The respiratory system is made up of bronchioles, the lungs, airways, the throat, the mouth, the nose, etc. I choose the diaphragm as my biological connection for many reasons, but all of them relate somehow to my “religion” that I was raised in where the solar plexus chakra represents power. It is the muscle that pulls the air in and pushes the air out. When controlling the diaphragm, you control the the speed of your breath or volume of your voice, two things that in my life I have used to calm or stand up for myself. I like that it is a voluntary muscle because I can decide how I use it. I can feel it within me at all times, and even when I do not focus on my power, it is always keeping me alive and healthy underneath my conscious thought. In my story, I talk about breathing with intention and breath in general a lot when describing my emotional state. I also use the word diaphragm when talking about trying to calm myself down and describe the breathing techniques that my mom taught me when I was little. I decided to show this in my zine by including a drawing of the lungs and brain which show the connection between my breathing and my emotional health. Although my organ of choice was the diaphragm, I thought that the lungs and brain were a more relatable and decipherable way to represent my message.
Chosen Illness
Hyperventilation is something that I experience when I get panic attacks. It is when the body breathes to quickly and deeply and your bloodstream actually cannot keep up with the high levels of oxygen. Often, anxiety inducing situations cause me to panic and breathe this way, which then pushes me into a cycle where I can no longer stop myself and start panicking even more. My heart rate increases, I start to shake, and my breathing keeps speeding. This is not necessarily a disease or illness, but it is a function of my respiratory system that has negative effects.
How to keep your system healthy
With things as simple as focusing on the muscle as you breathe, meditation of any length, counting your breath, and drinking water, I can work my diaphragm and improve my lung capacity. Most of these techniques can be categorized as mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as, "a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique." It is an important tool to practice in order to maintain not only physical, but emotional homeostasis. Mindfulness has been proven to improve many parts of the brain and body other than the lungs, and has actually shown major benefits to youth and adults with anxiety, depression, ADD, ADHD, panic attacks, and much more.
Mind Map
Below is my mind map which illustrates the biology of my power and shows the many intricate parts and connections within it. As you can see, I drew the respiratory system with many important definitions circled in purple. In this map, green represents factors dealing with inhalation, yellow with exhalation, pink with the nervous system, red with the muscular system, orange with the circulatory system, and so on.