Over ten minutes, he guides me through some exercises that include coughing a T sound and groaning with my mouth shut. Both act on the epiglottis, the fleshy flap that covers the windpipe, so that I can open and shut it at will. Next, Harty shows me how to “puke” air up from my stomach and “jackhammer” it with my tongue into the sinus cavities. By trapping air in my head (instead of the Valsalva method of pushing it up from the lungs), I’m able to shuffle air back and forth between the sinus cavities and release pressure in a fraction of a second. Once I get it, it works every time. The
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