so I believed. Friends always looked forward to bread at my house; and at church potlucks, it always went like proverbial hotcakes. 

Whole-wheat flour is notorious for rapidly going rancid. I buy it as fresh as possible and keep it in the freezer to preserve the oils in the highly nutritious wheat germ. But there was something that puzzled me: the mill mentioned one day that it didn’t need to be put in the freezer. I quietly wondered about that for a couple of years. 

At the Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays, I frequently have long conversations with some of the local Hutterites, whose table is a short distance from mine. I’ve been impressed with the agricultural knowledge and ethics of this particular colony, Pine Haven, located a few minutes southeast of Wetaskiwin. They seem to consider it their responsibility before God to carefully steward their land. And well they should. Although the colony does not call their produce organic (the certification process is a long and difficult one), their vegetables are grown without synthetic fertilizers and their meat and poultry are raised using things like oregano in the feed and water as well as probiotics to ward off disease before it starts. 

One market day last summer, I had a long chat with one of the Hutterite men who has taken an interest in growing original grains. He told me that he has been working with three different ancient or heritage grains, as they are called, and making some of the flour available for sale along with their other produce. I was keen to buy a bag of his flour and try it out. 

As I paid for it, he told me to make sure to keep it in the freezer. So I talked to him about the organic flour I had been buying and how confused I was that they’d told me it wouldn’t spoil. He promptly offered an answer to the riddle. Most wheat today, he said, has been genetically modified to one end or another, and one of the modifications they make is breeding the wheat germ right out of the kernel in order to improve the shelf-life. This leaves just the endosperm, which contains the gluten (a form of protein) and the wheat bran. So if this were true of my flour, it would mean that all this time I had been buying—not whole-wheat flour—but two-thirds-wheat flour. One very important, God-designed part would be missing. I was not impressed with this possibility. 

Since that day, I have done some reading on the whole GMO thing. I understand now that there are over 30,000 different strains of wheat. They have been developed to many different ends: to make them resistant to herbicides like Round-Up; to help them survive difficult climatic conditions; and to change the composition in different ways for various reasons, the remove-the-wheat-germ scheme being a case in point. Gluten contents have been manipulated to make them “perform” better in specific products. One of the concerns here is that the “super-glutens” created are difficult for us to digest properly, and one of the questions posed is whether this trend in part explains the burgeoning numbers of people being diagnosed with celiac disease. 

The health concerns of GMOs include “endocrine disruption, reproductive disorders and sterility, digestive problems, rapid aging, organ damage, autoimmune problems, insulin imbalances....” Every human currently consuming GMOs on a regular basis is actually an unwitting test subject in a giant biotechnology experiment.”¹

Even crazier is the news that human DNA is being used in some of these grains, now no longer technically called plants but rather “organisms.” All my reading was making me pretty paranoid, and I was ready to throw away my “organic whole-wheat flour” from the local mill on principle alone. But I decided to let them speak for themselves first. A phone call reassured me that my flour is not genetically modified. But neither does it contain wheat germ. It is mechanically removed so that the flour can sit on the shelf for six months without spoiling. 

“But,” I protested, “you call it whole wheat, and it’s really only two-thirds.” 

And he answered, “But we don’t call it 100% whole wheat.” ___________________________________________ 

1. http://www.naturalnews.com/033007_GM_wheat_experimental.html

17. Indispensable Iodine

Last week I was sitting at my table at the Farmers’ Market when a woman came up and commented on my colloidal silver, asking if I made my own. 

“Yes,” I told her, “I bought a good generator for my own purposes, and then, since I sit at the market anyway with my books and CDs, I decided to make the silver available at a low price.”

 As we talked it quickly became evident that she was a health enthusiast with a lot of knowledge. I was surprised when she said she was from St. Albert—I wondered what would bring her to our market. Well, she had a table at the market too; she comes here about once a month on a rotating schedule. When I inquired what her product was, she explained that she leases a machine—that actually won a Nobel Prize—that scans your skin and gives a read-out as to the level of antioxidants you have in your body. 

