Introduction to Pranayama + Puraka Rechaka
Introduction to Pranayama and Surrendered Breathing
The Breath frames our life itself— we enter the world with an inhale and exit it with an exhale, and it mirrors every experience of our daily life in between. When we feel calm and safe our breath naturally slows and deepens, and our parasympathetic nervous system produces a relaxing effect. When we are stressed, frightened or generally uncomfortable, our breath speeds up, becomes shallow, and our sympathetic nervous system activates and we begin to accelerate with it. But the Yogic tradition teaches that this mirror works both ways— affecting our breath has a direct effect on our mind, through the application of a pranayama practice we can directly effect our nervous system, down regulating it and creating a sustainable experience in our everyday life— from overall stress reduction to insomnia prevention, emotional control and improved attention, the list goes on and on.
The Breath is not just another physiological component of our life and practice, but is a literal bridge between the physical and subtle aspects of our experience on and off the mat. As the Shiva Sutra’s reference from the Tattvartha Cintamani, “Entering in breath (prāṇa) is the first change of God consciousness. This is the initial step towards manifestation.” The breath is the first manifestation, and is therefore a link or bridge we must walk when going from the physical to the subtle. Or as the Kaushitaki Upanishad’s describe it, “The breath of life is the consciousness of life, and the conscoiusness of life is the breath of life”, meaning that our breath and our consicuoness are inextricably linked, and pranayama is the technique that allows us walk this bridge from the physical to the subtle.
Walking this bridge takes practice, though. The yogic tradition is set up to walk with us step by step from the physical to the subtle— the practice of asana shows us how to work with surrender at the level of the physical body, which guides us naturally to the practice of breathing with surrender in the form of pranayama. As Patanjali writes in his Sutras, “Pranayama is the regulation of the breath in order to consciously use the life force (prana) for growth. When the practitioner has been strengthened through asana practice, it’s easier to bring focus to the space between the breaths.” Practicing with surrender at the level of asana teaches us how to practice with surrender at the level of the breath with pranayama, which guides us towards working with surrender at the level of the heart and mind through meditation. This is the structure of Patanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga, as well as a description of the path of the Koshas which describe the layers of our Being, and even the overall arc of the most primary teaching of Kashmir Shaivism, the Uppayas, which follow the same trajectory of physical to subtle and beyond. So you could say that the first step to a productive pranayama practice isn’t pranayama at all, it’s learning to work with surrender in our asana practice.
In the following quote from Babaji, you can use the word pranayama and asana interchangeably, to better understand the bigger picture of our work with surrender on the mat, and on the cushion.
“Think of the breath/asana as a vehicle rather than a jackhammer. Often students use the breath/asana too strongly. You will not be using the breath/asana to cut the rock open…The breath/asana is like a massage…When students are able to be open and simple with their breath/asana they realize that controlling the breath/asana is not the same as watching the breath/asana… The pranayama/posture within the breath/asana is simply flowing with the breath/asana.”
When we are experiencing a tension or discomfort in our life, we may try to use our breath to get through it, working from the outside in, trying to use our breath like a jackhammer to break through. Similarly in our bodies, when we feel a tight muscle we may use an asana like a jackhammer to try to remove the discomfort from the outside in. According to the yogic tradition, as described here in Babaji’s quote, this is not actually an effective mode of practice. Instead we are taught to use our energy and will to relax enough to feel our breath flowing, to enter it’s flow, and to allow that flow to dissolve the tension from inside out. We do this with our asana practice as explore the path of the posture, trying to flow with it, not against it. Flowing with the breath, and flowing with the posture, as Babaji teaches, become the ultimate expression of the pose or pranayama— the techniques do the work of shedding the discomfort, allowing our true nature to shine through. This is why the ultimate technique is surrender— the conscious ability to flow with our body or breath, not to change it.
This is why Patanjali concludes his teaching on Pranayama as saying that the aforesaid pranayama techniques exist solely to guide us towards an experience of the breath as Prana, life force, which goes beyond the physical breath flowing into our out of the body, meaning we must relate to our breath as a flow, and not as manipulatable separate parts.
As Paul Reps teaches,
“Eyes closed
or Half Closed
Seeing Released
l e t breathe
as you let wind blow
rain fall
Enter
one breath
WHOLLY
Going with
not Against
THE harmony”And the science of breathing, pulmonology, agrees— less is more when it comes to the breath. Ie. the best thing we can do to our breath is get out of its way, to let it flow naturally, and that our heavy handed approaches to breathing could be the very thing causing our imbalance.
