Many people are unaware of the importance of proper breathing and use only a fraction of their breathing capacity. This results in inadequate supply of oxygen, especially to the brain, which may cause degradation of vital organs. The practice of ‘Pranayama’ helps one to fully utilize all lobes of the lungs and to normalise the breathing rate.

Brain requires more oxygen than any other organ and its inadequate supply may result in mental sluggishness, negative thoughts and depression. The elderly lot faces this problem more often. Proper oxygen supply is also essential for the body to metabolize food efficiently and to get rid of all the noxious by-products, especially carbon-dioxide.

Often what’s wrong with breathing in many persons is that it’s too shallow and quick. The rising stress of modern life and the resultant negative emotional states affect the breathing rate. The result is oxygen starvation and a toxic build-up.

The importance of proper breathing was realized thousands of years ago. Hata Yoga Pradeepika says thus: ‘As long as there is breath in the body, there is life. When breath departs, life also departs. Therefore regulate the breath.’

The yogic art of breathing is called Pranayama (controlled intake and outflow of breath). Prana is usually translated as breath, though this is only one of its many manifestations in the human body. “He who knows pranas knows veda’ – say Upanishads. Prana is the sum total of all energies that is manifest in the universe. It is the sum total of all the forces in nature. Prana is not the air itself but the subtle life-giving element extracted from the air. The more life-force you have in your body, the more ‘alive’ you are.

Ancient sages knew that all bodily functions were performed by five types of vital energies (five pranas). And according to Yogis, prana, mind and breath are very closely connected. It’s prana that makes the lungs capable of breathing and when we breathe in, we’re receiving the cosmic prana, which energises the whole body. The practice of Pranayama regulates the flow of prana throughout the body. It also regulates the thoughts of the practitioner and bestows him with a calm mind.

An average person takes around 500 cubic centimetres of air during normal inhalation. But in deep breathing, the intake of air is increased upto 3000 cubic centimetres, about six times greater. With the practice of Pranayama, the respiratory system functions at its best and as a result, the circulatory system also functions more effectively. And the resultant better detoxification opens the doorway to good health.

With Pranayama, one can fully utilise all lobes of the lungs and normalise breathing rate. He learns how to make the breathing uniform, continuous and rhythmic. Following are some of the basic practices for those who wish to learn pranayama. These can be practiced even by aged persons.

Abdominal breathing

Sit comfortable in a cross-legged position on the floor or lie flat on your back in the corpse pose. You can place one hand on the abdomen to feel it rising and falling. Relax your mind and body. Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose, feeling your abdomen expand and rise while keeping the chest still. As you exhale, feel the abdomen sink down. When you inhale, expand the abdomen and contract it when you exhale. Practice this exercise for 10 cycles (one cycle equals one inhalation and one exhalation).

Benefit: Breathing slowly and deeply brings air to the lowest part of your lungs and exercises your diaphragm which can greatly enhance breathing capacity. It relaxes mind and body, massages internal organs, calms emotions and induces good sleep.

Rib cage breathing

Sit comfortable in a cross-legged position on the floor or lie flat on your back in Savasana. Hands may be relaxed by the sides or you can place hands on the sides of the ribs to feel them expanding and contracting. Gently contract the abdomen. Inhale slowly through the nose into your rib cage. Don’t pull the breath deep into your lungs, but keep it focussed between your ribs. Feel the ribs expand outward and the chest open as you breathe in. As you exhale, feel the ribs contract inward. Repeat five times.

Benefit: Relaxes the mind and the body and strengthens lungs.

Complete breathing

Sit comfortable in a cross-legged position on the floor or lie flat on your back in the corpse pose. Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on the rib-cage to check your breathing. Inhale slowly through the nose, feel the abdomen expand first, then the rib cage, and finally feel the air filling the upper chest. Your abdomen will automatically be drawn in as the ribs move out and chest expands. Slowly exhale, emptying the lungs from top to bottom. Keep the body without jerks. Try to make inhalation and exhalation uniform. Don’t hold your breath in between. Inhalation is done from the bottom up and exhalation from the top down. Repeat five times.

Benefit: helps reduce tension and stress in your life. You can use it anywhere, anytime to calm your mind and body. Use this technique to centre yourself before your meditation and before asana practice to make them even more effective.

Proper practice of Pranayama with Yoga asanas can give you wonderful results but at the same time if done wrongly, it can have long lasting adverse effects in your body. Pranayama comes as the fourth stage in the Ashtanga Yoga, where the previous ones require complete control of the mind and the body. In Pranayama, one is dealing with the basic energy of the self and to master that one has to go miles and miles.

(The author MP Jayadevan is a Yoga-ReiKi trainer)