Air
Samuel Smith
23 Jan'19
5
AIR - THE ACTIVATOR OF OUR VITALITY
"The living organism is God's property. It belongs to Him by creation and by redemption; and by a misuse of any of our powers we rob God of the honor due to Him. A failure to care for the living machinery is an insult to the Creator. There are divinely appointed rules which if observed will keep human beings from disease and premature death" {Counsels on Diet and Foods 15.1; Bold Emphasis Added}.For mental and physical activity, the cells in the brain and body must have abundant oxygen. Diaphragmatic Breathing is the best method of respiration. If you are deprived of oxygen, the brain suffers first. If the deprivation is slight, you will be irritable and less alert. If oxygen is absent for even some few minutes, you will become unconscious and die. A person carries approximately two quarts of oxygen in the blood, lungs, and body tissues at any given time. Brain cells deprived of oxygen for more than four minutes begin to die.
Fresh air is destroyed by recirculation in buildings of tobacco smoke, city smog, dirt, gas, acid, ozone’s and other pollutants. On the other hand, good quality clean air may usually be found in abundance in natural outdoor environments, especially around evergreen trees, green plants in mountains and forests, houseplant, near moving waters such as lakes, oceans, rivers, waterfalls, and after rain. It is estimated that the algae in the ocean provide almost 90 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere, with the rest coming from land plants. Fresh air is invigorating. There are two main elements in proper breathing: having good posture and correctly using diaphragmatic breathing.
Good Posture
Head up
Back straight
Shoulders straight
Chest out, Abdomen in
Pelvis flattened
How to Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing
While standing, stretch your arms high above your head
Breathe in slowly, mouth closed. Normally the lower ribs will expand.
Expand the chest as far as possible while breathing in. At the height of inspiration, take one more whiff of air. With mouth open, let all the air out while slowly bending over. Cough to get the last bit of air out.
Repeat five to ten times every morning
The cells most sensitive to lack of oxygen are those of the brain. The brain is the seat of judgment, reasoning, intellect, and the will. This is the control center of our entire being. It is, therefore, essential to ensure optimal oxygenation of the brain, by avoiding under-ventilated places where carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other pollutants can interfere with normal oxygen availability.
