Hil, it took a couple of tries for me to get the neti pot breathing right. If you keep on breathing in and out through your mouth while pouring the water from the pot through your nasal passages, you can pretty much keep the water from going down your throat. It's when I breath in and stop before breathing out (or out, stop, and in) that the water tends to take unwanted paths.

pouring the water from the pot through your nasal passages, you can pretty much keep the water from going down your throat.

Where is it supposed to go?

Also, gah! I'm afraid a neti pot is not in my future.

Hil, you have to get the right angle to hold your head, which is not just to the side, but also sort of -- slightly -- forward, which also avoids getting water in your throat.

It's icky if you get it in your throat, but you can just spit it out. Apparently there's an "advanced" neti pot technique that involves this very thing.

Where is it supposed to go?

Through your sinuses and out the other nostril.

I was pretty resistant, because of the "ew," but two straight weeks of sinus pain and a few days of nosebleeds convinced me to give it a shot.

Through your sinuses and out the other nostril.

t picturing the logistics, imagining something involving headstands and advanced yoga techniques.

I sense Googling in my future to figure out how this should work.

Despite resistence to everything hippie, I'm a total Neti pot convert. It's disgusting but effective.

I just saw a reference to a neti pot as a nose bidet! I'm not sure if I'm highly amused or not. I'm leaning towards amused.

Edit: Ah, it's Oprah's term. Being as I avoid most things Oprah, that explains why I never heard it before.

picturing the logistics, imagining something involving headstands and advanced yoga techniques.

I bought the squirty kind instead of the pouring kind. Basically, put the nozzle up one nostril, squeeze the bottle, do some breathing thing that I haven't quite figured out yet, and in a second or two, it comes out the other nostril. (Or, in my case so far, some of it comes out the other nostril, and some drips down the back of your throat. But I think I'm getting better at it.)

I bought the squirty kind instead of the pouring kind. Basically, put the nozzle up one nostril, squeeze the bottle, do some breathing thing that I haven't quite figured out yet, and in a second or two, it comes out the other nostril.

huh. It seems like the pouring kind would be easier to control.

imagining something involving headstands and advanced yoga techniques.

Hardly. It's just a matter of tilting your head at the right angle.

The John Mayer song that I usually rail against is "Daughters," but this one also really rankles.

The song that really baffles me at the moment is the latest by Jessica Mauboy. (She's an Australian Idol runner-up, don't know if she released anything in America, though she did a duet with Flo Rida.) Anyway, what made her think that the world was crying out for a love song with the lyrics "I need a doctor, 'cause this is starting to burn"?