Full, rich breaths serve to oxygenate your body during yoga, helping to keep your body functioning. These deep breaths also help to keep your mind and emotions calm. There are ways to increase these effects of breathing. Noticing how you breathe is a simple technique to begin working with breath and becoming aware of how your breath affects your thinking and your emotions. You can build on this awareness by learning breath conditioning techniques which can help you change your habitual ways of thinking and feeling. This can help reduce anxiety and fear as well as allow you to develop a more focused yoga practice. And a by-product of this process: a trimmer waistline.
Breathe Deeply and Feed Your Body
If you find that your breathing in yoga is shallow and you are gasping or holding your breath, you’re depriving your body of what it needs to function well. Oxygen is one of your body’s basic fuels, even more basic than food. The fuller, richer breaths you take in, the more you’re giving your body the essential fuel it needs to function in yoga – and in life.
Keep Your Mind and Emotions Calm
With more oxygen circulating throughout your cells, your body can more efficiently burn and create energy. You can also enjoy greater calm and a quiet mind. “People who practice open breathing . . . are able to remain calm and centered in the midst of seeming chaos,” writes Donna Farhi in her book The Breathing Book (NY: Henry Holt, 1996).
A Simple Technique to Create Breath Awareness
The simplest technique to begin making the most of your breath is noticing. Sit or lie still with eyes closed and just observe the breath coming in and going out. After some practice you can apply this observation during an active yoga session. Some yoga teachers, Ashtanga in particular, teach breathing techniques including observation with yoga poses. The effects of conditioning your breathing can be powerful. Resting in corpse pose or Savasana afterwards is recommended.
Build on this Awareness with Breath Conditioning Techniques
You can build on your growing awareness of your breath by exploring breath work. This may be in the form of conditioned breathing (or breath control) in conjunction with yoga or breath work on its own.
Pranayama is a form of breath control and is often taught by Iyengar yoga teachers . Breath experts such as Donna Farhi offer breath work as a study in itself.
Change Your Habitual Ways of Thinking and Feeling
The mind is tied to the breath. Try rapid-fire thinking while breathing deeply; or try calm, even thinking while breathing quickly. You will see that a quiet breath creates a quiet mind.
Reduce Anxiety and Fear
As the breath stills, so does the mind. Increased oxygen and slower, deeper breathing can result in less anxiety and fear. These dual bedevilments may not be eliminated, but you may feel a lessening of their hold. You may find you are less likely to take action when your mind is whirling. This can help you be less impatient with hard yoga poses.
Develop a More Focused Yoga Practice
Focusing on your breath can provide a single point of concentration. This can help reduce all the activity in your mind that may occur during yoga practice. This takes time, so don’t worry if you can only notice your breath for short stretches before your thoughts return to claim your attention. Try taking the advice of Buddhist nun Pema Chodron in her book Comfortable with Uncertainty and label these thoughts “thinking” then return to noticing your breath (Boston: Shambala, 2003).
Whittle Your Waistline
Conditioned breathing exercises and lengthens the abdominal muscles, which can lead to toned abs.
References:
Iyengar, B.K.S. Light on Yoga. India: HarperCollins Publishers, 1976.
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