Dan's Papers - June 13, 2008 - Inspirations by Emily J. Weitz

Given the right set of tools, our bodies can accomplish amazing feats. With the power to diffuse difficult situations and heat a cold room, breathing exercises create an internal shift.

The word for breathwork in Sanskrit is pranayama, which literally means control of energy flow. Pranayama techniques have been employed in conjunction with meditation and yoga practices for thousands of years, but they are also often performed independently. There's a wide spectrum of pranayama practices and each has its own distinct benefits. Learning just a few can give you a feeling of empowerment in the course of your life.

The first step in assimilating pranayama is to understand the natural breath. Watch a baby as it sleeps and you will notice that the belly rises and fills on the inhale and empties and hollows on the exhale. That's because they are engaging in a deep, full, diaphragmatic breath. By realizing the way our bodies naturally function, we can retrain ourselves to optimize the benefits of breathing.

Breath flows differently at different times of day. When you first wake up in the morning, there is naturally more emphasis on inhaling. Towards the end of the day, exhaling becomes the more powerful force. When practicing pranayama, you should take these factors into account, always keeping mind that the goal is to find balance.

Any pranayama practice is just that: a practice. The first time you try it, it may feel strange or uncomfortable, but once you get used to it, it can have some transformative effects. The important thing is to stick with it, and to increase slowly as you feel ready.

When setting yourself up for a pranayama practice, first create a comfortable seat. After all, the goal is to eventually be able to sit for a while with your breathing exercises. Sit up on a blanket or two, and cross your legs in front of you. By elevating your sit bones, your knees will relax towards the floor without aggravating your hip flexors. If you're more comfortable kneeling, then that's fine too.

Ujjayi is a basic breathing practice that serves as a foundation for other breathing exercises. Ujjayi means "victoriously uprising." By practicing even a few rounds of ujjayi when you wake up in the morning, you can instill a sense of calm and focus that will carry you through your day. Ujjayi is done by partially closing off the glottis, which is located at the top of the throat. Then, you breathe in through your nose, but you want to feel the breath moving through your throat. The sound that results is reminiscent of ocean waves, or of Darth Vader before he confesses to Luke that he is his Father. As you take in breath through the nose, fill the bottom of the belly first, and then feel the breath slowly fill your middle and then upper lungs as well. Remember to fill the back lungs as well as the front, and the left sides as well as the right. Try to keep the breathing steady on the inhale and exhale. This may mean restraining at the beginning of the inhale and exhale, as the natural tendency is to breathe more intensely at these times. Just like the ocean tides, we want the breath to flow in and out evenly.

Once you feel comfortable with ujjayi breathing, a good next step is to try viloma, which means "against the grain" in Sanskrit. This refers to a mindful interruption in the breath. To begin, practice a few rounds of ujjayi breathing first. Then, once you've established a flow, notice the parts of the breath: upper, middle, and lower. On the next inhale, breath into the lower part of the breath only. Then pause, holding the breath gently and without strain. After a count of two, breath into the mid ribs. Pause for a count of four. Then continue to breathe into the upper chest and pause for a count of two. Exhale completely. Each of these pauses can be deeply quieting, and as a result, viloma has a potent ability to calm the mind.

These techniques can be employed anywhere, any time, when you need to quiet your mind and reduce stress. On trains or in offices, at the beach or in traffic, it's an empowering thing to know that this shift occurs on the inside.