30 Dec Pranayam part 1
Pranayam
Basics of breath
On week 35 we are starting a three-part series on Pranayam. It is important to build a strong foundation: Start by establishing the basics of breathing. Please scan the topics listed in this and the next two posts, as you can see they are not so much breathing techniques as they are methods of establishing basic breath awareness, and avoidance of irregularities. With breath training, one of the biggest mistakes is to skip the foundation and go directly into the techniques themselves, setting people for bad habits and perhaps counterproductive results.
The science of breath
begins with awareness, and ends with awareness
Breath awareness is so important that, in a sense, you can say that the whole science of breath begins with awareness, and ends with awareness. Everything else, in the middle, is preparation for awareness.
For thousands of years yogis have observed that the breath reflects the state of the mind, they established the breath practice to gauge one’s mental state, a person when agitated, his or her breathing is shallow and fast and from the upper part of the body, and when a person is in the presence of fear the breathing is heavy or even hold, locking the shoulders and neck with much tension. In the state of depression or sadness the breath often is expressed as a sighing. It was discovered after much observation that by changing the breathing patterns, the mind was affected and changed.
After many years of research and practice it became a fact that we can direct our breath (Prana} with our thoughts due the fact that breath and mind are deeply interconnected and that wherever one goes the other consistently follows. That is why many Pranayam practices direct thoughts to an affected area and directly send the Prana to that place desired and by that revitalize and release whatever outcome desired when the intention was set.
In the ancient Indian system of yoga, they identified prana as the universal life force or energy which distinguishes the living from the dead, WOW! here is a conscious place for us to thank every breath we take don’t you think? without it, we wouldn’t last very long.
These ancient yogic seers observed the power of the breath to increase one’s prana and were guided to developed special breathing techniques to increase life energy, maintain health and create a calm, clear state of mind that is conducive for meditation and to maintain our whole wellbeing in alignment.
Sources of Prana can be found in fresh food rather than canned ( it really relates to life force), frozen or stale foods. Similarly, vegetarian foods are said to be generally of high prana, while meat, being dead, is considered low or even negative prana, the fresher the source the more life in it, doesn’t that make sense?.
For more in-depth articles and research on breathing from authorities in the field click the button below, we would like to offer this extended information for the ones that are searching for a piece of deeper knowledge on this subject.
As we go along with the explanation of Pranayam we will have guided meditations and exercises to direct intention and breath to different parts of you so you can practices guided Pranayam and get used to sourcing your well being with mindfulness.
The finest bridge between body and mind: Breath is a bridge between the body and the mind. When trying to meditate it is extremely common to have tension in the muscles and noisy thoughts in the mind. The nervous system is the arbiter between the tense body and the noisy mind. One of the best ways to regulate that nervous system, and in turn the body and mind, is through the breath. This has been known by the Yogis for thousands of years and has also come to be widely known in recent years by the modern medical and psychological community.
If we seem repetitive throughout this presentation is because we wish for your subconscious to get the essence of Breathing so embedded in it that it will become a part of you that it will automatically be present at all times and that includes sleep.
“When you own your breath,
nothing can control or take your inner peace”
Breathing is one of the basic human functions yet it is the most powerful force that keeps us alive. When we are aware of our breath, we are at a source that creates the life for us.
Breathing connects our mind with the body and lets us expand and there we are in rhythm with life, nature and by that with it all.
About 18 – 20 times a minute, you breathe in and out, keep in mind that this is an average count.
This is how one of your vital signs is measured, called “respiration.”
This phenomenal exchange works with the assistance of the red blood cells in your bloodstream.
Your red blood cells will show up at the sacs called alveoli in your lungs at just the right time, ready to trade in old carbon dioxide that your body’s cells have made for some new oxygen you just breathed in. During this process, the red blood cells turn from purple to a sparkling red color as they start carrying the oxygen to ALL the cells in your body another miracle that we are not aware of for the most part the amazing work of our bodies.
The carbon dioxide (waste) that your body can’t use will go through the lungs, back up your windpipe and out with every single exhale to nature and she can use it as food to return it to us in the form of oxygen how fantastic is that we feed each-other once again. This is a chemical exchange of breathing in and out (inhalation/exhalation). This is an automatic process that you don’t even have to think about.
Now, let’s move into some powerful Pranayam breathing exercises.
The basis for all deep breathing practices originates in the science of yoga, specifically the branch of yoga known as pranayama. The word pranayama is derived from two Sanskrit words: prana (life force) and Yama (control). By controlling the breath, you can influence every aspect of your life. You can train yourself to breathe in a way that has a positive influence on your health.
What Controls Your Breathing?
At the base of your brain is a respiratory control center that controls your breathing. This center sends ongoing signals down your spine and to the muscles involved in breathing.
These signals ensure your breathing muscles contract (tighten) and relax regularly. This function allows your breathing to happen automatically, without you being aware of it, is pretty amazing don’t you think aside from all the work that the body does with us running around all day!.
To a limited degree, you can change your breathing rate, such as by breathing faster or holding your breath. Your emotions also can change your breathing. For example, being scared or angry can affect your breathing pattern, thinking, crying, excited etc,.
