Breath is the Soul of Yoga

Often in yoga classes we see a nearly-exclusive focus on asana (postures), and most people think that this is what Yoga is: a get-fit thing. But yoga postures is only a small part of something mu-uch bigger.

When we combine our practice of yoga postures with any of the other yoga practices like breathing a.k.a. pranayama (there are 8 yoga practices in total), we can take our yoga to a whole 'nother level.

So what are these 8 Yoga practices?

Well, I'll give you just a supa-quick bit of background in 3 sentences to put all in perspective: Almost 2000 years ago, a yogi called Pantajali put together something called the Yoga Sutras. He combined all the old yogic traditions and created a book of theory & practice which we know (and still use today) as the Sutras of Patanjali. He divided Yoga into 8 branches or "limbs", and you can see below that Pranayama is considered so important, it is listed as a complete practice on its own.

Loosely translated, the 8 branches or "limbs" of yoga are:

1.) The Yamas (morals) The five yamas are: Ahimsa: nonviolence. Satya: truthfulness. Asteya: nonstealing. Brahmacharya: awareness. Aparigraha: non greed

2.) The Niyamas (ethics) These practices are the ethics / codes of conduct and how to live in a clean internal environment of body, mind and spirit. The practice of Niyama helps us create a positive environment in which to grow & gives us self-discipline & inner-strength.

3.) Asana (the art of postures)

4.) Pranayama (the art of breathing)

The rest are just as important, but they are for another time:

5.) Pratyhara (discipline)

6.) Dharana (focus)

7.) Dhyana (meditation)

8.) Samadhi (bliss or complete, perfect concentration).

PRANAYAMA, THE POWER OF BREATH IN YOGA:

Pranayama is the art of yoga breathing. It is made up of two elements: ‘Prana’ means life force, vitality or energy, and ‘Ayama’ means stretch, expansion, length, control or regulation. So Pranayama means to control the inhale and exhale.

Why is this important? Pranayama is a psychosomatic practice. This means breath influences both our mind and body. Breath awareness allows us to tap into the subtle energies of our body and recognise the mind-body relationship. Our breath is like a barometer. You will know, and most likely have experienced, that the breath becomes faster when we are stressed or anxious and slows down when we are calm. If our breath is fast, our mind believes we are becoming anxious, and it responds by moving our body into "fight or flight" mode. Our sympathetic nervous system is activated by the sudden release of hormones, our heart rate increases, our muscles tense up, we are ready to flee. "Bad breathing" and the subsequent tightening of our body can often cause headaches, poor digestion, muscle tension or soreness. It is very difficult to move through postures with a body which is tight from bad breathing.

However, if we consciously slow down our breath, breathing calmly and softly through our nose, our mind interprets this as us being relaxed and our body will react accordingly by shifting us into our parasympathetic nervous system, or "relaxed mode". If we practice yoga with a steady and slow breath, breathing as if we are doing nothing special, our muscles will be more relaxed and our movements will be lighter and more controlled. This smooth movement during a yoga flow, without tension created by bad breathing, prevents muscle soreness and injuries.

Focusing on our breath might seem easy, but it only takes a moment to realise that it isn’t always quite as easy as it sounds. If you have a mindfulness or meditation practice, the idea of "monkey mind" is probably familiar to you. You will have found that in moments where you can focus solely on your breath, the mind is still and calm. On the other hand, when your mind runs away with your thoughts, problems or daydreams, that serenity and stillness quickly disappears.

The basic idea of yoga and pranayama is mastering our body, movement and breath so we become better equipped to master our mind - for concentration and meditation. Even if meditation isn't your thing, who doesn't need to find a calm space in our modern world of mad-crazy-busy and rushing around?

Keeping our breath soft and steady during practice helps reduce our stress levels too and steadies our reactive mind. With practice in regulating our breath, we can focus and slowly still our mind. Most often, Pranayama is practiced at the beginning or end of your yoga practice, with the eyes closed, to further prevent any distractions. But another great way to practice pranayama is to remain aware of and keeping a soft breath during practice, keeping it light and steady. By keeping the breath light and steady, and allowing our movements to follow our breath, rather than fitting our breath to our movements, we maintain a grace and lightness in our yoga flow. That makes our practice feel easy, as if we are defying gravity.

Besides all the above, breathing means better health. I'm not going to get technical about the breath and move into the world of diaphragmatic contractions and anterior abdominal walls. But I will say this: better expansion of the lungs improves our circulation, improves digestion, removes toxins, improves movement of lymphatic fluid and helps the function of kidneys, stomach, intestines, liver and spleen.

Breath is our life energy, without it we die, we cannot exist.

As Iyengar said: Breath is the Soul of Yoga.

Have a wonderful week.

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