Breathing Exercises“There are many categories of breathing re-education work, and many effective exercises to help in this work. These include exercises to help us overcome breathing faults of one kind or another; exercises to promote diaphragmatic breathing, belly breathing, back breathing, and so on; exercises to open up the various breathing spaces of the body; and exercises for emotional well-being and spiritual realization. But all such exercises are just part of the story. To actually transform our breathing and bring about a lasting change, the re-education exercises we do must be based on the laws and principles of natural breathing, and must be carried out in such a way the body/mind can either "remember" these laws or learn them anew. To gain optimal benefit from these exercises, we must learn to be conscious of their influence not just on our body, but also on our mind and emotions." Dennis Lewis, author of “The Tao of Natural Breathing,” “Free your Breath, Free Your Life,” and “Breathe Into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are.” It is rather unusual to many of us in the
Western world to consider the importance of breathing techniques and
breathing development. After all, we are always breathing, aren't we?
Doesn't it
seem a little silly to put extra attention to something we do naturally?
Notice your own breathing. Isn't each breath actually very shallow?
Well, they may or may not be appropriate depth, balance, and ease.
Like the taste of chocolate, if you have never experienced optimal depth,
balance, and ease of breathing, how will you know whether you have it or
not?
Sometimes the breathing exercise that
seems easy is not the one that would bring you the most benefit.
Just as it is easier to do pushups if you have been doing them
everyday, the patterns of muscle use resulting in taking a breath
that are likely to be most comfortable are the patterns you already
practice in your current breathing style. To reach your long-term
goal of improved breath conditioning, you need to practice all of
the exercises, including the ones that are not so easy to master.
Altered states of
consciousness are another huge aspect of certain breathing exercises.
Under the guidance of a skilled practitioner they can be most beneficial
and inconceivably powerful. I
have also seen many of those altered states turn into erratic or weird
behavior including what may inaccurately be classified as psychosis. A
friend took a pranayama class. Spaced out and energized, he came out to
drive his car and steered it in front of another car and wound up in
intensive care for 8 days. Individuals who are well are able to remain well, adapt to greater stress, and have greater endurance when they keep a breathing development practice in their daily self-care ritual. The breathing diaphragm is much more than a mechanical shifter of air. It is, above all, a muscle of emotional expression. Most people have had experiences of just how infectious it can be when someone nearby suddenly and spontaneously laughs or yawns. We usually laugh or yawn right along with them. Why? Because there is both a physiological and energetic response in the diaphragm that causes it to react in sympathy with what is being expressed by someone else. Singing for instance, relies on the importance of wanting to express emotion. If the diaphragm is thought of only as a pump, then such thinking will greatly diminish the function of it and limit its invaluable contribution to vocal expression. At that point one's personal vocal expressions will have to develop a breathing technique to compensate for the lack of spontaneous and reflex action in the diaphragm. Breathing exercises not respecting this are often limiting and counterproductive. "Cautions to be judicious and respectful of breathing exercises abound in the literature on hatha yoga. And it does indeed seem from anecdotal reports of explorers in this field that the rhythm and record of our respiration resonates throughout the body. It seems to accentuate whatever is in the mind, whether it be benevolence, or malevolence, harmony or disharmony, virtue or vice. On the negative side, experienced teachers report that quirkiness of any sort, gets accentuated in students who go too far. ‘It might be an abusive streak, laughing inappropriately, speaking rudely, flightiness, twitchiness, or nervous tics. Right to left physical imbalances also become exaggerated. Unfortunately, novices often close their ears to warnings; having become addicted to their practice, they will not be denied. Competent teachers of hatha yoga will be watchful of these simple matters and wary of tutoring refractory students. Even the beginning exercises discussed in this chapter should be treated with respect. Apart from psychological concerns, the special physiological hazards of breathing exercises is that they can cause problems without giving us traditional signals warning us against doing something harmful. In athletics, the practice of asana, experiments with diet, or just tinkering with any subject in the physical world, we depend on our senses to tell us that we are exceeding our capacity or doing something inadvisable. But breathing exercises are different. In that realm we are dealing with phenomena that our senses, or at least our untutored senses, are often unable to pick up, even though they can still affect the body. And because of this, advanced exercises should be undertaken only by those who are adequately prepared.” H. David Coulter, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga p 131. We counsel to develop the fundamentals first. These are easy to learn, easy to apply, require no special knowledge or training, and can be practiced by most people (sick or well) daily with very little impact on time or energy. They are a great way to recharge your cellular batteries. |
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