Wellness News for Baby Boomers

Why breathing is an important part of Yoga
By Angelena Craig

You may have the mistaken idea that Yoga is just the next best workout offered among a smorgasbord of options.

Yes, Yoga can be a workout and a really good one for all the muscles and joints. You can stretch and strengthen with Yoga and get the best workout of your life. Just ask Madonna. I read, several years ago, that after she discovered Ashtanga Yoga (a rigorous style and practice), she never went back to the gym again. Have you seen this boomer’s body lately?

But beyond the physical training offered by Yoga, and the calming serenity you may feel after a class, Yoga can give you a whole new way of looking at breathing.

Most of us take our breathing for granted. We inhale; we exhale; that’s it. But what if we consider something we take a better look at something we do thousands of times per day?

Breath is life. It is the first thing we do when we are born and the last when our physical life is over. Breath and spirit have the same name in several languages. The English word spirit comes from the Latin "spiritus," meaning "breath." The term "Spirit" translates from the Hebrew word "ruah," which, in its primary sense, means breath. We sometimes refer to breath as inspiration and expiration.

Dr. Andrew Weil, the eminent physician and author, incorporates complimentary medicine into his practice and his writings about health. He includes the instruction of how to breath consciously when treating his patients and reports much healing success through learning to breathe properly.

Yoga offers many breathing techniques. Some to calm, some to balance, others to energize you.

I personally have three favorite calming methods. All can be done sitting on the floor crossed legged or in a straight back chair. If are sitting, it is best that your spine be upright, rather than leaning back. Or you can lie down on the floor or a bed and practice the following techniques:

1. THE HA BREATH: Take a deep breath through your nose and open your mouth and let out the sound of a gentle “ha”. Allow your mouth and jaw to relax as you exhale and you can feel the stress floating away.
2. DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING: Place your hands gently over your belly. As you inhale through your nose allow the belly to expand into your hands and as you exhale through the nose the belly moves back toward your spine, squeezing all the air out. Then you start the next inhale. (Diaphragmatic breathing is the natural way to breathe but many of us do upside down breathing by sucking in the belly on the inhale).
3. THE COMPLETE YOGA BREATH: Place you left hand gently on your belly and your right hand over your heart. As we did before inhale and expand the belly and then continue to lift the inhalation through the ribs, all the way up to the heart area. Hold the breath in for a moment at the top and then breathing through the nose, slowly exhale down the torso. When you get to the bottom, contract the belly a bit to squeeze all the air out. Then begin again.
   
   You might slowly inhale up for the count of three, hold at the top for the count of four and then slow the exhale down for the count of seven. Repeat as many times as you would like.

Try these three breaths and you will find yourself more centered and relaxed and know you have done something really good for yourself in a short amount of time.

Tags: Why breathing is an important part of Yoga, stretch and strengthen with Yoga, boomer's body, a new way of looking at breathing, Dr. Andrew Weil, breathing techniques, The Ha Breath, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Complete Yoga Breath

Return to top | Return to Wellness News