#yogicbreathing

[rishikul-yogshala]

Pranayama: The Ancient Art of Breath 🕉️🌬️

Long before modern wellness trends, the yogis of India discovered a powerful truth — breath is life. Pranayama, mentioned in ancient yogic texts, was practiced to purify the body, calm the mind, and awaken inner awareness.

✨ What Pranayama Includes • Conscious breathing techniques • Regulation of inhalation, exhalation & retention • Practices to balance prana (life force)

🧘‍♀️ How It Is Practiced Sit in a comfortable posture, spine tall, mind aware. Breathe slowly, deeply, and mindfully — letting each breath guide you inward. With regular practice, pranayama builds focus, emotional balance, and inner strength.

At Rishikul Yogshala Kerala – North Cliff, pranayama is taught not just as a technique, but as a way of life — rooted in tradition, guided by experienced teachers.

🌿 Ready to deepen your breath and become a certified yoga teacher? 📩 DM us to enroll at our Yoga School today

[peterpanyoga]

Proper Yogic Breathing in Daily Life

[tooyogic]

The secret is there it is in the breath. Breath is a vehicle of two energies: one is the visible air, the tangible air that contains oxygen; and somewhere around the oxygen is élan vital, prana, that makes you more and more deeply alive, aflame with life. So whenever you feel sleepy, just watch your breath and sleep will disappear. And because of breath more life will enter in you; your indolence will disappear. #breath #plantlife #indoorplants #yogicbreathing #sleep (at Chandigarh, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfzUlWPP5JM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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[tooyogic]

Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system. For centuries yogis have used breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality. Buddha advocated breath-meditation as a way to reach enlightenment. #yoga #yogicbreathing #buddha #enlightment #breathe #pranayama #immunity #alertness https://www.instagram.com/p/CSLwvBunXHH/?utm_medium=tumblr

[jobtodayinfo]

EMBRYONIC BREATHING

EMBRYONIC BREATHING FOR MEDITATION

The embryonic breathing is an ancient Chinese breathing method, closely related to QiGong (or Chi Kung) practise and Daoism (Taoism). Its English name comes from the fact that a new-born baby will naturally breathe this way, before she would start using the normal abdominal breathing, adults would naturally use in everyday life of Meditation. Embryonic breathing is also often referred to as inverse, or inverted breathing, because the movement of the belly is right the opposite of what you experience during abdominal breathing. In embryonic breathing when you inhale, the belly moves inwards, and as you exhale the belly moves outwards. This helps to gather and accumulate internal energy in the abdominal region, referred to as Qi or Chi in Chinese. People often use embryonic breathing, most of the times subconsciously, usually right before attempting to undertake some heavy physical effort, as a way of preparation, such as heavy lifting or otherwise moving a heavy object. Weight-lifters use a method called ‘power breathing’, that is very similar in principle to embryonic breathing. The accumulation of such energy is caused by the pressure and stimulation on and around the diaphragmatic region, originating from the opposite movement of the abdominal wall. You can read more about the concept of Qi under the chapter ‘QiGong Meditation’, yet an in-depth explanation of the physiological and energetic processes leading to the accumulation of power and energy would require a separate volume by itself.

MEDITATION LEARNING EMBRYONIC BREATHING

Start with practising conscious abdominal breathing. It is useful to be familiar with the advanced abdominal breathing method as embryonic breathing will share some of its characteristics, while offering an even greater complexity. Once your mind has quieted somewhat, start inverting your breaths. This will most possibly feel strange and even uncomfortable at first, but you will quickly get used to it. Concentrate on your belly, about one or two inches below your belly button. As you inhale, squeeze and withdraw your belly as you would normally do with an exhale. When you exhale, relax your abdominal wall, and push your belly out. Keep practising this way, continuing to concentrate on your belly. Observe your breathing and the abdominal wall, as it moves.

