The One Minute Health Habit That Can Change Your Life

I'm fitting a lot in here at Miraval in Tucson -- hiking in the Catalinas, yoga, a great massage (ask for Lolita!), a drumming class where I felt like a five-year-old (joyous and free!), a cooking demonstration, and three talks by Dr. Andrew Weil, the leading expert in integrative medicine in the country. And this is just day-two! Weil also taught us a simple technique that he says can dramatically improve health. I'm practicing it in this photo by a hiking buddy -- more on that later!

"Weil on Wellness," a four-day program with lectures by Weil and like-minded health experts, is going to be offered a few times next year. It's been an amazing opportunity to spend time with this brilliant individual, who cares passionately about wellness. (He just published a new book on reforming our health care system called "Why Our Health Matters." (Buy Now).

Weil's message is that we don't HAVE a health care system in America. We have a disease management system, because there's almost no emphasis on prevention! And he doesn't think we can really expect politicians to do much about it, because they can't go against their big contributors.

So it's up to us! Spas have a role to play in health and wellness, including teaching us how to take better care of ourselves. And I'm going to pass on a simple tool that Weil claims has the capacity to improve your health, if you do it twice a day, consistently, over time.

It's called the 4-7-8 breath, and here's how you do it:

• Sit with your two feet on the floor. (You can also do it laying down.)
• Place the tip of your tongue on the soft palette in the ridge just behind your two front teeth.
• Take a deep breath through your nostrils, to the count of 4. Keep your mouth closed.
• Hold the breath for 7 counts.
• Blow out of your open mouth for 8 counts, keeping the tongue in place. (This is a little tricky - It helps to blow out your lips a little at the first breath, like those drawings of the wind.)
• Close your mouth and breath in again, repeating the 4-7-8 cycle.
• Do it for a total of four breaths.
• You're done!!

Weil says the "4-7-8 breath" has amazing health benefits -- its lowers blood pressure, improves circulation and chronic digestive problems, lowers anxiety, helps control cravings. "And it's free!" He does it every morning, first thing, and every night before he goes to sleep.

And from now on, I'm going to, too.