siobhanbulfin's posterous

Breathe..

Yoga

One of the five principles of Yoga is pranayama or more simply, breathing exercises which promote proper breathing and breath control.
Most of us shallow-breathe. Proper breathing from a Yoga point of view is to bring more oxygen to the blood and to the brain, and to control prana or the vital life energy. It is believed by many, that these techniques can prevent major illnesses and cure minor ones.
Breathing is the only way of supplying our body and vital organs with oxygen and one of the only ways of ridding our bodies of waste. If the brain doesn't get sufficient supply of oxygen due to shallow breathing, then it may lead to degradation of all organs of the body.
Think about it. The brain needs more oxygen than any other organ in the body. If it doesn't get enough it an lead to mental sluggishness, depression and eventually vision and hearing decline. Say what? you say!

Oxygen purifies the blood stream.
We know how to breathe. We do it automatically.  We're breathing even when we're not aware of it. But our breathing becomes modified and restricted in various ways, not just momentarily but habitually. We develop unhealthy habits without being aware of it. For example:
  • We tend to assume positions such as slouching that diminishes lung capacity to function properly, which result in shortened breaths.

  • We also live in social conditions that are not good for the health of our Respiratory System i.e air-conditioned offices, polluted ares, around smokers etc

  • A normally sedentary person, when confronted with a perplexing problem, tends to lean forward, draw his arms together, and bend his head down. All these body postures result in reduced lung capacity. 

  • Under stress; we develop habits of forgetting to breathe.

  • The more we concentrate on something, the tenser the muscles become. This leads to the contraction of the muscles in your arms, neck and chest. The muscles that move the thorax and control inhalation and muscular tenseness clamp down and restrict the exhalation. So the breaths become shorter and we become fatigued from the decreased circulation of blood and from the decreased availability of oxygen for the blood because we have almost stopped breathing!
    •  Tomorrow - the exercises on HOW to breathe :) 


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    Yoga for Posterosies

    30384

    I just realised what a perfect tool Posterous is for sharing my love, learning and experience in yoga. I get a little evangelical about yoga so I'll try not to get preachy. I couldn't live without it. It keeps me calm, centred, focused, disciplined, strong, healthy and happy :) 

    I started practicing yoga in my late teens early twenties. I didn't really take it up seriously until a recurring neck-strain meant I was frequenting a chiropractor which I couldn't really afford at the time. Despite requests for exercises to prevent future strain, I didn't get any and felt I was on the way to a future of chiropractic dependency. So I went back to yoga, and this time stuck with it. My neck-strain subsided and eventually went away altogether and has never come back. Nine years ago I travelled to India and studied various forms of yoga over a period of 6 months and completed my teacher training. I have taught ever since and I practice every day.

    So tomorrow Posterosies, we start :)

    What do you need?

    One of the many wonderful things about yoga, is all you need is the space equal to the circumference of your body and you can do it anywhere. No special shoes, no mat if you're on carpet or have a towel handy, no travel to the gym. Just your body and your mind :)

    Namaste


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