Yoga BreathingBreathing is simple right?Inhale and exhale. Rinse and repeat. Done and done! Well, not really.
Contributing author certified Prasara Yoga instructor Jarlo Ilano, M.P.T discusses what yoga breathing is all about. I’m sure we all have had an experience at work, when everything just seemed to go wrong. Paperwork was lost, co-workers suddenly decided to forget how to do their job correctly, your boss was breathing down your neck, and every time you just about caught up, something else gets dropped in your lap. Go back to that time at work for a minute, or another stressful situation in your life that really got you jammed up. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself there, feel the sensations of stress and anxiety , get back to how you were feeling, and what your body felt like. Do this for just a couple of minutes. What did you notice? I bet one of the things that happened was that your breathing became shallow and ragged. And even now, just thinking about that stressful time, you see that your breath is quickening and uneven. Now try this. Go back to the last great vacation (or even nice weekend you had off). There was a particular moment when you didn’t have a care in the world. No thoughts of work, or where you had to be at that second. See if you can recapture that sensation. You feel not just relaxed, but content. Everything is free and easy. Your stomach is pleasantly full and your muscles are relaxed. In short you feel great. How’s your breathing now? Odds are it is even and smooth, with long steady inhales and exhales. These are just two examples of how your breathing is connected to your feelings and the state of your mind. Anxiety and stress go hand in hand with short, choppy breathing. And the reverse is also true. If right now, you consciously make your breathing ragged and quick, like you are trying to hyperventilate, you will also notice that you are probably beginning to feel anxious and your heart rate increases like something was going on. But you are just sitting here reading an article! Now you begin to see the importance of regulating your breathing and how it can affect your stress levels and health for the better (and for the worse!). Proper breathing in Yoga can be a very complex subject. People that practice yoga can spend a whole hour session just on the breath, and do this for years! But our goal right now can be very simple. The first exercise is much like the visualizations I asked you to perform at the beginning of this article. But, thankfully, we’ll skip thinking about the stressful day at work! Start by finding a comfortable position, it can be sitting or lying down, right now we are just starting to find our breath and the exact position doesn’t matter. Just find a relaxed, easy place to start. Now, without worrying about how you are doing your yoga breathing , just take a couple seconds to see where you are at. Notice the pace, length, and smoothness of your breath. Do the exhales and inhales seem to be the same? Is one faster than the other? Try this for a couple minutes, don’t attempt to do anything but just observe your breathing. Next, let’s try a simple breath control technique. Without worrying about making the breath longer or shorter, let’s try and make it even. And by that I mean, make our inhales and exhales the same. Don’t think about a particular number right now. Just think about breathing in and out at the same pace. Equal in exhalation and inhalation. Do this for a few minutes and you’ll start to notice that your breath is lengthening naturally. Neat trick huh! This first exercise is a great start for understanding the breathing techniques we are going to share with you at Yoga-For-Men.com. In our next article, we’ll present a progressive series of exercises to help decrease your stress, improve your mood, and improve your overall state of health! Return to Yoga-For-Men.com Home Page.
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