When you’re eating something, you don’t really think about it. You’ve gotten so used to it. Bite. Chew. Swallow. But have you ever focused on swallowing? After the food leaves your mouth, you stop feeling it. But one man I know has mastered the swallow and can store objects in his throat.

          Now, you might think this is superhuman. Keeping an object in your throat is impossible, right? Well, it can be done. First, let’s go over how it works. Once you swallow, the food you have eaten goes down the food pipe and into the stomach. My friend can hold it there in his food pipe without it ever reaching the stomach. He has to stop the force of swallowing. This can be done by contracting the food pipe, which cannot be easily done. If you want to do it, try doing the action of bringing saliva up but holding it at its peak without the spit. It’s kind of gross. This stops the object entirely. As long as he has stopped the momentum before the object drops down further, he can store it for hours unless he needs to eat. 

          Next, bringing the object back. This is also not an easy task, probably harder than storing it. To get the momentum back, you have to rapidly contract and expand your food pipe. This is a lot harder than it sounds. The food pipe is not designed to go both ways, so you might need to do this multiple times. Then it should come up bone dry. Try to practice stopping the object without it. You should start to speed up. But before you say, “Oh that seems easy! I’m gonna do i-” NO. It’s a dangerous thing, and you need a warning for what could happen.

          Going off the last statement, let’s talk a little bit about the dangers of this stuff. Of course, it doesn’t take Einstein to figure out swallowing stuff that isn't food isn’t going to turn out too well, but you might not know what can actually happen. First of all, choking; even a monkey can figure this one out. The object in question, given if it is small enough, can go down the airway if you breathe while swallowing. This can go toward your heart or lungs, which is, news flash, lethal. Your body has a flab of cartilage, which helps block objects from going in but keeps air going. Choking will only ever happen when you breathe or try to talk while swallowing. Those actions force the piece of cartilage to move. Try to avoid these things altogether on the swallow and regurgitation. 

          Next, the object going down into your stomach. Now, this isn’t as bad as going to your heart, but it still can be harmful. If the object isn’t clean and goes to your stomach, you can get irritable bowel syndrome, along with other crippling diseases. If you can stop the object successfully, you don’t need to worry, but those who can’t will suffer. If you want to do this, try practicing without the object first, so you don’t have to take a risk.

          There are some other simple precautions you can take, like washing the object. You might think this is obvious, but there are a selection of apes who won’t think of this. Cleaning the object will prevent a multitude of diseases. Just make sure no more soap is on it when you swallow. Another thing you can do is have someone on standby, so if you choke, someone can perform the heimlich maneuver, or whatever the name is now.

          So when you’re doing something that you have on automatic, like walking, per say, try and focus on it, and you might just do something out of this world.

-Tim K.