Improve Lung Function?

[gnome]

I play quite a lot of intense sport and I am aware that my lungs can hold me back. From a musculoskeletal and cardiovascular perspective, I feel I am very fit.

Unfortunately I used to smoke cigarettes and recently had Covid-19.

I use the full yogic breath and various pranayama routines to try and assist with this - and it definitely helps. However I think I may be overdoing it as my lungs sometimes feel exhausted.

I've also used Uruz for increased fitness and Wunjo for success in my sport. These can help sometimes but I do not feel I am targeting the energies enough. For example, I feel sometimes the energies are gifted to my opponents rather than myself.

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

 

[BrightSpace666]

I play quite a lot of intense sport and I am aware that my lungs can hold me back. From a musculoskeletal and cardiovascular perspective, I feel I am very fit.

Unfortunately I used to smoke cigarettes and recently had Covid-19.

I use the full yogic breath and various pranayama routines to try and assist with this - and it definitely helps. However I think I may be overdoing it as my lungs sometimes feel exhausted.

I've also used Uruz for increased fitness and Wunjo for success in my sport. These can help sometimes but I do not feel I am targeting the energies enough. For example, I feel sometimes the energies are gifted to my opponents rather than myself.

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

Sport is good for you, keeps you fit, relieves stress and is healthy. Have you tried a Kriya to increase lung capacity? Or fire breathing? Fire breathing increases oxygen levels in the body and is also extremely beneficial.

 

[Henu the Great]

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

Mercury square/working, Breath of Fire and lots and lots of structured high intensity intervals (don't neglect rest). Heart rate zone 90%+.

 

[gnome]

Have you tried a Kriya to increase lung capacity? Or fire breathing? Fire breathing increases oxygen levels in the body and is also extremely beneficial.

I have not tried Kriya, I will look it up and give it a try, thanks.

Fire breathing - yes this is actually really useful and sometimes I do it at the beginning of physical activity, to enrich my blood with oxygen. I feel that the affects are short lived though, especially as intensity increases.

Mercury square/working, Breath of Fire and lots and lots of structured high intensity intervals (don't neglect rest). Heart rate zone 90%+.

Thanks - what is the significance of Mercury for this? I thought Mercury was the messenger of gods, intellect etc. I'm still at a foundation level within astrology.

As both yourself and BrightSpace666 recommended breath of fire, I am wondering - how often/long should this be performed for? On day with/without physical activity? Would you suggest x amount of hours before the sport? Daily? Not sure - it's not something I do regularly, just when I feel I need a recharge.

Heart rate definitely hits the upper end, but I am struggling to maintain this over the full duration of the activities I'm doing - which is very much stop/start high intensity. Someone suggested to maintain this, it's best to increase carb intake, which definitely also helps - but I feel my lungs are the next bottle neck.

Keep doing the meditation with WUNJO as this combines the mind with the body and works on the heart chakra (location of lungs). Combining with SOWILO (sun rune) and is "rune of the chakras" will empower the chakras which gererate healing. Do this until you feel the results, or as often as you like.

Thanks Woden - super helpful. I will continue using Wunjo, I didn't know it could be beneficial for the heart/lungs. I do use Sowilo often also.

I'm going to put together all of your suggestions, plan a working and routine of breathing exercises to try and help improve. I might be in the Olympics next year :lol: Thanks

 

[NinRick]

I play quite a lot of intense sport and I am aware that my lungs can hold me back. From a musculoskeletal and cardiovascular perspective, I feel I am very fit.

Unfortunately I used to smoke cigarettes and recently had Covid-19.

I use the full yogic breath and various pranayama routines to try and assist with this - and it definitely helps. However I think I may be overdoing it as my lungs sometimes feel exhausted.

I've also used Uruz for increased fitness and Wunjo for success in my sport. These can help sometimes but I do not feel I am targeting the energies enough. For example, I feel sometimes the energies are gifted to my opponents rather than myself.

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

Hi!

What I can advise you is to go swimming for 40minutes to 1h, each week. Do the sport swimming stuff, where you swim in a line for 25-50m I believe?

