Breathing

Breathing is natural, normal and automatic for most people. Breathing just ‘happens' and generally we only notice our breath when we are ‘out of it' – for example after vigorous exercise or when we have a cold or other respiratory problem. Or perhaps when someone asks us to focus on our breathing.

However as we grow into adulthood for many reasons, we tend not to make the best use of our breathing capacity. The breath is the most critical and vital process of the body. It is linked with the performance of the brain; just as the brain controls the breath, so the breath controls the functioning of the mind. Breath influences every cellular activity, fuelling the body. Respiration is actually the process of burning of oxygen and glucose, producing all the energy to keep us alive. We breathe, taking air into our lungs, but our cells also breathe, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide, a critical process of waste elimination and energy production.

Most people breathe around 15 times per minute, but only use a small part of their lung capacity. This shallow breathing is inefficient and deprives the body of oxygen. If the oxygen balance is not correct the physiological effect is to cause anxiety, this anxiousness results in shallow breathing which further compromises the oxygen balance and hence a vicious circle is established. Deep breathing calms the mind. Partly because the body has enough oxygen and the mind then becomes less anxious. But also, you will notice if you keep your finger on your pulse, as you breathe out the pulse rate actually slows down – the heart actually beats more slowly on the out breath.

Yoga techniques can really help us to improve the quality of our breathing and thus our health and vitality. Yoga teachers can help students to experience the benefits of improved breathing as long as we teach in a manner that does not build up tensions, constrictions or boredom.

Techniques which simply draw attention to the natural breath without trying to change it have been found to be the safest way to draw people into good breathing practice. These breath awareness techniques can be used as part of centring at the beginning of a class or relaxation in the middle, or at the end of the session.