Science of Balanced Breathing
When your friend is having a hard time, or spinning into a worry spiral, its common for all of us to say “just take a deep breath”— call on oxygen to the rescue. It might comes as a surprise, though, that too much oxygen in our system actually leads to less and less oxygen absorption, this means that the more we inhale the more out of breath we may feel!
To understand the paradox of why ‘taking a deeper breath’ doesn’t actually yield more oxygen and relief, you can imagine your blood like a delivery person dropping off cartons of Oxygen at each “cellular household”. The cell uses that oxygen to transfer energy stored in food to a usable form. This process, which is called cellular respiration, allows the cells to harness energy to perform vital functions such as powering muscles (including involuntary muscles such as the heart) and the movement of materials into and out of cells. Cellular respiration produces the waste product CO2, which the cellular household puts back on their doorstep. The presence of this CO2 on the doorstep is what tells the Oxygen delivery person that the oxygen in the cell has been used up, and that more is needed for daily functions.
When there is no CO2 on the doorstep, the delivery person assumes that the oxygen is still in use for that cell and doesn’t deliver a new batch. It is for this reason that pulmonologists define the breath more as a measure of CO2 than O2, because it is the presence of CO2 that actually determines whether the oxygen in our body is delivered, ie. We can huff and puff all day, but until our CO2 levels increase that O2 will be expelled with little to no absorption. So though it would seem good to have a lot of oxygen in our system, this imbalance actually prevents our body from assimilating it, sa Dr. Crystal Frazee, a breathing behavior analyst, describes it, “Good breathing is actually defined as: 'Retaining the proper amount of CO2 so that we can oxygenate properly and that our systems remain in harmony’…Respiration is all about CO2…When CO2 is at right levels in blood and airways, then we can have adequate oxygen levels.”
So the first step to ‘getting in the flow’ of our breath is to stop over-breathing. The best pranayama we can do is balancing our breath. Deep inhales don’t have the balancing effect we think they have, in fact they could literally be the source of our imbalance. Science has even shown that without adequate CO2 in the system, the oxygen of a ‘deep breath’ is literally expelled in our next breath— it goes in and comes right back out (cite study, breath book)! And with each deep breath we take, our O2 levels keep rising, and our CO2 levels keep falling. Deepening the pattern of hyperventilation. It is safe to assume that you and I are reading this right within a mild, or more than mild, state of hyperventilation. Symptoms include, “Feeling lightheaded, dizzy, weak, or not able to think straight, Feeling as if you can't catch your breath, Chest pain or fast and pounding heartbeat, Belching or bloating, Dry mouth, Muscle spasms in the hands and feet, Numbness and tingling in the arms or around the mouth, Problems sleeping” (Cite study). So, step one is to let go of the urge to ‘breathe deep’ in our daily lives, on our mats and on our cushions, and instead focus our awareness on the breath as a constant and steady flow— this is the essence of the Puraka Rechaka pranayama.
The Proper Posture of Pranayama
But before we dive into our first pranayama, we have to talk about the posture we assume when practicing pranayama. Without proper posture, it can be nearly impossible to reap the benefits of any breathing practice, no matter how well it is taught or performed. And thought the posture itself is simple, there are a few checkpoints that can make your experience optimal.
The first is to sit in a way that promotes stillness of body— this means that if sitting on the floor is uncomfortable, then please sit in a chair. Whether on the floor cross legged, or in a chair, the spine should be upright, supple and self-supporting. In a chair, this often means that we will need to scoot to the front of the seat, away from the back rest, as most chairs angle us back in the seat promoting poor posture, which limits our muscles of respiration and capacity for effortless expansion.
The hands can be sealed in the Jnana Mudra, with first finger and thumb touching. This, along with crossing the legs, is a means of circulating our energy— as ancient yogis, and modern touch screens, have shown us, there’s an electrical charge emanating from our finger tips. When we connect the thumb and forefinger, that charge is circulated back within us. The same is taught about the feet, when we cross our legs underneath us, in padmasana or a variation, this charge is re-circulated within you. From a chair, it is recommended to sit with the feet flat on the floor, as this has been taught to be the most optimal position for this situation.
