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Breathing Right

Since my teens both my parents tried to impress on me the value and benefits of pranayama. They both practiced regularly and could not stop talking about how it helped them. Back then, I was extremely skeptical. If this stuff was as magical as they made it out to be, why were not at peace between themselves, why did my father bring the stress of his workplace home everyday, why did they lose their calm ever so often. Clearly the breathing stuff was just not everything it was cracked up to be. I never developed a regimen and continued to live my chaotic life. 

Over the decades, things got more complicated than just merely chaotic. Sometimes, I recalled the exhortations of my parents and on rare occasions I would try to breathe as they had taught me. Its only in the last several months have I come to realize the value and it takes no prompting for me to do a few minutes of pranayama at the beginning and end of my work day every day. The cost of not following this practice is immediately evident in difficulty falling asleep, feeling unable to decouple from work and generally not able to unwind and regain energy and balance. It is ironic that I have like my parents, tried to impress upon J the value of breathing and have so far (also exactly like them) failed to impress her. I suppose it will come to her in due season like it did for me. 

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