The Breath is a Magnificent Tool
Breath is used in yoga practice to fuel the body's movements, but breath practice (pranayama) may also be used to adjust and strengthen the mind.
6/28/20263 min read
You may have heard a yoga teacher say that a yoga practice is first and foremost a breathing practice. You may have heard a teacher say that if you sit still on your mat (or in a chair) and breath fully and mindfully you will be having a full yogic experience. And I’m certainly not going to dispute those statements. The human breath is so much more than the simple inhale and exhale of air necessary to keep the body alive.
But what I have learned from recently completing a Pranayama training is just how powerful the breath is, not just as a component of a yoga physical asana practice, but as a way to heal the body, clear the mind, connect to your nervous system, connect to your subconscious and as a path to deeper self-awareness. Breath is a magnificent tool.
Breath is obviously a biological necessity, providing oxygen to fuel the body through aerobic energy creation and expelling waste products from biological activities. We literally cannot live without breathing.
We have all experienced how our breath changes when we laugh, when we are anxious, when we are happy, afraid or when we cry.
Breath is a window into our emotions. We can observe the breath and learn about our inner experience. Sometimes the breath will show how we feel, even before we can consciously recognize it. An event may literally “take your breath away.”
The breath is a two way window. The ancient practice of Pranayama allows us to change the breath which in turn changes our body, mind and emotions. Pranayama is usually translated to mean control of prana or control of breath. But what is prana? Is it more than breath? Prana is better translated as energy, the life energy that flows throughout our bodies. Pranayama shapes the breath and the body to achieve shifts to the mind and emotions.
The ability to change our internal energy and emotional state by changing the breath is an amazing finding, known for centuries by the ancient yogi masters. And it is something we can learn to use for self-awareness, self-control, and self-soothing.
There are breathing practices that will warm you up, and those that will cool you down.
There are breathing practices that energize you when you are feeling lethargic, and those that will calm you down when you are feeling overly stimulated.
There are breathing practices that cleanse both body and mind.
Nearly all conscious breathing practices strengthen your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs) and the related muscles and tendons.
Breathing gives the mind something to focus on when the mind is scattered. When feeling emotional or physical pain or upset, breathing into that space – whether a physical place or a mental/emotional place – will calm and recenter the mind. The act of recentering allows for the experience to be fully felt in that moment, but without being taken away and lost in the moment. Recentering activates the observer's perspective, taking a step away from the pain or upset.
A breathing practice with an intention to send breath to the part of the body exhibiting a physical compensation due to a past emotional upset may help clear out the emotional material causing the holding. The breath can clear out this stuck material.
There are other situations where breathwork is helpful including cardiovascular patients and pregnancy.
There are many articles and websites that describe pranayama breathing techniques and their application, so I won’t attempt to list or describe them all here. The first simplest way to experience the benefits of breathing is to meditate for just a few minutes while focusing on the breath. If a breathing practice is something you want to explore, you may do some research, and if you want to schedule a session with me to explore what breathing practices may do for you, please reach out.