One of my friends had Asthma and he overcame it by doing that, I also noticed that swimming and diving helped me with my lung capacities.

Dive and swim, dive and swim. When you swim inhale above the water, dive in and exhale underwater, then come up to inhale and so on

 

[Henu the Great]

I play quite a lot of intense sport and I am aware that my lungs can hold me back. From a musculoskeletal and cardiovascular perspective, I feel I am very fit.

Unfortunately I used to smoke cigarettes and recently had Covid-19.

I use the full yogic breath and various pranayama routines to try and assist with this - and it definitely helps. However I think I may be overdoing it as my lungs sometimes feel exhausted.

I've also used Uruz for increased fitness and Wunjo for success in my sport. These can help sometimes but I do not feel I am targeting the energies enough. For example, I feel sometimes the energies are gifted to my opponents rather than myself.

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

Hi!

What I can advise you is to go swimming for 40minutes to 1h, each week. Do the sport swimming stuff, where you swim in a line for 25-50m I believe?

One of my friends had Asthma and he overcame it by doing that, I also noticed that swimming and diving helped me with my lung capacities.

Dive and swim, dive and swim. When you swim inhale above the water, dive in and exhale underwater, then come up to inhale and so on

Any kind of aerobic exercise / workout works. Be it swimming, running, cycling, skiing and so on and so forth. The idea behind this is to keep your level of exertion at certain level for a certain period of time. Done concistently over time, this will improve aerobic capabilities and cardiovascular capabilities.

This can be approached with low intensity / long duration approach, or high intensity / short duration approach. Or something inbetween, but that is the idea behind this.

Low intensity is usually around 40-60% relative to your maximum heart rate, and to get sound benefit from this type (when we are talking about highly trained individuals) this has to be maintained at least for 3-4 hours.

High intensity is around 80-100% of your maximum heart rate, and durations of efforts can be as short as 20 seconds, but the thing with these 20 seconds is that these are done repeatedly in a structured manner for 10-60 minutes. Longer efforts like 5 or 10 minutes can be done longer periods of time. The same principle applies to longer efforts, when the interval time increases, the effort level decreases and it's possible to do longer workouts.

The most important thing with training is that it is done consistently. Especially with lungs, because you need to use it, or you'll lose it. The good news is that once gained gains can be regained relatively easily. Until one gets old...

 

[gnome]

What I can advise you is to go swimming for 40minutes to 1h, each week. Do the sport swimming stuff, where you swim in a line for 25-50m I believe?

One of my friends had Asthma and he overcame it by doing that, I also noticed that swimming and diving helped me with my lung capacities.

Dive and swim, dive and swim. When you swim inhale above the water, dive in and exhale underwater, then come up to inhale and so on

Top advice thanks. I haven't even thought about swimming, but it is clearly one activity that will target the lungs well.

I'm going to start a weekly session of lane swimming, and follow the advice given by others here.

We have a great, maturing community - it is a true blessing. Thanks all.

 

[NinRick]

I play quite a lot of intense sport and I am aware that my lungs can hold me back. From a musculoskeletal and cardiovascular perspective, I feel I am very fit.

Unfortunately I used to smoke cigarettes and recently had Covid-19.

I use the full yogic breath and various pranayama routines to try and assist with this - and it definitely helps. However I think I may be overdoing it as my lungs sometimes feel exhausted.

I've also used Uruz for increased fitness and Wunjo for success in my sport. These can help sometimes but I do not feel I am targeting the energies enough. For example, I feel sometimes the energies are gifted to my opponents rather than myself.

Has anybody got any advice or suggestions to help with this? Appreciate it's not strictly a spiritual topic, but I think we'd all agree physical fitness is certainly an area that should not be neglected. And sport was encouraged by Hitler

Hi!

What I can advise you is to go swimming for 40minutes to 1h, each week. Do the sport swimming stuff, where you swim in a line for 25-50m I believe?

One of my friends had Asthma and he overcame it by doing that, I also noticed that swimming and diving helped me with my lung capacities.

