Breathing is an integral part of life. It may appear simple but it is one of the essential body functions and may well get out of balance both mechanically and energetically. Yoga breathing is based on the simple principles of pranayama. The main aim of yoga breathing depends on the goal of the practitioner. Often it is to carry more oxygen to the vital organs of the body and the brain through the blood. This ties together with various asanas or postures and envelops the body, mind and soul.
So what exactly is Yoga breathing?
It largely depends on who practicing it and what the teacher has been teaching. Mostly it is also known as Pranayama. This constitutes a chain of esoteric breathing exercises which in an ideal state are capable of leaving one rejuvenated. The word “Prana” itself means life force or energy, while “Yama” translates into self discipline and control over mind and body and the word “Ayama” relates to development and extension. The Western Yoga models I have witnessed are fraught with misconception and incorrect breathing practices leading to altered states of consciousness, for good and for ill. In my opinion the more effective Hatha yogas such as Sivananda and Kripalu are more effective when they leave the breathing alone.
Normal inhalation brings in oxygen, which hopefully travels through all the body parts, leaving one charged with energy. In the exhalation process, toxins are flushed out of the body. This is very important especially to maintain the proper balance between the oxygen inhalation and carbon dioxide exhalation. Ideally by properly putting the pranayama into practice one can follow proper breathing patterns while the yoga practitioner organizes the body for the next step that is often towards meditation. But as I said before , the ideal state is rarely achieved and requires a basis of sound breathing fundamentals that is practically never taught from any consistant and provable approach . In the USA yoga teachers and students often get drawn in by abstract spiritual concepts that releate more to altered states of consciousness or some spiritual paradigm then they do healthy natural breathing development.
In our everyday life due to numerous physical, emotional, mental, financial stresses, our regular breathing pattern gets disturbed. We lose, or never had, the connection to healthy natural breathing or what I call HOME BASE. We fail to make good use of lungs and breathe improperly, shallow and too fast. The body thus is left deprived of the vital oxygen then cardiac diseases, insomnia, restlessness, fatigue, confusions and depressions develop.
The benefits of pranayama are potentially numerous. Pranayama promises to train the body to breathe properly. With regular practice the lung capacity is supposed to get increased. Proving and measuring that is usually left to guesswork or hyperbole.
The breathing capacity should get improved. It is a primary in eliminating many toxins out of the body.
It improves the digestive and the respiratory system. With practice the attentiveness, concentration and focus improves. It calms the body down in situations of stress and one can attain relaxation at a faster rate.
The entire body gets toned and one has better control over the mind body integration..
While doing Yoga breathing , care should be taken that it should not be performed without proper training. Particularly when one wants to learn and practice the ancient esoteric techniques.
High breathing –High breathing happens in upper chest and lungs. In this kind of breathing the ribs, collar bone as well as the shoulders raise during respiration. Hence it is also termed as collarbone or high chest breathing. Another popular name is Clavicular breathing. Basically people suffering from conditions like asthma or bronchitis or due to excessive food intake have high breathing. This kind of breathing is shallow in nature. Such breathing should be avoided as only the upper lungs are used and not much oxygen goes into other lobes of the lungs. High breathing is often observed in people wearing tight clothes and belts and brassierre straps. Commonly associated problems with it are high blood pressure, anxiety and panic, fatigue, poor sleep, asthma, shortness of breath and a host of other ailments that depend on copious oxygen supply,
Mid breathing- In mid breathing the perimeter of air reaching the cells varies among person to person. In simple words the air reaches the mid part of the lungs and respiratory system but fails to reach to the entire system. It is someway between low and high breathing. It is also known as rib breathing or Thoracic breathing. It has a great deal to do with expressions from the heart and is greatly governed by the celliac gangla portion of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Low breathing- In low breathing the lower chest and lungs are put to use. It is better than high breathing but cannot be called the correct way of breathing. The diaphragm and certain abdomenal areas are in use in low breathing. This is popularly known as diaphragmic breathing. Low breathing generally takes place in the state of sleep with occasinal deeper full breaths as in a successful breath catching breath or "getting over the hump".. Durring common everyday life, whilst carrying out regular activities like walking, sitting, and running etc, abdominal breathing remains insufficient for our needs. But compared to other forms of breathing namely mid and high, more oxygen is
Remember that yoga breathing should be started under the able guidance of a certified instructor. People with chronic health conditions should consult a holistic health professional depending on which is readily available. We encourage people to get second and third opinions from the worlds of traditional medicine, chiropractic, Traditinal Chinese Medicine (TCM) , osteopathy and clinical nutrition.
Complete breathing- Complete breathing is permutation of above three mentioned breathing. In this the entire respiratory system is involved. It is not the deepest form of breathing. Most complete breathing practices I have observed engage the high chest portion too much while the foundation and the lower lobes become under utilized causing probable energetic instabilkity later on.
Here are some principles under which pranayama should be done.
Avoid pushing the body further than its capacity. It is not merely meant to control breathe but also signifies that how comfortable a person is in the entire process and how smooth is the entire exhalation process.
Before doing this the mental state should be relaxed and stress free.
Avoid repeating any one exercise too frequently.
Avoid jerky movements and any sign of discomfort.
Some of the most popular form of pranayama are Kapalbhati and Anuloma viloma. There are other forms of breathing exercises which could be put into practice like the Sitkari, Brahmari and Sithali, while in the later stages, one practice exercises like bandhas, ujjayi, Bhastrika, surya bheda and samanu.
The effectiveness of any breathing exercise is determined by its ease, effortlessness, smoothness and internal sense of balance and calm or calming energy. In case of dizziness or faintness it is recommended to stop the breathing session immediately.
Most but no all breathing exercises should be done in early part of day and in places with fresh, clean air. The surroundings should be pollution and smoke free. And in case if the breathing exercises are performed indoors than see that room temperature is normal.
Breathing practices can not be learned by the senses of an inexperienced person unfamiliar with the internal territory. This is why, it is extremely important that only qualified people practice them.
We counsel to develop the fundamentals first. These fundamentals are extremely easy to learn and apply in our daily life. You don’t need any special training or knowledge to practice them. Whether you are perfectly healthy or suffering from some illness, you can practice these exercises daily. These are the best way to properly prepare for esoteric forms of yoga breathing exercises.
