Breathing In Animates and Oxygenates

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

-L. Frank Baum

Breath sustains and animates us. Thankfully, breathing is a function in the body that happens whether we think about it or not. Even though it is a part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls the involuntary activities in our bodies, it can be manipulated consciously. Doing so offers a sense of control over how we feel in any given moment.

Breathe in and notice how you feel. It may be that right now, you feel no different than you did before. But you are not only bringing air into the lungs when you inhale, you are also facilitating a gaseous exchange, which helps cleanse and fuel every cell in your body. With practice, bringing more awareness to how you breathe may change the way you breathe to change the way you feel, in part because of the influence of body chemistry. Focusing your awareness on how you breathe is the first step in facilitating a positive change in your health and overall well-being. Allow your awareness to guide you.

Connecting With Life Force Energy

Long ago in India, people realized that the way we breathe could be manipulated in specific ways to facilitate various outcomes. This understanding came about by tuning in to the subtle quality of the breath, which is an energy that permeates the entire body. They called this energy prana. The practice of breathing intentionally and with awareness is called pranayama, and it is a common application in the field of yoga.

The word pranayama is an ancient Sanskrit term that refers to the way one might manipulate the breath to achieve specific results. It also refers to the science of breathing. The first part of the word, prana, refers to life force energy, which travels on the breath. This is the same energy that is called ITL?ITL in traditional Chinese medicine and ki in Japanese medicine. Mystical Christian traditions allude to it as the Holy Ghost, also considered the Great Spirit by some Native Americans.

While the lungs fill with breath, prana, or life force energy, travels through the entire body, nourishing us at the cellular level. Fine-tuning your awareness of the breath leads to a heightened awareness of energy flow. As your practice grows more refined, you may notice how prana permeates your entire body each time you breathe in. As you become adept at this, you can consider whether to restrain a component of the breath or breathe without restraint to facilitate specific results.

In Sanskrit, the second part of the word pranayama may be broken out as yama, often translated as restraint or ayama, which means without restraint. Both apply to the manner in which we take breath in, hold it, and release it out from the body. Understanding the translation of this ancient word may assist you in becoming conscious of the subtle effects that breathing can have on your body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Breathing can be manipulated to increase energy, decrease intense reactions to acute situations, or simply to nourish your body and mind. With time, you may become skilled at modifying your breath to feel more alert, vibrant, and content.

You can also use breath to unite all parts of who you are and to link yourself to everything around you. Taking a conscious breath in is the first step in learning to breathe.

Playing With Pranayama

In yoga, pranayama practices are used as tools for deepening one's connection to the flow of life force energy. There is an energetic pathway which is referred to in ancient texts as the divine body and often called the subtle body through which this energy travels. As air fills our lungs, prana moves through this energetic pathway, nourishing us on many levels. It also helps to calm the mind by providing an inner focus for our attention. These actions are what transform breathing, which is often an unconscious act, into art.

Art, like play, integrates the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing us to bring our whole selves into what we're doing. When you explore breathing practices (pranayama) in a playful manner, consider the artful actions that have the power to transform the stresses of modern living. The result may be that your whole world appears brighter and more buoyant.

Beginning now, you are invited to consider how you breathe. Establish an awareness of how you breathe, and seek to do so in a light and playful manner. As you progress, you may naturally begin to take longer, slower, more comfortable breaths. Continue this to initiate a positive lifelong relationship with your breath, and it will support you in bringing your whole self into all you do and support you in being all you are meant to be.

Find Your Own Way To Be

The art of breathing is really about being, rather than doing. While the act of breathing is natural to all of us, each person's pranayama practice will be unique. Let yours develop over time. Some find that they really like the nourishing quality that comes when they take time to breathe in more deeply than they have been used to doing. Some enjoy a sense of deep rest available to them during the pauses between the in-breath (inhalation) and out-breath (exhalation). Others find that they prefer to focus on the exhalation because it facilitates the release of stress and strain, and in so doing, it helps them maintain a balanced level of energy throughout challenging experiences. Regardless of what your experience is, remaining mindful of how you breathe often brings improvements that are pleasant and compelling over time.

Ancient Wisdom

Wisdom from age-old traditions tells us that a longer, fuller breath leads to a longer, fuller life. These traditions tell us that the life span of a person is measured by the number of breaths they take. Swara yogis, those who concern themselves with the science of yogic breathing, believe that if a person breathes at an average rate of fifteen breaths per minute (which means that each breath lasts approximately four seconds) throughout their lifetime, they may very well live for 120 years. Modern science is starting to prove what the ancients experienced long ago, which is that the energy, or prana, that travels on the breath is what brings life to the whole body and that when we slow down our breathing rate, our bodies more deeply absorb prana. (Ref. 4)

Conscious breathing, qigong, yoga, acupuncture, and...