Ujjayi Breath

Part of the Jedi training that my sister is giving me, also known as yoga, involves something called the Ujjayi Breath. It’s a way of narrowing your throat so that you inhibit exhalations. People do this normally when they purse their lips after they’ve gone on a run. Studies have shown that it increases the partial pressure within your lungs increasing oxygen absorption. But in Jedi training, my sister had me do the Ujjayi Breath so that I would have something to focus on during some of the more difficult moves.

Which brings up an interesting point; having something to focus on. As a photographer, I often have to keep my eye on the prize, otherwise photo shoots can devolve into endless “pickup” shoots. On a more worldly basis, where would any of us be if we didn’t have something larger to focus on? If we were born as is, without the need for food or sleep, would we ever learn to walk or talk or think abstractly? Is it our goals that shape our actions or would we still grow up if we didn’t have something to look toward?

So now I am on vacation for two weeks. It’s a strange thing to know that I am getting paid to either do a lot or do nothing. I’m the kind of person who is usually so absorbed in work tasks that my personal life, my apartment and relationships suffer. Well, not all of my relationships. The strongest relationships I have outside of work involve the managers at Cosi and Taco Bell. They love me.

Anyway, it’s nice to re-learn something I think I knew before, focusing on something specific in order to get through the struggle of the moment, like focusing on walking rather than focusing on learning how to walk. Here’s a video of a spider robot learning how to walk: