In yoga, we call our breathing practices pranayama. Prana means life energy and yamameans control in Sanskrit. Put them together and our breath is our means to control our life’s energy. Powerful stuff, isn’t it?
According to The Complete Book of Yoga, when practicing full yogic breaths, “you are conscious that you draw more air into the lungs and empty them more thoroughly”. Your inhale should be carried to the point of feeling full, but not strained. Likewise, the exhale should give the feeling that you have emptied the lungs completely (although that is physiologically impossible). A yogic breath is complete when you are conscious of all the respiratory muscles working, you have a feeling of fullness and then a feeling of emptiness in the lungs.
A favorite pranayama practice for yoga movements is that of dirgha pranayama. In this simple but powerful practice, you inhale from the bottom of the lungs (it’ll feel like the belly) to the top (near the collarbones) and exhale from the top to the bottom. Imagine it like this: your trunk is an old-fashioned thermometer. Your belly is the bulb of mercury and when you inhale, energy builds and the temperature rises from bottom to top. As you exhale, the temperature falls again, returning the mercury back to the bulb, from top to bottom. Practicing pranayama fifteen to twenty minutes a day is ideal and “increases vital capacity, energizes, exercises the lungs and respiratory muscles, oxygenates and purifies the bloodstream, removes phlegm, cleanses the sinuses and nerve channels, soothes and tones the nervous system, improves thoracic mobility and broadens the chest, improves digestion, massages the abdominal viscera, and calms and concentrates the mind.” WOW!
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