Conscious breathing

I'm sure you probably know where I stand on this. Why bother with the sub-title name if I wasn't leaning toward a certain position?

No, if we are not breathing consciously or mindfully we might as well just be doing a little stretching before some other workout or sport. Yoga is about unifying body, mind, and soul and the breathe is the thread to the subtle aspects of our being. Recently I attended a persona breath therapy session and my guide, who studies at a white tantric ashram in France, had a beautiful saying "Let Go" (on exhales) and "Let God" (on inhales). God is a loaded word for me but years ago Guru Rattana described God as the generating, organizing-sustaining, and destructive aspects of the existence. On exhales we breath out and allow ourselves the dissolution, the return to the Non-Existence before the existence and the inhales allow us to intake the mysteries of Creation.

There is some evidence that Egypt is the birthplace of yoga and the poses were ways to invoke and embody deities, archetypes, or aspects of the Divine. In Indian terminology "asana" means comfortable and steady as this is the idea behind each pose -- that we would come to a place where entering into, and holding each pose would be with steady breath and a certain "worked toward" or "in-time" ease. This is the experienced union that defines yoga.

"Great," you might say, "how do I get there?"

There will probably be other posts I write about the breath. Although my first teacher, Ana Costa of the Anahata Yoga practice advocated conscious breathing in her classes, it was not until Ashtanga and much more so in the tantra I studied with Psalm Isadora where the breath in application within a practice and in my day to day would transform my life. For now, let me just leave you with this. When moving through yoga return to your breath as a mantra. If you do not know how to make the oujai sound, that raspy or oceanic sound, that's okay but pay attention to your inhalations and exhalations. If your mind wanders, return to the in and out of the breath. Even if you are not making a lot of sound with your inhalations and exhalations, you are making some sound. Listen for it. This will help steady your mind which slows down the fizz of thoughts. The thoughts lose their carbonation. They fall back into a the stream that may become a still lake before little ripples inevitably arise. Overtime, a new awareness emerges. This we often experience as a sense of peace. It takes conscious work, practice to get there, but it's worth it.

If you wish to engage the breath to breathe deeper, you can use the breath to help you find more length and space in your poses that will increase your flexibility so that they become easier. For this, use the inhales for strength and the exhales for flexibility. This I learned from Ana.