I’m new here and this is my first post…it’s a question that I’ve been wondering
about lately: Howcome yogis say “The amount of breaths you take in your life determine how long you will live” (meaning that we should fewer, but deeper breaths rather than unconcsious low, fast, stressed breathing), when some pranayama exercises, like “Bhastrika” (or others) involve very fast, high-frequency breathing?
Is it just me or is that a major contradiction?
Also, I heard that slow deep breaths make the body more alkaline, while fast breathing makes it more acid…is that true?
I’m new to the site and new to yoga and likely missing the point but what is the difference in the “amount of breaths” between in long deep and say ten that are “very fast, high-frequency” if they are both done in the same period of time and bring in the same amount of air?
Others know more about the prana effects of the difference you mention, but from a gross anatomy standpoint the different parts of your lungs feed O2 to different blood vessels, which then go to different parts of your body. Little breaths tend to stay localized in the lungs, favoring specific blood vessels. Big breaths share better.
Try to inscribe bellows-like pranayamas in a broader context. Their aim to awaken the dormant pranas and kundalini shakti, bringing the yogi to higher states of consciousness and deeper meditations in which the breath could naturally stop (kevala khumbaka).
What a better mean to live longer than stopping your breath?
First, the term “yogi” is a sacred term (classically). It refers to a practitioner who has renounced the material world in favor of dedication to the work of yoga. It is only modern pop-culture that tosses the word around and dilutes it’s meaning down to “one who performs asana”. Therefore I rarely use the term at all as there aren’t too many true yogis remaining.
Second, if we are referring to such a practitioner then I have not heard the phrase you’ve mentioned. It may be anecdotal - yet again tossed about on the seas of mass media. However, it is of course one truth that breath is the foundation of life and it should be robust for living.
Yoga is filled with contradiction. In fact a yoga without contradiction is a yoga that could not possibly stretch the sutures of your cranial bones. The mind becomes flexible when contradiction is contemplated. However I don’t believe this particular concept you’ve mentioned to be a contradiction at all (as I hope I am explaining).
Like all of yoga, pranayama needs a context. It does not stand alone but rather against a back-drop so that it may be “seen” or viewed, in the ethereal rather than literal sense. Ergo pranayama had a purpose (classically). Certain prana techniques were used to awaken a consciousness, mind, soul, body that had been sitting in meditation for days at a time. It was a necessary use to maintain balance in the human being.
Unfortunately its purpose today is for students to boost their ego, brag to friends, show off, and supposedly speed their evolution. There is very little justification for a frisky pranayama in a society where people never sit still but instead run - around a lake, to the store, back and forth to work, up the stairs, to the soccer game, to a coffee shop, to the computer, the cell phone, the television…yada yada yada.
What makes yoga Yoga is that is serves humanity’s current needs. Those needs clearly are to slow down, breathe, live in the moment, and sit still. A fiery context needs a calming response.
InnerAthlete, I really agree with your criticism concerning the misconception of the art of yoga. And it’s good to become aware of oneself stepping into the trap (in that sense, thanks for letting me know, and I will think twice about using the word yogi…)
I guess the problem is that many western yoga schools have turned yoga into just another sports dicipline, or some new course that can fill up schedules in gyms.After all, there are so many yoga centers around, that they start competing against eachother with new, more attractive forms of yoga. While some positive effects may remain (although mainly physical, as in more flexibility) it’s really hard to find someone who can really help out with these kinds of questions…Therefore it’s great to see that there’s some people with deeper knowledge in this forum.
I personally got curious about various forms of pranayama seeing the effect some had on the mind. If one stays focused on the breath, meditation comes quite naturally…the ones involving fast breathing however tend to make me tired. perhaps I’m doing something wrong.
There are some venues that offer yoga like the evening special at Sizzler. Whatever the palate of the next biped through the door happens to be, that dictates the class offerings. These sorts of venues offer a Horn of Plenty, a myriad of flavors, styles, purposes, depth et al.
However it is not all venues that take a potpourri approach to their offerings. Some are very unified and focused in what they offer and it is what it is, and it is for those who it is for, and not for those for who it is not, period. I’ve been to both and have my preference for my purpose, my living - as each person should.
Your point though is well taken. It can be challenging to find a depth of teaching especially when one doesn’t know to look, what to look for or that there is even a looking.
The teaching of Bhastrika pranayama can be found as far back as the Upanishads, so I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss it. It’s supposed to have certain health effects, but I don’t practice it so I don’t know. I like aerobic exercise for my rapid breathing.
I think you are onto something though, as far as the logical inconsistency is concerned. Any teachings that are inconsistent with reason or experience should be rejected. Sometimes you just have to take things with a grain of salt.
You don’t have to reject all of yoga though, just because you find a certain teaching to be untrue. Lots of things that are called yoga come from many different sources, and you will definitely find contradictions and disagreement on lots of issues between different sources. The teachings are more consistent within certain schools of thought, such as the Yoga of Patanjali or the Samkhya of Kapila.
In my opinion, there is no contradiction. The overall effect of pranayama is to make breathing more efficient during the whole day. This more than compensates for breathing rapidly during yoga practice.
