Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, repeat, repeat, repeat.   Easy, normal, and natural, or it should be.  What's the big deal?  Doesn't breathing just happen naturally?  Why do we have to think about it and watch it move and all that stuff?  What's yoga got to do with it.

Breathing is a part of our autonomic nervous system which includes all those function that happen automatically, like our heart rate and blood pressure.  However, it's one of the only automatic functions of the body that we actually can consciously alter.  Being both voluntary and involuntary, breathing is controlled by two different sets of nerves in the muscles, one that run the system on it's own and one that we can control.  So, we can control the voluntary system which in turn affects the the involuntary nervous system.  That means we have direct control over our nervous system without all the drugs, whether it be caffeine or cocaine or Adderal or Valium.

Simply, respiration is just about the exchange of two gases, CO2 and oxygen.  Life itself is a result of a beautiful balance between these two gases.  It's this balance that causes the body to take on oxygen with an inhalation and let out old CO2 via an exhalation. This gas exchange happens naturally, however, this delicate balance can be thrown off voluntarily.  Smoking, changing altitude, hyperventilating, holding and purposefully manipulating the breath are examples of intentional interference with the natural process.  For example, divers and climbers both train their systems to handle an abnormal level of carbon dioxide by training the system to accommodate the imbalance.

Besides the exchange of C02 and oxygen there is the physical aspect of breathing--the expansion and contraction of the chest.  When you inhale, the lungs fill, the ribs expand and the diaphragm drops.  Reverse that and you have an exhale.  Again, this all happens without much thought unless we screw it up somehow.  And, we do.  Plenty.  

1.  We wear jean that are too tight.  This keeps the diaphragm from expanding and the rest of the breathing muscles have to work overtime to compensate.

2.  We slump.  When the shoulders fall forward and the chest collapses, the container for the lungs (your ribs) don't have the chance to expand.  This results in reduced breath capacity.

3.  We hold in our bellies.  This is not just a physical problem, but energetically as well (for another topic).  Our culture is obsessed with a flat stomach and 6-pack abs (see next).  Just like the tight-jeans-syndrome, we consciously (or unconsciously) hold in our stomachs.  This reduces the entire expansion of the diaphragm, resulting in a shallow breath.  

4.  Too much ab work.  If we're not wearing tight jeans, we're wearing tight abdominal muscles.

5.  Habitual stress, anxiety and fear.  One the the body's automatic response to stress is a shorter, shallower breath, even holding the breath.  

Therefore, we can voluntarily alter the exchange of gases and we can change the container the breath fills.  Ah, now breathing is not so simple or routine or automatic.  

Better Choices, Better Aging

I found this interesting article on YogaU, which is a great education site for everything yoga and beyond.  I subscribe to their newsletter, so it comes into inbox just when I need it.  Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, BAMS, MD, an Ayurvedic practitioner, among other titles, tells us his opinion on Healthy Aging.  He doesn't have many good things to say about the American lifestyle.  Here's a bit:

It's here.  

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