Yoga and breathing

What is Yoga Breathing?

Learning to breath correctly through Yoga breathing or scientifically speaking 'Pranayama' helps with breath control.
Properly used the respiratory system can exchange gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) ensuring an efficient energy system.

There are a number of exercises tailored to meet the needs of the body to maintain a healthy and vibrant life be it spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally.

Breathing can be looked upon as the inner source of life and by monitoring our breathing habits makes us more aware of the connections between mind, body and spirit.

Our bodies go through a natural process, inhaling oxygen which charges our body with the necessary energy.
On exhaling the carbon dioxide takes away any toxins from within us, thus removing harmful poisons.

Because of the many stresses facing us each day through work, money and family pressures, we are not aware of our breathing patterns which at times of stress are shallow and short, denying our lungs the oxygen which can often lead to many serious illnesses, such as sleeping disorders and heart diseases.

Starving the body of it's oxygen can also lead to fatigue, when the body is restless
the mind is affected, therefore negative thought patterns seep in and of course this has a knock on effect, leading us back to stress and the inability to deal with it.

Why is it important to breath correctly?

Practising breathing exercises is one of the 5 main principles behind the art of yoga which was discovered in the early days by masters of yoga. They found that by practising the art of breathing properly feeds the body with the right amount of oxygen to cleanse the mind and body of toxins, of course there are other more important reasons to breath, as stated earlier, breathing is vital for keeping the body functioning correctly, and for carrying toxins away.

Oxygen is the provider of the vital nutrients, without it the efficient functioning of the brain and body would not work, without it we will die within minutes.

Blood in our bodies becomes purified when we practise our breathing, taking in extra oxygen speeds up the process which gives us more energy.

Below are a few facts about the effects of oxygen in our bodies.

• Breathing is the major requirement for energy.

• Breathing purifies the blood system and by doing so the whole body works effectively.

• The solar plexus is recharged with oxygen, by this I mean it recharges the batteries so to speak.

• Aging of the skin is slowed down.

How to breath properly.

As human beings it is a natural process for the body to take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, but the majority of the time we are not aware of it. By not noticing we can easily slip into bad habits, such as poor body posture, poor diet or living with stress, all these factors can restrict the breathing, which is often the cause of ill health.

It's easy for me to sit here, preaching about how to breath properly, we have always breathed as we do, it's habitual and old habits are hard to break. But it can be altered with practise.

Yoga practises breathing as one of its 5 key principles, it helps to be seated in the correct posture also. Try this little exercise for your self,

If you have a clock in the same room as you, try to concentrate on the sound and rhythm, really listen to the pattern of the ticking. If you lose concentration, don't worry just keep trying and pay attention to the sound. Feel it ticking in your mind. The secret is to keep trying.
If you find concentrating on the ticking easy, then your breathing will have become deeper or longer, but if you could not concentrate, the breathing will become faster or shallow, if this happens keep trying, the more you practice the easier it becomes.

Try to breath through the nose, this is the first and correct rule for breathing. From an early age a lot of people breath through the mouth which could effect the development of the thyroid Gland development. The nose has a number of defence mechanisms, which purifies the air which we breath in, the mouth does not, breathing through the mouth allows for too much cold air, and impurities to enter the body.

The nose has for its first line of defence, hairs which trap dust particles or small insects, further in the nose, there is a mucus lined passage where the air is warmed and any fine dust is trapped here. The inner nose have glands fighting off the remainder of smaller particles, which slipped
through the other defences, this is where the glands which detect smell (olfactory organ), which warn us of poisonous gasses.

You can find more about how to breath correctly for a healthier mind and body in the book "The Sivananda Yoga Training Manual". A comprehensive booklet outlining the five principles of yoga.

The 5 principle keys can be found in the Yoga book found on the website which this link, you may want to take a look at the corporate yoga page. Please take a look at the Yoga CD page.