PIt may seem like an odd couple formed by Filippo Ongaro and Mike Maric. The former has been a doctor of astronauts for years and the latter is a world freediving champion. They are both experts, from different points of view, in a practice that is as popular as it is little appreciated. That of breathing, «the first index of predictability of our longevity recognized by the Framingham Heart Study”, as Maric recalls. They will discuss breathing as the keystone of life today in a free meeting. But just take a look at the books that both have written on the topic to understand how many points of contact there are.
Breathing, the secret of longevity within everyone’s reach
The appointment is in Padua tonight, November 10th, at Y-40, the deepest thermal water pool in the world and the largest underwater laboratory at real depth. At the meeting Longevity and respirationmoderated by Anna Fregonara, journalist of Corriere Della Sera – Healthyou can participate by reserving your place at this link.
Longevity MissionFilippo Ongaro and spatial Buddhism
Both Ongaro and Maric have written a book on the subject. Longevity Missionpublished by Sperling & Kupfer offers a complete and scientific vision of what can be done to live better and longer. The starting point is the years Ongaro spent alongside the astronauts at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. An experience that is a source of much food for thought also for the lives of ordinary people.
Ongaro speaks expressly of “spatial Buddhism”: the secret to better manage a mission (but maybe even life), he says, is not to be overwhelmed from challenges and obstacles. Even the biggest problem can be chopped up, reduced to a minimum. In the book the anecdotes accompany advice and physical practices but also suggestions for improving one’s mental habits. As if to say that there is no longevity without balance of mind and body. And breathing is in a certain sense the communication channel between the two worlds.
Regulate your breathing to reduce stress
«Regulation of breathing is one of the most important tools for modulating the action of the autonomic nervous system», explains Filippo Ongaro. «In particular to lighten and reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and enhance that of the parasympathetic, thus having a general stress reduction and cortisol production. Since we know that these two elements are accelerators of aging, intervening on breathing and reducing stress turns out to be an excellent pro-longevity action».
What is important is to learn to Breathere good, deepmind and with the abdomen, and remember to do it during the dayborn. As well as for the benefits of physical exercise, «also for the brain and breathing do not need extreme procedures”, assures the doctor. “It’s more important to learn to practice these actions with aware pleasure, softness and benevolence for oneself». And breathing is a central element of the recognized relaxation practices that he also suggests, from autogenic training to meditation, in all its various forms, up to immersions in nature.
Ongaro leads readers through his exclusive and integrated approach by identifying eight practical paths. Cellular protection, weight loss, maintenance of muscle mass, physical and mental strengthening, memory and resilience are ways to go to protect health over time.
If I breathe I canMikle Maric and the self-control of physiology
In If I breathe I can (published by ROI Edizioni) instead, the freediver tells his story, revealing his “techniques for having more control over your body and life”. Maric’s is an introspective journey that begins in Ex-Yugoslavia, his homeland, and continues with his years of practice as a forensic doctor (he dealt with cadaver identification). Up to the challenges in the big blue.
Maric’s mantra, the certainty that we can always translate what happens to us into opportunities. That is, an opportunity to take control of our lives, even through difficult choices, mistakes, bereavements.
Getting back to breathing after the apnea of mourning
Maric explicitly recounts the loss of his dear friend and colleague Filippo, who died at sea. «I have started to suffocate for the mourningto remain in apnea with no alternatives». It is this moment, paradoxically, that pushes Maric to question himself about breathing also to dominate events.
«When we feel fear, the first thing to change is our physiology: the breathheart rate first place. Starting from breath we can bring it back up to speed our physical condition.” We all breathe, thousands of times a day, yet almost no one uses the breath which is “the main self-control tool of which the human being is gifted.”
Exercises to train yourself to modify your breathing
In the book Maric offers many ideas for train yourself to modify the breath, transforming hereity of life, improving mood and reactionsoverwhelming emotional tions which can prevent you from dealing with everyday life as best as possible.
For example the Self Confidence breathing cycle. Consists in carve out three moments within the day, to–
room of approx 3-4 hours apart in which breathe (for 5 minutes) modulating six breaths per minute through your nose. Or whatever he calls Making Decision, in which you try – for a couple of minutes – to prolong the exhale phasetion (with the mouth) for approximately twice as long as inhalation (through the nose). With a relaxing effect. Or, again, exercise Self Empowermentwhich instead has an activating effect. It’s aboutreversal of the respiratory rhythm, with an increase in twicked in the inhalation phase compared to those in the exhalation phasetion, for less than 30 seconds.
The effect of breathing on brain waves
Maric also offers the scientific explanation of this magical power that breathing has. «The change of breath exercises his effect on thedistribution of brain waves inducing a transition. Dto a prevalence of beta waves, a typical expression of one normal brain function, to greater expression
of alpha waves (focused calm). Up to theta waves (calm deep and peaceful)”. With these transitory changes of brain state, the brain “learns” how to pass with easeity to specific desired conditions, even when not he is training through breathing.
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