Dive and swim, dive and swim. When you swim inhale above the water, dive in and exhale underwater, then come up to inhale and so on

Any kind of aerobic exercise / workout works. Be it swimming, running, cycling, skiing and so on and so forth. The idea behind this is to keep your level of exertion at certain level for a certain period of time. Done concistently over time, this will improve aerobic capabilities and cardiovascular capabilities.

This can be approached with low intensity / long duration approach, or high intensity / short duration approach. Or something inbetween, but that is the idea behind this.

Low intensity is usually around 40-60% relative to your maximum heart rate, and to get sound benefit from this type (when we are talking about highly trained individuals) this has to be maintained at least for 3-4 hours.

High intensity is around 80-100% of your maximum heart rate, and durations of efforts can be as short as 20 seconds, but the thing with these 20 seconds is that these are done repeatedly in a structured manner for 10-60 minutes. Longer efforts like 5 or 10 minutes can be done longer periods of time. The same principle applies to longer efforts, when the interval time increases, the effort level decreases and it's possible to do longer workouts.

The most important thing with training is that it is done consistently. Especially with lungs, because you need to use it, or you'll lose it. The good news is that once gained gains can be regained relatively easily. Until one gets old...

When I compare swimming to running, swimming improves the lung capacities way easier than running. Running is hard af, I did it this summer running all 2-3 day for 40min to 1h for 7-10kms, hard af, hard af

 

[Henu the Great]

When I compare swimming to running, swimming improves the lung capacities way easier than running. Running is hard af, I did it this summer running all 2-3 day for 40min to 1h for 7-10kms, hard af, hard af

It comes down to personal preference, strenghts and weaknesses. If you would be able to run an equal amount to your swimming when we talk about the stimulus to your lungs, you would get the same benefit.

Triatheles do three sports. Swimming, running and cycling. Very seldom there is someone who is good at and enjoys all the three sports. It is usual for a person to be good at one or two and semi-good or mediocre in the third.

 

[Stormblood]

If you feel like you are overextending yourself with breathing exercises, then definitely take a step back. With these things, you always need to remain in a comfortable zone, unlike with athletic training. This is the way of nature. Permanent, long-term advancement comes slowly and steadily. Evaluate the progress you've received thanks to adhering to a pranayama routine, and you will see all the benefits. Always remember that haste makes waste, and do not chase the unrealistic rhythms of today's society, which will only lead on your death bed earlier than needed. You have an eternity to improve your lungs' capacity to divine levels, so patience should be your main focus.

Swimming is lower impact activity compared to everything else suggested, which is why it can help more than other activities in this matter. Lower impact obviously doesn't mean you'll get less tired. That would be wishful thinking. However, the risk of injury is much lower compared to running and some may even find it more pleasant, once they've learnt proper stroke technique. This is another reason why I concur with NinRick's suggestion to try swimming.

Your shoulder, chest, arm and back flexibility can also drastically impact your lung condition, as proper flexibility ensures a proper flow of energy, both physically and on higher levels. Can you do a proper thoracic bridge, which should be bread and butter for everyone? That's one of many exercises that shows appropriate flexibility. What about your shoulderstand? Can you maintain it in perfect form for at least 3 minutes without feeling tired at any point during and after? I could name more things. All of these should definitely be achieved.

Lastly, I do not believe a magic band-aid is necessary for this, unless you're a professional athlete OR this is a top priority for you. Remember, we live in difficult times, so one should focus first and foremost on survival through the next 9 years which are going to be really despite we have been blunting the blow. Living temporarily outside muggle society may be required, and resources must be predisposed for this endeavour if you haven't done it yet (e.g. wealth, land, food, clean water supply, etc.) And a second working slot is usually to pursue another top priority, unless it's needed for survival too. We do not live in normal times when we can be careless with how we spend our energies.

 

[gnome]

If you feel like you are overextending yourself with breathing exercises, then definitely take a step back. With these things, you always need to remain in a comfortable zone, unlike with athletic training. This is the way of nature. Permanent, long-term advancement comes slowly and steadily. Evaluate the progress you've received thanks to adhering to a pranayama routine, and you will see all the benefits. Always remember that haste makes waste, and do not chase the unrealistic rhythms of today's society, which will only lead on your death bed earlier than needed. You have an eternity to improve your lungs' capacity to divine levels, so patience should be your main focus.

