Breathing Basics
Breath control is a core pillar of an effective yoga practice, and at the same time is something that many practitioners struggle with. This includes teachers! Over the years I’ve noticed that some yoga teachers do not instruct on breathing at all, with many more only offering minimal reminders to continue breathing during challenging poses. While any instruction about the breath is a positive, we can do better. To that end, I’ve decided to write a series on yogic breathing exercises and their applications. While there are countless different breathing practices with many variations, there are some basic guidelines that apply to most. I thought I’d pull some of these guidelines together into one article (mostly so you don’t have to hear me repeat myself quite so much. . . )
While this list is by no means exhaustive, and does not apply to every single breathing exercise, you can rest assured that unless otherwise stated, these basics will apply to every breathing practice I share on this platform.
Posture
While some yoga teachers may skip instructions on the breath, few if any forget to remind us of our posture. While I’ll save my detailed opinions on posture for another post (in short- we are all unique, our spinal curves are all unique, and therefore optimal alignment will be slightly different for each of us), there are some general directions that will be helpful for most of us. Because it’s sometimes easier to practice a new breathing exercise while lying down, I’ve provided instructions for both seated and lying.
Sitting
Sit tall, with the shoulders stacked over the hips, the belly drawn in, and the chest slightly lifted. If on the floor, you can sit with the legs crossed or on the shins, whichever is more comfortable for you. If seated in a chair, make sure the feet can reach the floor, and that the knees are at a 90 degree angle. You may choose to have your back against a wall or the back of the chair for support. If so, make sure that the back is still upright.
Lying Down
If you choose to lie down, lie on a fairly firm surface to encourage healthy spinal alignment. If there is any discomfort in the neck, place a thin pillow or folded blanket underneath the head. I encourage you to try constructive rest, with the knees bent and feet flat on the floor. This helps takes pressure off the low back, which in turn relaxes the diaphragm. You can also place a pillow or bolster underneath your bent knees.
Breathing through the Nose
In most (though not all!) breathing exercises, we’re encouraged to breath in and out through the nose, keeping the mouth closed. It makes intuitive sense- mouths are for eating and talking, noses are for breathing. But more importantly, our noses are designed to be the first line of defense for the body from airborne diseases and contaminants. The nose is lined with a mucous membrane that warms and humidifies the air we breathe in before it reaches our lungs. That mucous, along with the small hairs lining the inside of our nostrils, also serves to catch any foreign bodies that may be trying to make their way into the respiratory system. With the world’s current focus on reducing the spread of COVID-19 and general concerns around boosting our immune system, switching to breathing through the nose should be the first change we make!
Focusing the Drishti (also known as just looking at one thing!)
When talking about breathing exercises, what we’re looking at is probably not the first thing that comes to mind! However, in the yogic practices, our point of focus is kind of a big deal. You know that saying, where the eyes go, the mind follows? Well, that should give you a sense of why we yogis care so much about this. When our eyes dart around from object to object, it can lead our mind to become more static and busy as well. And it’s much harder to get a distracted mind to notice what’s happening with the breath, let alone make any changes to it! So to take that out of the equation, we make choices for where to settle our gaze from the beginning, allowing us to let go of monitoring what’s happening in the outside world and instead turn our attention inward.
The most common focal point for the eyes is straight ahead and slightly down, as if you’re looking at the floor about 6 feet in front of you. This also tends to be the most comfortable, being a fairly neutral direction if our head is properly aligned above the shoulders.
Another option is to keep the eyes closed. The only problem with this is that the eyes sometimes still tend to dart around if we are feeling fairly activated. So be mindful of this, and if you choose to close your eyes, encourage your eyeballs to float softly under your lids, as if in suspended animation.
A third option is to focus the gaze on a specific object. A popular choice is a candle flame, as is used in trataka meditation, but you could choose anything within your line of sight. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s not something that’s fairly static, so as not to defeat the whole purpose of this exercise :)