“How long does it take?” 

“About two minutes.” 

“How much does it cost?” 

“Ten dollars.” 

“I’ll be right there,” I told her as she left. 

I gathered up my valuables, deserting my table and all my stuff, and off I went. Found her and her friend, laid down my ten-spot, and stuck my hand in front of their machine. A minute and a half later, they looked at my printout, their eyes got big, and they said, “Congratulations! No one we’ve ever checked has had as high a score as you!” They showed me that my score was 91,000 on a scale of 10,000 to 100,000 (I’m not sure what the unit is) and told me that the average person falls between 20,000 and 29,000.

 “Wow!” I said, wondering why this was. Most of us know that our antioxidant level is usually proportional to the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat. This is one of the reasons why Health Canada is always urging us to get our five to ten per day. I try, but I don’t think I do any better that most people. I try to have a salad most evenings, and some cooked veggies with my meat and potatoes. I might have a piece of fruit in the course of a given day; maybe even two. I sometimes have some tomatoes or bell peppers with my eggs in the morning. But really, when all is said and done, I might only average five servings daily. 

When I saw my husband that evening and told him all about the scan, I pondered again why my antioxidants were so high. 

“Maybe it’s all the iodine you take,” Greg suggested. 

“Hmm. I wonder.” I went off to my office, googled “iodine antioxidants,” and quickly discovered that iodine does indeed act as a powerful antioxidant in the body most of the time—and can act also as an oxidant, “when it needs to,” whatever that means. 

I mentioned in my last article that the skin uptakes a lot of iodine when there is plenty to go around, and I speculated that perhaps this would give the skin a fighting chance against the oxidative damage of sun exposure. This brings to mind another snippet of information from my past reading: Although among Japanese men there is a very high percentage of heavy smokers, they have the lowest percentage of lung cancer. The theory is that with the Japanese population having the highest intake of iodine among people groups worldwide (13 mg. daily, approximately what I take), given that mucous membranes retain high levels of iodine when there is general body sufficiency, and given that iodine is known to kill abnormal cells … well, you get the picture. And this picture supports my hunch about iodine keeping the skin healthy.

This reminds me of a case I read about at www.health-science-spirit.com/iodine.html. Dr. Guy Abraham is “an endocrinologist who today is providing the backbone of the movement back toward the use of iodine as an essential, safe and effective medicine.” He says this: 

We placed an 83-year-old woman on ortho-iodo supplementation [all the iodine a body can possibly use] for six months at 50 mgs of elemental iodine daily. She experienced a tremendous increase in energy, endurance, well being, and memory.” 

But here is the part that astounded me, and the part that fits with the context of this article: 

At six months all her skin peeled off and was replaced by new, younger-looking skin. She was flabbergasted and amazed at her new appearance.

Yeah, I’m going to keep taking iodine.

16. Scared About Skin Cancer

Greg and I are at the age (our later fifties) when every new spot and stain on the skin must be examined with careful suspicion. Everyone is frightened of skin cancer, and so we should be. A few years ago, Greg had a couple of things show up on his back—it seemed they just appeared overnight, but I’m sure they didn’t. One was the size of my thumbnail; the other, the size of my baby fingernail. Having a very dark brown, somewhat mottled look, they were slightly irregular around the edges but generally round. When we inquired of a doctor, he just shrugged and said “Those are keratoses; they’re harmless. He’ll get a lot more of those as he gets older. Just keep an eye on them.” 

They got a little bigger, slowly, over time, and although the doctor had said “harmless,” when my fingers inadvertently touched them when I’d wrap my arms around my husband’s big, strong back, something in me would recoil uneasily. 

Around this time, I got into supplementing with iodine. As it began to sooth and strengthen my nervous system, I continued to read article after article about its efficacy in other areas. I saw that it could be used to heal pre-cancerous lesions—and even possibly cancer itself. Fortunately, at this point, we were not dealing with cancer. But my reading had indicated that keratosis is a pre-cancerous condition. 

