Waiting to inhale?

24 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment

by Saraswati in Relaxation, Uncategorized Tags: breathing, exhale, fight or flight, inhale, nervous system, om, parasympathetic nervous system, pranayama, stress response, sympathetic nervous system, tax season, yoga, yoga instructor, yoga teacher training, yoga tools

Issue: Anxiety.

Shanti Shift: Getting the sympathetic nervous system (aka the body’s fight-or-flight mechanism) in balance with the parasympathetic nervous system (aka the body’s “relax, we’re cool” mechanism).

Yoga tool: Pranayama.

 

Please don’t wait to inhale. In fact, while you read this blog, make sure you inhale, and then exhale, and do that a few more times. For one minute, count your breaths–your inhalations and your exhalations can count as one complete breath. Don’t try to slow the breathing down; just count.

And . . . go.

Done? Note the number and let’s move on. Here’s what I learned in future yoga teacher school today. Pranayama is the Sanskrit word for breathing practices or breath disciplines. Big picture PRANA is the life force, the energy that makes everything move, be, exist. I got prana. You got prana. All the Goddess’s children got prana. Yo’ mama got prana (this is not an insult). Your kitty has prana. Prana made your alarm clock ring this morning. There’s prana in kumquats (but not much in Twinkies). Prana, prana everywhere! But do we make use of it? Not when we’re stressed, unforch–and that’s when we need it the most.

Small picture pranayama means breathing practices (prana =  breath, ayama = control, restraint). Breathing is both voluntary and involuntary; it happens on its own, but we can also control it.

So what’s the first thing that goes out the window when we get stressed? Breathing. The breath gets trapped in the chest, or it gets really small and short and sippy. Not good, because the body thinks it’s go time to either bolt from something dangerous or fight with something toothy. As you can imagine, this wreaks a fair amount of havoc on the ol’ nervous system. Hormones go wild, digestion shuts down, the heart gets in the fast lane . . . And all over the fact that tax season is coming. Or you elected to go to yoga teacher training instead of getting a real job, and now your bank account is getting as thin as you are.

Perhaps that’s a bit too much personal info.

Luckily, calm, relaxed breathing is just a thought away. Try this: Set that iTimer for one minute and count your breaths as you did last time. This time, imagine the air around you is charged with peaceful energy that can make you feel calm and healthy. It’s filled with the love of people and animals, because we’re all connected. The air around you, no matter where you are, is part of nature, and so are you. No need to control the breath; just take in love, and send out love. Close your eyes.

At the end of the minute, see if you breathed fewer breaths than the first time you counted. If you did, that means your heart didn’t have to work so hard, and you made better use of the prana you took in. Keep this breath awareness up and you’ll soon be a relaxed, serene pranayama pro.

More specific pranayama exercises will come soon. For now, I’m breathing love at you.

Oooooommmmmm…

 

Thanks to Wholeness.com for the pic.