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Breathe for your life
Feel the breath: You can also practice this breath by placing one hand lightly over the abdomen and the other on your chest to feel the movement
Feel the breath: You can also practice this breath by placing one hand lightly over the abdomen and the other on your chest to feel the movement. JP/J. Adiguna
Thousands of years before the advent of modern medical science, the ancient yogis in India already knew the key to life: the breath.
They called it prana, which means life-force energy.
Pranayama is the technique of regulating the breath and is an important part of a yoga practice. Literally, it means to control or cease the breath, and in some advanced pranayama practice, that is what exactly what the yogis do.
Why is breathing so important? Aside from the simple fact that there will be no life without the breath, it is also the source of energy and vitality.
Remember the last time the lift broke down at your office and you found yourself panting after climbing four flights of stairs? You had to take a break for a minute to get your breathing back to normal before you could proceed further.
Breath is power. When martial artists strike at their opponents or when tennis players hit the ball, they breathe out, often audibly, to unleash their power.
Breath is also the vehicle for mental focus. Yoga practitioners are not the only ones who are aware of this – concert pianists and Olympic divers also take a deep breath before they perform their feats.
Equally important, breath is connected to our emotions and consciousness. That is why your breathing gets choppy when you cry hard, and you huff and puff when you are angry.
Breath acts as a bridge to our nervous system, and pranayama practice allows us to connect deeply to this amazing tool. Just as our breathing alters according to our mood, our psychological state can be regulated by the changes in our breath.
Unfortunately, we often take breathing for granted. And only when our nose is stuffed up when we catch cold, or unless we have respiratory conditions such as asthma do we come to appreciate this live-giving quality of breathing.
The natural breath
Take a look at how a baby breathes, his whole body seems to expand with every inhalation and contract with exhalation. This is the natural breath, the healthy, free and uninhibited breath we were born with.
The first component of the natural breath is the inhalation. During inhalation our diaphragm flattens and descends, causing the abdominal organs to push down and distend the belly. At the same time, our collarbone lifts and the inner pressure of the head empties like sand in an hourglass.
On exhalation, our diaphragm lifts and domes upwards, the belly relaxes and softly retracts, and our internal organs relax and expand. Our collarbone descends and the outer body of the skull softly expands.
In the yoga practice, our goal is to breathe consciously and to make the breathing fuller and deeper than it normally is. During the asana (physical poses) practice, we breathe in and out through the nose, keeping our mouth closed, because the nostril passages have the apparatus to filter and warm the air.
Below is a basic breathing technique that you can practice at home. This practice is safe to do by yourself. It is important, however, to practice other stronger breathing techniques with a qualified teacher.
Diaphragmatic breathing
The diaphragm is a dome-shaped sheet muscle extending across the bottom of the ribcage that separates the thorax or the chest region from the abdomen.
A diaphragmatic breathing is simply the technique of breathing fully, using the entire respiratory apparatus.
Our lungs are “overbuilt” and have a tremendous reserve volume compared with the amount of air we inhale when at rest. Often we breathe only at the top of our chest, making our lungs grossly underutilized.
In diaphragmatic breathing, we exercise our respiratory apparatus to make them stronger and more effective.
To practice complete breathing you can either lie down or sit comfortably. Keep your eyes closed to bring the focus internally.
If you lie down, make sure you are comfortable, by opening the legs wider than the hips and letting the feet flop to the side (see photo above right). Keep your arms at your side in a relaxed manner with your palms facing up.
Alternatively, you can sit on a chair with your feet on the floor, or sit on the floor cross-legged. Make sure your spine is upright and your chest is not collapsed inward.
Start to inhale steadily through the nostrils, first filling the lower part of the lungs, exerting a gentle push on the abdomen, then fill the middle part of the lungs, pushing out the lower ribs, breastbone and chest, and finally fill the higher portion of the lungs, protruding the upper chest, and lifting the chest.
In the final stage of inhalation, the lower part of the abdomen will be slightly drawn in to help fill the highest part of the lungs. Retain your breath for one or two seconds at the top of the inhalation before you begin the exhalation.
Start to exhale slowly, drawing in the abdomen a little and lifting it up upward gradually as the air leaves the lungs. When the air is entirely exhaled relax the chest and abdomen.
Do the inhalation and exhalation in one continuous flow and pay attention to any sensation in your body. After some time, incorporate a mental count and start to make your inhalation and exhalation each four beats long. Do this for five to eight rounds.
After several rounds, you can increase the length of your inhalation and exhalation to five beats, but stay in tune with how your body and mind feels. You can continue to increase the length of your breaths, but be careful no to create tension in your body and your face.
You can also practice this breath by placing one hand lightly over the abdomen and the other on your chest to feel the movement (see photo above left).
Begin with this basic breathing technique to learn to connect to your breath. You can also employ this technique when you are feeling emotionally down or angry, or just a little tired.
Breathe better and you’ll soon feel better. Namaste.
The writer is a yoga practitioner and teacher. Yoga Connection is a regular column on all things yoga, appearing every second week in the Body & Soul section. For questions and comments, please email her at dasmaran@indo.net.id.
