Understanding the act of breathing can have a profound effect on the body, Lee Carsley says.

‘If we know the art of breathing, we have the strength and courage of ten tigers’
– old Chinese Proverb.

Recently, an Australian surfer, Mick Fanning, was attacked by a huge shark at a competition in South Africa. The shark caught the leg rope, pulling him under. The rope probably felt like a noose around its snout, because it immediately took flight. The interviews shortly after the attack had Mick gasping for air, barely able to put a sentence together. Where our breath goes, so it appears does our heart and mind – including the shark. Of all the benefits espoused by yoga, pranayama (breath) is one of its most profound. Besides improving our pulmonary function, breathing lifts our mood, and gives the brain necessary oxygen, without which we experience mental sluggishness, negative thoughts, and even depression. Most of us only notice how we breathe, when we have been surprised, get a cold, or regularly exercise.

What is breathing?

We breathe out carbon dioxide thousands of times a day – making breathing the most singularly effective toxic waste removal activity of our body. Our lungs are not muscles and cannot move on their own. They have three muscle choices. First, the muscles of the neck and upper torso (clavicular breathing). This breathing results in only small amounts of air. Most commonly seen in people who have lung illnesses, or asthma. Second, the muscle bands known as the intercostal muscles that lie between the ribs. This chest breathing seems natural for most of us. These muscles do give our body and lungs aerobic conditioning, but as we go about our day, chest breathing is considerably less dramatic – the ribs simply rise and fall with inhalation and exhalation, little air going in and out of the lungs. Thirdly, the diaphragm. These muscles create the greatest amount of control over our lungs for breathing. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle lying horizontally inside the torso. This is the muscle we tend to use unconsciously when breathing every day, and not very well. Yoga teachersoften ask students to breathe in with the tummy – which technically you cannot do, but it is the general region of the diaphragm. Being able to use these muscles consciously are the secret to powerful life energizing breathing.

In and out through the nose, please…

We breathe in pairs, inhalation and exhalation. For most of us, inhalation is longer than exhalation. Much yogic pranayama is concerned with learning to control our breathing, which slows down metabolism, and calms the mind. So for everyday benefits, we advocate nose breathing.

And every move you make…

It takes practice, but this doesn’t take long because we are training our muscles to do what they naturally want to do. Every morning, sit on a chair, feet flat on the floor, body upright, arms relaxed and by your side. Close your eyes, and begin to breathe in and out through your nose. Mouth closed. Same count inhale and exhale. Get your breath even first. As you inhale, gently expand your tummy out. Feel the breath on the tip of your nose, moving down your throat, across your shoulders down your back to the bottom of your butt. On the exhale, feel your tummy relax. Do it all again.

Three to five minutes each day, and you are well on the way to a brighter, calmer you.

Lee Carsley is an executive coach and leadership expert-turned-yoga instructor, who currently runs ANZA’s yoga classes each week.

ANZA cycling has been incredibly busy, with a couple of new events fast approaching, Megan Kinder, Frank McLoughlin and Liam Winston say.

If you’ve ever considered coming out for a group ride but have been put off, thinking the typical ANZA Cycling groups are too fast, too frightening – or altogether too foreign – we now have the perfect group for you to join, with the introduction of a new ‘recreational’ ride, the East Coast 20.

Pitched as ‘a fun ride for those that don’t want to go so fast, or so far, but still love the idea of getting out with a group – small group – for a ride on a Saturday morning…’, the group maintains an average speed of around 20 km/h and normally covers between 30 and 35 km – subject to conditions and the want of the group. The ride is currently running alternate weeks, every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month.

If you’re concerned about traffic and not confident riding on the road, the route goes down Orchard Road while it is still very quiet and is then virtually all on bike paths, cutting through Gardens by the Bay and then along the East Coast Park cycle way.

The East Coast 20 leaves from Food Canopy on Cluny Road at 7am along with all the other regular rides so you get to enjoy the pre-ride buzz with the main group – Kopi O is good for that! Following the leisurely ride, it finishes up at Dimbulah in Chijmes to watch the othergroups come in – while enjoying just one more coffee. Let us know if you’re intending to come along so we don’t race off and leave you behind.

Interested in coming out for a ride? ANZA Cycling runs a Newcomers’ Ride on the first Saturday of each month. For more info, email cycling@anza.org.sg

The saddening event in Nepal sparked a surge of humanitarianism in the cricket community, says Geoffrey Forday.

Two years ago, the Singapore-based ANZA Champs celebrated its centenary match by making the pages of not just this magazine, but also the online cricketing bible that is espncricinfo.com. Most teams achieve this recognition due to performance…not so much the Champs.

More than 24 months on and the sporting failings of the team have remained pretty much intact and, in fact, deepened – not only have we not won a league game over that period, it now appears that we hold the dubious honour of having endured a world record score against us in all forms of organised cricket competition.

357 runs in 30 overs. I kid you not. That takes not just an all-in concerted effort, but a high degree of meticulous planning to ensure that we did not stray from the incompetence that we have in many ways, come to treasure.

That said, what we do have is a group of players who, while they are athletic buffoons, possess a genuine concern for using the game and our playing resources to support each other’s charity endeavours – with a generosity matched only by the Champs’ on-field character. The Nepal earthquake in April struck a chord with many of us and immediately we set about doing something to help the victims of this tragedy.

And so it came to be that on 14 June we would see a group of 22 overweight and unfit men come together to play a game with just more than bragging rights at stake. Though as it turned out, bragging rights weren’t a distant second, particularly given the fact that along with our abysmal domestic record, the Champs were – after 9 years of fortitude – still yet to win a trophy game on any overseas cricket tour.

The morning of the Champs charity game for Nepal and many of us whispered a few prayers to all our Gods to let her/him know that what we were doing was not just about breaking the duck, but, please can we just have a proper day’s cricket after all the planning that has gone into this shindig.

It was about then that the clouds parted to reveal the celestial rays of His/Her magnificence. Glory be was the whisper in unison when upon which, it of course started to drizzle before turning into a steady curtain of precipitation. You are a joker, you Omnipotent One.

But see, this is the beauty as to why God got to his senior management position. Knowing that our man of the perpetual excuses was likely to be hitting the tiles of down-town Johor Bahru the night before, God pulled a mini-Noah. The rain forced the game to be knocked back a bit, ensuring that the toss we didn’t have to have did not take place – and the normally 26 over and out Champs need not become the 40 over and out to early lunch Champs.

This was a wonderfully good spirited game and the Jolly Wallabies certainly played their very fair share in this by playing hard and treating the game with respect and seriousness. They were marvellous hosts for this – probably letting us win for some sort of confessional penance.

More importantly by far is that with the support of both teams as well as a large crowd who had gathered for the charity evening. The Jolly Wallabies and the ANZA Champs were backed by very generous sponsors in Leisure Farm, and the Malaysian Cricket Association raised over $7,000 for the Nepal earthquake appeal. This was a truly spectacular effort by all involved, and made for a wonderful day of playing cricket for a cause.

ANZA Cricket fields four teams from division 2 through 5 of the Singapore Cricket Association. Training is on Sundays.

cricket@anza.org.sg