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Breath
and life go hand in hand. One cannot exist
without the other. Breath in Sanskrit is
Praana, which denotes life. Breathing like
the beating of the heart starts with birth
and goes on till the day one dies. No rest,
no stoppage, breathing just goes on and
on. However unlike the heart beat, over
which we have no direct control, breathing
can be controlled by us, to add better quality
to our life. |
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Stress
and breathing
Most of us unconsciously
breathe from our chest or thorax.
Thoracic breathing is directly related
to the activation of the "fight
or flight" arousal mechanism.
In fact there is a vicious cycle where
stress creates thoracic breathing
and as long as we breathe with the
chest muscles instead of the diaphragm,
we are continually creating more stress.
With shallow breathing we are unable
to relax. Thoracic breathing supplies
inefficient oxygen to the blood, which
causes the heart and lungs to work
harder to accomplish the proper amount
of oxygenation.
Diaphragmatic breathing on the other
hand, increases the efficiency of
the entire cardio-respiratory functioning.
In fact the workload on the heart
and lungs can be reduced by as much
as 50% when we switch from thoracic
to diaphragmatic breathing. Thoracic
breathers will require 16 - 20 breaths
per minute while diaphragmatic breathers
require only 6 – 8 breaths per
minute.
Breath Awareness
Breath awareness teaches us to pay
attention to our breathing habit.
To improve the breathing pattern it
is essential to first be aware of
our breathing habit. Before beginning
the breathing exercises it is important
to analyze our breathing. How is your
Posture, Is your breathing it deep
and abdominal, Is it Slow or fast,
Are there pauses between inhalation
and exhalation, Do you breathe from
your nose etc
Basic Breathing Exercise
The basic breathing exercise consists
of ensuring deep, long, abdominal
breathing while maintaining a good
posture. As one progresses to more
advanced breathing techniques, you
learn to prolong the exhalation.
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Breathing
as form of Meditation
Breathing forms the basic
pillar over which many meditation techniques are
built. Vipassana form of meditation introduced
by Gautam Buddha is a technique where one reaches
a transcendental state using breathing as a vehicle.
For more Breath-taking information
and Breathing techniques you could refer to the
book “Calm
Sutra, the Art of Relaxation”.
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