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Lymphland International Lymphedema Online
PowerBreathing by Yonah
Yonah Offner - The Center for Health Inhancement
1176 Belmont Terrace, Vista, CA 92084
(North County Inland, San Diego)
Phone: 760.727.7339
e-mail yonah@powerbreathing.com
2/06


POWER BREATHER TOUTS BENEFITS
OF DEEP BREATHING
San Diego Union Tribune
When Yonah Offner says it's OK to inhale he's got our health in mind. Especially the
unenlightened among us whose idea of deep breathing is a casual, intermittent sigh.

Somewhere between infancy and grade school, perhaps by modeling dysfunctional
parents, we lose touch with the most efficient and natural way to breathe. Instead of
taking in oxygen through the nose, all the way into our bellies, where it can cleanse
and purify the cells, we become "mouth breathers."

In so doing, we're giving new meaning to the term "bad breath." Our breathing is
shallow and constricted, even moreso by tension and anxiety. We're operating at as
low as 10 percent to 20 percent of lung capacity without even knowing it whether it's
a bad air day outside or not.

Offner, 55, is the other extreme. A veteran teacher of yoga and yoga therapy in
North County, he has taken the long and liberating breaths of pranayama, as the
Yoga adherents call it, to a much deeper level. PowerBreathingâ„¢, he calls it: as few
as three breaths per minute for maximum benefit. Inhale and exhale with your mouth
closed. But don't expect to pick it up in a heartbeat.

Teaching PowerBreathingâ„¢ one-on-one and in small groups, Offner recommends
six deep breaths at a time, from the nose and into the diaphragm, to start. Do it a
half dozen times a day or so. Do it especially, when you're under stress or feeling
anger.

John Prieskorn, a personal self-improvement coach, embraced Offner's
PowerBreathingâ„¢ technique as an adjunct to yoga. "It mellows me out right away",
Prieskorn said, "I didn't realize that my natural breathing pattern was jerky and
uneven though I had been practicing meditation.

Now my breathing is smoother, and I'm more focused and relaxed at the same time."
Offner, for his part, truly is empowered by his breathing. For him, it's an anesthetic
and an aerobic training device all wrapped into one.

In 1988, he discovered that by slowing his breathing to three breaths per minute he
could overcome his dental phobia. He says he's undergone deep drilling without an
anesthetic and avoided a root canal procedure by practicing the breathing
consistently to get through the healing period.

"In two weeks, the root healed itself," he said. "But it took a day before the pain
was manageable." A decade earlier, while preparing for his first marathon, his
deliberate, diaphragmatic breaths helped him run 30 miles in four hours, he said.
Then, in a marathon in Carson City, Nev., he finished in a little more than three
hours.


Yonah Offner, Yoga breathing specialist, practices Yoga lotus position
This from a former smoker with high blood pressure and chronic sinusitis who
thought his lungs were his weakest link. There was another obstacle to overcome,
too: multiple fractures from a 1976 auto accident. Yoga was the catalyst, a tool of
rehabilitation enhanced by its focus on breathing awareness.

"PowerBreathingâ„¢ is all about building strength in the diaphragm, which is the
most important muscle in the body because it takes in the life force", he said.

First, though, the diaphragm must be relaxed. A tightened diaphragm restricts
airflow to the lower third of the lungs, where blood circulation is the highest.

By lying on your back and placing your hands on your diaphragm, under the rib cage
and in the middle of the chest, you can feel it expand inhale through the nose.

On April 14, Offner says he'll put his PowerBreathing system to the supreme test:
surgery without anesthesia for removal of a non-malignant tumor from his neck.


For the rest of us though, the most practical application of PowerBreathing may be to
relieve stress, Offner says. Based in Vista with his wife, Naomi, who teaches Gentle
Yoga, Offner is planning a series of PowerBreathing workshops.


- San Diego Union Tribune

Yonah Offner has root canal WITHOUT anesthesia!
On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, Yonah Offner had dental surgery without anesthesia using
PowerBreathing by Yonahâ„¢ Techniques. The root canal was performed by Dr. Drago
Jose in Vista, California. Yonah was ecstatic to report that this surgery was a "piece of
cake".

View the Surgery without Anesthesia Video
As seen on channel 10 News, April 14, 2000 Yonah Offner successfully completed a 1
hour surgery without anesthesia or pain killers to demonstrate the power of breathing
using his technique of PowerBreathing to handle pain and stress. Yonah an ordinary guy
believes if he can go under the knife and manage his pain and stress just think what you
can do on a daily basis to manage your pain and stress.

With family and job pressures, time issues and dead lines, road rage and just getting the
kids off to school in the morning can produce pain and stress that builds up on a regular
basis. The benefits are even more far reaching leading to better health, preventing,
reversing disease and yielding a higher quality of life. You will be more productive,
perform better and even increase your bottom line.

OPERATION PRANAYAMA
A yoga teacher goes under the knife
and uses PowerBreathing by Yonah instead of anesthesia
When a small tumor was discovered on the neck of yoga teacher Yonah Offner, doctors
advised removing the growth with surgery. That was fine with Offner, as long as the
surgeons allowed him to use his own special version of pranayama breathing in place of
anesthesia during the operation.

"Are you crazy?" H. Michael Roark, M.D., surgeon and director of the Alvarado
Institute of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in San Diego, California recalls saying. "I
didn't think it was a good idea. I wasn't comfortable with it at all."

Offner, already a veteran of using "PowerBreathing" to avoid a root canal and have teeth
filled without anesthesia, chose to postpone surgery. He tried using prayer and
enlightened thinking to help shrink the tumor. But one and a half years later, it had grown
to the size of a baseball and needed to be removed
Again, Offner asked to do PowerBreathing instead of anesthesia. This time, Roark, who
had developed his own interest in alternative medicine, agreed -- provided that back up
anesthesia be available in case Offner's breathing couldn't control the pain during surgery.

Last year, on April 14, a serene and smiling Offner walked into the operation room
confident that he would succeed. He lay face down the the operating room table, his
head was propped on a special pillow that allowed him to do the breathing. Offner
centered himself by chatting for for 10 minutes with a mentor who accompanied him, and
they asked everyone in the room to join them in a nondenominational prayer.


Offner then began PowerBreathing. A longtime yoga teacher, he developed the
technique 13 years ago and now travels through the country leading workshops on the
technique (www.powerbreathing.com). It involves deep, slow breathing through the
nose only at three breaths per minute. The goal is to allow the diaphragm to work
properly by unblocking the three lowest chakras.

"It's a specific type of breathing that gets the abdomen and lower abdomen to relax,"
says Offner. "Most of us are very tight in those areas, so the diaphragm can't work
properly. The diaphragm is the least used muscle in the whole body."

Once Offner had the PowerBreathing under way , he raised his hand for Roark to begin
the surgery, which was filmed by a local television station. "I laid the knife on the back of
his neck and he did not flinch or move," Roark says. "I made the incision and went
deeper and deeper."

Offner experienced a lot of tugging and pulling as Roark extracted the tumor and
scooped it out, but there was no pain. "I felt like I was in a wrestling match of about an
hour," said Offner. He even withstood the 1800 degreed Fahrenheit electric cautery,
which decreases bleeding by coagulating blood vessels with the heat from an electric
current. "When I thought there was going to be some pain coming, I went back to the
PowerBreathing. It was like magic."

The operation took approximately one hour. When Roark finished sewing up the
incision, Offner sat up, drank some water and walked out of the operating room.
Although there was slightly more bleeding during the surgery - local anesthesia is usually
mixed with drugs that reduce bleeding -- Offner's recovery was uneventful. "The skin
edges bled the whole tine during surgery." said Roark. "He bruised a little bit more, but
he healed just fine."

Even so, Roark doesn't plan on making PowerBreathing a part of his medical practice.
"Would I recommend it? No. But it is a super testimonial for how someone like Yonah
can walk the walk and talk the talk. It was really amazing."

As Offner said, "I didn't do the surgery to encourage other people to do this. I did it to
demonstrate that if I could do PowerBreathing in this extreme condition, imagine how
people could use this in their daily lives." Anyone interested in Offner's techniques can
e-mail him at yonah@powerbreathing.com.

When you are feeling tense and your mood is low, your breathing probably will be very shallow
and constricted. Shallow breathing limits the amount of oxygen flowing into the lungs, thus
causing an inadequate supply of oxygen in the blood. Shallow breathing also leads to
exhaustion, irritability, low energy levels and can invoke an emotional imbalance. This can be
prevented with simple, effective deep breathing exercises done as often as possible throughout
the day.

By deepening your breath and keeping the rhythm consistent, you increase the amount of
oxygen that is reaching your lungs, blood, organs, and cells and nourish and rejuvenate body
tissue . This oxygen is vital for your physiological systems to operate properly. Deep breathing
also relaxes your body and mind so that you can examine your negative thoughts and replace
them with more positive ones.

Oxygen burns calories. Improving your breathing will improve metabolism to burn of fat and
soften emotional issues that lead to food cravings and unnecessary consumption. It will also
invite a heightened sense of self awareness and well being.

