WORKSHOPS

HATHA YOGA
Physical, Material and Spiritual Wellness of Being Human!

CHAPTER 8, EXCERPT:
THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF YOGA BY SWAMI VISHNU-DEVANADA

PRACTICAL LESSONS ON YOGIC BREATHING OR PRANAYAMA

We have now to deal with the exercises in pranayama. The first lesson in pranayama is to learn to control the motion of the lungs. The reason for doing so is to feel the finer motions that are going on within the body, which the Yogi says can be learned by controlling the motion of prana manifested in the lungs.

Before we go to breathing exercises, let us take a hasty glance over the mechanical arrangements where the respiratory movements are affected. The respiration takes place through elastic movements of the lungs and the activities of the side and bottom of the thoracic cavity. The trunk is divided into two portions, the thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. The thoracic cavity is occupied mainly by the lungs and the heart and is bounded by the spinal column, the ribs, the breast bone, and at the bottom of the lungs by the diaphragm. There are twenty-four ribs, which emerge twelve from each side of the spinal column. There are two types of ribs, true ribs and false or floating ribs.

The upper seven pairs are the true ribs, which are fastened directly to the breast bone and the lower five pairs are floating ribs. The thoracic cavity is separated from the abdominal cavity by the muscular partition known as the diaphragm, which plays an important part in respiration.

In the process of inhalation, the ribs are moved by the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm descends toward the abdominal cavity. The movement of the ribs and the intercostal muscles and the pull of the diaphragm downward expand the two elastic lungs. When the lungs are expanded by these respiratory muscles, a vacuum is created in the lungs and the air from outside rushes in.

The science of pranayama starts with the proper control of the diaphragm and the respiratory muscles, which will bring the maximum degree of lung expansion in order to absorb the greatest amount of the life-giving energy from the air.

In order to secure the greatest amount of air through minimum effort, you may do the following tests. These tests of your respiratory system will bring the knowledge that certain types of breathing bring a maximum amount of air into the lungs with less effort.

Test No. 1. Sit erect by keeping the spine, neck and head in a straight line. Now relax the abdominal muscles. Do not raise your chest and do not bend forward. If you have a watch with a second hand, count the number of seconds while you inhale. Now take a long breath while allowing the diaphragm to descend without raising the chest and shoulders.

Whether your diaphragm moves properly or not could be easily discovered by watching the movement of the abdomen. When the diaphragm contracts and its dome-shaped center becomes flattened, it thereby pushes the abdominal contents and makes the abdomen expand. Here the ribs and the intercostal muscles will be at rest. On the other hand, if the abdomen is contracted naturally the diaphragm cannot descend. Therefore the main test here is to watch the abdominal movements and you can easily discover that on inspiration, the dome-shaped diaphragm becomes flattened, thereby increasing the cubic capacity of the chest from above downward. Practice this breathing several times and then compare the result with the following two tests. Count the number of seconds you take to fill the lungs in each of these three tests and also make note of which of these three tests brings maximum air to the lungs.

Test No. 2. Sit erect. Keep your diaphragm still. Do not allow your abdomen to expand, because if the abdomen is expanding during breathing naturally it shows the diaphragm is functioning as stated in test No. 1. Now expand the chest and take a long deep breath. Here the intercostal muscles of the ribs expand the lungs partially and the diaphragm is in neutral position. Therefore the breathing is done absolutely through the actions of the respiratory muscles connected with ribs. Repeat this breathing several times and watch the difference between the No. 1 test breathing and No. 2 test breathing. Watch the duration of time it takes to breathe in and the quantity of air you can take into the lungs while inhaling. If you want to differentiate more clearly between these two breathings, repeat the two tests alternately; first the No. 1 breathing and then No. 2 breathing. See which one of theses breathings brings more air into the lungs. The test will show that the Yogic breathing is the correct way of breathing and what is Yogic will be discussed after finding the result of the third breathing.

Test No. 3. Now we know the difference between the No. 1 and No. 2 breathing. Now let us see the difference between No. 2 and No. 3 breathing.

Sit erect as in the previous position. Now contract the abdomen and draw it toward the thoracic cavity. Now take a deep breath by raising the shoulders and collarbones while the abdomen is contracted. Repeat it several times and then compare it with No. 2 breathing and see which one of these two brings in more air.

After the No. 3 breathing test try to find out for yourself the main difference among these three types of breathing and which one of these kinds of breathing brings in more air to the lungs with minimum effort. The result of the test you can see for yourself: that the No.1 breathing brings more air than the No. 2 and No. 3. No. 2 breathing was inferior to No. 1 breathing and brings less air than by the No. 1 breathing. But No. 2 breathing is better than No. 3. The worst of all breathing is the third one, where the shoulders and collarbones are raised and the abdomen is contracted while inhaling.

Many people breathe this third type of breathing, using maximum energy to get very little air. Many disease of the vocal organs and the respiratory system are noted in those who use this method of breathing.

I have tested this myself on some to the students who came to my Yoga class with asthmatic complaints. Almost every one of them raised the shoulders and collarbones while breathing and there was only very little expansion of their chests. I noticed in them that there was no downward movement at all of the diaphragm. Many of them recovered from the acute attack of asthma by correcting the breathing habits, along with proper diet.

The No. 1 breathing is known as deep breathing, No. 2 as chest breathing, and No. 3 as high breathing.

