Pump It Up

I went to put air in my tires the other day - after a 1500 mile transport to a different altitude the tires had lost pressure, as expected. One of the worst things you can do is run a bike on low tires - at best it promises a sure-fire prescription for wearing out your tires very quickly, or at worst sluggish response when you need it most. It's too simple a matter not to take care of on a regular basis.

So I checked the tires (I have four different tire gauges - keep trying to find the one that will do the most work for me) and sure enough each bike was low. I don't have a compressor with me and no longer have the advantage of free air just a mile from my home, so it was off to find an air pump. Back In the Day every gas station had one and you could use it for free, but no longer. Up here the water is free but the air costs $.75 per use, which is a pain in the you-know-where. First on the list when we move into our new house is an air compressor.

Anyway, I found a pump at a station just up the block, loaded up on quarters and started the process. As I was filling-checking-filling-checking the tires, I started thinking about how I am not so good about checking my own air pressure and sometimes run low. And I am not talking about air in a metaphorical sense, but real oxygen in the lungs kind of low. We get used to breathing shallowly and forget what a big difference a good cycle of inhale/exhale makes in everyday life. We run on low tires.

When I was training/competing in karate, I was reminded over and over again to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth; the same pattern is used in simple weight training. Inhale and then exhale on the exertion move. Meditation teaches the same technique, whether it is Yoga posture style or just sitting zazen: breathe in and out. Shoot, you can use it to help you open a jar of pickles! But we forget this simple technique in regular moment to moment living. We run on low tires.

The Judeo-Christian creation myth reinforces this understanding of the need for air, for breath. In Genesis it states that God "breathed the breath (ruach in Hebrew, spiritus in Latin) of life" into humanity. At the most basic level there is an understanding that breath is a very foundation of life. No breath, no creation.

So don't forget: Just breathe.