Become More Aware Of Your Own Breathing Pattern

1. Lie down on your back, in a quiet place. Your legs straight and slightly apart, your arms
at your sides and not touching your body, palms up, and eyes closed.
Or sit in a comfortable chair, maintaining good posture. Your body should be as relaxed as
possible. Close your eyes. Scan your body for tension.
Breathe slowly and deeply, feeling a sense of calm relaxation come over your whole body.
Concentrate on loosening all tensions.
2. Focus your attention on your breathing.
3. Place your hand on your body where it rises and falls. If this spot is on your chest, your
breathing is too shallow and you're not fully using your lungs.
4. Place both hands on your abdomen and follow your breathing, noticing how your
abdomen rises and falls.
5. Breathe through your nose. Concentrate on breathing deeply through your nose, filling
your entire lungs so that your chest and abdomen rise and fall with each breath
7. Notice if your chest is moving in harmony with your abdomen.
8. Now place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest. Inhale deeply and slowly
through your nose into your abdomen. You should feel your abdomen rise with this
inhalation and your chest should move only a little.
9. Exhale through your mouth, keeping your mouth, tongue, and jaw relaxed. Relax as you
focus on the sound and feeling of long, slow, deep breaths.

As you breathe, check your body for tension. If you discover any part of your body under
tension, concentrate on those tight or rigid muscles and let the tension flow away.

By practicing this exercise, you will become more aware of your breathing patterns and
habits. Once you feel acquainted and in touch with your breathing, do the exercise below to
learn to deepen your breathing.

Exercise To Deepen Your Breathing

1. Lie down on the floor with your knees bent and feet apart. Your back should be flat on
the floor.
2. Mentally examine each part of your body. Is there any tension in any part of your body?
If yes, let it flow away.
3. Rest one hand on your stomach and the other hand on your chest.
4. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, taking the breath into your stomach so that
your hand feels it rise. Your chest should move slightly along with your abdomen.
5. Practice step 4 until it feels comfortable to be breathing air into your abdomen. Once
you achieve this comfort, inhale deeply and then blow the air out gently through your mouth.
6. Deep-breathe for five to ten minutes once or twice each day.

After you have become comfortable with this technique, you can practice the exercise for
up to twenty minutes at a time, whenever you feel the need to relax and focus your energy.

Deep Breathing For Food Cravings

Doing the basic deep breathing exercise described below will help you overcome any urges or
cravings to snack or binge. Remember, urges only last for a few minutes, five at most. If you
hold on for that amount of time the urge passes completely. Do this exercise every time you
have an urge to snack or binge. May be performed standing, sitting or lying down.
1. First straighten your posture.
2. Slowly breathe in through your nose, making sure your stomach and chest become expanded.
3. Fill your lungs with as much air as you can, then take one more small sniff of air.
4. Now let the air out slowly with lips slightly parted so there will be some resistance.
5. As you exhale, close your eyes, and let your chin gradually rest on your chest. Visualize all
the tension leaving your body, slowly draining out of your body.
6. Take in a total of four to five breaths per session. Perform this exercise three times.

This technique also helps you relax anytime you feel stress or anxiety. Deep breathing has other
health benefits like detoxifying the body of toxins and circulating healing oxygen and blood.
Along with deep breathing exercises remember to drink plenty of water.

Exercise For Depression And Energy


This exercise lets you to get rid of your depression and feel energized.
1. Sit on a chair with your back straight and feet flat on the floor.
2. Reach straight up with both hands.
3. Inhale deeply. Hold your breath and while holding your breath, squeeze your fists so that
the muscles in your arms tighten.
4. Exhale slowly. Keeping your arms tense, lower your fists to your chest, as if you're pulling
down on rubber bands.
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times.
6. On the final repetition, cross your arms over your chest. Rest your fingers on the upper
outside spots of your chest, with your wrists crossed in the middle.
7. Drop your chin to your chest.
8. Inhale four short breaths without exhaling.
9. Hold your breath.
10. Exhale slowly through your mouth.

Repeat steps 8-10 for a few minutes, concentrating on the rhythm of your breath.

Exercise To Do Before Sleep


Thinking about stressful situations before going to sleep can trigger the stress response, which
is the exact opposite of what the body requires in order to wind down and go to sleep. A
breathing exercise can help people turn their attention from their racing thoughts to their hard-
working body’s need for sleep. The following breathing exercise may be done with soft
music, nature sounds (e.g., ocean waves) or a relaxation tape playing in the background.
Exercise To Do While Laying In Bed


1. Close your eyes and take three deep, cleansing breaths. Focus on inhaling clean air and
exhaling stale air.
2. Continuing to breathe deeply, spend a few moments focusing your attention on your toes.
You will have fully focused your attention on this part of your body when you can mentally
visualize the position of each toe. This, in itself, can be quite relaxing as attention shifts from
the mind to the body.
3. Breathe fresh air into the toes, fingertips, scalp and every other part of the body. Exhale
stale air from all of those locations, feeling warm and cleansed.

If attention wanders, go back to the second step, re-focusing on the toes before beginning
the process again. If necessary, keep your attention on the toes, skipping the third step of the
exercise entirely. Different strategies will be more helpful for different people. It may take
some time to find a strategy that works best for you.