As you inhale, the belly compresses and withdraws (left image). As you exhale, the belly relaxes and protrudes (right image) You can incorporate counting your breaths, similarly to what you would do in Zen meditation practice, once the inverted breathing becomes natural. Meditation although this is not required, it can aid your concentration if you feel it is necessary. Some would regard this simple technique as ‘The’ embryonic breathing, yet there is some more to it to be learned. Of course, you can comfortably practice at this level as long as you feel necessary. Always follow your intuition, when making decisions about your practice. If something doesn’t feel right, do not ever force it. To proceed further you will need some experience as a meditator, with a strong and undivided focus. Once you feel ready to proceed further, it is time to turn your attention to your lower back. While continuing to focus on your on your belly, start paying attention to your lower back at the same time. As you breathe, your belly would come inwards with each inhale, while pushing out on the exhale. You should be able to observe a similar movement on your lower back. Although it would probably not be noticeable for the eye, you would definitely be able to feel it. The point, that feels like the centre of such barely noticeable movement should be in the centre of your attention. Although probably not easily noticeable at first, this inward-outward movement of the lower spine will become much more perceptible with practice. As your belly withdraws while you inhale, so should your lower back. Similarly, they would both relax and move outwards with the exhale. Keep focusing on both your belly and your lower back simultaneously. Instead of trying to split your attention two ways, try to connect the two and focus on them at the same time. It will not be easy and you definitely should not rush it. Some time and devoted practice will be necessary, but you will get there if you are willing to put in the effort. Take as much time as you need. It may be days, it may be weeks, or longer. The sensation is most akin to that of your lower back moving in and out, yet in reality this is just the contraction and relaxation of the muscles around the spine. Even though it may prove useful to consciously contract and relax these muscles, for many people it could prove difficult to isolate the proper muscles and use only those necessary , thus is it advisable to only concentrate on the movement, or rather the sensation of it, as it happens, rather than trying to consciously initiate it. When you are able to focus on the front and the back at the same time, the next step would be to connect the diaphragm into your practice. Continue with the practice as usual, but direct your focus onto the top of your abdominal cavity as well as the front and back. Feel your diaphragm pushing down on this cavity, as it contracts, while your belly and lower back are drawing inwards with each inhale. Through the exhale, everything relaxes outwards. Your belly protrudes and your lower back relaxes, as your diaphragm returns to its dome shape. Read the full article

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SQUARE OR CIRCULAR BREATHING

SQUARE OR CIRCULAR BREATHING square or circular breathing breathing is a really simple idea of making every step of the breathing equal in length. Though not suitable for all meditation methods, especially not those that call for not trying to regulate your breathing, square or circular breathing, combined with the breathing technique of your choice, can be adequately practised with many meditation methods. Square or circular breathing is not so much a breathing technique, but rather setting a pace or rhythm for breathing, that can be used with any breathing technique, including all methods described previously. Through square breathing, the depth of your breath may eventually reduce to diaphragmatic breathing with time and practice, if the relaxation deepens sufficiently. For simplicity’s sake, square breathing will be discussed as used with simple abdominal breathing, but it should be equally easy to implement with any breathing technique you prefer. Sit comfortably, or lay down, wear loose fitting clothes. Start practising simple abdominal breathing. Now, pay attention to the length of each inhale and exhale and the length of time you may hold your breath after inhale and any pause after exhale. You want all of these to become equal in length, just like the sides of the square or circular breathing. Start counting to four. You will not be counting your breaths, but the length of each breath. Inhale slowly and smoothly, while counting to four. Once you have reached four, hold your breath to the count of four. Now start exhaling, while counting to four. As you have finished exhaling, pause to the count of four, before continuing with an inhale. If you are counting at a steady pace, the length of each phase will be exactly the same, making its ‘shape’ resemble a perfect square or circular breathing. This could also be illustrated as equal segments of a circle, making the name ‘circular breathing’ more suitable.

The most significant problem you will run into is counting evenly. Even if you think you are counting at a steady pace, chances are, your counting will speed up, while you are holding your breath and slow down during exhales. This is natural. After inhalation, your body gets slightly excited, with the fresh amount of oxygen introduced to the system, this will speed up your brain activity for the moment and cause you to count a little faster. When you exhale, the lack of oxygen in your blood will cause everything to slow down, if ever so slightly. The best way around this is using a metronome. Set the metronome at a steady pace – not too fast, but not too slow, you do not want to run out of air during exhaling and pausing. You will need to experiment to find the perfect pace. If you set your metronome around 120 beats per minute (or bpm), each beat would take exactly half a second. Counting four beats would make two seconds for each phase, making it 2 seconds inhale, 2 seconds hold, 2 seconds exhale, 2 seconds pause. A higher bpm would make your metronome beat faster, this would mean shorter phases of breath, while a lower bpm will result in longer phases of breathing. Starting anywhere between 90–120 bpm could be ideal for anyone. If your lung capacity is not great or your breath is shallow, start with a higher setting. Count in synchrony with the metronome, that will ensure your breaths are truly evenly paced. Continue practising with the metronome for many sessions. It does take time, but you will eventually unconsciously learn the pace. After you feel absolutely confident that you have learned the pace and you can actually imagine or just feel the metronome‘s rhythm, you are safe to abandon it and continue with counting only. Eventually you will be able to keep the prefect square breathing without even counting. This will not happen overnight, or even in a couple of days or weeks. Do take your time and follow your intuition, more than just your conscious mind. Some might say you should count your heartbeats. Counting your heartbeats might be sufficient, but you have to keep in mind that while you are practising this breathing method, your heart-rate will steadily decrease, until it reaches its minimum, usually about 60-70 beats per minute, or less, depending on your general health and fitness level. This means that each inhalation and exhalation will be longer than the previous one. Eventually this can lead to such a slow pace of breathing that you cannot just yet sustain, especially if you have relatively low resting heart-rate (below 60 bpm). When you breathe this way, following the count of heartbeats, an interesting phenomenon may occur. As your heart-rate decreases, each phase becomes longer and longer and the square shape will be distorted, becoming more and more like a spiral, while eventually evening out to return into the shape of a square, or circle.

