Did you know that in a 24 hour period we breathe, on average, anything between 17,000 to 22,000 times? Most people take on average 12-25 breaths in one minute which is considered a 'normal' range.
Yogis believe that we are born with a finite number of breaths, to use as we will in this life. A fixed credit if you like, which if used intelligently can go much further. In their view if one learns to slow down the breath then one also extends life and they have estimated that 15 breaths a minute translates to approximately 80 years of life.
Another interesting fact about the breath is that the 'air' we breathe is made up mostly of nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up about 79% of each breath, with oxygen being only 16% and carbon dioxide about 4 %. Interestingly, something I had not realised until recent years is that we breathe, not because we need oxygen, but out of a need to discharge carbon dioxide from our system.
Yoga understands the breath not just as this exchange of gases, but also of the breath being the carrier of Prana, the universal energy that drives and animates us, what Swami Sivananda described as “the sum total of all the energy in the universe”. This understanding is in fact shared with a lot of other cultures; the Islamic and Sufic ruh, the Greek pneuma, and the Chinese qi, all sharing this understanding that the breath carries with it our 'life force'.
Whilst recently facilitating a day retreat with a focus on pranayama kosha, our 'breathing' body, a participant spoke of the beauty of the experience of coming back to the breath. The moment one realises the attention has gone somewhere else and subsequently moves back towards it. To me it is a feeling of coming home, of moving into my centre and being comfortable in my own skin, coming into a space of resting on the breath.
I have often said that if a yoga practice has no regard to the breath then it is not a yoga practice but perhaps another form of exercise. It is worth remembering that yoga means "to yoke", to bring together, and therefore practically it is the yoking of all of our aspects or layers into one coherent whole of what it means to be 'me'. The physical form, of course, is a key ingredient in this recipe of 'me' but it is only one ingredient, which in the west has taken centre stage when one thinks about Yoga with sometimes very little attention being encouraged on the breath.
The first time I really started appreciating the effects a breathing practice can have on 'me' was during my yoga teacher training when we had to engage with various pranayama practices, which is the active control and manipulation of the breath, for a period of time and keep a diary of our experiences. It was such a revelation! It was nothing short of magical that I could, (just!) by breathing in a certain way (over a period of time) change the way I felt, I could increase my energy levels (in my 20s this one was particularly appealing) and subsequently I could change my living experience. If you pause to consider that for a moment, that is no small matter.
On some level we all have an awareness that there is a relationship between our breath and the way we feel. Most of us have experienced moments of panic, of anxiety, of trying to "catch our breath", of not having "enough room to breathe", also of sheer joy and what "a breath of fresh air" feels like, and feeling settled with plenty of "breathing space". Even so, most of us hardly ever pay attention to our breath and the ways in which we may habitually take the breath in and out which might affect both our physiology but also our psychological and mental wellbeing. Some of our habitual patterns might include mostly breathing in the chest, and only breathing shallowly, mouth breathing or often holding our breath, the list carries on.
It was not until recently however, whilst training as a yoga therapist that I came to really appreciate the effects the breath can have on how we experience life. Not something to be confined to the effects of specific pranayama practices but rather to appreciate the effects our breath, our natural day in and out breath, can have on our lives.
On the yoga mat we learn that postures and moving our bodies in a certain way has an effect on our physiology and our experience of wellbeing. Depending on the classes we attend and the practice we have we might also be learning that the way we breath into each posture can change the effect of the posture and thereby it can change our experience. Often, if not always, we finish a yoga practice and we are left with a feeling closer to Wellness than not, that can last into the rest of the day, maybe longer if we are lucky. And that is just the effect often of just being with our breath for an hour's practice! It changes our experience of our selves and subsequently on how we come up to meet the world.
But what happens off the mat? For the other 22-23 hours of the day? We still breathe, in and out, and the ways we do so will still affect us and change our potential experience of 'me', and life. As with anything in order to create movement in whatever direction, we first have to become aware where it is we are to move from. In this case, how aware are we of the ways we habitually breathe? Do we know our patterns, our preferences? Once these things are known perhaps we can start to introduce moments of awareness during the day where we can "check in" and by doing so perhaps encourage the breath to move in all of our spaces, to notice the spaces where the breath is not entering and by merely paying attention to the breath we might find that it starts to become an active participant in the yoking process of 'you'. On a physiological level we start to self-regulate and soothe the nervous system and thereby providing support for our optimal functioning.
Here is an idea: for the rest of the month, choose a specific moment in your day, it could be any moment, brushing your teeth, first cup of coffee, as you first sit on your desk to start the working day, the moment your keys go in the front door as you return home. It really does not matter what moment you choose, as long as you choose one, and you use it as a point of "checking in" and being with your breath for one minute, longer if you wish. You might find that this awareness slowly starts to extend beyond this "checking in" moment into other parts of the day and gradually you might start to change the way you experience life, moment by moment.
There are of course other ingredients that also add and shape our experience, such as our mind, our thought and feelings, what yogis understand as manomaya kosha, our mind body, but more on this another time.
If you would like to explore this more experientially come and join our next day retreat in the Finding Wellness series as we turn our attention to our emotional and thinking Self.
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