Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

A year and a half ago, I started practicing breathing reduction, based on the teachings of Konstantine Buteyko. His program included this exercise that you were supposed to do every day. So, for about three weeks, I did it every day. But I soon gave it up because I was struggling to hold a control pause any higher than 8 seconds, and the teachings say that a “healthy person” should be able to easily hold a control pause of at least 20 seconds. Any less than that, they say, is a sign of poor health and an imbalance in your body. I was told that if it weren’t for the fact that I exercised so much, I would have much more disease in my body because of my poor breathing habits. Buteyko taught that an extremely fit and healthy person could easily hold up to forty second control pauses. My ego was riled. I considered myself a healthy person, at least. (and I’d even go so far as to say in excellent health and fitness) but I couldn’t even imagine holding a twenty second control pause, much l...

I am just now making my coffee, which I get to do as a reward for doing my new morning ritual. Today I woke up very sore from yesterday’s workout.  Or at least, I think it was from yesterday’s workout. It could still be residual from two days ago.  Because usually it takes about 24 hours for delayed onset muscle soreness to show up after exercise, which won’t be until around three o'clock this afternoon.  I might be in for some serious soreness then; we’ll see. I was a bit demotivated this morning because I was so achy and sleepy, but I still went into the room at my scheduled time for my morning breathing, moving and meditating ritual.  Afterwards... Now...  I’m so glad I did it! I feel SO much better.  It actually felt better today than it has felt all week.  So this is an interesting paradox: “The less you feel like doing it, the better it will make you feel when you do.” Also, it feels good to keep the habit going. I know that habits take a w...

I was inspired by this video. So now, I’m committed to eating nine cups of fresh fruits and vegetables a day.  Its not that hard, but it is a lot of vegetables.  I’m noticing that although I’m not a vegetarian, I feel like eating meat takes up too much room in my stomach.  If I’m going to be able to fit in all the vegetables, its going to push other stuff out of my diet. Yesterday I started off with a mango.  But it wasn’t ripe. It was so sour, I only had two bites and threw it away.  Sad.  I had an apple instead. Then, for lunch, I heated up some leftover dinner, which was beef, cauliflower, kale, parsnips, potatoes and rutabagas.  I had about two cups of that heated up on top of four cups of chopped and steamed Swiss chard. After my afternoon workout, I was hungry again, so I had a cup each of roasted cauliflower, roasted beets, raw cucumber and raw spinach with a handful of almonds and topped with lemon juice and olive oil. About five hou...

As a culture, we eat too much.  WAY TOO MUCH!!! I’m not pointing any fingers.  Maybe you think you eat the perfect amount. Hey, I would have said the same thing about myself until about six months ago. I was recently inspired to begin experimenting with the concept of “LESS” throughout many aspects of my life. I have improved my mindset and increased my strength and agility by breathing less. (I wrote about that in a different blog post.)  I have also increased my sensitivity and my enjoyment of life by slowing down the rate at which I walk.  (I was living in New York City, among some of the fastest walkers in the world, so it wasn’t easy. But it was totally worth it.) And I've increased my energy level and improved the look and feel of my body by reducing the amount that I ate. I focused on eating smaller meals and on not just reacting immediately to the hunger feeling.  But I found that living with the feeling of hunger for just a couple of hours made a ...

We all know that heart disease is one of the leading killers of people around the world, particularly highest in countries such as the US and Australia. But you may be surprised at the REAL causes of heart disease -- and it's NOT saturated fat or cholesterol Did you know that there are several medical studies worldwide that clearly show that higher cholesterol levels in the body actually increases longevity instead of decreasing it? Yes, you heard that right! People with high cholesterol have been statistically shown to live longer and healthier than people with low cholesterol in several studies. There are multiple references for this phenomenon in Shane Ellison's controversial book, The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's (MD, PhD) book entitled The Cholesterol Myths, as well as Sally Fallon and Mary Enig's book, Nourishing Traditions. So why in the world are the pharmaceutical and medical industry pushing for practically everyone on th...

One of the best things you can do for your long-term health is to create a brief daily ritual of self care. It should be something that allows your breath, body and mind to move toward a place of comfort and relaxation. One example of such a routine is this: Place a blanket on the floor and sit on it. Breathe slowly and deeply while performing the following movements. Rotate the right ankle a few times in each direction and then repeat with the other ankle. Bend the right knee, bringing your heel toward your buttocks and then extend the leg again. Repeat a few times on each leg. Sitting tall, with your arms and legs outstretched, touch the outside of your left leg with the back of your right hand and look over your left shoulder, gently rotating your spine. Then switch sides and slowly rotate back and forth a few times. Sit tall again. Lower your chin to your chest and then look up toward the ceiling. Repeat a few times. Lay flat on your back and then tense all of your muscles so t...