Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2017: Health & Wellness Issue | Page 35

From that day forward, I started
integrating breathing into my life. I
noticed a big difference. All it took
was just five minutes of breath-
ing exercises to lift my energy and
spirits in an amazing way. I learned,
when we feel good, it’s good to
breathe those good feelings in. And
then we can breathe out whatev-
er it is we don’t want, whatever is
heavy on our chests.
Soon after reading “The Perfect
Health,” I stopped smoking and re-
ally started breathing for the first
time. But it wasn’t without some
back sliding — I did go to ciga-
rettes again, though I smoked
much less than I did before. The
book had helped me begin the
journey of cutting back.
Chopra had tips for me in regard
to my diet, too. Now, I am a stub-
born person, and I don’t like to be
told what to do. Yet, I was — and
still am — open to hear what peo-
ple say, so I may try new things. I
learned that Chopra believes re-
ducing red meat is a must when it
comes to digestion and energy.
When I was reading this book, I
was almost a daily red meat eater.
It was easy to stop for a few days
and to see the difference, which I
noticed immediately in terms of my
digestion. Because the digestion
process requires so much energy,
when you stop eating heavy food
such as red meat, you have more
energy. I felt lighter and less bloat-
ed right away.
At this time, when I was reading
Chopra’s book, I had no beliefs in or
interests about vegetarianism, and
it was not for ethics that I began
to cut meat from my diet. I simply
recognized that the food we eat
is related to our energy levels and
how our bodies look like. I decid-
ed it was interesting to try to limit
red meat, so I vowed not to eat any
more beef, except for at celebra-
tions. Instead of eating it habitually,
I chose to eat beef only when I real-
ly felt like it.
While I respect the
people who can quit a
habit from one day to the
next, a gradual process
is what worked for me.
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