The Air Tattva is associated with the Heart Chakra, home of the heart and lungs. Virtually all of the body’s blood travels through the lungs every minute. So the quality of our breath has a direct impact on the quality of our overall health and well-being.
If we sit quietly and spend time breathing deeply, we will notice the lungs expanding and contracting with the breath. If we tune in more deeply, we will also notice that there are places within our bodies that feel shut off from the prana (life force) that is an integral part of the breath. Examination of these areas may reveal that emotional and physical wounds are stored therein – that the body has literally armored itself in response to trauma. We discover that we can make a conscious decision to reintegrate these fragmented aspects of ourselves through compassionate self-inquiry. In learning how to value and care for ourselves, we begin to authentically value and care for others.
Human beings have a symbiotic relationship with plants and trees: We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide; they breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. This is a reflection of the interdependency that we share with each other and all living things. Once we begin to see the world’s joy and despair as our own, the response that results from this connection is compassion.
By Nodia Brent-Lux
Breath is a key part of the Kundalini Yoga practice. We may use many different types of breathing during just one Kriya, and many meditation use various breathing techniques to help us reach an altered state of awareness.
Here's a little information about how left and/or right affects our moods and our brain:
When you are healthy both nostrils are constantly working simultaneously while you are breathing through your nose. However, one nostril is always more dominant than the other. Strangely, the dominant nostril switches every two and a half hours!
There is an actual science of nostril breathing called called Swara Yoga. This type of yoga explains that when one nostril is predominant, the other side of the brain is dominant. For example, if your right nostril is dominant, the left side of your brain will be dominant as well.
The right nostril is directly related to the sympathetic part of the brain, the “fight or flight” mechanism. On the other side, the left nostril is directly related with the parasympathetic part of the brain, the “rest and repair” mechanism.
According to this, breathing through the right nostril will make you tap into a more energetic state of mind, and breathing through the left nostril will make you relax and calm down.
In today’s world there is a tendency to use more of the “fight or flight” mechanism. This results in an unbalanced state of mind by creating more stress and lowering our immunologic defenses.
Fortunately, there are different basic breathing sets. Pranayamas will help you to regain balance and will even allow the yogi to tap into elevated states of being.
You should be able to switch nostrils by concentrating on them. The left side is directly related with calmness, and the right nostril with energy. So if you cannot sleep at night, lie down on your right side, apply slight pressure to the right nostril and breathe through the left.
Yogi Bhajan used to teach us that, when having an argument, it would be wise to wait two-and-a-half hours. After the break, return to the initial argument and you will see that your whole mental state has been altered to the other side.
Breath
The first and last things we do in this physical lifetime is we breath. Along with oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, the breath contains prana, the life force. The breath is a fundamental tool for the Kundalini Yoga student. The average rate of breathing for most people is about sixteen times per minute. When the rate of breathing increases, or if it becomes rapid and irregular, the mind also becomes disturbed and erratic.
Principles to remember
1. Your rate of breathing and your state of mind are inseparable.
2. The slower your rate of breathing, the more control you have over your mind.
3. The mind follows the breath, and the body follows the mind.
Average human breaths is 16 cycles minute
In breathe 79% nitrogen 20%oxygen 4% carbon dioxide
Out breathe 79% nitrogen, 16% oxygen 4% co2
4 phases of breathing inhalation/pause/exhalation/pause
Average breathing ½ litre pint, yogic breathing 3 ½ litre 7 pints
Alternative nostril breathing
L/R nostril breathing balances the both hemispheres of the brain so if you are using ones side of the brain more often use this to rebalance.
Use right thumb to close off right nostril. Inhale slowly through left nostril. Inhale slowly through left nostril. Now close left nostril with ring finger and release thumb off right nostril. Exhale through your right nostril. Now, inhale through right nostril. Pause. Use thumb to close of right nostril. Breathe out through left nostril. This is one round.
Alternative breathing – What it will do for you
1. Revitalizes you
2. Improves brain function
3. Cleanses your lungs
4. Calms an agitated mind
5. Merges the left “thinking” brain and right “feeling brain
6. Encourage a calmer emotional state
7. Improves sleep
8. Great preparation for meditation
9. Soothes your nervous system
10. Regulates the cooling and warming cycles of the body
11. Clears and boosts your energy channels
12. Enhances rest and relaxation
BENEFITS OF LONG DEEP BREATHING
This technique is intended to calm your mind, balance your emotions and integrate your body, mind and spirit. It utilizes full lung capacity of the lower abdominal, middle chest region and upper clavicle region. This is a three-part breath whereby you inhale and fill the lower abdomen first proceeding to expand your chest and then allowing the breath to fill the upper clavicle area. On the exhalation you slowly release the breath in the opposite order, emptying your lower abdomen last.