So I took my eye-dropper bottle of Lugol’s Solution and began dribbling iodine onto these ugly spots before bedtime every night. The skin seemed impervious. I’d let it sit on there for a few minutes; then I’d blot it lightly for the sake of our white sheets. 

The weeks went by. It was probably a full two months before I was convinced that anything was happening, but suddenly I found that the surfaces of the spots were becoming rough and sponge-like. In fact, now when I touched a drop to the areas, it was immediately sucked up—I could almost hear them going “slurp.” They got spongier, puffing up above the skin around them, getting more and more scary-looking, until finally Greg, squinting sideways at them in the mirror one night, said rather nervously, “Maybe we’re feeding them!” 

I replied, “I think you’d better go to the doctor.” But before he could get around to doing that, another week or two went by, and in that time the sponge became scabby and just kind of crumbled off, leaving wonderful, smooth, normal skin in its place. Almost two years have passed and it’s still looking great. 

My confidence has continued to build regarding iodine and skin lesions. I recently used Lugol’s on a host of little skin tags, twice a day. It took a while—maybe a month or two, but they eventually dried up and fell off. I continue to treat abnormalities here and there on myself. Normal skin will stain pale orange, but trouble spots soak up the iodine, highlighting their damage. Some superficial brown patches have crusted up easily and brushed off in a matter of a week or so. There are assorted others that have been extremely stubborn and are not budging yet. 

But I’ve come across something today while writing this article, and this is for “fairly small” cancerous lesions: “They must be painted with the solution 10-20-30 times twice a day for five days and then once for another ten days....” It’s time to up the ante. 

It has been discovered that people who take sufficient iodine—enough that all systems of the body are satisfied—have a high amount of iodine in their skin. It has not been known what its purpose there is. I find myself wondering though: if iodine applied directly will kill cancer, perhaps sufficient supplementation will prevent it. I, for one, sure wouldn’t be without my Lugol’s. 

________________

 

http://www.topicalinfo.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=200

www.lifeenergysolutions.com/blog/skin-cancer-cure/

15. More About Breathing

Here are a few more brief thoughts on breathing. This article will not be going in the newspaper, because except for those for whom breathing exercises hold particular interest, you’ll be saying, “Enough already.” 

In addition to sharing a few finer points, I want to attach a comment that came to me via email, and really, it’s much more than a comment. I stated in both previous breathing articles that the exhale should be through the mouth, through pursed lips, to create a little back-pressure and allow more time for oxygen to absorb in the lungs. However, I have wondered about this as I have practiced it: sometimes it makes me feel more light-headed, which is one of the very things I’m trying to alleviate; also, I don’t find it as restful as quietly exhaling through my nose. 

But it seems to have been a good place to start: it’s much easier to make the exhale last to the full count when controlling it through the lips in that way. Now that I’ve established a bit of a sense of the rhythm of deep breathing, I can more easily control the exhale through my nose. Interesting that the attached comment says the following: “This will be the hard part – controlling the breath while you breathe out. But this is where the real benefit is.” 

This reader had talked to me by phone and mentioned that “in yoga, the breathing is always through the nose.” Her statement caused me to think more about the way I had been exhaling. Then she talked about a different breathing exercise, which was, she said, rather complicated but very beneficial. She said it involved breathing through one nostril at a time and holding the other nostril shut with the fingers of the opposite hand. 

“Hey,” I said to her, “I came across something about that in my online research. I think it said that it strengthens integration between the left and right brains.” 

“That’s right,” she said, but then she went on to say that she couldn’t remember very much about it and would have to look it up. And she obviously did, because several days later I received a very concise and detailed explanation of how to do the whole exercise. 

As I feel it would be of interest and benefit to some of my readers, I have copied it below. Thank you, “Anonymous,” for going to this trouble! 

