Breathe: Awaken your inner sunshine with Surya Bhedana

Breathing techniques have been central to yoga practice for hundreds – if not thousands – of years. While no one knows exactly how old yoga is (estimates range from 12,000 to 2,500 years), ancient yogis knew about the power of breath and the many ways to work with it.

What is Pranayama?

The yogic word for breathing techniques isPranayama. Pranameans 'life energy', a bit like the wordQiin Chinese Medicine andYamameans “control” or “restraint”. In this sense is the wordPranayamais all about controlling the way we breathe. Another way to translate the word is to read it as prana, andA-Yama,where the letter “a” before a word means “not” in Sanskrit. Translated this way, pranayama is no longer about controlling and restraining the breath, but rather about expanding and freeing it. If you want to know more about pranayama, books like BKS IyengarsgarLight on pranayamaandThe Little Book of Yoga Breathingare insightful and practical books to expand your knowledge and practice.

Types of breathing techniques

There are breathing techniques to improve concentration and energy, induce calm, improve sleep, and promote the flow of subtle energy throughout the body. There are breathing techniques specifically designed to be practiced at sunrise, before meals, during meditation, and accompanied by visualizations. Yogis considered breathing through the nose to be extremely important, not only because the nostrils are connected to two vital channels called the. are knownIda Nadiconnected to the left nostril, andPingala Nadito the right, but because of the multitude of benefits associated with nasal breathing.

Benefits of nasal breathing

• Verbesserung der Sauerstoffsättigung
• Kognitive Fähigkeiten ausgleichen
• Steigerung des Energieniveaus
• Angst reduzieren
• Filtern von Allergenen und Bakterien und beugt so Krankheiten und Atemwegsinfektionen vor
• Aufrechterhaltung eines starken Immunsystems
• Aufrechterhaltung einer ausgewogenen Verdauung

While some people are unable to breathe through their nose due to sinus problems, congestion, allergens, or nasal congestion, many people simply breathe habitually with their mouth. Habitual mouth breathing can be due to stress, anxiety, constipation, or overexertion, but whatever the cause, it can all lead to more inflammation, more respiratory infections, reduced digestive power, fatigue, brain fog, poor oral health, and children. People who chronically mouth breathe are likely to develop poor growth, weakened facial structure, and crooked teeth. If you feel like you're breathing a lot through your mouth, forget about fancy pranayama exercises and concentrate on conscious nasal breathing first. Use a balm likeEve & Keel's Breathe Balmto restore the sense of space in the respiratory tract and calm the body and mind, with ingredients such as eucalyptus and spearmint. Once you're able to breathe through your nose, it's time to experiment and improve your breathing to improve yourspranaand life energy.

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Pingala Nadi & Surya Bhedana

Associated with sun, vitality, energy, dynamism, fire and a more masculine power, yogis focus on breathing through the right nostril when they do thePingala Nadi.Interestingly, there is evidence that breathing through the right nostril is not just a “woo-woo” yoga theory, but real evidence to back it up. In his bookBreath,James Nestor shares how breathing primarily through the right nostril increases blood flow, body temperature, cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate. All of these responses demonstrate that breathing through the right nostril stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” side of the nervous system), placing the body in a state of alertness and readiness. Even though we don't want to be in this state all the time, it is very useful when you need a boost of motivation and energy or to balance out lethargic, low states. Breathing through the right nostril also sends more blood to the left side of the brain and the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with logical thinking, productivity, decision making, language and computers.

The specific yogic name for breathing through the right nostril isSurya Bhedana,or “sun-activating breath.” Breathing in this way can awaken our inner sunshine - that bright, powerful, warming and stimulating energy we feel on days when the outside world is also sunny. This type of pranayama practice is perfect for the morning to awaken the body and mind and balance circadian rhythms. Together withTongue scrapingandWrite a diary, I highly recommend it as one of the best things to set a positive tone for your day.

For those times when you need a little more inner sunshine, a boost of energy, some motivation or brain power, try practicingSurya Bhedana:

How to increase your energy with your breath

• Setzen Sie sich in eine bequeme Position und verwenden Sie Nackenrolle oder (Link entfernt) um eine hohe Wirbelsäule zu stützen.
• Üben Sie mit der rechten Hand Surya Mudra indem Sie den Ringfinger mit dem Daumen in die Handfläche drücken.
• Schließen Sie mit der linken Hand sanft Ihr linkes Nasenloch.
• Atmen Sie in einem gleichmäßigen Rhythmus durch das rechte Nasenloch ein und aus.
• Füge bei jedem Einatmen das Mantra hinzu Om Suryaya Namah – ein Mantra, um die Energie der Sonne zu ehren und anzurufen, während man sich das Einatmen der goldenen, leuchtenden Strahlen der Sonne vorstellt.
• Wiederholen Sie zwölf Atemrunden mit Mantra, Mudra und Visualisierung, ruhen Sie dann die Hände aus und atmen Sie normal durch die Nase, bis Sie bereit sind, die Übung zu beenden.

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