Sounder Sleep System

The expiratory pause and the mystery of the breath

We breathe in accordance with our ever-changing metabolic needs. Our need for breath, for oxygen, changes in response to our activity level, our emotions, our posture, our environment, and other factors. And the breath adapts itself instantly and with uncanny accuracy to these changes—even in the course of a single breath.

For example, begin inhaling and in the middle of the inhalation, hold one nostril shut. You reflexively do one of two things—but not both—to make up for the resulting deficit of breath: either prolong the phase of inspiration, or inhale with greater force. Or, try this: intentionally prolong your expiration. This induces mild, momentary hypoxia (oxygen deprivation). As a result the subsequent inspiration is spontaneously deeper than the one before it.

Reflexes like these ensure that we receive exactly the right amount of oxygen for each moment of our lives. But ask yourself, exactly how much oxygen do we need for any given moment? The answer is not available to introspection; the wisdom of the breath is of the body, not the mind. All of that, and more, makes the breath one of life's great mysteries.

One of several mechanisms that the body uses to adjust oxygen consumption is the expiratory pause. This is a period at end of exhalation during which respiratory movement spontaneously ceases for a time. This expiratory pause is neither "holding the breath," nor "waiting." (A hat tip to my colleagues on the FeldyForum discussion group for their insightful speculations in this regard.) Rather, it is an effortless, involuntary, reflexive mechanism necessary for health, vitality, and life itself.

Some expiratory pauses are longer, others are shorter. When there is a surplus of oxygen in the body, as often occurs during periods of physical stillness or deep relaxation, the expiratory pause may become longer to allow surplus oxygen to be expended. A very long expiratory pause can last as long as one complete breath cycle, or even longer, as if we had skipped a breath entirely. When our oxygen requirement is greater, for example during vigorous activity, the expiratory pause may become very short, even imperceptible, to allow the instantaneous inflow of fresh oxygen.

In Zen and the Brain, James H. Austin, M.D., writes eloquently of the expiratory pause. "Which of our basic human emotions shows an increase during this pause?" he asks. "Only tenderness. In contrast, fear lengthens the phase of inspiration and increases the amplitude of breathing."

The breath is an exquisitely delicate mechanism, vulnerable to all sorts of insults and disturbances from the stress of life. Let us relinquish manipulation and control of the breath, instead honoring it as something truly, deeply unknowable, yet wondrous and all to the good.

May we treat the breath with that same tenderness with which the breath treats us.

Supermodel: "...I do like to keep some movement in my face."

Supermodel Linda Evangelista, quoted in the current issue of Vogue magazine: “I’m pro-cosmetic procedure. I use Botox and I’m not afraid to say it, though I do like to keep some movement in my face.”

You can't make this stuff up...

"Eighty-nine is like falling snow..."

The Independent (UK) describes the world of Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant who has an extraordinary sense of numbers and words, yet struggles with everyday issues that most of us take for granted. A few excerpts follow:

Daniel's world is a rich and strange one, where every number up to 10,000 has colour, texture and emotional resonance. "The number one is a brilliant and bright white, like somebody shining a torch beam into my eyes ... Four is shy and quiet, like me. Eighty-nine is like falling snow ..." More remarkable still, he has described it all in Born on a Blue Day, his memoir of his life with synaesthesia and savant syndrome, a rare form of Asperger's. Dr Darold Treffert, a leading researcher in autism, says: "Such first-person explanations of savant abilities are extremely rare, in fact nearly non-existent."

...

Mental arithmetic is a gorgeous kaleidoscopic process for Daniel. "Squaring numbers is a symmetrical process that I like very much," he says. "And when I divide one number by another, say, 13 divided by 97, I see a spiral rotating downwards in larger and larger loops that seem to warp and curve. The shapes coalesce into the right number. I never write anything down."

...

