Archives for Air Glossary
Silicosis (n.);
The American Lung Association defines silicosis as the following: Silicosis is an interstitial lung disease caused by breathing in tiny bits of silica, a common mineral found in many...
Fluffy Sound
Following my Breathworks entry on Tremoring Breath in Fitzmaurice Voicework, here I want to provide a definition and explication of the vocal/respiratory synchronization that attends the tremor: fluffy sound. Master...
The Rough Breathing in Ancient Greek
THE ROUGH BREATHING IN ANCIENT GREEK The breathing character is a diacritical mark belonging to the orthography of Ancient Greek. Such a mark is present in every word beginning...
Astrophobia II: Clark Ashton Smith
Astrophobia II: Clark Ashton Smith Lovecraft’s colleague and protege, Clark Ashton Smith, presents a more complex case. In Smith’s poem “Desire of Vastness,” the poetic persona wishes to possess...
Astrophobia I: H.P. Lovecraft
Astrophobia I: H.P. Lovecraft In a 1957 essay on UFOs, Roland Barthes critiques the contemporaneous depiction of Martian civilization as “implicitly endowed with a historical determinism modeled on that...
MIASMA
The concept of miasma has, as an ideological construct, spread like a kind of miasma itself, playing a crucial and problematic role in the realms of moral psychology, medical...
VAGITUS
Vagitus, n. Etymology: Latin, < vāgīre to utter cries of distress, to wail. A cry or wail; spec. that of a new-born child. (OED) Vagitus–the cry or wail...
4-7-8 Breathing
4-7-8 breathing, akin to breathing practices like Alternate Nostril Breathing or other mindfulness exercises, is a pattern developed by Dr. Andrew Weil based in the yogic technique pranayama. 4-7-8...
GILL
GILL. Found in many aquatic life forms, an organ which allows them to extract oxygen from water and pump out carbon dioxyde. Gills have the same function as lungs,...
MISTRAL
Mistral is a strong, cold, northwesterly wind which accelerates when it passes through the Rhône and Durance river valleys on the way to the Mediterranean coast, for around 130 days...