CHAPTER 4. Pranayama

CHAPTER 4. Pranayama Chapter 4. Pranayama 1 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual Pranayama Basic Anatomy of Breathing Breathing Muscles 1. The diaphragm is responsible for 75% of inhalation force, making it the primary respiratory muscle by far. The other primary respiratory muscles are the intercostals between the ribs and the abdominal muscles that girdle the front of the belly. 2. The secondary respiratory muscles are the scalenes and sternocleidomastoids in the front of the neck, the pectoralis major in the chest and the upper trapezius in the back of the neck. 3. This categorization of muscles is cited in The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi. Other systems name the diaphragm as the primary muscle, the intercostals and the abdominals as secondary muscles, and the neck and chest muscles as tertiary muscles. Breathing Rate 1. A normal breath rate is 10 to 14 breaths per minute (BPM); 20 or more indicates a panic attack 2. Optimal carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange is at 6 or fewer BPM. 3. A relaxed pause at the end of the exhalation releases the diaphragm briefly from the negative and positive pressures exerted across it during breathing. Breathing through the Nose 1. Breathing through the nose provides at least 50% more resistance to airflow than breathing through the mouth. Breathing through the nose helps create slow, rhythmic breathing, and helps to maintain normal elasticity of the lungs and good heart function. 2. All pranayama and breathing techniques are done inhaling and exhaling through the nose unless otherwise indicated. Causes of Dysfunctional Breath Patterns 1. Biomechanical – post surgical or postural 2. Biochemical – allergies or infections 3. Psychosocial – chronic emotional states (anger, anxiety, depression) Hyperventilation The most common dysfunctional breath pattern by far is hyperventilation or breathing more rapidly than the body requires. 1. With both chronic and acute hyperventilation the problem is not too much oxygen (O2). The bloodstream can only absorb so much of it, and the excess gets breathed right back out again, Chapter 4. Pranayama 2 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual unchanged. The effects of hyperventilation come from breathing out too much CO2, which maintains the body’s acid-base balance. 2. If you hold your breath, your blood (and therefore your entire body) starts to become more acidic. If you breathe more than your body needs, your body begins to turn more alkaline. 3. Hyperventilation affects the brain, nervous system and circulatory system, causing the heart to beat faster and the coronary blood vessels to constrict. 4. The body works harder when hyperventilating. The O2 cost of breathing goes from less than 2% to up to 30% of total O2 consumption. 5. Rapid breathing increases turbulence within the airways, which is important in obstructive lung diseases such as asthma. Psychosocial Aspects 1. How we breathe and how we feel are intimately conjoined in a two-way loop. Feeling anxious produces a distinctive pattern of upper chest breathing leading to a chain reaction of effects and inducing anxiety, reinforcing the pattern. 2. We can imagine and anticipate situations that invoke stress and thereby have stress reactions including stressed breathing patterns based on imaginary projections. 3. When teaching breathing, remember that emotional factors are often unconscious. 4. Sometimes dysfunctional breathing patterns, regardless of their origin, are maintained by pure habit. What Do Your Beginning Students Need to Be Sensitized To 1. Abdominal vs. upper chest breathing 2. Ratio of inhalation to exhalation (fostering a long, complete exhalation) 3. Rhythmic coordination of breathing muscles 4. Posture and its effects on Pranayama Much of the information in this document is taken from Multidisciplinary Approaches to Breathing Pattern Disorders, by Chaitow, Bradley, Gilbert Chapter 4. Pranayama 3 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual Pranayama and the Subtle Body Breath practices are our gateway to the subtle energetic body, the bridge between the physical and the astral. The acknowledgment of breath as sacred is ancient. It is significant to note the words for breath in many languages point to the understanding of breath as a link to the subtle planes. In Latin, Spiritus means both breath and spirit. In Greek pneuma means wind, spirit and breath. In Hebrew, ruach, means spirit or breath. As we focus attention on the breath, we often move from the physical body (annamaya kosha) to a sense of things more subtle. Breath work moves us into the pranamaya kosha – the energy body. Various breath practices can awakening and enlivening our felt sense of energetic movements through our system. Some of the practices leave a subtle imprint, while the effect of others, like Kapalabhati, are hard to miss! Approaching these practices with patience