Breathe better, live better

Renu Mahtani's book titled power Pranayama talks about the link between breath and disease and how learning to breathe correctly can boost your immune system and health. Excerpts from the book

Live consciously to avoid disease
We fall prey to illness when we ignore the needs of the body to exercise, eat healthy, and relax; and the needs of the mind to express emotions and to find meaning in life. It has been universally observed that illness is more likely to occur after major emotional upsets that suppress the immune system, thus shattering the natural defence mechanisms of the body.


Illustrations/ Satish Acharya

Our role in determining our health
Our beliefs and attitude to life contribute to our illness. A growing body of data links negative and positive emotional states to wellness or illness.

Psychosomatic illnesses start in the mind before showing up in the body. Therefore, we ourselves participate in our health or illness. We play an active role in creating our own level of health through our feelings, emotions, beliefs, attitude towards life, and lifestyle.

A good diet and healthy eating habits, exercise and necessary medicines help make us feel better, but the sickness persists, although, maybe, with less intensity.

To experience health, we have to work on all levels - body, breath and mind - and get actively involved in creating health.

Power of Pranayama
Yoga stands apart as a unique system of health because it aims to correct the energy dynamics of the body and the mind through the lore of techniques that it has, particularly pranayama.

Yoga techniques of pranayama, that is, the control and expansion of cosmic energy using the breath, help the individual to get more cosmic energy to heal the physical body and to attain awareness and harmony. The basic approach of the ancient science of pranayama is holistic, as are the results.

This tool is our breath - the vital breath that is a physiological reality! Wit simple techniques of breath-management, we can attain better physical, emotional and psychological health. Breath-management helps our life energy to resume its internal healing activities, and streamlines our mind towards harmony and balance.
Posture

While practicing any breathing exercise, it is important that the spine be kept straight, so as not to impede the free flow of air/ this can be accomplished by sitting in any of the following positions:

Cross-legged position on the mat: to sit comfortably on a mat or the floor for a long time, sit cross-legged on a pillow to elevate your tailbone. Keep the spine straight, head erect, mouth closed, and hands relaxed on the knees or in the lap, palm on palm.

Sitting on a firm chain with a ninety-degree angle between the seat and the back: if sitting on the floor makes you feel uncomfortable and stiff, particularly in the hip region, the lower back or the knees, sit on a chair, instead. It is better to enjoy the subtle effects of breathing on the mind and the body, rather than get distracted by physical discomfort.

Practicing this several times can really help correct the pattern. Initially, one may have to concentrate in order to correct a now-automatic response. After a few sessions you will feel the difference, and the body, which was fashioned to breathe paradoxically, will fully cooperate.

What is Prana?
The term prana comes from the ancient Indian scriptures. Prana is the first energy - Pra means first, and na is the smallest unit of energy. All aspects and levels of creation manifest out of this first unit of energy. Prana is the primal or atomic beginning of the flow of energy from which emerge all other forms of energy.

Prana is not just our physical energy but also the subtler mental energy where the mind gathers information; the intellectual energy where information is examined and filtered. It also acts as sexual energy to procreate and transform the single fertilized cell to a well-differentiated intellectual being that is capable of independent existence, Prana is our spiritual energy and the omnipresent cosmic energy.

Pranic energy is available in negative ions, oxygen, ozone, and solar radiation, and for human beings the media is the breath. By mastering prana one can master the mind. The science of controlling the prana is called pranayama.

Why Do We Need More Prana?
Prana is the sustaining principle of life - the upholder of both the structure and the functions of the body. It is the inspirer of all the senses and the functions of the body, the conveyor of all the sensory and motor stimuli, the controller and conductor of the mind. Thus more prana will vitalize all functions of the body and the mind, immunity, healing and the essence of life.

The seven Chakras
Many years ago, yogis devised a practical and systemic view of energy and consciousness that involved seven discreet levels. Each level was related to what yogis called the chakras, or centres of energy.

The pranic network is fuelled by chakras that are high-powered vortices of energy. They receive the cosmic prana and act as transformers so that it can be used by the various organs and parts of the body. When these energy centres are out of harmony, the vital force is unable to circulate freely, leading to distress, diseases and lack of mind-body integrity. Good health requires free flow of prana in the body, and proper balance between the chakras.

The first chakra
The Muladhara, Base or Root Chakra
Location: the region between the genitals and the anus
Related to: instinct, security, survival and basic human potentiality
Imbalances can lead to: rigid and stubborn mentality
The Muladhara or Root chakra is the lowest of the chakras and is the seat of primal energy. The consciousness of an individual who lives mainly in the first chakra is concerned primarily with survival.

The second chakra
The Swadishthana or Sacral Chakra
Location: the groin; this chakra corresponds to the testicles or the ovaries
Related to: base emotions, sexuality and creativity
Imbalances can lead to: dramatic mood swings; over-activity in this chakra leads to sexual neurosis
The Swadhisthana Chakra is related to the sex organs (sacral plexus). A balanced sacral chakra helps establish a creative and expressive mentality.

The third chakra
The Manipura or Solar Plexus Chakra
Location: level of the navel
Related to: the transition from the base to the higher emotions, energy, assimilation and digestion
Imbalances can lead to:u00a0 a range of illnesses, a weak character, poor will-power and drive
This is the seat of power (solar plexus). It also represents vitality, dynamism, ego and intellect.

