The Power of Pranayama Part 1

Prana. Life force. It's what keeps us here. We typically think that breathing keeps us here, but there is a more subtle yet powerful force that keeps life in us called prana. It hitches a ride on or within the breath and gives us the vital force that keeps us alive. The concentration of prana is determined by our breathing patterns, our lifestyles and our levels of stress. Yama means "control of". So pranayama is working with the breath or controlling it to manifest more vitality, peace of mind, and overall health in the physical body.

If we all breathed properly, we would see a sharp decline of disease and a pandemic of calm, peaceful people. Most of us aren't aware of our breathing patterns and even more unaware of how breathing affects our mental and physical health. Many people are shallow breathers, which means they breathe with the chest and are not getting the optimal amount of oxygen for good health. Studies have been done in hospitals to show the effects of shallow breathing. In the heart patient ward they tested 100 patients to see how they were breathing. ALL of them, 100% were shallow chest breathers. This is significant. We were designed to breath with the diaphragm muscle located beneath the lungs. It pushes down to allow expansion in the lungs when you inhale and pushes back up when you exhale. This means that the breath starts in the lower belly not the chest. It begins below the belly button and expands up towards the collarbones. Singers and wind musicians are trained this way. By breathing more fully, It signals parts of the brain to relax, lowering stress levels and oxygenating the digestive and abdominal organs. The Yogis say all disease begins with poor digestion.

Have you ever noticed that you hold your breath in tense situations? It's a way of coping, but also an unhealthy way. If we bring more awareness to our breathing in stressful situations, then we can alter the affects on the nervous system. Start by practicing Deerga swaasam, which is 3-part diaphragmatic breathing. Actually, when you sleep you breathe properly. If you watch someone breathe while sleeping you'll notice this. All breathing is in and out of the nose and with consistent practice this will occur more naturally. The reason for this is that the nose is a built in filtering system for pollutants, allergens and other particles we don't need to ingest. The small hairs and mucus in the membranes trap the undesirables and encourages blowing of the nose. When breathing through the mouth it all comes in the system, making it more difficult to process. Breathe into the belly like filling up a balloon and continue expanding the ribcage and then the chest. On the exhalation, relax the chest, ribcage and gently pull the belly in. Do this for a couple of minutes, stopping if you feel lightheaded or dizzy. We need to gradually develop our capacity gently and slowly....

To be continued

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