September 2022

Seasonal allergies is due to inflammation in the nasal mucosa from allergens. Somewhere between 10 to 30% of the worlds population has allergic rhinitis (seasonal allergies). For most people, pollen is the most common allergen that people suffer from.

An article published in 2019 showed that during 8 weeks of Hatha yoga training there were significant beneficial effects in those you have seasonal allergies (aka allergic rhinitis, or hay fever).1 In this study the yoga group had increased peak nasal flow when inhaling, significant decrease in allergic symptoms, and had significantly higher nasal secretion of interleukin (IL)-2 with improved cytokine levels than the control group. Cytokines are little molecules secreted from immune cells to talk to other cells. Interleukin (IL)-2 is a type of cytokine that regulates the function of white blood cells important for immunity.

Applying yoga, or any other deep breathing mindful practice can even help your child or yourself be relieved of some of the symptoms from seasonal allergies. If not, can greatly reduce the severity of it!

Reference:

1. Anna C., Jettanong K., Timothy D. M., Wannaporn T., “Effect of Hatha yoga training on rhinitis symptoms and cytokines in allergic rhinitis patients.” Asian PAC J. Allergy Immunol. Aug. 18, 2019. EPUB 2019 Aug 18. PMID: 31421665

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

Kung Fu is a form of Qigong and helps to focus the breath and chi in martial arts. There are many types of Kung Fu as well. One of the most common ones is Shaolin Kung Fu. Many Shaolin Kung Fu masters infuse their pupils trainings with Qigong as it enhances performance in Kung Fu, and aids in the mindset of performing Kung Fu techniques.

Tai Chi is also a form of Kung Fu, albeit a more gentle and flowing style of it. Today, Tai Chi is practiced mainly in slow exact movements (pretty much just doing Qigong). Very few masters today teach it as a martial art.

If you like idea of Qigong with all of its healing capabilities, and you desire to also build your self confidence with learning a self-defense technique, then Kung Fu, or Tai Chi would be a great companion to you. Some people have asked if Kung Fu is better than Kickboxing in a real fight. The answer to that is that it depends. If there are hand to hand weapons involved (like a sword or quarter staff), then Kung Fu would be better. If it’s just your body alone, then Kickboxing would be a more effective technique. Kickboxing focuses on the “combat” side of fighting, where Kickboxing students doing a lot of sparring and get use to fighting other people. Many Kung Fu students or even practitioners don’t do any sparring which proves to be much less effective in a real fight with someone who knows kickboxing.

Regardless of the martial art, it can greatly bolster your confidence level as well as make you more fit and heal where healing is needed.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC

…

Not too long ago, I had back pain. I know, it’s ironic with me being a chiropractor. Although, nothing I did would help it to go away; adjustments, nutrition, ice, stretching, even other forms of energy healing. Then, I came across a Qi gong form called Lifting the Sky. Practicing this exercise for only 3-5 minutes 1-2 times per day made my back pain go away in just 3 days! If I keep practicing it my back pain stays away.

When it comes to anything in life, practicing healthy things meant to uplift and strengthen us, gives us power and greater capacities to be successful. Qi gong can be one of those things.

Since my back being healed from doing Qi gong, I have been recommending Qi gong exercises to most all of my patients and have been having great results!

Coming up next, we will be learning more about the different forms of martial arts associated from Qi gong; Kung Fu, Tai Chi,

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

In Chinese medicine the breath is held in high regard. So much so that they call it the “breath of life.” This wording may be recognized by some from a religious standpoint. As part of the practices of Buddhism, Asian cultures have learned to utilized the breath to increase their health, meditate, practice mindfulness, increase their spirituality, and even receive enlightenment. They even developed martial arts while using the breath!

Qi gong means the utilization and cultivation of our life force energy (Qi, Chi, or Ki). That through the breath, intention and movement we are able to heal, and use our energy for self improvement and self defense. In the Chinese medical theory, when the qi is out of balance, the sicknesses or disease becomes a result. With the things that we have learned so far with the breathing alone, implementing Qi gong practices in our life can greatly influence our wellbeing and way of life.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

Due to the fact that Qigong or any other mindfulness practice increases mitochondrial function, you will notice your whole body heating up. When you heat up you burn more calories. Calories are a contributing factor towards losing weight, but the sole reason behind weight gain or weight loss. A discussion on calories needs to be for another post☺. Suffice it to say for this posts’ purposes, an increase in calories can definitely help to losing weight!

Deep breathing with mindful practices doesn’t only just increase the calories that you burn though. They focus on training your mind and your body. When we train our mind and body we begin to find out the reasons why we do what we do. Often times we eat junk food because of a certain way that we feel, and that can for sure be a contributing factor to gaining weight. If we can identify those reasons for our emotions, then we can work to clear those negative emotions or feelings in our life, and thereby find greater motivation and strength to overcome the desire to by the junk food in the first place!

With this in mind, we can look at mindfulness practices as being a means to come at weight loss from multiple factors of life. For it is the lifestyle habit that we are seeking to change if that lifestyle habit doesn’t meet our ultimate goal of health. When we change the negative habits, our body will soon follow!

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

We just spoke about oxidative stress or free radical build up within the body and how it can be the cause of cancer. There have been many reports of cancer patients being benefited by doing mindful, diaphragmatic breathing. By benefits I mean stopping the cancer from growing further, and even putting the cancer into remission, preventing it from further recurrences!1 Isn’t that wonderful? The power of our breath truly does amazing things and gives us more life!