Your breathing will change depending on how active you are and the condition of the air around you. For example, you need to breathe more often when you do physical activity. In contrast, your body needs to restrict how much air you breathe, if the air contains irritants or toxins to protect us from it.
To adjust your breathing and changing needs, your body has many sensors in your brain, blood vessels, muscles, and lungs.
Sensors in the brain and in two major blood vessels (the carotid (ka-ROT-id) artery and the aorta) major blood vessels, detect carbon dioxide or oxygen levels in your blood and change your breathing rate as needed, it is just amazing what the body does and we are not even aware of its work.
Sensors in the alveoli (air sacs) can detect fluid buildup in the lung tissues. These sensors are thought to trigger rapid, shallow breathing.
Sensors in your joints and muscles detect movement of your arms or legs. These sensors may play a role in increasing your breathing rate when you’re physically active.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hlw/controls
What Happens when we breathe?
Breathing In (Inhalation)
When you breathe in, or inhale, your diaphragm contracts (tightens) and moves downward. This increases the space in your chest cavity, into which your lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also help enlarge the chest cavity to contain your different amounts of air inhaled. They contract to pull your rib cage both upward and outward when you inhale.
As your lungs expand, air is sucked in through your nose or mouth. The air travels down your windpipe and into your lungs. After passing through your bronchial tubes, the air finally reaches and enters the alveoli (air sacs).
Let’s see how it works
About 18 – 20 times a minute, you breathe in, keep in mind that this is an average count. When a doctor wants to know how are you breathing he or she puts his or her hand on your shoulder or back and looks at the clock, they are keeping track of how many times you breathe within one minute. This is how one of your vital signs is measured, called “respiration.”
When you breathe, you inhale air and pass it through your nasal passages where the air is filtered, heated, moistened and enters the back of the throat. The esophagus (food tube) is located at the back of the throat and the trachea (windpipe) for air is located at the front of the throat. When you eat, a tiny flap called the “epiglottis” closes down to cover the windpipe so food won’t go down the wrong pipe. Here it is important to remember that breathing is meant to be done through the nose not the mouth for very specific biological reasons!
WHAT ARE THOSE TINY AIR SACS FOR?
Air flows down through the windpipe, past the vocal cords (voice box), to where the lowest ribs meet the center of your chest. This is where your windpipe divides into two tubes which lead to each of the two lungs that fill most of your ribcage. Each lung feels just like a sponge. Inside each of your sponge-like lungs, there are tubes called bronchi which branch into even smaller tubes just like the branches of a tree. At the end of these tubes are millions of itty bitty bubbles or sacs called alveoli. If you were to spread out flat all of the air sacs in the lungs of an adult, the tissue would cover an area about a third of the size of a tennis court.
Respiratory-system-diagram
HOW DOES THE OXYGEN/WASTE EXCHANGE WORK?
This phenomenal exchange works with the assistance of the red blood cells in your bloodstream. Your red blood cells are like boxcars on a railroad track. They will show up at the sacs at just the right time, ready to trade in old carbon dioxide that your body’s cells have made for some new oxygen you just breathed in. During this process, the red blood cells turn from purple to a sparkling red color as they start carrying the oxygen to ALL the cells in your body.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CARBON DIOXIDE?
The carbon dioxide (waste) that your body made and now can’t use will go through the lungs, back up your windpipe and out with every single exhale. This is a chemical exchange of breathing in and out (inhalation/exhalation). This is an automatic process that you don’t even have to think about. Unless of course, you smoke, then you’d be depriving ALL of your cells of oxygen.
What Controls Your Breathing?
According to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hlw/controls
At the base of your brain is a respiratory control center that controls your breathing. This center sends continuous signals down your spine and to the muscles involved in respiration.
These signals ensure your breathing muscles contract (tighten) and relax regularly. This function allows your breathing to happen automatically, without you being aware of it, is pretty amazing don’t you think aside from all the work that the body does with us running around all day!.
Your breathing will change depending on how active you are and the condition of the air around you. For example, you need to breathe more often when you do physical activity. In contrast, your body needs to restrict how much air you breathe, if the wind contains irritants or toxins to protect us from it.
To adjust your breathing and changing needs, your body has many sensors in your brain, blood vessels, muscles, and lungs.
Sensors in the brain and in two major blood vessels (the carotid (ka-ROT-id) artery and the aorta) major blood vessels, detect carbon dioxide or oxygen levels in your blood and change your breathing rate as needed, it is just amazing what the body does, and we are not even aware of its work.
Sensors in the airways detect lung irritants. The sensors can trigger sneezing or coughing. In people who have asthma, the sensors may cause the muscles around the airways in the lungs to contract and tighten. This makes the airways smaller.
Sensors in the alveoli (air sacs) can detect fluid buildup in the lung tissues. These sensors are thought to trigger rapid, shallow breathing.
Sensors in your joints and muscles detect movement of your arms or legs. These sensors may play a role in increasing your breathing rate when you’re physically active.
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Stay tuned for parts two and three in the upcoming weeks to learn specific Pranayam breathing technics that you can use in your daily life.