Fundamentals of yoga breathing

The main types of yoga breathing - full wavy and deep rhythmic breathing. They differ from each other in that full breathing is arbitrary, free, and with a deep rhythm it is necessary to observe a given rhythm.

Remember: the maximum amount of inhaled air is good only in the form of exercise."Pumping" the lungs does not follow. The number of exercises for deep breathing should be limited - no more than 60 per day.

It is necessary to begin breathing exercises very cautiously even to practically healthy people. For one lesson, no more than 10 breathing exercises are recommended for beginners. The maximum number of such exercises in the first months is 21( for 7 exercises 3 times a day) or 24( for b exercises 4 times).

Carry out the described cycles, consider your capabilities. Part of the breathing exercises you will do when performing asanas, which are accompanied by deep breathing. Over time, their number can increase to 36 per day.

If you feel uncomfortable, the breathing exercise should be stopped. Be sure to analyze the cause of this inconvenience, and in the next lesson, correcting mistakes, try to correct your condition.

Full wave-like breathing

Full breath is built on a wavy process: inhale-exhale. It occurs slowly, without tension, accompanied by a feeling of ease and relaxedness.

Technique for performing

1. Make a slow exhalation through the nose, slightly drawing in the belly( this facilitates the complete removal of carbon dioxide from the lower parts of the lungs).

2. Make an initial breath through the nose, slightly protruding the stomach. Try to imagine that instead of air you suck in the aromatic water of a comfortable temperature. At the same time, it slowly pours into you, fills the stomach, and the stomach swells. The initial breath fills the lower lungs with air.

3. In the next phase of inspiration, you should feel the "bursting" of the lower ribs, and the air at the same time fills the middle sections of the lungs.

4. In the final phase of the inspiration, the upper sections of the lungs are filled and the thorax "expands".In this case, the stomach is slightly selected, and the diaphragm seems to prop up the lungs.

Now you should hold your breath for 1-2 seconds, relax your abdominal muscles.

5. Make a slow exhalation, slightly drawing in the belly. Wave-like full yogic breathing can be divided into three constituent parts, which are presented above as separate breathing exercises. They, of course, form a single whole with complete breathing. But in order to master the whole process, you must first learn to perform each phase separately.

Lower( gili abdominal) breath

This is the type of so-called male respiration. With it, the muscles involved in breathing are relaxed. So usually people who have good health breathe.

First the breath is exhaled, the stomach is simultaneously retracted, then a slow inhalation - the diaphragm relaxes, and the stomach protrudes as the lungs fill with air.

As soon as the abdominal muscles stiffen, the stomach will swell, the breath should be stopped. On exhalation the stomach is again drawn in, displacing air from the lungs.

From the very beginning, be careful not to violate the synchronism - the exhalation and inspiration should coincide with the retraction and protrusion of the abdomen.

With lower breathing, the lower parts of the lungs are filled, which is facilitated only by the abdominal muscles, the thorax remains immobile. Attention should be concentrated on the navel area.

Although abdominal breathing is incomplete, it also has a therapeutic effect: it helps the work of the heart, ensures the influx of venous blood to it, reduces high blood pressure, stimulates digestion, regulates the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, as if massaging the abdominal organs.

To begin the exercise in abdominal breathing is best in and.lying down. Having mastered this position, you can go to and.standing.

Sit comfortably on the rug, mat or folded duvet, relax, close your eyes and put both hands on your stomach. Inner vision try to "see" how the belly is drawn in with exhalation, and when it inhales it protrudes. All movements accompanying abdominal breathing should be smooth, effortless. To breathe follows the nose.

Mean( or costal) breathing

This medium fills the middle sections of the lung. Exercising in it, you can and.standing, sitting or lying down. Focus on the ribs.

Make a slow, even exhalation, then inhale, expanding( feeling of bursting) the chest. The abdominal muscles and the shoulder girdle remain immobile.

To master this exercise, ask someone close to you or those who are engaged with you in the group to squeeze the lower part of your ribs on exhalation with your hands, and on inhaling, when the ribs expand, the hands are removed.

If you are doing it yourself, put your hands on the lower part of the ribs and on the exhalation lightly squeeze them, and on inhaling, take your hands off. By effort of will concentrate attention, help to expand the ribs.

This exercise is much easier to master.

Upper breath

It is also called female and is performed in the upper parts of the lungs. The upper ribs widen, the shoulders go up. Air in these parts of the lungs is not enough, and energy is expended quite a lot.

Unfortunately, this breathing in itself will not bring you health. Therefore, try to connect it with the lower and middle breath.

Upper breath itself is not harmful, but it should not replace abdominal and middle respiration. As an exercise it is useful: it strengthens the lymph nodes, ventilates the tips of the lungs.

Deep rhythmic breathing

The beat of your own heart is usually taken as a unit of rhythm in hatha yoga. Beginners should feel the pulse on the wrist of the left hand with four fingers of the right, close their eyes, count the pulse up to 10 several times in a row - until this rhythm is imprinted in memory. A slight discrepancy between your mental count and pulse beats does not matter.

Technique for performing

The main thing in this type of breathing, as already mentioned, is the rhythm.

To perform deep rhythmic breathing, take any of the poses for concentration.

1. Slowly draw in the air with your nose, mentally counting your heartbeats. Breathe - 4-6 strokes.

2. Hold breath for 2-3 beat strokes.

3. Exhale for 6-7 heartbeats.

4. Hold the breath for 2-3 blows on exhalation( when the lungs are "empty").

If such a rhythm is difficult for you, cut each phase into 1-2 beat strokes. After completing the exercise, you need to go to the cleansing breath.

Nuances of deep breathing

It's one thing to correctly perform a breathing exercise, and the other is to breathe properly.

First of all, it must be clarified that deep breathing is necessary for those who suffer from a lack of oxygen.

Did you notice how often the full people are dozing? This is due to the fact that the voluminous abdomen in the sitting position especially interferes with normal, primarily abdominal, breathing. Lean ventilation of the lungs leads to hypoxia of the brain - oxygen starvation. "

In a dream, the brain's need for oxygen decreases, and therefore the obese person falls asleep. This is why it is so important for people with overweight that they learn full breath.

People with poor posture - with stooped back, hollow chest, clamped diaphragm, - can also fill the lungs with the necessary amount of a, from which, in turn, the body receives oxygen.

Urban residents can feel the lack of oxygen simply because it is lacking in the air. But in this case, not every air can breathe deeply. I advise citizens to go to deep breathing during walks in the park, in the forest, near the reservoirs. As food is necessary for the hungry, so deep breathing is necessary for one who suffers from a lack of oxygen. But how harmful is overeating, so the oxygen saturation is harmful.

Do not violate the golden rule of deep breathing - do not "pump" the lungs. This can disrupt the normal operation of the heart or( which is also very important) to ward off you from hatha yoga and kill hope for better health.

The complexity lies in the need for conscious execution of inspiration and expiration. Inhalation and exhalation occur slowly and without tension;on inhalation, air should flow evenly through the nose into the lungs, and with exhalation - "pour out" of them. If breathing is disturbed during inspiration or exhalation, it is necessary to interrupt the exercise: breathing must again "flow", as the yogis say.

Remember:

1) with deep breathing, you can not hold your breath longer than the indicated time;

2) holding breath to people with weak or sick lungs is strictly prohibited;

3) breathing retention on inspiration( Kumbhaku) should be performed with caution and be sure after consulting a therapist;

4) first to hold your breath can only be for 10-15 seconds, then add a second a month.