Know Breath

YOGIC BREATH

left nostril breathing helps calm

Right now, take a deep breath. Every good, yogic breath starts with an exhalation. So let the breath go from deep in your belly. This provides room for your inhalation. Once your exhalation is complete, inhale.

Once your inhalation is complete, exhale. Continue to breathe consciously. Notice in your body where the breath comes easily, where it is restricted. As you practice Long Deep Breathing, your focus on muscles of the abdomen, chest and shoulder areas begins to recede and the natural bellows like motion of the entire diaphragm is felt as one.

Yogis teach that the breath is the life of the mind. This means that the quality of our thoughts and emotional responses is determined by our breathing. Breath is our direct link to our spirit, mood, energy, and hopefulness.

A R E    Y O U   B R E A T H I N G ?

It is written in the yogic scriptures that a human is given a particular number of breaths in life. When we breathe long and deep, we extend our life, and when we breathe with a short, hyper, or shallow breath, we shorten our life. 

INHALE
through the nose
Stomach
Pushes Out
EXHALE
through the nose
Stomach Pulls In

LONG DEEP BREATHING

Either sitting in easy pose or corpse pose, relax your chest and shoulders.

Draw a long deep breath through your nose. Inhale,

filling the abdomen, or even pushing it out. As the

muscles of the abdomen draws down the diaphragm,

consciously move the air down into the lower area of

the chest cavity. Feel the lungs filling in and through the chest. Imagine a big pitcher slowly filling with water. You are filling your lungs with air, starting at the bottom and slowly reaching the top.

Once the lungs are completely filled in this manner,

hold the breath lightly for a moment. Donít lock your neck or tense your body. Just suspend the breath. Then as you exhale, rather than contracting the chest,

slowly allow the abdomen to shrink back, your abdomen will move in towards your spine. Contract the

entire length of the diaphragm, from the upper chest to the abdomen, so that all the air is squeezed out.

Know breath, know life. No breath, no life.