If you can maintain square breathing at your resting heart-rate with four heartbeats counting as one phase, aligning your breaths to your heartbeats might even aid you into relaxation, through the steadily lengthening breaths and decreasing heart-rate. This is especially useful with relaxation-meditation methods, such as Corpse Pose (Shavasana), while with other techniques overly relaxing can easily deteriorate your focus. Which method you can use square breathing with, will therefore depend much on the applicability to the meditation technique of your choice, apart from your own capability of maintaining the pace or rhythm. Read the full article

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DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

Although often used interchangeably with the term ‘abdominal breathing’, this breathing technique is somewhat different from all three abdominal breathing practices introduced earlier. While the basic principle is similar, using the diaphragm more than anything else to initiate each breath, pure diaphragmatic breathing is more than just abdominal breathing, or in a way, less than that. Diaphragmatic breathing may occur naturally as a result of deep relaxation or might be practised consciously. The conscious practice is a meditation method itself, and it will be discussed in the ‘Corpse Pose (Shavasana)’ chapter; only an explanation of what diaphragmatic breathing really means will be presented here. As the body relaxes, the heart-beats slow down, the muscles and internal organs work less and less, the oxygen consumption will significantly decrease, this results in slower breathing with less depth. Interestingly, slowing down the breathing consciously would also result in the above physiological response, resulting in relaxation of the body, the process is bi-directional. In either case, it is possible to reach such depths of relaxation, where so little oxygen would be consumed as the lungs will barely need to expand to inhale. When practising simple abdominal breathing and such relaxation response occurs, the movements of the diaphragm would become so minimal, that not only will the chest cease rising and falling, but even inward-outward movement of the abdominal wall will be less and less noticeable, until it becomes completely unnoticable. To the external observer, the practitioner would literally appear to have stopped breathing. In reality, the movement of the diaphragm is still present inside the body, but it has become so minimal, that there is no visible sign of it anymore. Of course this requires perfect stillness of both the mind and body, as the lowered amount of oxygen exchange would barely be enough to maintain basic life functions.

Inhale: A minimal contraction of the diaphragm, no breathing is apparent, the abdomen remains motionless. Exhale: The diaphragm relaxes, returning to its former shape. Once again, no movement of the abdomen is noticeable The body has the ability to shut down the digestive system, which usually occurs during demanding physical activity, to be able to redirect most of the blood-flow (and therefore most of the oxygen) to the skeletal muscles, providing them with the extra oxygen and nutrients, so that they can keep going. What happens during real diaphragmatic breathing is very similar to this, only this time all the non-essential organs will reduce functioning to a maintenance level, where they barely consume any oxygen, so that they can survive on the lowered oxygen levels present in the blood. The muscles are at complete rest, consuming minimal amounts of oxygen as well. The greatest consumer of energy, the brain, also comes to a very deeply rested state, so that the oxygen consumption will be drastically reduced all over the system. Although this might sound unhealthy at first, just consider how little rest most of your organs usually get, being over-worked and constantly spiked by daily stress, excess food and sugar intake, mental strain, etc. Your organs have the ability to go through this low energy state without damage and the rest you gain through this, is comparable to nothing, but the deepest, most refreshing sleep, most people never even experience. If you need more information about Yogic Breathing & diaphragmatic breathing please follow our site. Q: What does diaphragmatic breathing do? Ans : A minimal contraction of the diaphragm, no breathing is apparent, the abdomen remains motionless. Exhale: The diaphragm relaxes, returning to its former shape. Once again, no movement of the abdomen is noticeable Q: Is diaphragmatic breathing good for you? Ans: Yes Q: How do you demonstrate diaphragmatic breathing? Ans: Please read our above article. Q: How do you strengthen your diaphragm? Ans: daily stress, excess food and sugar intake, mental strain, etc Read the full article