Generally, Daniel feels he is progressing all the time towards "outgrowing" his autism. He cried for the first time in his adult life a few years ago, when his cat died. "My face was wet, and I knew that I was crying." Latterly, he has acquired a strong religious faith, which grew from an intellectual appreciation of the writings of G K Chesterton. And he is getting steadily better at social interaction. "Every experience I have I add to my mental library and hopefully life should then get easier." In this, he seems to sum up the progress we all hope for.

Read the full story.

Sounder Sleep Sominars™ for Fall and Winter 2006/2007

We've just updated the Upcoming Programs page at soundersleep.com. There you'll find of schedule of Sounder Sleep Sominars in North America, Europe, and Australia between now and February. Here's a direct link to the page.

Please take special note of the Five-Day Intensive in Vancouver, BC, held September 26-30 2006. If you're interested in teaching the Sounder Sleep System™, this is a great way to begin your training. It will provide you with a firm basis for beginning to integrate somatic sleep therapy into your practice. Later, you can complete our Teacher Training Program by taking any three-day Sominar, anywhere in the world.

I hope to see you soon!

Pain, Adaptation, and Courage in Professional Cycling

Floyd Landis is a professional cyclist currently employed by Team Phonak. As a result of a crash in 2003, he suffers osteonecrosis ("bone death") in one hip, with chronic, debilitating pain. In spite of it, he has won three world-class races this year, and he's currently making a strong showing in the Tour de France. Landis, his coach, and his doctors are considering a hip replacement during the off-season, but the big question is, "Will it slow him down?"

A profile of Landis, What He's Been Pedaling, will appear in The New York Times Magazine next Sunday. Here's an excerpt:

...First, it’s funny because in almost every situation in his life, Landis is slow. He walks with a limp. He sits as often as possible and cannot cross his right leg over his left. He takes elevators instead of stairs, valet-parks at the shopping mall and sometimes has difficulty sleeping. Running is out of the question. Like many of the 216,000 Americans who will receive hip replacements this year, his life is defined by chronic, debilitating pain.

Second, it’s funny because there exists a singular situation — which is to say, when he is on a bike — in which Landis is extremely fast and strong. He is so fast and strong, in fact, that this year he has won three world-class races and, as of July 7, was among the leaders in this year’s Tour de France, which ends July 23 in Paris.

But perhaps the funniest part is that Landis has been successful at keeping his hip condition a secret from teammates, rivals and the media for 20 months, confiding it only to a small handful of doctors and close friends. This maneuver has involved what Landis, who was raised as a Mennonite in Lancaster County, Pa., calls ‘‘a few adaptations.’’

‘‘I always have to get on my bike putting my right leg over first,’’ Landis told me. ‘‘If I tried to get on the other way’’ — tilting his pelvis against his damaged hip — ‘‘I’d be lying on the pavement. Then people would be standing around wondering what the hell’s wrong with that guy?’’

Read the full story.

Sleep with your kids

People often ask me how they can help their newborns, infants, or toddlers get to sleep and sleep through the night. I have always favored the simple solution: take your child into bed with you. So-called "co-sleeping" is the natural way, the way parents and children slept for eons, before the advent of separate bedrooms, before there even were bedrooms. And it works.

I just found a delightful 1997 piece on Slate that nicely makes all the arguments for co-sleeping. Please read Go Ahead—Sleep With Your Kids by Robert Wright, if you're interested in this issue.

"For our species, the natural nighttime arrangement is for kids to sleep alongside their mothers for the first few years," explains Wright, a visiting fellow at Princeton University's Center for Human Values and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.

"At least, that's the norm in hunter-gatherer societies, the closest things we have to a model of the social environment in which humans evolved. Mothers nurse their children to sleep and then nurse on demand through the night. Sounds taxing, but it's not. When the baby cries, the mother starts nursing reflexively, often without really waking up. If she does reach consciousness, she soon fades back to sleep with the child. And the father, as I can personally attest, never leaves Z-town."

Thanks, Robert Wright! I couldn't have said it better myself.