Breathing Exercise To Do While Sitting


1. Take a deep breath as you drop your chin toward your chest, touching the chest if
possible. Exhale as you gently raise your head slowly to an upright position. Repeat as
desired. It may also be helpful to do some “head rolls,� in which the head is rolled
slowly to the right, to the chest, to the left, and to the chest in a semicircle.
2. Take a deep breath as you stretch your arms over your head. Hold your breath and the
stretch for a few seconds, and then release both slowly.
3. Take a deep breath as you stretch your arms out in front of you. Hold your breath and
the stretch for a few seconds, and then release both slowly.

Take a deep breath as you stretch your arms behind you. Hold your breath and the stretch
for a few seconds, and then release both slowly. Repeat 10 times several times a day.

How To Feel Better Instantly


1. Relief Breathing with imagery Vividly imagine having to carry a heavy sack of groceries a
lot farther than you had expected. Feel the weight, the sweat, the ache in your arms and
shoulders, whatever that experience is for you. How strongly can you imagine, feel, see
that?
2. Now imagine finally arriving at the table or counter or chair where you can finally set
down that burden. Breathe your first breath of relief as that wonderful easing happens.
3. Now breathe your next breath as if it were that first deep sigh of relief from when you
were finally setting down that burden.
4. Each next breath, when you get around to it (this should be a luxuriously slow process of
breathing), make that your first great sigh of relief as you set down that burden at last.
Make each next breath that first great sigh of relief... (Continue for several minutes, s-l-o-w-
l-y.)

It’s as easy as that! Compare how you're feeling now. Better than when you started?
Breath is regulated by, and provides a bridge to, your autonomic nervous system. By
breathing in a focused-relief pattern for several minutes, you signal your nervous system to
relieve you of anything bothering you. This is a great little tactic to use when you find
yourself below par or being bothered by something.

Not only do you breathe in characteristic ways in response to what's going on or how you
feel, but you can breathe deliberately in such patterns. This causes the autonomic nervous
system to make your state-of-being congruent with that pattern of breathing!

Source:

http://www.adv-hyp.com/_wsn/page5.html

http://www.powerbreathing.com


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Deep, Cleansing BreathsYour body's natural tendency can help prevent and manage lymphedema
One of the most rarely-discussed secrets to maintaining a healthy body is also one of the simplest: Just
breathe.
Now widely accepted in Western medicine, the idea that conscientious breathing has more than one tangible
health benefit is nothing new. Ancient philosophies like yoga and tai chi have always emphasized connecting
body and mind with the breath. It puts your body in “relaxation” mode, lowering blood pressure. It
circulates oxygen to the tissues. It lowers the effects of stress. It aids in better sleep.
It also serves as the natural pump for the lymphatic system:
“Your cells must have oxygen to survive moment to moment. To thrive, they rely on a complex exchange
between the circulatory system and the lymphatic system. Blood flow carries nutrients and ample amounts of
oxygen into the capillaries, while a healthy lymphatic system carries away destructive toxins. Proper
breathing is the moderator of this exchange.” (1)
Exercise for prevention and management
You can engage the breath through exercise, of course. Carol Crochet, a physical therapist who specializes
in treating lymphedema at DeKalb Medical Center in Atlanta , GA , says, “Exercise causes your respiration
rate to increase, so you breathe more deeply, and this stimulates your lymphatic system to move lymph fluid
throughout your body.” Doing so helps the lymphatic system to perform better in its removal of bacteria and
other matter.
Note that if you’ve been diagnosed with lymphedema, your treatment plan, including exercise, should be
approved by your physician or an occupational therapist who specializes in lymphedema treatment. (Please
also see the accompanying article on Gentle Strength Training for Lymphedema.) But studies are clear that
exercise is one of the best ways to manage this condition.
Walking is a natural solution for many people. Yoga classes, low-impact aerobics, and swimming are
favorites too.
The good news is that deep abdominal breathing (while sitting! Or even lying down!) can accompany your
workout efforts with equally beneficial lymphatic results.
You can breathe more deeply while washing dishes, driving to work, applying your makeup, or sitting in a
meeting. Or you can delve into your spirit with time set aside in meditation or prayer -- adding breath work
will enhance those practices by connecting the body with the soul.
Count to four
Ready to try? Sit or lie down comfortably, and place your hands on your abdomen. Exhale once, fully, then
breathe in while slowly counting to four, feeling the abdomen rise as your diaphragm expands. Pause for two
counts if you can, and then exhale for four counts, drawing in the tummy as your lungs deflate. Pause again,
aware of your breath. Repeat five to 10 times. Always return to your most natural breathing state if you feel
uncomfortable or lightheaded.
It’s best to breathe through the nose, but some people find that even when suffering sinus trouble, a deep
breathing exercise like the one described above can help clear passageways and bring comfort.