Way of the Day: JUST KEEP BREATHING

Newborn babies can do it with their eyes closed. So what's the big deal, right? Well, there's breathing, and then there's breathing! Just ask the midwife, the athlete, the asthmatic. Ask the opera singer or the auctioneer. Ask anyone who does yoga or meditates. There are lots of ways to breathe.

You may think of it as just a nose-mouth-and-lungs thing, but in fact the oxygen exchange of respiration takes place within every cell of the body. Breathing is one of your autonomic functions, doing its thing whether you're thinking about it or not. But unlike the body's other autonomic functions -- the beating of the heart, digestion and such -- breathing is within your conscious control. And that, my friend, is the key to the kingdom!

Through breath, you can use your body to relax your mind. Through breath, you can use your mind to relax your body. Want to try it? Here are three breathing exercises from integrative-medicine specialist Andrew Weil, M.D.

Preparing to Exit

Now it comes to the Last Day of my Forties, and I'm gonna make it a good one: first, a long, hot bath, and then some serious shopping! Just happen to have a few Benjamins in my pocket, compliments of my mama. (Thanks, Mom!)

By the way, as long as I'm blogging, LET ME INVITE YOU TO MY BIG FIVE-OH, DARLING! It's at the home of my dear friend and esteemed coauthor, Peggy Spencer, on Saturday, Feb. 13, from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. We're asking people to BYOB and/or bring a little snackie-something-wonderful to share. Email me for the address, will you, love? (sheilakey@newmexico.com) Because the soiree simply won't be as much fun without you!

Tah-tah for now. See you on the other side!

New Moon = Clean Slate

Two weeks into the new year, and if you're like me -- like most people, I'd wager -- your shiny new resolutions of a fortnight ago are already showing a bit of tarnish. Slipped up on the diet? Fell out of the daily exercise routine? Still sneaking the occasional smoke?

Well, before you consign your resolutions to the trash heap of history, mark this year's try a failure, and set your sites warily -- or, perhaps, wearily -- on next January 1st, let me point out that the calendar offers up at least a dozen fresh starts before 2011 dawns. New Moons, they're called, and whether or not you happen to be up at this wee hour, you've got one hanging outside your window right now!

That good ol' "dark o' the moon" ushers in a new lunar cycle every month, and with it, a whole new chance to start fresh. So here's to your Renewed Resolutions. May they shine as brightly as the Full Moon, two weeks hence.

And if they don't? Fuhgeddaboudit! There'll be another New Moon coming along on Feb. 13th. And another on the infamous Ides of March. And another the night before Tax Day. And another and another -- May 13th, June 12th, July 11th, and so on and so forth, at more or less 4-week intervals, ad infinitum.

So... Finnegan, begin again! Why don't'cha?

Dr. Peg publishes online

Here's an article I wrote for My Family Doctor on tips to take home after your doctor visit. Enjoy!

Word of Web

Well, lookee HERE! 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s got listed as the "Deal of the Day"! Thanks, 40thbirthdaygiftsonline.com!