The most powerful and accessible tool we have to transform our lives is our breath. In the book How Yoga Works, the yoga teacher Friday tells her first student, “If there is anything about our outside physical body that most affects the inner winds [flow of life force within us] it is not actually the poses themselves. Our breath is even more linked to the inner winds.” So if we can breathe in a way that keeps the winds from causing blockages in the channels, the poses become infinitely more effective. If on the other hand our breath is shallow, held, or jagged while we go through our poses, it can do more harm than good. Jagged, shallow or held breath within the poses further embeds the holding patterns in the channels and can cause the pain and limitation in the body to worsen. Our breath is the key to making yoga work for us. Our physical breath is referred to as “the outer winds”. The flow of life force energy with us is referred to as “the inner winds”. While we inhabit the human form, the inner and outer winds move together like two dolphins swimming in tandem. The patterns of one are reflected in the patterns of the other. So if we want our inner winds (life force) to flow strong, smooth, and consciously through us, we must learn to move the outer winds (our breath) in strong, smooth conscious patterns.
In the ancient text, the yoga Sutras, Patanjali lays out some important tips for mastering the outer winds (the breath). Sutra II.50 says, “Keep a close watch on the breath; outside or inside, stopped or being exchanged”.
We are being asked to consciously and clearly monitor the exhales (outside) and inhales (inside) and the pause at the top of inhale (stopped), pause at bottom of exhale (stopped) and the transition as the inhales give way to exhales (exchanged) and visa versa. This careful monitoring is what builds mastery of and conscious expansion, smoothing and directing of the breath (outer winds). If we can consciously direct the outer breath, we can perhaps get a handle on consciously directing our inner winds (our life force energy).
Patanjali continues in Sutra II.50 saying, “Observe too, the place in the body, the duration, and the count”
By “place in the body” Patanjali is asking us to both watch the place in the body that gives rise to the breath and where in the body we send the breath. Often shallow breathers are doing what is referred to as chest breathing; not using the power of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to breath deeply. Put your hand on your chest and take a breath without causing your hand to move. Try it a few times; slowly. Can you feel how this helps us use the deep diaphragm to breathe? Diaphragmatic breathing not only deepens the oxygen exchange in our bodies, it also increases the core strength around the mid and low back. Over time this builds an inner support system for the low back, tones the internal organs and support optimal alignment as we move.
By “observe too the place in the body…” Patanjali is teaching us that we can also send the breath to a part of the body where we may be feeling weak or very tight. We know that the breath is really just coming into the lungs, but in our minds we can send the breath to parts of our body that need awakening and strength or softening and release. In doing this we are directing the inner winds (our life force) to these areas and it gives them the boost or the soothing they need.
When patanjali asks us to observe the duration and count, he is inviting us to be aware of sucking the breath in quickly and shift that to a slower sipping of the inhale which brings greater awareness and a fuller inhale. Also, are we collapsing the exhale quickly? We must learn to hold back a bit as the inhale turns to an exhale. Hold back and release the exhale at a steady smooth pace. When cultivate an even duration of in breath and out breath, this organized rhythm in the breath create a steady organized mind and a steady flow of prana (inner winds) within our channels.
In the last part of sutre II.50, Patanjali says, “the duration and count should be long and fine”
Here we are being invited to explore the breath as a tool to reach deeper and deeper places with in us. The breath can be used in a clear and strong way to open the channels and awaken and release tissue within the more vigorous poses, but we can also bring it down to a very sweet quiet flow that lulls us away from the outer world and draws us deep inside. We use the breath this way when we sit in meditation – the most powerful asana of all. The quiet meditative poses are where we switch over from working on the channels from the outside to working on our channels from the inside.