Here is a description of the basic breath technique: * Lean forward slightly and rest your hands on a tabletop or the

back of a chair . This position lets you tighten the abdomen far harder. The original Body Flex has you put your hands on your knees like a baseball catcher, but I find the han ds-on-table position easier and more comfortable. * Purse your lips and exhale, blowing out all your air. When you think your lung s are empty, blow a little more! The technique depends on really emptying your l ungs. * Inhale sharply through your nose. Try to take in all the air in the room in on e breath! * Fold your lips and explosively exhale, making a sound like "PAH!" Empty your l ungs completely. * With your lungs empty, close the back of your throat so no air can get in. Now use the vacuum you have created in your torso to suck your abdomen in and up as hard as you can. After you've done this every day for a week or two, you will b e dazzled by just how hard you can contract your abdominal muscles! Hold this fo r about eight seconds -- just until the urge to breathe is hitting you. Open you r throat and let the air flow in naturally. That's one basic breath. From here, you start again with pursing your lips and b lowing. One warning: When I started doing this, using Greer's "catcher's position," I wo uld tighten the back of my neck and look forward instead of down, since that's w hat Greer was doing. I found that doing the breathing with my head and neck in t his position gave me a nasty headache. I quickly learned to keep my chin down, a nd I recommend you do, too. Once you've got the basic breath down, you can add stretches and isometrics. The se are done during the "abdominal lift" part of the breath -- be sure you get a good abdominal contraction and hold it while you do any other moves. Here is my basic workout: * 4 basic breaths to warm up. * 4 breaths with Lion Face. I also roll my eyes up while I make this utterly sil ly face. * 6 breaths with pelvic tucks. I get up on my toes with the bottoms of my heels against each other and my knees slightly flexed. I lean forward from here to put my hands on the table or chair. When I'm in the stomach lift position, I straig hten up and curl my pelvis under and back -- tucking my pelvis, then swaying my back. I do two shifts forward and back on each held breath. * 3 breaths with opposite hand-opposite foot toe touches, aka "wind mills." I ca n touch each side twice during each held breath. * 4 breaths with right side stretch -- I reach my right hand up as far as I can and lean to the left. * 4 breaths with left side stretch. * 3 breaths with right butt tightener. When I'm in the stomach lift, I bend my r ight leg at the knee and push the sole of my foot back, then out diagonally to t he side, then back then to the side. That's one breath.

* 3 breaths with left butt tightener. * 3 breaths with outer thigh isometric -- with my feet planted, I try to pull th em apart, like I was trying to rip the floor between my feet. * 3 breaths with chest/upper arm push -- I place the tips of my fingers together and push them together hard while in the lift position. * 3 breaths with back pulls -- I hook my fingers together and pull out hard whil e in the lift position. * 3 breaths with table push-ups. Since I can do the breath and the lift while do ing push-ups off the side of the tables, I just do three breaths while continuou sly doing push ups. * 3 breaths with inner thigh stretch. I sit on the floor with the soles of my fe et together and my knees on the floor. (This took practice!) I do my breaths -can't get much of a stomach lift in this position, but I do my best -- and lean forward, stretching my inner thighs. I also pet Nick the Pug, who has to crawl i nto Mommy's lap while she does this. * 3 breaths with right outer thigh stretch. I extend my left leg and cross the r ight over it, knee bent, sole of foot on floor. I do my breath -- again, the lif t is hard in this position -- and pull my right knee to the left, stretching the outer thigh. * 3 breaths with left outer thigh stretch. * 4 breaths with modified double crunches. I lie on my back, knees bent, hands b ehind my head. I do my breath, and when I'm in the stomach lift, I lift my head and curl my knees in. I do two crunches on each breath. * 4 breaths with leg lifts. Still on my back, I tuck my hands under my butt, pal ms down, for support. I extend my legs flat. I do my breath, and while I'm in th e lift, I raise and lower my legs about a foot, two or three times. That's it. I know it looks like a lot, but no one exercise takes more than a min ute. I really can zip through this in 15 minutes. The great thing about that is if I can just get myself to start, there's no excuse for not finishing. Did 'em this morning. I'd missed a couple of days and was feeling pudgy and slou chy. No excuse for that, so I'm back on track. I hope you'll at least try doing a couple-dozen reps of the basic breath every d ay for a few weeks. You will, I guarantee, feel like a big ol' dork, doing all t hat puffing and blowing and "PAH!"ing. Your family may well laugh at you. I hope you will persist. No other exercise I have done has been so effective for the t ime put in.