Between Breaths and Beats

When we visit the doctor for our annual checkup, one of the first things the nurse does is check our vital signs. And of the main vital signs, here are four (below with numbers for adults in brackets)

• Body temperature (about 98.4 F)
• Blood pressure (90/60 mm Hg to 120/80 mm Hg)
• Pulse/heart rate (60 to 100 beats per minute)
• Respiratory rate (12 to 20 breaths per minute)

While everything is connected to everything else within our amazing body, there is a strong connection between breaths and beats, aka the heart rate and respiratory rate. Regulating our heart rate and breathing is critical to our health, and we can do so with a combination of exercises, including deep breathing and mediation as well as cardio activities like running, walking, dancing, and cycling.

And this is the perfect time of the year, when you are working towards your shiny new resolutions to get this going!!

As for me, dancing and some yoga is how I am planning on working towards this forever resolution. To be honest, I have my ups and downs as far as sticking to these goals (more downs than ups). However, I try, and each time I do work on them, that feeling of having strengthened that connection between breaths and beats is amazing!

What is your go to form of staying healthy?

Breaths!

I am currently reading (among my many other current reads) Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor (Healthy Living) and definitely learning a lot about that action we do a million times a day. More like 20,000 breaths per day actually, but who is counting? Well, on the other hand, we need to make a conscious effort to be aware of our breathing. Which is why I am reading this book after all.

If you want something for the younger readers in your life, you can check out this engaging and empowering picture book by Christopher Willard and  Wendy O’Leary:

Breathing Makes It Better: A Book for Sad Days, Mad Days, Glad Days, and All the Feelings In-Between

A Haibun: Breaths

Write a haibun that alludes to breath, breathing, or to breathe, and link back to dVerse. From dVerse: The haibun consists of one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—that evoke an experience and are often non-fictional/autobiographical. They may be preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.

Tranquil Trails

I see the words ‘take a deep breath’ and I do so! I overhear someone say ‘inhale, for a count of four, and then exhale to a count of six’ and there I go again, heeding those words.  I follow through! It dawns on me that I haven’t been mindful of my breathing, and simply acting on those words, whether read or heard, makes a significant difference.

Conversely, imagine an uphill hike. And I am traversing that path. Now, I am very aware of every breath, so much so that I try to breath quieter in my attempts to ensure other hikers passing me by effortlessly do not worry about me. In these moments, I’m grateful for bringing my faithful camera along, giving me a reason to pause and capture moments while catching my breath.

Crisp morning weather,
Sunrise paints the sky in hues,
Winter’s breath unfolds.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

10 Favorite New Authors (New to me)

For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl, we are talking about favorite new-to-me authors of 2023. Here is my list (the first ten I recalled though there are many more I loved equally!)

1. Sara Goodman Confino (Don’t Forget to Write). No review for this one yet, but it was one of the Amazon First Reads picks from last year and I know I will be reading more by Confino soon.
2. Mark Forsyth (The Unknown Unknown). I read this short from Forsyth recently and next on my list: The Etymologican.
3. Kinchoi Lam (Nomads). I hope to see more books from Lam soon. I truly enjoyed reading Nomads.
4. Karuna Riazi (A Bit of Earth). If you have been a regular visitor to my blog, you know I love novels in verse and middle grade books. A Bit of Earth checks both these boxes and more (is inspired by Secret Garden, one of my favorite childhood reads!).
5. Meg Shaffer (The Wishing Game). No review for this one too but it was one of my ‘looking-forward-to’ reads last year and definitely worth the read.
6. Sara Pennypacker (Leeva at Last). While I am not sure if I have read Clementine by Pennypacker, I think I would have remembered if I had read it. Her writing is delightful, to say the least. So, Leeva at Last is my introduction to her, and I am glad I have so many other books to read.
7. Kerilynn Wilson (The Faint of Heart). Read my thoughts on the book here but rest assured I am reading more by Wilson.
8. Mariajo Ilustrajo (Flooded). I already have her The Spell of a Story in my library waiting to be read. Just finishing up all the other current reads before I get to this one. My thoughts on Flooded here.
9. Marie Dorleans (The Night Walk). I enjoyed reading The Night Walk and hope to get to Dorleans other books soon
10. Dan Santat (A First Time for Everything). Another book in my ‘books I am excited about’ list from last year, and worthy of that list.

Beats….

Let us talk about beats for a minute (since I titled this section Beats!). It looks like one of the most popular BPMs (beats per minute) to dance to is about 128 (source)

I love dancing, have since forever. I talk about it in this long-ago post, and reading it also brought back memories, and for a brief moment, brought back my mom to me. In that post, I talk about walking back home with some invisible rhythm to my steps, as if dancing to my own beat. I had no idea I was doing that often, and only realized it when my mom used to mention it after I got home. After all, she had been watching for me from the window <3.

And when I used to perform in school, either with a group, or by myself (or rare occasions), my dad was right there in the front row with his camera, using up a whole reel of film for each five minute length of my dance!!

My parents were my biggest supporters in everything, and while they are no longer with me, I know they are looking down from wherever they are, watching me dance. And that last phrase is somewhat contrary to the words of my poem 🙂

Here is to My Feet Moving to those Beats

Write a poem of any style in response to the dVerse Poetics prompt: dance! And link back here.

Dancing Unseen
Dance like no one is watching, they say
So don’t look now.. but my feet,
They are making their own way..
To my internal beat, a chaotic one, they sway!!

Dance like no one is watching, they say..
And I jive into some salsa and cha-cha
Mix that up with some Zumba and ballet
To my own rhythm, I rock, twirl, and sashay.
~ Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

A previous poem about dancing here.

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And Now, the End of This Post About Breaths and Beats and More

Dear reader, Have you read any of these authors/books? When was the last time you danced? What time pausing to consciously take a breath? Or maybe taking a few breaths between beats of music?