THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BREATH

So we all breath, quiet a lot if you are aware. The breath you breath is what keeps you alive, if you stopped breathing then you would stop all together. I am sure you are aware of this but how aware are you of how you are breathing? Breathing is under the control of the medulla oblongata, the primitive brain stem and is something that we do involuntary. We go about our daily life not really thinking about how we breath unless we decide to or are made to.

Breath, life and energy are all interconnected and the word Prana is used to describe this, prana is the vital life force which is all around us weather you are aware of it or not.

"Vital energy force sustaining life and creation, permeating the whole of creation and existing in both the macrocosmos and microcosmos" ~ Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Swami Muktibodhananda, p624

When we begin to focus and draw awareness to the breath by conscious breathing we make the breath a more voluntary process and this has vast psychological, physiological and spiritual effects on us. As you become familiar with breathing when doing postures in yoga, as well as breathing techniques that you can be guided through safely with a qualified yoga instructor, you will begin to allow the oxygen to distribute more and more to tissues which then allows cellular processes to enhance and healing, repair, digestion and combating disease can increase.

This is not all!!!! The breath is also connected to the mind, so when you feel in shock, stressed or frightened we have a tendency to hold our breath. On the other side of the spectrum when you are calm and the mind is at ease the breath will be deeper, longer and slower. So when we begin to draw awareness to the breath and direct it with breathing techniques we allow the mind to calm.

"The authors of the Hatha yoga texts were very much aware of the difficulty in controlling the fluctuations of the mind ..{...}.. The Hatha yoga texts state very clearly that by controlling the prana, the mind is automatically controlled. It seems that prana and the mind exert an inflence on each other. When the pranas are restless, it affects the mind and vise versa." ~ Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Swami Muktibodhananda, p14

So on that note lets get on our yoga mats as much as we can! The benefits are limitless and i could write so much more on this...:-) Namaste yogis and thank you for reading...x

Below is a video i posted to get you started with basic breathing if you haven't already started to become aware of the breath. New videos are always being uploaded so please subscribe to keep up to date with new material.