Breathing helps you live long and prosper.

Step 1: Inhale

Breath in by pulling your diaphragm down. Your diaphragm is located beneath your lungs. Your diaphragm acts like a bellows when actuated it sucks air in. The air rushing in to your lungs pushes the diaphragm down. So go ahead and pull some air into your lungs.

Step 2: Exhale

Ahh sweet air! That's all relative. If your in the forest or at the beach its most likely sweet air but at the bottom of a subway the air might not be so sweet. Now that you have air in your lungs the oxygen in the air will get absorbed into your blood and keep you alive. Hmm oxygen to stay alive? What if we needed something other than oxygen to stay alive like chocolate or helium? Ok now that we absorbed oxygen we need to exhale the by product carbon dioxide. Push your diaphragm up decreasing the volume in your lungs therefore squeezing the co2 laiden air out of your lungs.

Step 3: Dual Control

You are capable of controlling your breathing. You can hold your breath, slow down your breathing, take long deep breaths or short breaths. Although you can control breathing your body will continue the breathing for you so you dont have to think about it. Unlike your heart, you can not control the beating of your heart. So just continue reading this while your body takes care of the breathing for you. When your sleeping the auto controls kick in full time so you can rest without thinking about getting oxygen. Pretty cool huh?! Think about this! Whales sleep but how do they not drown while sleeping? Well their bodies not only automatically breath but they automatically swim in a circle while automatically coming up to the surface to breath. Half of their brain stays active while the other half sleeps. They swim in a circle too so they dont end up some where in OshKosh when they wake. Wicked cool right?

Also your body possesses a regulator that controls the rate at which you need to breath in proportion to your physical work rate., So when sleeping you breath slowly. When your sprinting up a hill or swinging a sledgehammer your breathing rate increases to help supply the extra oxygen your body needs to fuel your oxygen burning muscles.

So get out there and burn some oxygen!

Step 4: Sing It

Well there you have it. Wasted another couple of minutes learning how to breath. Now celebrate and choose a song that fits the occasion. Here's one by Pink Floyd:

"Breathe"

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run, run rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

See ya!