Try placing a hot, moist towel over your chest to help relax your chest muscles and restore normal breathing.

To help reduce your chances of another attack:

Incorporate breathing exercises into your daily routine to help strengthen your respiratory muscles.

Keep a health diary. Use it to help you figure out what is triggering your attacks, then reduce your exposure to them or eliminate those things from your life.

Don’t smoke. Avoid perfumes.

Make a special effort to keep your environment allergen free. Get an air purifier. Dust and vacuum often. Change your home furnace or air conditioner filter regular.

Stop exercising if you start wheezing or feel an attack coming on.

Drink plenty of water to help thin any mucus build-up in lungs.

Eliminate or reduce mucus-forming foods such as milk products, products made with white flower and refined foods.

Lobelia has a long history for relaxing respiratory muscles and reducing spasmodic coughing.

To help reduce asthma symptoms, including ginkgo biloba into your health care program.

Herbal combinations such as Nature’s Sunshine’s Chinese Lung Support can help to support and protect lungs.

Herbs such as mullein, licorice root, marshmallow root or slippery elm can be taken to soothe irritated tissues.

Fenugreek and thyme can help to open chest as it loosens & stimulates gentle removal of mucus and phlegm.

Incorporate a homeopathic Asthma formula to help with shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, tightness of chest and wheezing.

© Copyright Body, Mind & SoulHealer 2004. All rights reserved.

As a square dancer, you're surrounded by other dancers but not really attached to a particular one--your matching outfits notwithstanding-- because you are constantly moving among others. Your attention is directed toward whatever comes up--in this case, caller's command and your subsequent focus on that engagement, however brief.

There's a continuous current of possibilities, and your state is that of relaxed readiness without any judgment. Other than moment your crush happens to be holding your hand, there is no partner or move that is better than any other.

The beauty is in flow of it all and awareness of being fully there.

For square dancers, their Wednesday-and-Saturday-night gatherings provided fellowship, fitness and an opportunity to really let go. Despite hopelessly unhip pointy white shoes and Hee-Haw setting, dancers had discovered a way to make mindfulness, well, FUN if not exactly cool.

Perhaps it never crossed their minds that they were engaging in anything but entertaining exercise. But if a 15-year-old boy--cute or not--could see it, I'm guessing that others recognized sense of connection they gained in an evening of fully-present partner swinging.

We tend to think of mindfulness as something to be experienced only through meditation. WRONG. Mindfulness involves us 100% in present moment, but we don't need a cushion, maple bench, or incense to get there.

In our mindful moments, we are at our finest and most human--open, forgiving, focused, compassionate and connected. Sitting, standing, or swinging your partner, that's a good place to be.

Yee-haw!