Swimming is lower impact activity compared to everything else suggested, which is why it can help more than other activities in this matter. Lower impact obviously doesn't mean you'll get less tired. That would be wishful thinking. However, the risk of injury is much lower compared to running and some may even find it more pleasant, once they've learnt proper stroke technique. This is another reason why I concur with NinRick's suggestion to try swimming.

Your shoulder, chest, arm and back flexibility can also drastically impact your lung condition, as proper flexibility ensures a proper flow of energy, both physically and on higher levels. Can you do a proper thoracic bridge, which should be bread and butter for everyone? That's one of many exercises that shows appropriate flexibility. What about your shoulderstand? Can you maintain it in perfect form for at least 3 minutes without feeling tired at any point during and after? I could name more things. All of these should definitely be achieved.

Lastly, I do not believe a magic band-aid is necessary for this, unless you're a professional athlete OR this is a top priority for you. Remember, we live in difficult times, so one should focus first and foremost on survival through the next 9 years which are going to be really despite we have been blunting the blow. Living temporarily outside muggle society may be required, and resources must be predisposed for this endeavour if you haven't done it yet (e.g. wealth, land, food, clean water supply, etc.) And a second working slot is usually to pursue another top priority, unless it's needed for survival too. We do not live in normal times when we can be careless with how we spend our energies.

Overextending breathing exercises was a concern of mine, since I definitely did feel I did that prior to creating this topic. That's why I am eager to find healthier ways to achieve an improved lung function. Haste makes waste is certainly something I can commit to memory when performing these exercises in future, thanks.

Swimming has so far been my favourite suggestion and something I will take forward.

I think based on your questions around my ability to hold asanas is definitely an interesting point. Perhaps I am not giving my yoga sessions a suitable amount of focus - I can assess those that you've mentioned and see how I get on. In terms of flexibility of my shoulders, chest, arms and back. Yes, I've always been very flexible in these areas. It's actually my lower back and lower body that aren't, since I am sat at a desk for a good portion of the day.

A good point on evaluation of priorities. My sporting activities are probably the only social thing I really do in muggle society. Outside of helping my son grow up - which is a priority of mine. I do feel starved of time in many areas of my life however.

This is probably going off topic at this point, but one area in particular I am struggling right now (in terms of priorities) is the battle between my human impulsions vs those of my "higher self". Sometimes, despite my understanding of the importance of certain areas of my life, my lower drives will lead me astray. Just writing this out has bought me some clarity and is definitely a thought stream I'll explore more.

I appreciate your response to this

 

[CrossRoadsPedestrian]

Read

The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka


Type that title on google theres free pdfs everywhere.

 

[Stormblood]

[...] Haste makes waste is certainly something I can commit to memory when performing these exercises in future, thanks.

Swimming has so far been my favourite suggestion and something I will take forward.

I think based on your questions around my ability to hold asanas is definitely an interesting point. Perhaps I am not giving my yoga sessions a suitable amount of focus - I can assess those that you've mentioned and see how I get on. In terms of flexibility of my shoulders, chest, arms and back. Yes, I've always been very flexible in these areas. It's actually my lower back and lower body that aren't, since I am sat at a desk for a good portion of the day.

A good point on evaluation of priorities. My sporting activities are probably the only social thing I really do in muggle society. Outside of helping my son grow up - which is a priority of mine. I do feel starved of time in many areas of my life however.

This is probably going off topic at this point, but one area in particular I am struggling right now (in terms of priorities) is the battle between my human impulsions vs those of my "higher self". Sometimes, despite my understanding of the importance of certain areas of my life, my lower drives will lead me astray. Just writing this out has bought me some clarity and is definitely a thought stream I'll explore more.

I appreciate your response to this

Yes, haste makes waste is a real issue and problem fiery people like me have to overcome gradually, if they haven't already. The tendency to burn out is real. However, one should also consider that even recommended level of physical activity nowadays fall short of the real human needs, and only apply to subhumans (e.g. the type of muggles the enemy is trying to create: as lazy as possible, couch potato and so on).

