Vitamin Breath – Breathe On!! Live On!!

                My grandmother laid still and the doctor checked – Is she breathing.  No. She announced her dead. Take note and understand, “Breath” defines if you are alive or dead. Stop for a moment and understand, “Breath” is the most vital process of our lives. Just to give some numbers – we breathe 15 times in a minute, which makes it 21600 times in a day. Each and every cell of our body needs oxygen. Brain functioning is heavily dependent upon the oxygen supply it receives via blood. We inhale the air, the lungs extract the oxygen from the air and the blood carries the oxygen to different parts of our body.

According to Yogic texts, “Breath” is the process at the boundary of the conscious and sub-conscious mind. It is largely a sub-conscious process, but can be done consciously. We are not extracting just the “Oxygen” from the air. With each breath, we are extracting “Prana” (the life force) from the air and the corresponding energy. The “Pranayam” of the Ashtanga Yoga focuses exclusively on breathing. Different “pranayama” techniques advocate different breathing techniques to purify, control and expand your “Pranamaya” kosha of the body.

Before we switch on to “pranayama”, we should understand the breathing as a process – to know if we are breathing correctly. There are three types of breathings – abdominal, thoracic and clavicular. Abdominal breathing is primarily using diaphragm, thoracic is using your chest and clavicular uses your shoulders and collar bones. Best breathing technique is amalgamation of all these three breathing techniques.

As a guideline, the inhalation, retention and exhalation of the breath should be in the ratio of 1:4:2. The reasoning behind the additional time of retention and exhalation is the maximum absorption of oxygen and ‘prana’ by the body and correct disposal of the waste from the body. It is recommended to do “deep breathing” for qualitative benefits. Just by correct breathing techniques, we can improve the body functioning, stability of the mind and tap into the sub-conscious part of the mind. Vitamin Breath is often neglected and extremely beneficial of all aspects of life.

Breathe On!! Live On!!