and curiosity is advised for both you and for your students. Prana – life force energy or “the force that motivates life.” On the subtle level prana is said to run through the chakras and the nadis (subtle energy channels). When prana is heightened, it allows a blossoming of pure consciousness. Ayama – to lengthen or extend Richard Rosen defines pranayama: “to expand and extend our supply of live force energy”. Many other popular sources cite the definition of Pranayama as “controlling the breath”. While it is true that the practices overlay a pattern on our habitual breathing, at no time do we want to use force or an attitude of domination or manipulation of the breath that results in strain or gripping. More, we want to cultivate a relationship with the breath based on curiosity and invitation. A relationship of welcoming and inviting the breath to take a certain shape or pattern. A relationship based on kindness and allowing will lead to freedom of our natural breath and greater ease in our bodies and minds. From one perspective, there is an element of control, life force energy (breath) is retained, suspended, abbreviated, extended and patterned to result in certain energetic states. Hopefully this is done with a softness of heart, a gentle listening to the needs of the body and breath rather than with the dictates and judgements of a rigidly striving mind. More significant than any fancy patterned breathing or days long retentions, is the way that the breath creates a contrast between what is changing and what is unchanging. As we spend time with the breath, a quality of dynamic stillness issues forth and the inhalation and exhalation both, become pointers back to the stillness from which they arise and return. Let this stillness pull at your curiosity and at your heart and see where it lands you! Chapter 4. Pranayama 4 Yoga on High © 200-hour Teacher Training Manual Pranayama Teaching Breathing Both breath awareness and breathing techniques are an important part of training for every level of student you teach. Most people do not breathe efficiently or easily and are not aware of the various restrictions in their breathing patterns. These restrictions have a number of causes including habit, poor posture, tension or long-held emotions. Even in the most experienced students some long-held patterns release very slowly. There are five main questions and principles to keep in mind when teaching breathing to beginners. 1. Are they breathing? Are they holding their breath? For the few first few weeks of class, it is probably enough to focus on whether students are breathing through their noses and whether the right parts of their bodies move as they breathe. Check to see that the students are in fact breathing while they do the postures and the relaxation. It seems to be human nature to hold the breath when we are doing something new or something difficult. Most beginners hold their breath. As the teacher, discern which students habitually hold their breath, and train them to recognize their own patterns. Simple things like getting students to notice at any particular time whether they are inhaling or exhaling can be very helpful. Ask them to notice how they are breathing when they are in a car or in an argument. 2. Are students breathing through the nose? The nose is designed for breathing as it cleans and warms the air going into the lungs. The inside of the nose is lined with very special tissue and nerve endings that stimulate and calm the brain. Swami Satchidananda told his students, “If you want to breathe through your mouth, then you should eat through your nose.” (It’s silly but people laugh at this saying and they remember it forever.) If people are really congested, they can breathe through the mouth, returning to nose breathing as quickly as possible. 3. Is there movement associated with the breath? Many beginners have scarcely any body movement when breathing. Ask them to notice what moves when they breathe and what does not. The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi describes the natural oscillation of the body with the breath. As one becomes familiar with the natural movements of the breath in a relaxed body, begin to guide students to find these movements within themselves. Have them watch babies and sleeping spouses’ breath, noticing how the body moves when it breathes. Two good poses for teachers to use when watching for beginners’ breathing patterns are Savasana and Balasana (child’s pose). In Balasana, touch places on the students’ backs and ask them to breathe into your hands. Encourage them to breathe into the upper, middle and lower back. Tadasana with the hands in Namaste position gives students a reference point in looking at the breath. On an inhalation, students should be able to feel the breastbone floating forward toward the hands and the side ribs spreading out toward the upper arms. Chapter 4.

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