Breathing is the single most important activity we do every second of our lives but it is also perhaps the activity we pay the least attention to because it does not need any overt effort on our part. It happens automatically and unconsciously and we tend to take it for granted. By its very purpose, breathing is central to life. What we may not realize is that if controlled, the act of breathing can supply us with far more than oxygen. It can calm our frenetic minds, pump energy into our tired bodies, make us more clear headed in our thinking and reflective in our outlook. This is something that has been mastered thousands of years ago and practiced by millions continuously since them. The materially advanced West is finding out in the modern stressful world that the simple science of breath control-or pranayama as it is known in India-gives us the potential to rapidly change our lives for the positive.
The most basic level of pranayama teaches us to consciously guide air in a long, slow breath through our nostrils and into our abdomen, feeling it fill with positive life force and energy. Then we hold our breath for a few seconds letting the positive energy charge every cell in our body from head to toe and then release the breath as slowly as we took it in. The breath should be natural but controlled and under no circumstances should it be forced either when inhaling, holding or exhaling.
This simple exercise has the potential to change our lives for the positive almost immediately if it is done daily for a few minutes. What we are doing is consciously cleansing our lungs of the impurities that lie deep within it and that have lain there until we decided to clean them out. We are also consciously aligning our inner selves with the outer reality and the cosmic energy that permeates the whole universe. This cosmic energy is called prana in Sanskrit. For many, this simple pranayama exercise is all they will need to transform their lives. Learning to breathe consciously is really only the beginning however and many other will be drawn to explore it further.
Another surprise for many is to find out that the way we have learned from habit to breathe since birth is not the most efficient way! Here is how we should breathe to derive maximum advantage:
* Inhale through the nose. This allows us to naturally filter as many of the pollutants in the air as possible before reaching the lungs. For this reason, breathing in through the mouth is unhealthy. We need to train ourselves to breathe in through our nostrils and it will become second nature soon.
* Let the stomach expand followed by the chest as inhale. Feel the prana go into your abdomen first, not your chest. This allows the prana to energize the whole body. Again, many of us tend to breathe into our chests and this needs to be corrected.
* Calmly observe and be aware of the oxygen and prana entering and exiting your body as it gives life to our body and minds. This awareness attunes our bodies and minds to the life-giving force that permeates the universe and gives us better understanding and a deeper, more fulfilled life.
These are merely the ABCs in the sophisticated science of breathing known as pranayama. But as mentioned before, this is really all that most of us will need to know and if we make these techniques second nature by regular practice, we are sure to see a very noticeable and positive change in our lives in a very short time.
Jayan has spent a couple of decades in the investment industry and is now an "early retiree" partly by choice and partly by circumstance. He is enjoying his retirement and spends his time doing his favorite thing--playing with computers and the Internet.
Please check out his latest efforts at staying busy at unfinishedbookcases.org Unfinished Bookcases and unfinishedbookcases.org/unfinished-pine-bookcases.html Unfinished Pine Bookcases.
If you happen to also be in the market for unfinished wood bookcases, chances are you'll find what you're looking for.
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