(image via here)
Looking for a surefire way to lose weight or stay trim in 2015? Don't hold your breath — quite literally.
Over 80 percent of fat loss happens when you exhale, suggests a new study from the University of New South Wales School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences.
Fat cells store a combination of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen called triglyceride. To shed fat, the body unlocks the triglyceride molecules through oxidation — a process that breaks the molecules apart when they come in contact with oxygen through inhalation.
Twenty-nine pounds of inhaled oxygen is needed for the body to oxidize and exhale ten pounds of fat. For every ten pounds of fully oxidized fat molecules lost, 8.4 pounds leave the body through the lungs as carbon dioxide. The remaining fat becomes water, flushed through urine, sweat, and other bodily fluids, notes the study published in the British Medical Journal.
At rest, a 155-pound person releases around 6.7 ounces of carbon dioxide per minute over twelve breaths. In one day, 17,280 breaths accumulate to 0.44 pounds of exhaled carbon. Raising the metabolic rate through exercise increases the carbon loss sevenfold.
"These results show the lungs are the primary excretory organ for weight loss," say Andrew Brown and Ruben Meerman, authors of the study. "None of this is obvious to people because the carbon dioxide gas we exhale is invisible," Meerman adds.
"The exhaled carbon can only be replaced by eating food or consuming beverages. Keeping the weight off simply requires that you put less back in by eating than you've exhaled by breathing," the authors advise.
Qigong master Chunyi Lin is no stranger to the benefits of breathing. "Simple adjustments in your breathing could have an immediate effect on your health," he says in our Spring Forest Qigong course.
Chunyi recommends "Breathing of the Universe" to heal the lungs and clear blockages so they can support your body most effectively.
Take a few minutes, and try it. While it is best to practice this exercise standing, you can also do it while sitting or lying down.
- Begin with both hands facing each other in front of the lower dantian (naval area).
- Keep a space between the body and the hands and between both hands. In this way you can keep the feeling of emptiness.
- With your awareness in your lower dantian, take three deep breaths.
- Then, as you inhale, move your hands open to the sides; exhale as you bring your hands close together. Your hands do not touch each other. Use your hands and body to feel the energy while you use the elbows to guide the action.
- Use your whole body to breathe. While you inhale, visualize the pure universal energy flowing into your body and gathering in the lower dantian.
- While you exhale, imagine any sickness, pain, or extra weight turning into air or smoke and shooting out from every part of the body to the end of the universe.
- Stay relaxed. Gently rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Wear a smile.
It's that simple! You can do it for as short as two or three minutes or as long as you would like.
Learn more about the healing energy of Qigong and practice directly with Chunyi Lin during his upcoming seminars in three new cities: Seattle, Miami, and Singapore. Learn more at the link below.
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