During the process of inhalation, the diaphragm plays a great part. This portion of the breathing where the diaphragm plays the major role is the No. 1 breathing, deep breathing, or low breathing. The diaphragm is a great partition muscle, which separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. It is dome-shaped or it presents a concave surface to the abdomen at rest. When the diaphragm is brought to use in low breathing, it presses upon the abdominal organs and forces out the abdomen. Naturally, in this type of breathing the lungs are given a freer play than in the other two types.

Though this type of abdominal breathing is the best, yet according to the Yoga system of breathing it is not a complete breathing exercise. The reason is that any one of these breathing methods fills only a portion of the lungs-the low breathing the lower and middle parts, chest breathing the middle and a portion of the upper regions, and the high breathing the upper portions of the lungs.

In the Yoga system of breathing, the first lesson taught is to use all the three methods of breathing simultaneously, starting from the low breathing and continuing to chest breathing and finally finishing with high breathing. Now during this type of inhalation process, the whole respiratory system comes into play and no portion of the lungs is left unfilled with fresh air. This type of breathing is known as Yogic breathing, wherein the entire respiratory organism responds to this method of breathing.


RATIO IN PRANAYAMA

Yogic breathing gives great attention to the process of exhalation; the ratio between inhalation and exhalation is 1:2. If the inhalation is one second the exhalation will be two seconds. The reason for making the exhalation longer than inhalation is to get maximum control over the lungs so that old foul air in the air sacs can be squeezed out.

It will not be out of place here to speak about lungs so that it will be easy to understand why Yogis emphasize exhalation rather than inhalation. As long as the air sacs are filled with old air, no amount of strength applied in inhalation can bring fresh air from the atmosphere. In ordinary breathing we squeeze out a very little volume of air from the apex of the lungs, leaving the base of the lungs almost inactive.

The lungs are spongy, porous, and their tissues are very elastic. The substance of lungs contains innumerable air sacs. The right lung consists of three lobes and the left one two lobes. Each lung consists of an apex and base. The base is directed toward the diaphragm and the apex is situated above, near the root of the neck.

When we breathe, we draw in air through the nose, after it has passed through the nose and the pharynx and the larynx, it passes into the trachea or windpipe, which in turn is subdivided into innumerable smaller tubes called bronchioles. The bronchioles terminate in minute subdivisions in the small air sacs of the lungs, of which the lung contains a great number. Each of these air sacs holds a portion of the inhaled air, from which the oxygen penetrates through the walls of the pulmonary capillaries. Then the blood takes up oxygen and released carbonic acid gas generated from the waste products that have been gathered up by the blood from all parts of the system. Owing to the contact of the blood, the air sacs are now drained of the pure oxygen and in turn they are filled with carbonic acid gas from the blood. Unless this accumulated foul air is squeezed out from these tiny air sacs, we cannot bring fresh air to them. As long as the air sacs are filled with old air, no amount of strength applied in inhalation can bring fresh air from the atmosphere. In ordinary breathing we squeeze out only a very little air from the apex of the lungs and the base of the lungs lies almost inactive, filled with stagnant air. Some people use only the base of the lungs for breathing, leaving the upper portion idle.

According to medical reports consumption is due principally to lowered vitality attributable to an insufficient amount of air being inhaled. Imperfect exhalation or emptying of the lungs allows a considerable part of the lungs to remain inactive and such portions offer an inviting field for bacilli, which attach the weakened tissues. Good healthy tissue will resist attack and the best and only way to have good, healthy lung tissues is to use the lungs properly by expelling all foul air and refilling with fresh air. This is one of the reasons that Yogic breathing emphasizes long, slow, deep exhalation so that as much as possible of the old stagnant air can be removed and be replaced with fresh air. The more air is squeezed out, the more fresh air rushes into the lungs from the atmosphere, as there cannot be any vacuum in the air sacs.

Therefore, for the practice of Yogic breathing the first lesson is started with inhalation and exhalation, keeping the ratio of 1:2, starting with four seconds of inhalation, double the time for exhalation that is, eight seconds. Then slowly increase the proportion under the guidance of a teacher. Everybody can in time reach to the higher proportions.

When the students are properly established in inhalaltion and exhalation, the next step is to retain the breath proportionately. According to the Yogic breathing, the ratio between inhalation and retention is 1:4. Retention is four times inhalation and exhalation is always twice inhalation. Hence the ratio between inhalation, retention, and exhalation is 1:4:2. The minimum schedule to start with is four seconds of inhalation, sixteen seconds of retention, and eight seconds of exhalation, and then slowly work up to five, twenty, and ten, to eight, thirty-two, and sixteen.

It is surprising to see that some persons can retain the breath for a good time but during long slow exhalation they soon are exhausted. This shows their breathing is not properly done. Some persons can take a long deep inhalation but when they are asked to breathe out for double the time of the inhalation, they find it is very difficult. To get maximum benefit from pranayama (Yogic breathing), students are always advised to start with inhalation and exhalation under the guidance of an able teacher who knows where the difficulty lies and who himself has gone through the various difficult stages. It is always advisable to do all the breathing exercises under the guidance of a Yoga teacher. The real qualification of a Yoga teacher is that he is very spiritual, kind-hearted, open-minded, and moreover he is absolutely selfless in his teachings and never commercializes his profession. Under the guidance of such teachers only can one make real progress in pranayama and spiritual practices. Moreover, a real teacher will not merely teach physical breathing alone.