For example, a typical breathing rate for humans is about 15 times per minute (21600 times per day). Suppose that you do three rounds of fast breathing per day (3 x 30 = 90 breaths). As a result, your respiratory system becomes more efficient, causing you to breathe less, say 14 times per minute (20160 times per day). The net effect is 1350 fewer breaths per day.
Whether this increases your longevity is another matter altogether. Yogic lore tells us that this is the case. Ancient yogi observed that tortoises breathe only three times a minute and they easily outlive humans. Dogs breath 28 times per minute and we easily outlive them. But this is all anecdotal evidence. As far as I know, there have been no scientific studies proving a direct relationship between breathing rate and longevity. However, I do know that yoga lowers stress, which increases health and therefore makes you live longer. It is likely that the ancient yogi’s were right.
A fast breathing practice, like kapalabhati, tends to increase O2 and decrease CO2 in the blood. Less CO2 means that the blood becomes less acidic (more alkaline). The body detects blood acidity and transfers this information to the respiratory center in the brain. Less acidity (lower CO2) is translated as a signal to reduce the rate of breathing. This explains why it’s very easy to stop breathing after kapalabhati.
The physiology of paranayama is most interesting, or course. Especially, Swami Kuvalayananda has done a lot of research on pranayama and this has been published in the journal Yoga Mimamsa. From a practitioners point of view, concepts like blood acidity are less important. The breathing practices have specific goals, e.g. ujjayi (calming), nadi suddhi (purification), kapalabhati (clarity of mind). And even these goals are subservient to the spiritual goal of making the mind fit for contemplation (yoga sutra III-53).
If you want your heart to beat slow and steady, why speed it up? Is this not the same contradiction? Exercise is necessary to make anything healthy and strong.
Pranayama is an exercise. It will strengthen control of your breathing, establishing its depth and rate in a relaxed state, and so the benefits of that are too many to be summarized here: heart, brain, nervous system, purification, and on and on. I hope you will continue to pursue yoga and pranayama. It’s the cream of yoga and it’s benefits have been expounded on by those far more eloquent than myself.
Poo poo Gordon.
What’s that asana called where you have both feet in your mouth? Crapola-asana?
[quote=InnerAthlete;19428]
First, the term “yogi” is a sacred term (classically). It refers to a practitioner who has renounced the material world in favor of dedication to the work of yoga.[/quote]
I’m not picking on you, but where do you get this stuff? Completely false! I believe you might be confusing “yogi” with “swami” here, or “renunciate.” If you love yoga, you do yoga, you’re a yogi, or yogin! Not that it should mean anything at all, but nothing wrong with calling someone who does yoga a yogi. It’s appropriate.
[quote=InnerAthlete;19428]
Unfortunately its purpose today is for students to boost their ego, brag to friends, show off, and supposedly speed their evolution.[/quote]
This is obviously written by someone who doesn’t practice or teach pranayama.
Ergo, I’m speechless. This is exactly why pranayama is justified in any society. And I can’t for the life of me imagine a “yoga teacher” telling everyone, everywhere that pranayama “had” a purpose, “it was necessary.” What about now? I can’t believe what I’m reading. Very irresponsible. Why would do you want to discourage this practice? It’s very telling.
Think before you write. I’m watching you. And you should be thankful there’s someone stays on top of you.
[quote=JohnnyAppleseed;19406]Dear Community members,
Howcome yogis say “The amount of breaths you take in your life determine how long you will live”[/quote]
This is actually a belief sustained within the practice of pranayama, and is typically explained relative to other living beings that breath. For instance, animals with rapid breathing cycles, above 100 breaths per minute, have shorter life spans than those with long respiratory cycles, less than 40 breaths per minute. While this isn’t a universal truth, it does seem to correspond within the majority of animals. But I wouldn’t hold this as a medical standard. One way you can look at it is that the slower you breath the more relaxed you’ll be, and a relaxed mind is more likely to give you a longer life than one that is agitated and anxious. This is a medical fact.
But I think that what this quote is really pointing towards is the cessation of breath in which the resporatory cycle completely stops. It is at this point, according to practices like Kriya Yoga, that the individual discovers the eternal, and becomes immortal.
Probably! (not perhaps :)). Pranayama should never cause boredom or tiredness. These are warning signs telling you to ease up. Easing up in kapalabhati, for example, means decreasing the breathing rate, the duration of each round, and the number of rounds. A rule of thumb for beginners is to start with three rounds of 11 and to increase this by 11 every week. The breathing rate should be around once per second. Listen to the response of your body-mind. Always feel refreshed afterwards.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;19428]…its purpose today is for students to boost their ego, brag to friends, show off, and supposedly speed their evolution. There is very little justification for a frisky pranayama in a society where people never sit still but instead run - around a lake, to the store, back and forth to work, up the stairs, to the soccer game, to a coffee shop, to the computer, the cell phone, the television…yada yada yada.[/QUOTE]
IA - we must know each other because this describes me completely. Yoga has become a constant source of amusement for my friends at parties and I can often be counted on to walk around the carpet on my knees in full lotus :lol:
But, back to the breath thing. No buy-in from me there. I mean, does everyone get their own breath count? Does that mean that the devout yoga practioner who accidently falls down an elevator shaft has been fooling him/herself all those years and should have been carousing instead?