Great to hear your flexibility is good. There is always a route further in this, and one should keep in mind that generic hatha asana routines like the one on the website aren't going to magically improve flexibility, even if done properly (3-5+ minutes for each pose). This is because it's designed to hit everything on the general picture, rather than focusing on details and subtleties. For example, if you want to improve the seated pike (the first exercise in the generic routine), you won't just do the general routine with the seated pike but you'll schedule at least 3 days a week specific routines to work on the main muscles involved, the auxiliary muscles and so on. The greater your body's suppleness, the greater the energy buzz when it starts flowing, and also the easier life in general.

I'll say, even taking 2/5/10 minutes after a sporting activity to meditate on 2 or 3 key body areas, with the intent of improving them will have beneficial results, and will not impact your energies reserves in the same way a proper working would do.

Life is that: a struggle. Be sure that, when evaluating progress, you compare yourself to the way you were yesterday instead of the way you think you're supposed to be. Recognising improvement compared to the day before may ease your burden in the war you're waging, and make you more aware that you're growing steadily, a small step at a time, which is the proper rate when making difficult changes. Does that make sense to you?

 

[Henu the Great]

Great to hear your flexibility is good. There is always a route further in this, and one should keep in mind that generic hatha asana routines like the one on the website aren't going to magically improve flexibility, even if done properly (3-5+ minutes for each pose). This is because it's designed to hit everything on the general picture, rather than focusing on details and subtleties. For example, if you want to improve the seated pike (the first exercise in the generic routine), you won't just do the general routine with the seated pike but you'll schedule at least 3 days a week specific routines to work on the main muscles involved, the auxiliary muscles and so on. The greater your body's suppleness, the greater the energy buzz when it starts flowing, and also the easier life in general.

The two sequences provided on JoS are good starting points, and noob gains can be had, but past a point, changes have to be done for more and better development.

 

[SSinHeartandSoul]

Stormblood basically already said what i wanted to say on this matter, I fully agree with him. But regarding your flexibility, I would highly recommend looking up some exercises to test how flexible you truly are. I used to think that i was quite flexible, While yes i was flexible in some areas, other areas lacked some flexibility. There are some great youtube channels that tackle these things so i recommend trying this out.

A little tip i have about breathing correctly, is to always make sure that you breath trough your stomach. If you do this combined with the right posture (Flexibility), it will make it way easier to breath while doing exercises. If you still struggles somewhat, it might just be that you need more experience doing those exercises.

By the way, always make sure that you keep breathing throughout exercises, don't hold your breath for whatever reason.

 

[gnome]

Great to hear your flexibility is good. There is always a route further in this, and one should keep in mind that generic hatha asana routines like the one on the website aren't going to magically improve flexibility, even if done properly (3-5+ minutes for each pose). This is because it's designed to hit everything on the general picture, rather than focusing on details and subtleties. For example, if you want to improve the seated pike (the first exercise in the generic routine), you won't just do the general routine with the seated pike but you'll schedule at least 3 days a week specific routines to work on the main muscles involved, the auxiliary muscles and so on. The greater your body's suppleness, the greater the energy buzz when it starts flowing, and also the easier life in general.

Targeted yoga sessions for improvement in particular areas sounds good and may help with the inflexibility gained from sitting for a good portion of the day. Thanks again - and yes your reply does make sense.

A little tip i have about breathing correctly, is to always make sure that you breath trough your stomach. If you do this combined with the right posture (Flexibility), it will make it way easier to breath while doing exercises. If you still struggles somewhat, it might just be that you need more experience doing those exercises.

By the way, always make sure that you keep breathing throughout exercises, don't hold your breath for whatever reason.

Always, I try to breathe through my stomach, although sometimes as said above, I am seated at a desk which can cause shallow breathing when I'm not aware.

During physical activity, I do also focus on breathing through the stomach and do not hold my breath. During yoga however, I have found myself shallow breathing! A post by Lydia some time ago helped me to recognise this.

All a work in progress, I'm sure. The more I focus consciously on breathing correctly, the more I find myself breathing correctly without being aware of it. Thanks for your tips.