Using the breath for centering and grounding
Pranayama and the benefits of practicing breath patterns
Practicing pranayama is one of the eight limbs of yoga. Most people think of yoga as asana, or physical postures, but pranayama, or breathing practice, is also a part of the whole practice of yoga. When I learned about yoga in my late 20’s, I thought yoga was only about the postures. Practicing postures individually was my first type of practice and it wasn’t until several years later that I learned about coordinating the breath with the posture and moving from one posture to another with the breath. I think the first yoga teacher I had a VHS tape of was Rodney Yee, and I know I am showing my age talking about VHS tapes! But, that was the first time I had seen a type of flow with movement between the poses to transition from one pose to the next. It is something I still work on three decades later, but when I get my breath and my body moving well together, I am amazed at how centered and present I can feel.
I have only recently begun to dive into pranayama practices on their own without the coordinated body/breath movement, and it’s a fascinating practice. I want to acknowledge that many of the practices I have learned are from the Indian lineage of yoga and as I talk about the practices I have learned, I will offer the Sanskrit names as a way of respecting that lineage. I have seen credit being taken for particular breathing practices as if the practice was new or or names of practices are changed without giving credit to the origin of the practice.
The benefits that I have noticed with pranayama are that I feel more connected to my environment and to myself. I am able to maybe see things a little more clearly and with less judgement. I am also less attached to my feelings but I acknowledge the feelings instead of ignoring them or pretending they don’t exist. Because I have noticed these benefits, I have started sharing them when I guide yoga classes. Incorporating pranayama, asana, and dyhana (meditation) is, to me, a better representation of what yoga can be. There’s something about being in community with others and practicing these tenets of yoga that seem to bring about a more embodied and centered practice in my opinion.
I’ll invite you to listen to the accompanying audio for a guided pranayama practice today. I’ll go through each of these breath patterns in the audio.
Sama vritti (box breathing) with a link to a previous post on this breath pattern. In this audio, the practice starts at approximate 5:30
Nadi shodana (alternate nostril breathing) is good for balancing Ida(left) and Pingala(right) energy and starts at 10:00
Simha (Lion’s breath) is good for stress relief and emotional releases and starts at 17:00
Sitali breath (cooling breath) is good to help reduce body heat and starts at 21:00
Sama vritti (cyclic breathing-equal inhale length and exhale length with no pauses) is good for reducing heart rate and blood pressure and starts at 25.30
I’d love to know how these resonate with you!
Take care,
Sharon