Why is our breath so special?

Have you ever asked yourself why we say “… took my breath away” or “just breathe, keep breathing” or “I can’t breathe” although we might be in an open space with ample fresh air?

Breathing is without any doubt the single most important and most performed activity throughout our life; the first one after we enter this world and the last one before we leave it.

In Yoga and Ayurveda, the breath is seen as the carrier of Prana, the cosmic life force, the spark of life. Without Prana, we won't exist and wherever it is missing in our body, diseases can develop.

The Yoga scriptures regard the breath as one way to calm our mind and focus, as a path leading to meditation, or even a connection with a higher concept.

What happens when we breathe?

The in-breath provides us with necessary oxygen and fresh pranic energy. The outbreath removes carbon dioxide and other components that the body doesn’t need any longer.

Our breath is mainly subconscious, all happens without our active input, whether we are awake, sleeping, being unconscious, our breathing safeguards our survival.

This isn’t all though, we can breathe consciously, hold our breath at will, and breathe in and out for a particular length of time, we can choose to influence this process consciously if we wish.

 Breathing and stress

The breath enables us to influence the stress response.

Stress is an individual experience because what stresses me is that you might enjoy or not get disturbed by it and vice versa.

When we get stressed, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in and makes us breathe shallow and fast, it increases our heart rate, and sends energy away from the digestion to the muscles, in short, we get ready to either run for our life or fight or rather meeting a deadline or not, meeting our expectations or not and so forth.

We can influence the stress response by actively breathing deeply. This signals our nervous system that all is ok, and we settle back to the rest-and-digest mode of the parasympathetic nervous system.

In the 1950s, American cardiologist Herbert Benson recognised the relationship between deep breathing and relaxation and its importance to stress-related issues, like heart diseases. He coined the expression of the 'Relaxation Response'. He noticed that deep breathing, feeling warm and safe, as well as focusing our mind led to our nervous system relax. This knowledge offers us an incredible (and free) superpower to beat stress.

But this is nothing new, over 2000 years back, Yogis of old knew about the power of the breath and recommended it for calming the mind and regaining focus.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras state in its first chapter:

The emphasis in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (HYP) is laid on respiratory health recommending clearing phlegm with techniques such as Kapalabhati, Bhastrika and Nadi Shodhana first, before practising further breathing techniques.

If we could dedicate 5 or 10 minutes daily to tap into this energy of calm, we would stay connected, and our body and mind could find their way back into that state of balance faster, which Yoga sees as our natural state as being calm.

Where to start?

A good way to ease into a regular practice is by exploring the breathing spaces.

We circle back to the beginning of this post, we can check how we feel, how our breath feels, and how the body responds to the breath.

We might think that we feel good and calm, however, our breath might be erratic, or shallow and our chest might feel tight. If we truly would feel calm our breath would be rhythmic and deep, so we might think that all is ok, but your body or more precisely, your nervous system, differs.

Tuning in with our breath helps us to understand how we feel, this in return enables us to take actions, such as stepping back and taking a few deep breaths, letting go of what is held.

There are three main spaces:

• abdominal space navel area and lower abdomen.

• thoracic space midribs.

• and clavicular space, upper chest.

When we fill all three spaces in one breath, it is called a full Yogic breath.

As mentioned, deep breathing or full Yogic breathing calms our nervous system by shifting it from stress into rest-and-digest mode. But there is so much more to it, full Yogic breathing

• improves our energy levels.

• strengthens the breath related muscles (diaphragm, intercostals, abdominal and certain neck muscles).

• rhythmic breathing aids our digestion.

• helps us to acquire breathing skills to consciously direct our breath as needed, which creates focus.

• helps us to make better decisions. Yes, when we feel relaxed our decisions come from a more balanced viewpoint compared to when we feel stressed or rushed.

The 3-part breath serves us during our asana practice by adding focus and direction.

We can integrate it into our day-to-day life, when commuting, during difficult meetings, or those times when we work towards a deadline, and not to forget, when out in nature

Here are a couple of postures which help you to open these spaces. They can be practised by sitting on a chair, lying, or standing as well. Breathe deeply and direct the breath into the side or area that you feel open or stretch out a little.

Get started

The common narrative within the Yoga philosophy (Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali and HYP) is to do whatever you can but do it.

So, it is easiest to fit something new into our daily rhythm by integrating it into an activity that we already do, like going to bed, for example, we surely do that, right?

Evenings are a great time for breathing practices, helping us to let go of the day and experience more restful sleep.

You can lie on your bed if you like, bend your knees, place your hands on your lower abdomen, and start breathing deeply down to your hands. Feel the abdomen gently rising with the in-breath and sinking back towards the spine with the outbreath.

Follow the audio below for convenience.

Keep practising and be patient with yourself if deep breathing doesn't come just naturally. Even practising for a short time every day is more impactful than a long practice once a week.

Discover the power of your breath. Remember the benefits of coming into a state of calm and contentment, gaining higher energy levels, more clarity, and making better decisions. But the best of all, this tool is always with us.

Keep practising.

Katja x

PS Here is a poem that I just read, it contains the breath in a different function, as a messenger: Enjoy

Send Love, It Matters By Carrie Newcomer

Somewhere someone needs help.
Send love.
It matters.

If you can’t get there yourself,
then take a deep breath.
Breathe in the weight of their troubles.
Breathe out and send all those burdens
into the Light
where sorrows can be held
with the most tender and infinite grace.

Breathe in what you can do.
Breathe out what you can’t change.
Spool out a thread of connection,
send courage and calm.
For the nights can be long
and filled with shadows,
and sometimes terrible
unexpected waters will rise.

Somewhere someone needs help.
Send love.
It matters.