Long capacity, vital capacity, is equivalent to living capacity.

I'm Rufus Griskum, and this is the next big idea.

Today, the extraordinary power of breath.

Wildfires devastating the West Coast and other parts of the country from California to New Mexico and Alaska and Minnesota.

Fire is sending smoke all the way to the other side of the country.

If you looked outside, you notice it was another hazy day in the tricycle because of the smoke from the West Coast Wildfires.

Studies show wildfires smoke could be a lot more harmful than previously thought, even for people living far away from the flames.

This was supposed to be the summer of joy and freedom.

Instead, it felt more like the summer of scary variants and smoke-filled skies.

Nearly two million acres have burned in more than a dozen states, darkening blue summer skies with plumes of noxious smoke that have wafted from California all the way to Maine.

In New York, where I live, we've had whole days where the world outside was sepia-toned.

The sun in the morning is blood red, the moon at night, pepdo bismol pink.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, just so we could finally take off our masks, the new Delta variant came along and introduced a frightening new phrase to our ever-expanding COVID vocabularies. Breakthrough infections.

In light of all this headline in the New York Times asked, is this the end of summer as we've known it?

But I've been asking a different question, is this the end of breathing easy?

Against our will, our lungs have become occupied territories.

Breathing the thing we do 25,000 times a day without so much as a thought is now front of mind, which is why we decided to revisit a conversation I had last summer with science writer James Nester about the extraordinary power of breath.

James's book, Breath, The New Science of a Lost Ark, and this conversation actually changed the way that I breathe and think about breathing every day.

And it might cause you to rethink your breathing too.

Wim Hof is used to being watched.

It's an honor to be here.

Thank you for looking at me.

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