Take a Deep Breath

pool
Originally uploaded by rfin.

This semester I'm alternating a lunch-hour spinning class (stationary biking) with swimming on my own. The Tues-Thurs spinning class leaves me Mon-Wed-Fri for lap swimming. I enjoy the structure and comraderie of a class, but here's a telling comparison. On swim days I don't miss spinning, but on spin days I do miss the pool. Maybe it's not just the aquatic environment, but how these differing activities require different breathing.

September's issue of Health magazine quotes Dr. Bonnie Berger, the director of the School of Human Movement, Sport, and Leisure Studies at Bowling Green University in Ohio. "The way you take deep breaths when you do certain types of exercise is similar to the techniques used in stress management and meditation." Of course I breath deeply in both the swimming and spinning classes, but much more so when swimming. Maybe that's why I miss it on spinning days--I'm just not getting as much deep breathing and the benefits that go with it.