May 29 2020
Certain natural phenomena are so common that we don’t pay attention to them. We take them for granted, until suddenly after knowing these facts for years, we see them through a new lens and are amazed! I came to this realization after studying and practicing months of yogic breathing and then when I took an anatomy and physiology class. Breathing is an act that we do involuntarily every moment of our lives. We inhale the air which is 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. Air also has small amounts of lots of other gases, too, such as carbon dioxide, neon, and hydrogen. The essential Oxygen we breathe in and exhale mostly Carbon dioxide. The oxygen is an essential element, that means we cannot live without it. The oxygenated air enters our nostrils, pharynx, larynx, trachea, into the bronchioles and bronchiolli, aveolar ducts, Aveolar sacs and into the alveoli. In the Alveolus is where the magic happens; the magical passive diffusion exchange of Oxygen going from High concentration to Low concentration so this is where the Oxygen enters your blood stream through tiny capillaries which are sandwiched between the aveoli.
I got carried away from the point I was trying to make….the trachea, bronchioles, primary, secondary and tertiary bronchiolli on either side of the lungs, look exactly like the tree branches of the big old oak tree outside my window.
This tree has a trunk, just like the trachea which is firm and strong. The strong trunk leads to the branches and still smaller branches in the tree which are reaching up to the Air and sunlight which supplies it the essential Co2. Co2 is the essential gas the tree needs just like the essential O2 we need , in a perfect symbiotic relationship, we have with the trees and plants in nature.
Please look at the pictures of a tree and our lungs below and notice the similarities.
Is it not absolutely amazing the Parallel we see in the trachea and bronchioles and the trunk and the branches and they look so similar and work the same way to provide and sustain our breath and the breath of the earth.
These essential elements …Oxygen for us can be obtained only through our breath from our lungs and in it’s journey from our nose to our lungs, through the aveoli, into the red blood cells and carried to each tissue cell throughout our body where in the mitochondria the ATP ; very energy rich molecule is formed by using the Oxygen and the food we eat, to facilitate most energy needed work that our body performs. This is the exact place where particles of Food meet Physiology. The Co2 is taken and taken on a journey away from our tissue cells to be expelled- exhaled…out with our breath ….
This entire process called respiration is also going on, in a mirror image in the plant kingdom, which live by our side, in a perfect symbiotic parallel relationship along side of us. We breathe and the earth breathes along with us!
We also know these facts but know and appreciating and bringing awareness to this are two different things.
Just breathe ….and bring awareness to this one awesome aspect of our existence on this planet.
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