Normal breath for a man is 16-18 breaths per min and women it is 18-20 per min in yoga we want to practice lowering the breath to 8 breaths per min as this helps healing, 4 breaths per min stimulates the pineal and pituitary glands and raises consciousness and intuition.
Benefits are many such as relaxes ones mind, clears the nerve channels, assists with managing emotions, supports clarity, and cleans the blood.
Long Deep Breathing – What it will do for you?
1. Relax and calm you.
2. This relaxation is of an active rather than a passive kind. It will retune and reset your brain so that correct decisions will flow automatically in a crisis situation.
3. Filling of the lungs to capacity will feed your electromagnetic field. Revitalizing and readjusting your magnetic field will make you less liable to fall victim to accidents, sickness and negativity.
4. Pump the spinal fluid to the brain, giving greater energy.
5) Regulate the body’s pH (acid/alkalinity), which affects your ability to handle a stressful situation.
6. Reduce and prevent toxic buildup caused by not clearing the mucous linings of the small air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs.
7. Stimulate the production of chemicals (endorphins) in the brain, which eliminate the tendency to depression.
8. Cleanse the blood.
9) Energize, give greater alertness and awareness due to the life force (prank) in oxygen.
10. Give clarity, cool headedness, and positivity.
11. Aid in releasing blockages in meridian energy flow.
12. Activate and cleanse nerve channels.
13. Aid in speeding up healing, emotional and physical.
14. Aid in breaking subconscious undesirable habit patterns and addictions.
15. Reduce insecurity and fear.
16. Re channel previous mental conditioning on pain so as to reduce or eliminate pain (as, for example, in childbirth).
17. Restore the aura.
18. Give capacity to control your negativity and emotions.
19. As the lung capacity increases, the pituitary gland will begin to secrete and the intuitional power of the mind will begin to develop.
BREATH OF FIRE
“When you can command the navel point you can command your life”
Sit in easy pose with a straight back lengthen back of your neck and close eyes whilst turning eyes inwards to look at the middle of brow point. Place one hand on your heart and the other on you stomach. Breathe in through the nose and extend your stomach then pump the breath out through nose. Repeat this slowly to get started and continue building a rhythm. Use your hand on you stomach to lightly move the stomach in as you exhale and the hand on the heart to remember to move the air down into the belly.
If you get lost exhale and begin again. If fuzziness occurs lower chin and allow the air to circulate over the top of head. Build slowly continue for 5 mins and build up to no more then 31mins. K yoga is a technology and times have been set for reason so please stay in time zone and do not exceed. It’s a continuous breath through the nose with two to three breaths per second.
Breath of fire – What it will do for you?
1. Cleans the blood in three minutes.
2. Stimulates the solar plexus to release natural energy through out the body.
3. Raises the voltage of the nervous system.
4. Increases physical endurance when needed in a survival or competitive situation.
5. Strengthens shaky nerves.
6. Stimulates the navel point to generate constancy in both your mental and your physical realm. For example, it can help correct inability to keep a promise, inability to concentrate through distracting factors, etc.
7. Can help overcome addictions and cleanse you of the bad effects of smoking, drug taking, sugar, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.
8. Expands lung capacity for all round better health and happiness.
9. Helps focus the mind.
10. Expands lung capacity in a case where someone wants to suspend breathing for a longer period of swimming underwater.
11. Produces energy, mental and physical, for the entire system.
12. Releases toxins and deposits from lungs, mucous lining, blood vessels and cells.
13. Helps you regain control in a stress or survival situation.
14. Charges your aura and circumvent force to give you greater protection against negative forces.
Cautions for practicing breath of fire
If you fell dizzy when practicing breath of fire, you should stop and substitute normal breathing and build up slowly. If you suffer from vertigo, you should use caution in practicing this breathing exercise. Contradiction not to be done when pregnant, glaucoma, HP or menstruating because it heats up the body, also do not do mulabundha or inversions. Be careful if you have blood pressure, heart disease or suffer from stroke or epilepsy. Also, if you have acid or heat related gastric issues such as ulcers use Sitali breathing.
Sitali
Sitali pranayama is a well-known practice. It soothes and cools the spine in the area of the fourth, fifth and sixth vertebrae. This, in turn, regulates the sexual and digestive energy. This breath is often used for lowering fever. Great powers of rejuvenation and detoxification are attributed to this breath when practiced regularly. Doing 52 breaths daily can extend your lifespan. Often the tongue may taste bitter at first. This is a sign of toxification. As you continue the practice the taste of the tongue will ultimately become sweet.
Arjinder's note: Sitali breathing can help cool your physical body, as well as "cool off" mentally. It is also a way to reduce the craving for cigarettes.
Stick your tongue out and curl the edges up so you make a U-shape or a tube. Breathe in deeply through this tube. Then place your tongue on the upper palate of your mouth and tilt your head gently down and slowly exhale through the nose.