The fourth chakra
The Anahata or Heart chakra
Location: the chest
Related to: higher emotion, compassion, love, equilibrium and well-being
Imbalances can lead to: greed, selfishness and domination of ego
This organ is part of the immune system as well as the endocrine system. It produces T cells responsible for fighting disease, and is adversely affected by stress. A person with a developed Anahata Chakra is generally very sensitive to the feelings of others, and is free of selfishness and emotional attachment.

The fifth chakra
The Vishuddha or Throat chakra
Location: parallel to the thyroid, a gland in the throat that produces the thyroid hormone
Related to: communication and growth (of expression)
Imbalances can lead to: When blocked, the person feels stifled and is less truthful and direct in his attitude
The quality of higher consciousness that manifests itself in this centre is that of clairvoyance. It is also the centre for receiving sound vibrations.

The sixth chakra
The Ajna Chakra or the Third Eye
Location: linked to the pineal gland
Related to: time and awareness, and (of) light
Imbalances can lead to: lack of intuition
The Ajna Chakra is the commanding or the monitoring centre. It is the point where the three major nadis (the Ida, The Pingula and the Sushumna) meet. This centre is also known as the Third Eye. It is the centre of intuition and wisdom, through which direct, mind-to-mind communication takes place.

The seventh chakra
The Sahasrara or Crown Chakra
Location: crown of the head, and is related to the pineal gland and the cerebral cortex
Related to: higher awareness; actions are based on concern for the highest good for all
Imbalances can lead to: lack of consciousness
The crown chakra is known as the chakra of consciousness, the master chakra that control all the others. Its role is very similar to that of the pituitary gland, which secretes hormones to control the rest of the endocrine system.

3-step guide to proper breathing
1. Begin by exhaling completely through the nose. When the exhalation is complete, the stomach and the right hand placed on it, will move in. At the end of the exhalation the stomach should contract.

2.Begin the inhalation by expanding the stomach, with the right hand still on it. Allow the lower lungs to fill. Continue to inhale allowing the lower ribcage to expand. The upper chest will also fill up slowly.

3.While exhaling, release the air from the upper chest, then the lower chest and finally, the abdomen section, one smoothly flowing into another. Inhale, continuing to expand the abdomen, the lower chest, the middle chest and the upper chest, so that the collarbones rise slightly. Continue breathing slowly and deeply for a few minutes, ending with an exhalation.

How to identify reverse breathing
If the stomach caves in instead of bulging out during deep inhalation, and vice versa, we are doing what is knows as reverse breathing, which is very common. A few deep breaths done with awareness and with the palms placed on the belly will instantaneously identify reverse breathing.
How to correct reverse breathing
*u00a0Place both hands on the belly region
* Begin with exhalation, as the first step is to enable the belly to reunite in the act of breathing. As you breathe out ufffd
* press the belly in ufffd
* and release with inhalation. In order to experience the flow of the breath, imagine that there is some dust in the nose and you are trying to blow it out. Naturally, the breath would go out and the belly would go in.
* During inhalation, relax the abdomen without allowing it to bulge out

Benefits of slow and deep breathing
Blood: An improved quality of blood is a direct result of increased oxygenation of the lungs. All the cells benefit from the oxygen and, as a result, all the toxins are flushed out of the body.

Lungs: The lungs become stronger and more elastic. Deep breathing saves the breath by slowing down and deepening the respiratory pattern. This brings about efficiency in the gas exchange and has an economizing effect.

Heart: Yogic breathing reduces the workload on the hear in two ways:
As the efficiency of the lungs increases, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood increases, and the heart does not have to work so hard to deliver oxygen to the tissues.

Owing to greater pressure differential in the lungs due to deep breathing, there is an increase in circulation, thus giving the heart a little rest. The heart operates better and lives longer. Keeping blood pressure and other heart diseases under control.

Weight control Oxygen burns up excess fat more efficiently, and in an underweight person, this oxygen feeds the starving tissues and glands. In other words, the inhaled oxygen offers the ideal weight for the individual.

How Does Stress Affect Our Body?
There are physiological mechanisms in our body by which chronic stress and associated emotional states contribute to diseases. Our nervous system is the consequence of many years of evolution. It basically comprises our master computer, the brain; the major cable of the body, our spinal cord; and the network of nerves that links the master computer to the nooks and corners of the body.

In primitive times, for survival in jungles and less protected surroundings, the brain was tuned to meet external challenges like wild animals and natural threats by triggering a 'fight-or-flight' response in the body. This would enable the body to recruit physiological changes to cope with the demand of either fighting the threat or fleeing from it.

In our day-to-day life too, we have many stressors. When we get angry for any reason, our breathing gets coarse, the heart rate quickens, and the face turns red. Our personality changes and communication becomes aggressive. These changes spontaneously make up the stress response, and are mediated through a well-designed interaction between the nerves and the hormones in the body.

Stress Response in Present Time
Today our challenges and stressors are different from those in primitive times. Instead of wild animals and inhospitable terrain, we have to cope with unending traffic and speeding vehicles, shortage of time and increasing demands. An over-competitive environment, and our struggle for a healthy self-image.

Fighting or fleeing would be socially inappropriate in most cases, So what do we do in the face of such modern stressors? We feel bad and get emotional disturbed; at a deeper level, we actually tend to override the stressor and suppress the physical reaction to it. Unknowingly we keep suppressing our responses to the unending list of stressors throughout the day. This leads to a negative cumulative effect on the body and manifests as chronic stress, which has not been released.

--u00a0extracted from Power Pranayama by Dr Renu Mahtani; Rs 295; Jaico Books. Available at leading stores.