Lets talk a little about your lungs. Your lungs are much bigger than one thinks at least as far as surface area is concerned. I have seen it quoted that your lungs total surface area is about as big as a tennis court. The area that creates the largest part of the surface area gets down to 1 cell thick so that Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide can pass between them freely. This makes for a delicate area, and a possibility for easy disruption. The lungs must maintain a moist environment and be free of foreign matter.

Now lets turn our attention to 2 common problems had with the lungs and the 2 that I want to talk about. First, the most common problem is congestion. In this huge surface area that I spoke about there is a bottle neck where the trachea branches out into the lungs, called the bronchis. So we have a few weak spots here. So a few common problems happen to clog up the system here. First is that we can get a runny nose and do a little to much snorting and it ends up in your respiratory tract. Second a post nasal drip can drip right back into the respiratory tract. Lastly that natural moisture throughout your lungs can get heated and ‘cook’ that fluid down, or decoct it, and it makes a much thicker fluid- phlegm or mucous.

Next problem I want to discuss is overworking the lungs. Believe it or not you can overwork your lungs. What is happening here is that you are breathing very heavily and the air is not able to gather moisture and equalize in air temperature. If you would like to see this in action just set the computer down and go for a sprint outside and continue running while you are breathing very heavily. You will eventually stop and your lungs will feel quite uncomfortable. I actually got this problem researched and herbal help from it from horses. Racing horses take lung supplements as they overwork their lungs and usually bleed after races.

So lets talk about some herbs for your lungs.
Thyme- yes, good old household thyme in your kitchen is a great lung herb and you probably have it already.
Mullein- a very common lung herb here. Mullein is often smoked to lung and cough relief, but we are gonna make a tea instead. Mullein is great because it cools and disperses. As you see the most common problems with the lungs are overworking, heat, and inflammation (bronchitis).
Elecampane / Xuan Fu Hua- Elecampane is not an herb that may be in your collection, but is essential to strengthen the lungs. This is really our main tonifying herb here in the mix. Ayurveda tags Elecampane as promoting the longevity of lung tissue. What we need to do with this herb to tonify, strengthen, and for prevention is to increase this properties through honey frying. Basically heat up a pan and throw your herb in there and slowly add little bits of honey to coat the herb and ’sear’ it on there.
Lobelia / Ban Ban Lian- You will find Lobelia in alot of herbal formulas. This is because Lobelia is an Antispasmodic which means it relaxes muscles and allows the body to accept your formula. Well, that is great but it just so happens that Lobelia has an affinity for the lungs and helps relax the upper respiratory tract. Great Success!
Lastly, we want to throw in some dried Ginger. This will help with our lung ailments and harmonize the formula.
Lastly I would like to mention that Ma Huang or Ephedra would make a great addition assuming that you were not on MAO inhibitors or heart problems. Unfortunately Ephedra was misused as a weight loss herb (which it is NOT used for by ANY herbalist) and it is quite difficult to get now. If you got it, this is a great herb for this formula and can actually increase your breathing ability. While im on this subject Ma Huang is not to be used for a long period of time. So If you are using preventative measures with this herb use low doses.

Throw your combo here in a pot and make some nice tea. Also feel free to ground this all down and make some pills.
If you are really interested in this, but want a professionally done make up of this formula visit Dimmak Herbs and buy the Breath E -Decongestant Pills.

Hope this helps some athletes as well as those with those with lung problems!