The importance of breath

Breathing is a process that is fundamental to being alive.  It is an involuntary and, therefore, unconscious process controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS).  However, breathing is also an activity we can voluntarily control.  We can use our attention and awareness to manipulate our inhalation and exhalation; and we are able to change the depth, length and quality of our breath and in turn influence how we feel, think and behave.  It is believed that the ANS’s control of the breath is a place in which emotions and feelings can lie without conscious awareness.  A lack of conscious connection to this place can result in these emotions and feelings affecting the depth, length and quality of the breath and this can further shape our thoughts and behaviours.  For example, breathing only into the chest can give rise to tension and anxiety not dissimilar to sensations experienced when the sympathetic nervous system is activated (for example, in moments of fight, flight or freeze).  While this has its purpose, such as getting our body to react quickly in an emergency without overthinking, those sorts of situations occur few and far between. Consequently, this response is not necessarily that helpful and poor breathing or even damaged nasal passages or breathing muscles can impact both our physical and mental wellbeing.   

In contrast, good breathing can positively impact every single function of our body and mind.  There are various parts of the body involved in breathing but the main one is the diaphragm, an incredibly strong muscle which works with the lungs and chest cavity, using elasticity recoil and surface tension, to move and change the chest vacuum in order to allow the lungs to fill and empty.  This suction pressure massages the heart which helps improve blood return to the heart, thereby enhancing the circulation of blood in the body and reducing the need for the heart and veins to work so hard.  The more oxygen we can obtain in our lungs the better-quality blood our heart sends around our bodies to our limbs and organs.  This also includes our brain: we can gain mental clarity, improved cognition and relaxation with good breathing.  By taking long, slow breaths we can invoke the parasympathetic nervous system to allow us to rest and reset, reducing our heart rate, blood pressure, and allow our blood back into our prefrontal cortex which allows us clarity of thought.  This is something we can purposefully choose to do both in response to heightened emotions and prophylaxis.  I find taking a breath (especially an audible one) forces me to take a moment to think before I speak. This helps me ensure I am employing satya (truthfulness) in my day-to-day life as well as giving myself time to really hear what someone else may have said.  

The more my awareness of my breath has increased the more I have realised that whenever I begin a yoga or prāṇāyāma I begin yawning.  The deep diaphragmatic breathing is allowing my lungs to fill and empty fully, allowing the oxygen to reach the lower lobes and their alveoli.  Clearly this means I had not been breathing deeply prior to starting my practice: I had not been aware of how shallow and inefficient my unconscious breathing had been. Square/box breathing is something I have been teaching clients at work for a long time, however, when practising it myself, I have found it incredibly invigorating rather than relaxing or balancing.  This made me consider how others may find it after I have suggested such a breathing exercise to relax when it, in actual fact, might make them feel overly stimulated.  Therefore, I have been bringing it into the morning sessions I do and, in its place, using an alternative technique in the afternoon sessions when people are trying to calm and relax at the end of a busy working day.  My favourite prāṇāyāma is bhramarī and it is probably the practice I use most often, particularly in the car when I am in a rush (usually my own fault) and I need to quash my road rage.

Sometimes our breath is the only thing we can control in a difficult moment.  Given that you have to concentrate fully to manipulate the breath, this means breath control is intrinsically a mindfulness practice.  Focusing on and improving the quality of the breath during a yoga practice helps to connect the body with the mind.  Learning to use the breath as a channel for prāṇā allows our spiritual and energy koshas and sūkṣma śarīra (subtle body) to come into view.  In fact, we can even hope to attain true understanding through our practice that we are not simply our physical body and that the subtle energy frameworks perhaps comes first before the material body. 

All creatures of the world are breathing the same breath and that this breath really is coming from the cosmos.  This coheres to the great expansion and contraction of the cosmic universe, how it is one big inhalation as the universe expands and is likely to then contract in on itself again.  This made me think also of the sea tides and how they also flow in and out like the breath.  Imagining my breath like a wave coming in and out is one my favourite prāṇāyāma practices and meditations.  It really reminds me how amazing this world is and how full of energy and śakti every single part is.  Picturing myself breathing in this cosmic and earthly energy is incredibly grounding and revitalising.

If we can directly influence our breath, this begs the question of whether there are other parts of our body controlled by the ANS that we could gain conscious supervision or even direction of.  It is amazing how we can learn to take control of something so primary to experience the multiplex of spirituality.  There must be a reason why we can do this and it is truly exciting to know there is so much to consider and explore in the future of my personal yoga practice.