Good breathing is a major component of good health, yet many of us spend our lives taking too-shallow breaths that can increase our stress levels. Nowadays flawed breathing and stress are the principal reasons for most of the psychosomatic problems. Probably, this is why many doctors suggest ‘Pranayama’ to deal with their psychological as well as medical issues (i.e. mostly triggered by lifestyle). For most of us, breathing is nothing more than an automatic function that keeps us alive, a steady flow that brings in vital oxygen and expels carbon dioxide. But unlike heartbeat or digestion, breath is a bodily function, we can consciously control. If you’ve ever taken a deep breath to keep a panic attack at bay, then you already know the wonders breathing can have on your well-being. Not only paying regular attention to your breath, it will give you a good reading on your mental and emotional state. You’ll also tap into an easy and effective way to manage stress and anxiety. Once you understand the way you breathe, you can start to modify it. Role of carbon dioxide in dead air spaces Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an unwelcome gas. If you breath short, you will be inhaling carbon dioxide you have just released on your previous exhale. We don’t want this to happen and always say “breathe slow and steady”. Our brains always check our CO2 level to give the “breath command”. When we breathe too much CO2, our brain commands us to breathe more and more to exhale the excess CO2 and reduce the level of it to an acceptable level. If you go on short breathing, your heartbeat is going to increase, trying to pump more oxygen to your tissues. As a result, you will try to breathe more in a short time and you will get tired. How to breathe properly? The first step toward using your breath more effectively is to pay attention to it. Yogic Gurus say that, “Notice what your breath is doing when you’re stressed, when you’re happy, during intercourse and while doing exercise”. Breathing is integral to most forms of yoga and is ultimately a more important part of the practice than the physical postures. The Sanskrit word for breath, prana, also means energy, and it’s a vital indicator of our overall well-being. That’s why practices that incorporate the breath, like yoga, tai chi and qi gong are good places to start in learning how to use yours more effectively. Find out how to breathe the right way and get some breathing techniques to try. Pranayama helps optimally manage the Central Nervous System (CNS) and also the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic systems, the branches of Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which are closely intertwined with breath. Traditional yogic scriptures claim that one’s life span is decided by the number of breaths one has taken in one’s lifetime. Hence, higher the number of breaths shorter the life and lesser the number of breathe longer the life. Thus, it is imperative to be aware of the flow and the rhythm of your breath as ‘right breathing’ will allow you to lead a fulfilling and stress-free life. Since breathing is something we can control and regulate, it is a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. Yogic Breathing does it all. Yogic Breathing, involving Sectional Breathing, emphasizes on the components – “Deep”, “Slow”, “Long” and “Full”. This breathing when done in unison can prove a panacea to mankind. It distinctly involves your abdomen, intercostal muscles and clavicle during respiration. Sectional Breathing The key to good technique is learning how to breathe with your diaphragm. That’s the muscle beneath your rib cage, the same one you use for singing or laughing. If you’re breathing properly, you can feel your diaphragm pushing down into your belly and through that it isn’t crucial for the abdomen to go in and out while you’re breathing. Due to figure consciousness, if you’re guilty of holding in your stomach so that it looks flat and then definitely you are not using your diaphragm properly. Utilizing the diaphragm is the key to letting go of stress. It sends a message to the nervous system that you’re relaxed. A. Diaphragmatic (Abdominal / Belly) Breathing In this breathing, the whole focus is on your abdominal region. As you inhale, your abdomen expands out, in a rhythm, allowing the navel to reach the farthest point from the spine. As you exhale, your abdomen moves in slowly, bringing your navel closest to the spine (Figure 1). Abdominal Breathing draws the greatest amount of air into your lungs for the least amount of muscular effort. Figure 1 Note: The respiration is happening with the rhythmic pushing of the abdomen, within your comfort zone. Beginner: One hand on the chest and the other on the belly, take a deep breath in through the nose, ensuring the diaphragm (not the chest) inflates with enough air to create a stretch in the lungs. The goal: Six to 10 deep, slow breaths per minute for 10 minutes each day to experience immediate reductions in heart rate and blood pressure. B. Intercostal (Middle / Thoracic) Breathing As the name indicates, the focus area is the rib cage. Before you start this breathing, slightly contract your abdomen without holding your breath. This will ‘sort of’ lock the abdomen in its place and allow complete involvement of your ribcage. Inhale slowly by expanding your rib cage outwards and upwards. You can visualize the expansion of the chest, with the stretch of the intercostal muscles during the movement. Then slowly exhale by contracting the chest downwards and inwards (Figure 2). Thoracic Breathing requires slightly more muscular effort than abdominal breathing. Figure 2 Note: Only your thoracic region is completely active. The rest of the upper body is in passive mode. C. Clavicular (Upper) Breathing You may need a little practice to figure out and involve the right part of the body for this breathing. Figure 3 In this breathing, your abdomen and rib cage are constant; holding your abdomen and chest constant, fix your attention in between your collar bone. As you slowly inhale, feel the movement of the breath moving outwards in both the directions from the centre of the collar bone towards the end of the collar bone, expanding the collar bone to its fullest. Your shoulders get lifted up towards the end of your breath. Lifting up of the shoulders would be a subtle movement and mostly as an effect of expanding collar bone and it may not be directly visible. As you exhale, release your shoulders and the breath enters from the end points of your collar bone to reach the centre of your collar bone as you complete the exhalation.
Clavicular breathing is the most ignored breathing compared to other two breathings and this requires the maximum involvement of your muscles. As you master this breathing, you will feel as if some ‘stored up heavy tension’ is getting dissipated from your mind, making you light and completely relaxed. Note: In this process of respiration, you will feel your collar bone going up to the chin and coming back to its original place. If still difficult to figure out the complete movement of clavicular breathing, get into sniffing action and you will know the exact movement of the muscles involved. Yogic Breathing It is the combination of all these three kinds of breathings (A, B, and C), known as, “Yogic Breathing”. This allows the optimum intake of air into the lungs and expels the maximum amount of carbon dioxide during exhalation. As you inhale, let your abdomen expand completely, followed by your rib cage and clavicle. These three areas should be completely involved in a rhythm and without any jerks or breaks. Similarly, as you exhale, let your shoulders and collar bones relax, then allow your rib cage to go down and inward & finally your abdomen into your spine. The inhalation and exhalation should happen in a sequence in a motion and without exerting any force. You might find it difficult at the beginning to combine all these areas to their optima as one may be more dominant than the other. A good idea will be to start with sectional breathing separately and then go on to combine all three together. With regular practice, this will become second nature to you. Shallow respiration starves our body of oxygen nourishment and at the same time, fails to eliminate optimal carbon dioxide causing an imbalance in the body & the mind, thereby an imbalance in your ‘universe’. The general public living in urban areas are exposed to polluted air much more than the rural areas, without being aware of the fact. This is because of the elevated levels of pollutants like construction pollutants, vehicular pollutants, etc. Yogic science emphasizes on breathing through the nose instead of the mouth. There is logic to this. Air passes through three layers of filtration while breathing through the nose, ensuring that it reaches lungs in a more purified form. Breathing through the mouth fails to do filtration at such an advanced level and may cause damage to lungs. Regular practice of jala neti will keep your nasal passage clear. It can optimize one’s oxygen intake and running efficiency and the person will not fall easy prey to different allergies. “Practicing regular, mindful breathing exercise can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders” ~Andrew Weil, M.D~ The book, “The Tao of Natural Breathing” shares the following Taoist belief: "To breathe fully is to live fully, to manifest the full range of power of our inborn potential for vitality in everything that we sense, feel, think, and do" ~ Lewis ~ |
AuthorCharita Lankage Archives
October 2017
CategoriesCategories |