Are you constantly watching air pollution to determine whether or not it’s a good idea to be outside with the kids? When PM 2.5 measure is high it’s said to be dangerous were going for an outdoor run may be more harm than good to your lungs, that’s a lot of chemical particles we are exposed to in Hong Kong. We usually look to air purifiers to at least maintain clean air when we are indoors, do you have one at home?
I do believe living in a highly sterilized environment thwarts our immune function as exposure to free radicals allows the body to metabolize the waste however if we are constantly breathing in polluted air when doing our lungs get a break, the body is so busy sorting out the dirt in the air that it puts vital functioning like energy directed to repairing the lungs on hold.
Children are especially susceptible to respiratory problems aggravated by the pollution, of course, adults are not spared either! Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was an air filtration system in our bodies so despite inhaling polluted air we would always receive a clean fresh stream of oxygen? We do! The body is fascinating and the best filtration systems come inbuilt with our lungs, and it starts at the nostrils.
There is a network of strands of cells with a large service area called Cilia in our nasal passages which sweep up any impurities that we inhale from the air outside.
To ensure you activating the purification and filtration systems of the respiratory system, start with always breathing through your nose. Have you noticed you are engrossed in a book or busy in a project and your mouth often goes dry? That is because unconsciously you are trained your body to breathe through the mouth rather than the nose, bypassing the natural filtration system of the air before it reaches the lungs.
The chemicals then are quickly exposed to our throats which sprout bacterial infections. The native South Americans would plaster their mouths with a sticky honeylike substance before they would sleep to ensure that at night they breathe through their nose and not their mouths, if the lungs get a constant flow of filtrated air there is more energy that can be dedicated to important repair and growth functions that take place while we are asleep. It is essential that children learn how to breathe correctly so they grow and develop without any illness.
In our kids’ yoga programs we teach through fun and games important breathing techniques to strengthen lung capacity, immunity and purification, mainly thought breath retention and yoga poses which direct airflow in one lung at a time by collapsing the other in a stretch. Our breathing and meditation programs are suited for children and adults alike, here we guide breathwork that is calming and relaxing so that the parasympathetic nervous system can be activated, this governs the repair and growth functions of the body.
The breath is a vehicle which connects body and mind when we are breathing optimally, we use our energy more efficiently and feel more resilient, despite any environmental pollutants we can use our equipment to receive only what is helpful and physiologically clear away any unwanted particles.
