ED 7 LUNG DRIVER

Bottom Line: Lungs and Breathing, Healthy Exchange

The lungs oxygenate the blood, excrete carbon dioxide and water and initiate energetic movement through every tissue in the body. The lungs also produce the voice and so the larynx is included in this energy field. The movement of the lungs, the soundwaves they produce during the inhalation and exhalation of breath, the exchange of gases, and the vibrations of the larynx (which creates its own energy fields), generate the lung driver energy field.

All the tissues need a healthy supply of oxygen to function at their best. Poor oxygen delivery to your cells can lower their energy and increase your exposure to more of the harmful free radical molecules that are produced as a normal part of energy production. Think of how a poorly oxygenated fire only smoulders and produces more smoke and soot. The brain uses about 25% of our oxygen intake. It requires a constant supply of both oxygen and fuel to function well, including knowing where to send more blood to oxygen-hungry muscles and tissues - so it’s a double whammy when the brain and nervous system don’t receive the oxygen they need. Oxygen also helps to boost your immune system. Many bacteria and viruses thrive in a low oxygen environment so good lung energy can help to clear infection.

The Lung Driver is associated with breathing and exchange in its broadest sense. In cultures across the world, the breath is seen as the life force energy and the vital spark that animates life. The lungs are the organs that take in this vital energy and distribute it around the body. Breath is also associated with higher consciousness and spiritual awareness. In many languages the words for breath and spirit are the same and if we think of the word inspiration, it means to take in breath but also to draw in something that raises us to higher states of feeling, action or behaviour. The Lung Driver relates to inspiration, higher mental skills learnt by children, and higher consciousness development in adults.

Issues: In industrialised nations the lungs are exposed to a number of harmful airborne agricultural and industrial chemicals and pollutants. These includes diesel particulates, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PCBs, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals, many of which can accumulate in the lungs. Viruses and bacteria can also harbour in the lungs, often acting as a trigger that increases inflammation and tissue damage here.

A priority here may simply mean you need to focus on some aspect of your breathing. When we are anxious we tend to hold our breath and breathe shallowly from the chest. Hunching the back and shoulders compresses the ribcage and hinders breathing. It is quite common to hold tension and stress in the large diaphragm muscle, diminishing its movement in breathing. In Chinese Medicine the emotion that most affects the lungs is grief. Deep, prolonged grief and loss can be held in the lungs, cutting us off from the breath that brings vitality and inspiration. Healthy breathing is both about our ability to take in breath (and that vital spark) and to let it go (releasing staleness, sadness and pent up emotions). We all feel better for expanding our lungs and taking in the fresh air that enlivens our tissues and our senses. Weak Lung Driver energy may manifest as low vitality, poor immunity, emotional constraint and decreased mental acuity.

ACTION: Connect to your Breath.

Questions: In what ways could I improve my breathing? What inspires me? How could my emotions be affecting my breathing? What have I lost that I continue to grieve for? Consider with your practitioner whether pollution, infection or grief could be affecting your lungs.

Go For It:

The lung is nourished by breathing and the best way to increase lung energy is to take in plenty of fresh air. Develop the physical capacity of the lungs with aerobic exercise and controlled breathing techniques. Look at how you are holding your body. Use physical therapies to stretch and unwind.

Observe your breathing. Is it shallow? Are you holding your breath? Sometimes it’s more appropriate to work on letting the breath go.

Meditate by focusing on the breath, observing it as it enters the nostrils, fills the body and the leaves again through the through the nostrils or the mouth. Breath is the route to higher consciousness.

Use natural air purifiers in your environment, e.g. salt lamps, plants (but be careful with moulds), an ioniser.

Yoga. The Cat and Cow Pose and the Triangle Pose can both be helpful for opening up the lungs and the diaphragm.

LUNG DRIVER INFOCEUTICAL: The Lung Driver Infoceutical helps to correct breathing issues, oxygenate the tissues, drive metabolism and improve energy production. It can help the entire body to breathe, increasing movement and vitality in the tissues. By helping you to feel more vitalised it can help you to feel more inspired too. It can improve mental clarity and sharpness and, by connecting you with your breath, can help to further meditative and higher consciousness practices.