DYNAMIC BREATHING EXERCISE

Articles In This Section:

· NOTHING MAGICAL IN YOGA

· YOUR BODY

· RELEASING STRESS WITH YOGA

· PURPOSE OF BREATHING

· PROER BREATHING

· DYNAMIC BREATHING EXERCISE

· METHODS OF RELAXATION

· YOGA DEVELOPED BY WATCHING ANIMALS

· IMPROVING THE BODY WITH YOGA

Try this first experiment in Dynamic Breathing: Stand straight but relaxed. Breathing as smoothly and rhythmically as possible, with the mouth closed, inhale slowly and deeply while expanding the diaphragm, then exhale by pushing the diaphragm in and up. Take as long to inhale as to exhale, although normally inhalation involves a shorter movement than exhalation. While striving to equalize and slow down your normal tempo, visualize your limbs as hollow tubes through which the life-giving prana is being drawn into your body. Picture this energy flowing into your organs, bathing your entire body and cleansing it. As you exhale, visualize fatigue and exhaustion passing out of your system along with the poisonous wastes you breathe out. Finish with what we call the "Cleansing Breath:" Inhale deeply, then, when your lungs are fully extended, expel the breath suddenly and energetically, using a quick inward jerk of the abdomen to drain the lungs of all air. Repeat the cleansing breath two or three times, and you will be amazed at its bracing effect. After you have become expert at Dynamic Breathing, you can practice it at odd times during the day.

Now for the physiology of relaxation and concentration:

On the face of it, talking about the physiology of mental attitudes may sound odd. It isn't, when you give it thought. But perhaps the concept of a purely physical aspect of what we habitually consider primarily mental states will become clearer if we stop to analyze their opposites—nervous tension and the inability to concentrate.

Do you remember being told, back when you were very young and frightened and facing a Big Moment, to take a deep breath, count to ten, then plunge ahead? What was that if not a time-honored trick for achieving relaxation through breathing? The young actor is advised to do this; so is the inexperienced public speaker—while the experienced ones do it almost as a reflex.

The Yoga sages discovered thousands of years ago that in order to gain complete control of the body and thus free the mind, it was imperative to get more out of the organs than is generally considered possible. We have just seen how correct breathing contributes to this. Next let us analyze relaxation itself and find out something about the positions the body needs to assume in order to relax. Let us also see how relaxation really is possible in postures which, to our Western eye, look like tortured contortions.

Phrased another way, what is the relationship between the Yoga positions, the asana and madras, and the physical as well as mental results claimed for them? Why is it so important to follow these routines? Why, in short, can't we simply relax in the old, orthodox way, slumped in a chair on lying in bed?