Image by Transguyjay via Flickr

Thanks to Rolf Sovik, author of Moving Inward: The Journey to Meditation, I’ve been increasingly obsessed with breath this week. 

What is amazing and powerful about our breath is that we don’t have to control it, but we can.  I don’t have to tell my body to inhale and exhale, but the fact that I can bring it to my conscious awareness makes it something that I can and should be mindful of.  Breath is like a food, a form of nourishment.  Sovik shares, “The lungs expand and contract over 20,000 times per day, consuming about thirty-five pounds of air—six times the weight of our daily intake of food and liquids.”  We all know that when we eat crap, we feel like crap.  Equally, when we breathe in a less than ideal manner, we will feel and function less than ideal.  For example, habitual chest breathing indicates to the brain and body that there is stress present, and we all know that routine stress leads to many maladies, both physical and emotional.

How do we know if we are breathing ideally? 
Use the senses- see it, feel it, hear it.

Sovik states about breath, “When breathing is relaxed, it shows itself most visibly in the lower half of the ribcage and abdomen.”  Watch a baby breathe.  Their belly rises and falls. 

Wait….their belly?  But the lungs are in the chest, right?

Click to animate...

Right, however, the lungs are not a muscle, and although the lungs obviously move, the bigger movement of breath comes from the diaphragm—the muscle right below the lungs that contracts and expands in order to contract and expand the otherwise immobile lungs.  When we inhale, the diaphragm contracts down into the abdomen (belly moves outward to make space) and the lungs stretch.  On an exhale everything relaxes back up and in.

This is the basic anatomical composition of relaxed breathing that you can see and feel in the body.  So try it…put your hands on your belly to feel it rise and fall.  Watch yourself breathe in the mirror and see your ribs expand OUT.  Notice as you breathe deeper, the chest moves less.  This is relaxed, idyllic breathing.

From a health and fitness standpoint, the diaphragm isn’t one that you’ll hear personal trainers trying to tone up or sexify.  But this muscle is directly connected to our very life force, and should be mindfully and consciously strengthened.  In addition to aiding meditation and cleansing the bodily systems, the yogic practices of pranayama (breath control and exercise) are tools to strengthen and tone the breathing muscle and its related anatomical assistants.

From a yoga perspective, the breath is the focal point and the foundation of the asana practice.  Not only does conscious breathing in asana aid in physicality of the breath (strengthening muscles, increasing lung elasticity and capacity, etc.) but it brings the mind to a focused state, moving the practitioner into the present moment and toward meditation.  The sound of the breath comes in handy here, which is one of the concepts behind Ujjayi pranayama.

Swami Svatmarama wrote of breath and yoga, “When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady.  But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life.  Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.”

There is SO MUCH to say about the benefits and importance of connecting breath + asana, but I’ll just say this—it simply feels amazing when one finally “gets the breath thing.”  You may have heard experienced yogis say something like, “The pose almost becomes effortless…” and thought “Shut the hell up with your effortlessness!” as you sweat and struggle in side angle pose.  But that is the power of the breath, and it is truly a mind-blowing experience and feeling.

So breathe on sister…deeply, smoothly, and intentionally!