Helpful hints upon waking up

Helpful Hints upon waking up in the mornings:

The first thing I do when I wake up is some breathing exercises by taking 4 - 6 breaths to clear my lungs and oxygenate the blood to get my day started. By sitting up straight, I forcefully exhale through my nose, contracting my abs, forcing the air out of my lungs. Do not consciously inhale (deliberately inhale). Just let the lungs "rebound". Then contract your abs and forcefully exhale again. One exhale per second. Although it can be done faster or slower, but one breath per second is the normal practice. This forces air out of my lungs repeatedly and helps to purge them of toxins. This is also good for abdominal muscles.

Ideally following you can also do alternate nostril breathing. Inhale through the left and exhale through the right 3 Xs. Then in and out through both nostrils equally 3 Xs. While you are doing this exercise, repeat in your mind, love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Focus on the breath as it turns the corner at the top of the nostrils inferior to the lungs. This is near the 3rd eye chakra, between the eye brows.

The chakras (energy centers) are vital to our health. Negative feelings interrupt the spin of these energy centers resulting in sickness or disease. Chakras are well known in eastern nations, but not well thought of, or heard of, in modern western medicine. They greatly affect us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Chakras are circular, vortexes of energy lying across seven different points on our spinal column. The seven chakras are connected to different glands and organs in the body and are responsible for uniform distribution of Chi or life force energy through them. There are seven chakra symbols of the core body.

The following lists what they represent:

1. Root chakra (last bone in spinal cord *coccyx*).

2. Sacral chakra (ovaries/prostate).

3. Solar Plexus (naval area).

4. Heart (heart area).

5. Throat (throat area).

6. Third eye (pineal gland).

7. Crown chakra (top of head).