Here is another portion of a comment, this one from a friend. “My past yoga instructors and other ‘breathing experts’ have recommended that you push out your belly on the in-breath and draw the belly back in on the out-breath. This breathing helps for those wake-up-can’t-get-back-to sleep times too.” 

There’s one other thing that I’ve written about and subsequently wondered about: if humming is good for producing (15 times!) more of the beneficial compound nitric oxide (previous post), how can I incorporate this into my breathing exercises? Well, you sure can’t if you’re exhaling through your mouth. So exhale through your nose and hum. (I like to hum a slowly descending chromatic scale, but that’s just me!)

And then the question begs: If the nitric oxide is produced as you hum on the exhale, aren’t you losing all that nitric oxide? My husband was just asking me this question in a phone call a few minutes ago, saying to me, “It’s almost impossible to hum while you inhale. Try it!” he said, and then I heard these strange noises in the receiver. (Go ahead and try it right now—humming while you inhale, and you will understand what kind of weird noises I was hearing on the phone.)

“I’ve thought about that, hon,” I said, after I got him quieted down. “When you finish humming and exhaling, your nasal cavities are full of that good gas, and as soon as you begin your next inhalation, it goes right to your lungs.” 

He thought maybe the nitric oxide would be all around your head after the exhale, and that way you could breathe it in again. “But,” he said, “you’d have to stay out of the wind.”

I told him maybe he should just stick his head inside a paper bag. He told me he thought God never intended breathing to be this complicated. And the absurdity of this conversation is the reason why I thought I shouldn’t publish this article in the newspaper.

————————————————

Comments from “Anonymous”:

Hi there:

After we talked yesterday, I thought I would send you some directions for this breathing technique to try. It seems complicated, but it does not take long to get the hang of it.

Try sitting on the floor cross-legged for this, on a pillow if that helps. It is very calming to sit on the floor rather than ‘up’ somewhere. If you can face out the window to somewhere beautiful, even better.

1. Hold your right hand up in front of you, palm facing you. Fold down the first two fingers into the palm and hold them with the thumb, leaving the other two fingers, 3 and 4, sticking up. Other hand is on the knee.

2. Now release the thumb, letting it point up too, but keep your first 2 fingers folded down.

3. Now try pinching your nose shut using your thumb on the right side, and fingers 3 and 4 on the other. Your hand will feel crunched up but that does not matter.

4. Release the thumb side and breathe in (not too full, about 75%), then out. Close the thumb side, open the finger side, and breathe in and out again on that side. Repeat a few times to get the hang of it, then try holding your breath for a few seconds on the in-breath.

5. Once you have repeated a few times and you are starting to feel like the movements seem easier, try the counting. Take a few breaths in and out, then breathe out to begin. Look down slightly with the eyes, so the focus is inward.

6. Hold the right nostril shut with your thumb, breathe in for a count of 3 (these are 1-second counts like 1-Mississippi, or 1-one-thousand, 2-one-thousand, etc.). Pinch both nostrils shut and hold for a count of 12. Then release the other side, the thumb side/right side, and breathe out for a count of 6.

7. This will be the hard part—controlling the breath while you breath out. But this is where the real benefit is.

8. On the same side (right/thumb side) breathe in for a count of 3. Pinch shut, hold for a count of 12, release the fingers (left side) and breathe out to a count of 6. That’s one whole round, breathing in and out on each side.

9. To start with, try 6 rounds, or 10 rounds—whatever feels comfortable. At the end, rest both hands on the knees and just sit quietly, observe the breath, let the mind be still.

10. Once you get used to this, you can start increasing the counts—in for 4, hold for 16, out for 8—so the ratio is always the same. And then you can increase again—to 6, 24, 12, etc. Try doing more rounds, whatever you have time for.

In yoga we talk about ‘monkey mind’ – where the left/rational side of the brain always needs something (verbal) to chew on, and it bounces around latching onto things in a way that can seem really frantic. In this exercise the monkey mind gets bored and shuts off after a few minutes, leaving you feeling really empty and peaceful.

I hope you try it—let me know how you get on!