breathing

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam ,If you've been breathing paradoxically for the better part of your life, it will take patience to reset the pattern. I tell many beginning students to lay down on their backs and place an opened dictionary or phone book (if you're from a big city) across your belly. On the inhale, the belly should rise (and the weight of the book helps your entire sensory system to relearn), on the exhale the belly should fall.

After you've mastered this simple exercise, you can sit up and place your hand on your belly and continue practicing in the seated position. The belly moves out (against your hand) on the inhale and back toward your spine on the exhale. In this seated position you can make the breath more active, conscious, allowing the belly to expand first, then the ribs and finally the collar bones. The exhale is just the reverse, relax the collar bones, allow the ribs to contract, and finally actively pull the navel in toward the spine, completing the exhale.

Once you've mastered your long breath, then you can move on to One Minute Breath (20 seconds in, 20 seconds hold, 20 seconds out (I like to start with 8-8-8 and work my way up)) and Breath of Fire in order master your breath. An excellent resource for pranayam exercises is Praana, Praanee, Pranayam, edited by Harijot Kaur (and available at http://thesource.kriteachings.org/)

However, the two exercises you've mentioned--sat kriya and kirtan kriya--both require a spontaneous breath, sometimes called a singer's breath. You take a quick inhale (often through the mouth) in order to keep the rhythm of the exercise. The rhythm in these particular kriyas is more important than a complete full breath.

But mastering your breath and learning to breath correctly are very important tools on your path to being a yogi. So--patience pays and remember to smile. Correcting longheld habits can be frustrating but it's worth it.

Sat Nam and blessings,Sat Purkh Kaur Khalsa