By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Metro driver Renee Brown and yoga instructor Lilias Folan try a meditation pose. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

A typical Queen City commute: The right lane's closed for construction. The left lane's blocked by a fender-bender. The chucklehead in front of you can't find the accelerator, and the chowderhead behind you apparently never heard of a brake.

Instead of punching the steering wheel - or the chucklehead in front of you - try taking a deep cleansing breath, suggests Lilias Folan, the Cincinnatian who via PBS introduced most of America to the wonders of yoga.

That will be the message Friday when Metro and the Cincinnati Yoga Teachers Association celebrate National Relaxation Day. For "Breathe Easy...Ride Metro," yoga instructors will teach Metro passengers how to breathe correctly for stress relief. Metro drivers have already learned pranayama, or yoga breathing.

Metro driver Renee Brown thinks everyone should learn to de-stress, including passengers and other drivers.

"We could all use some relaxation techniques. Just take a deep breath and let go," Brown says.

If you think your commute's tough, try steering a 13-ton bus and 50 or so frazzled passengers through Cincinnati traffic eight to 12 hours a day.

Metro driver Rhonda Parham learns a relaxation pose with Folan. | ZOOM |

"It can be stressful," says Brown, 32. "There's the traffic. Different attitudes of people getting on ... Sometimes people are not in a good mood and they might take it out on you. Crying babies."

Sometimes just sitting in the driver's seat for eight solid hours can work the nerves, says Rhonda Parham, 42. She's been driving for Metro for 20 years.

"For me it, it comes from inactivity, number one. And then when you sit on the bus and you're inactive anyway, you're going to stiffen up even more. Your shoulders get really stiff, and your legs and your neck," she says.

Brown often works a split shift. On her breaks, she likes to head home and take a nap.

Parham, who switches between three routes a day, likes to keep moving between shifts.

"I walk on my layovers and breaks. I stretch. I do push-ups," she says. "I've seen guys do chin-ups and push-ups. All that really can help you get your circulation moving and release some of the stress you have built up throughout the day."

Parham has been studying yoga for a while now, and practices deep breathing techniques to de-stress.

"I roll my neck when I'm in motion, too," she says. "That helps quite a bit."

Drivers often complain of tension, pain or tightness in the right knee, the shoulders, the back and the neck, Folan says.

A little movement works wonders to ease that kind of pain.

"Maybe people are a little lazy, but somehow discomfort is the great motivator into finding another way to feel better," she says.

Folan, whose PBS series, Lilias! Yoga and You, debuted in 1972, tries to keep the focus on yoga's practical side.

"My thinking has always been along this line: 'How can you use yoga for your life?' " Folan says.

Natural fit with Metro

Metro's "Breathe Easy" campaign was a natural fit, she says.

"There's so much we can do to ease stress with simple stretching and breathing techniques."

Folan and colleagues from the yoga teachers' association are focusing on two techniques for "Breathe Easy": Deep three-part breathing and alternate nostril breathing.

The techniques help participants relax and focus, Folan says.

She's also a fan of gently stretching the shoulders and neck to ease muscle tension that builds while driving.

The breathing techniques can be performed - carefully - while driving. But remember to keep your eyes open, or save them for red lights or stalled traffic.

"You don't have to change into a leotard," Folan says.

A driving trip to Canada a few years ago helped Folan appreciate the toll sitting behind the wheel for long hours at a stretch can take on the body.

"I noticed my hips really bothered me. I had to figure out that if you're going to take a long drive, you should do stretching before you get into the car," she says.

Driving pushes everybody's buttons in a different way. For Folan, the most stressful aspects are "not knowing where I am. Maps. East, west, north and south. Right or left."

Dealing with the public can, as Brown so diplomatically puts it, "take stress to a whole new level." But she and Parham agree it's not usually their passengers who push their blood pressure into the danger zone.

It's other drivers: Those little cars that zip in and around city buses and semis like mice running wild through an elephant herd.

"I think people are nicer to truck drivers than they are to us, but (the bus) is still a big object. Other drivers really want to get away from us. They don't want us to be in front of them," Brown says.

Parham finds drivers are usually cooperative - except on Fridays.

"On Fridays people are a lot more intolerant, for whatever reason. They don't want to let you over. They're on a mission to get to the bank," she says. "Or the bar."

But while everyone reacts to stress differently, it's contagious. And in traffic, that kind of contagion can quickly become dangerous.

That's why staying calm behind the wheel is so important, Folan says.

Reduce road rage

"I've learned to be very watchful and not get pulled into road rage and other people's impatience and impoliteness," she says. "I try to be as polite and courteous as I can be and let other drivers go first."

When things do go badly and horns start honking and rude gestures start flying, it's hard not to be infected, Folan says.

Parham focuses on her breathing when she feels stressed.

Brown usually calls her boyfriend on her cell phone, but she looks forward to using the breathing techniques Folan espouses.

"They'll be good for work and home. Sometimes when I get off work, I'm going straight into my kids and their activities, and I don't get a break between the two," she says.

Some tension-busters are a natural reaction after a long day, Folan says.

"Stretching and yawning is a great way to let go of tension. Sometimes the body tells you what it needs: A stretch, a deep breath in and a breath out."

Three-part deep breathing

(Also called Dirgha Pranayama, or yoga breathing)

While seated, locate three parts of the torso: The belly, the lower lungs and the upper lungs.

In a single, circular breath, inhale through the nose to fill the belly, then the lower lungs and then the upper lungs. Visualize the air filling the torso and calm entering the body.

In a slow, single breath, exhale completely through the mouth. Visualize stress and toxins leaving the body.

Repeat six times, then breathe normally.

Stretching technique

Try the Namaste pose to ease tension in the shoulders and upper body. Note: Drivers shouldn't attempt this while the car is moving.

Sit straight, feet flat on the floor.

Bend arms at the elbows.

Join hands in front of the chest in the prayer position. Touch thumbs to the breastbone.

Slowly fan the fingers open, then close again. Repeat to ease tension in the hands and wrists.

Keep the back straight and gently move the joined hands across the body to the right and then the left.

Alternate-nostril breathing

(Also called Nadi Shodhana, this technique is believed to balance the left and right sides of the brain and ease tension.)

Blow your nose, if necessary. Sit comfortably, with the back straight.

Gently press the right nostril shut with the right thumb.

Exhale through the left nostril, then inhale through the left nostril.

Open the right nostril.

Press the left nostril shut with the right ring finger.

Exhale through the right nostril, then inhale through the right nostril.

Repeat as needed.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com