There are many other studies done on how mindful breathing has helped cancer patients. One such study of 162 patients with different types of cancers showed significant improvements in fatigue, overall quality of life, mood disturbance, and inflammation when compared with the usual care.2

There have other case reports of cancer becoming totally cured from qigong practices. Even if it didn’t “cure” the cancer, qigong and tai chi has been well documented to benefit the symptoms associated with cancer.

Reference:

1. 
   H. Bhargav, K. Metri, N. Raghuram, N.H. Ramarao, P.S. Koka. Enhancement of cancer stem cell susceptibility to conventional treatments through complementary yoga therapy: possible cellular and molecular mechanisms, J Stem Cells, 7 (4) (2012), pp. 261-267
   
2. 
   Oh, B. et al., “Impact of Medical Qigong on quality of life, fatigue, mood and inflammation in cancer patients:” a randomized controlled trial,
 
Annals of Oncology, Volume 21, Issue 3, 608 – 614
   

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

Due to the fact that our breathing massages and pumps the lymph through out our body, we can go a little a little bit further into the cell. We have spoken before a little about the mitochondrion within our body; how it is the energy factory in each and every cell. Within this molecule we can get a build up of free radicals. These free radicals are the component towards our body “rusting” or “aging.” Free radicals are unstable atoms that can damage. We receive more radicals by being too sedentary, eating unhealthy foods, eating too much food, and even from exercising hard since there is not enough oxygen to take them out sometimes.

What happens if we just let the free radicals build up within our cells? It not only damages the cells, but it can cause illness and faster aging, any age-related problem, and even cancer. Deep breathing increases the oxygen level in our body and thereby reduces oxidative stress, or free radical build up.1

When lymph fluid flows more easily, it helps to pick up more of these free radicals and takes them out of our system. This is done either by sweating, going to the bathroom or breathing! This is a reason why we need to breath faster from exercise. Another thing that helps to bind to free radicals in the cell are antioxidants. We are familiar with the term and how they are very important anti-aging molecules that we can get from our food.

Keep up with breathing deep to infuse your life with more youthfulness and health! Reference:

1. D. Martarelli, M. Cocchioni, S. Scuri, P. Pompei, Diaphragmatic breathing reduces exercise- induced oxidative stress. Evidence Based Complement Alternative Med, 2011 (2011), p. 932430.

Till next time. Thank you

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

The lymphatic system doesn’t have a pumping mechanism like the heart is to the cardiovascular system. Instead, the 15 liters of lymph juices in your body flow and move according to your hydration, sweating, movement, and breathing. Lymph flow is heavily influenced by breathing as the diaphragm moves up and down the superior vena cava. This is where lymph fluid goes into the heart.1

When we inhale fluid returns into the superior vena cava. Combining the inhale with exhaling causes a vacuum effect which drains the lymph fluid from the legs.2

We naturally massage all of our organs we practice deep breathing. This improves our organs functions and with the squeezing and relaxing sequence of the diaphragm we create a pump. Due to this, deep breathing works to help us remove toxins from the blood, improves metabolism, enhances the immune system and aids in the absorption of fats.

We receive the most benefit in deep breathing with the exhalation. During this phase of breathing we release carbon dioxide. When we exhale more slowly, we are releasing more CO2 than we would normally which allows our red blood cells to become more and more saturated with oxygen.

References:

1. 
   “Foldi’s Textbook of Lymphology for Physicians and Lymphedema Therapists” – 2nd edition, p.
   
   551
   
2. 
   https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/lymph/article/view/17643/17366
   

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

We sometimes hear about breathing with our stomachs and how it is important to breathe low and expand the rib cage. This is how singers are taught to sing. Why? It is because you increase the amount of air volume going into your lungs to hold out a note for long periods of time.1 This can also be called diaphragmatic breathing, and when we consciously seek to control our diaphragm when we breathe slowly, we increase the tidal volume going into our lungs.

Slow, and deep mindful breathing exercises has been shown to decrease the amount of pulmonary dead space.2

Dead space is the amount of air, that is inhaled into the lungs, that doesn’t take part in the gas exchange within the lungs. As we decrease our respiratory rate and increase tidal volume of air going into our lungs, it recruits more alveoli within our lungs to work more efficiently.

Practicing slow, deep breathing can greatly help in respiratory function and all types of respiratory problems. Learn to breathe.

References:

Yoga Symbol for Breathe

1. 
   Kolar P, Neuwirth J, Sanda J, et al. Analysis of diaphragm movement during tidal breathing and during its activation while breath holding using MRI synchronized with spirometry. Physiol Res 2009; 58: 383–392.
   
2. 
   Bilo G, Revera M, Bussotti M, et al. Effects of slow deep breathing at high altitude on oxygen saturation, pulmonary and systemic hemodynamics. PloS one 2012; 7: e49074.
   

Till Next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

While deep breathing, and upon the exhale, we can release a lot of toxins in the blood. Isn’t it nuts that toxins can leave our blood by consciously taking deep breaths! Can we see how beneficial this might be? Toxins in the blood can cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, fevers, and the list can go on for a long time.

Your heart must first feed itself nutrients to function and contract appropriately before it can send blood to the rest of the body. Once increased oxygen get sent to every cell your body naturally warms up. This is why people often feel really warm when they practice yoga, because they are increasing oxygenation throughout the whole body. The increased warmth occurs because the mitochondria spoken of in a previous blog, is pumping out more energy. This also increases our metabolism and has been shown to aid in weight loss.2

Reference:

1. Kyeongra Yang, “A Review of Yoga Programs for Four Leading Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases”, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 4, Article ID 521526, 2007.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…