I am taking a Yoga Therapy Course this Saturday - Wednesday with Ganesh Mohan, a physician trained in both western medicine and ayurveda. It is his 3rd yoga therapy module and this time he is primarily focusing on the breath. Yes, we will be talking about breathing and doing breathing exercises for 5 days! It has only been one day, but already, I'm at the edge of my yoga mat!
I will try to share one thing that I learned during the day for each of the next 5 days. I have been taught from the moment I set foot on my mat, that the breath is an integral part of our physical or hatha yoga practice. The breath allows us to ease through the challenging poses and we inhale whenever we're moving up and exhale when the flow requires us to move back down toward the mat. Ganesh wants us to realize that while control of the breath is important, part of that control is the ability to truly let it go and let it flow naturally - deeply and at the right pace for us. And mastering that release can take a long time, but we can get there by tuning into our breath throughout our day and observing its state at different times, and especially when we're in different life situations - talking to a stranger vs. our boss vs. a dear friend, when exercising, when watching a pleasant movie, when stressed, when happy. Our the depth, rate, and rhythm of our breath changes throughout the day!
I find this subject fascinating. While breathing is such an involuntary action and we go most of our day without noticing our breath because it simply happens, when we break the breath down and inquire into its subtleties, we realize how complex the act of breathing can be and how much mastering our breath can assist us with coping with the stresses of our everyday lives. Just like the physical practice of yoga, all the asanas that we do, the discipline we develop of the flow through which we lead our body, can permeate into our life and allow us to garner a better sense of well-being and take little steps to make our lifestyles healthier and more fulfilling, the breath allows us to do the same for our bodies.
I'll leave you here to ponder the breath and will share more tomorrow!
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