A breath to stay cool, calm, and collected this summer and beyond
At some point in your childhood you probably learned that a human can’t go more than (approximately) three minutes without air/breath, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Suffice it to say these are the most basic of our needs for survival. But let’s go beyond just the basics needed to survive and think about becoming vibrant and thriving. The quality and intention of the elements that go into meeting these basic needs can greatly enhance our experiences in the world. This is the first of a three-part series on how yoga and Ayurveda can influence our basic needs.
This week, we’re exploring breath - how the quality and intentionality of our breath can impact how our nervous system engages.
Let’s start with the abdominal or belly breath. In this breath, the abdomen expands outward, as the diaphragm flattens downward to pull air into the lungs. It can feel unnatural if you haven’t practiced it before. Placing one hand on the belly or lying down on the back can facilitate this process if it’s new and unfamiliar. It’s a great practice to do on a regular basis as it helps facilitate relaxation, increases the amount of oxygen in your blood, and it reduces blood pressure and heart rate. It can help with conditions such as anxiety, asthma, COPD, and stress.
The abdominal breath is the foundation or building point for the cooling breath. Changing the shape of the mouth as we inhale with an abdominal breath brings a cooling sensation to the tongue. Cooling breath, practiced as shītalī or sīkārī, has a cooling effect on the body, reduces pitta or the fiery aspect of our constitution, and purifies the blood, helping to maintain a good complexion. Beyond the vanity of wanting a good complexion and nice luster in our skin, on a deeper level, we want our skin to look good because, intuitively, we know that our skin looks like how our body is feeling. Our skin is the by-product of our whole digestive process, how we are able to take in, assimilate, and produce the tissues we show to the outside world as a mirror of what’s going on inside of us.
Check out this video to practice the abdominal and cooling breaths.