The final Mudra, after the legs and hands have been established, is sealing the position of our spine. Patanjali was clear that the seat used for meditation should have the qualities of effortless effort, persevearance without tension, and this is of utmost important. That being said, we must do this within an upright posture— we have to sit upright, but without tension— to accomplish this we must effortlessly harness our deep core of support— but let’s take our time with this so we don’t misinterpret it and get sucked into doership. The deep core we are speaking about only activate under the lightest circumstances. As Sri Shambhavananda often teaches about finding our seat, it can be helpful to simply rock a little forward in your seat, and then back, or even to make small circles— these small movement actaully inspire the deep core to awaken, too big and you miss them. From there, you allow the movements to become smaller and smaller, until you ‘arrive’ at center. I say arrive in order to alleviate the need to ‘hold’ your self at center. This is a weightless center, ‘like balancing on the head of a pin’ as Sri Shambhavananda often describes it. Another way to experiment with this subtle activation is to simply lift your arms in front of you while seated, and notice the automatic, yet almost imperceptible, compression that occurs around your midsection. Take a few natural breaths with the hands lifted to feel the balance of effort and ease present in this posture. Then slowly lower the hands and try to maintain that balance.
The icing on the cake of this subtle core of support is actually in the tongue. The tongue, as you learned in your asana section, is the final muscle in the deep front line team— the deep core that floats you through your life’s activities. For most of us, the tongue is just sitting in our mouth, unsure of what to do most of the day when not talking or eating. Believe it or not, the tongue has a purpose outside of these activities— to gently press upwards into the soft palette. To explore this position of the tongue, lengthen the back of your neck up so that your head floats lightly over the ribs. From this position, swallow, keeping the mouth shut and not letting the head crane forward while you do so. (Our constant head forward positioning has created weakness in our neck muscles, and we often avoid using them to swallow by moving our head forward— keeping the head still while swallowing strengthens our tongue). If done correctly, the tongue should naturally suction up to the upper palette while we swallow— from there, we just keep the tongue suctioned up, and mouth shut, as we continue to breath. The effect is that you sit taller and lighter, as well as breathe more efficiently, with less effort than ever before. And when performed regularly, this gentle upward pressure has even been shown to help open our air passage ways in the mouth, allowing for better breathing in the long run (cite study).
The yogis obviously intuited the value of this gentle upward pressure of the tongue as they literally taught it as a part of the meditative posture— called the Khechari Mudra. “Khe” means space and “Chari” means to move, so this Mudra is often translated as ‘a seal that helps us move towards the infinite space of our true nature’. Though there are extreme versions of this Mudra in ancient texts, the simple act of pressing one’s tongue gently towards the roof of the mouth is how it has been handed down in the ShambhavAnanda tradition. Benefits of this Mudra in the ancient texts are associated with immune boosting, slowing down the aging process, as well as surviving without food and water, and more. Although we may not be able to attest to these qualities manifesting in our immediate lives, the Khechari Mudra offers us a finishing touch to an effective seat, which itself becomes the doorway to our spiritual practice— and in the end, it is practice that yields all boons. Now that our posture has been established, we can move into our first pranayama practice, Puraka Rechaka.
Puraka Rechaka Pranayama:
Introduction: Puraka Rechaka is literally translated as ‘inhale and exhale’ in Sanskrit. It is the simplest and yet the subtlest of our pranayama practices. In this pranayama we gently extend the inhale and exhale just enough to keep our awareness on it, and then try to maintain this inner awareness as we use less and less physical effort in order to feel more and more of a flow. This pranayama will naturally inspire a surrendered approach to breathing, yielding a more balanced equilibrium of CO2 and O2 in our system, calming our mind and allowing for greater oxygen assimilation in our blood and airways.
Technique at a glance: The practice of Puraka Rechaka has a few key steps. First, we take time to smooth and even out our breath, focusing on releasing doership. It can be helpful to remind our students that the breath has four phases that can be felt and focused on to support their practice. To facilitate this inner awareness, we can walk our awareness from the physical to the subtle experience of our inhale and exhale. From there, we focus on the phases of our breath to ensure our whole breath is well represented. At this point we can also utilize a timer to help inspire a feeling of balanced breathing. These steps open the door to the first plateau of Puraka Rechaka: breathing without doership, and focusing on the breath as a flow. After three to five minutes of this experience of the breath as a flow, we can conclude our teaching or personal practice. In some cases, though, we can go a little deeper into the pranayama by emphasizing the rechaka phase of the breath, in order to accelerate our path to equilibrium. Let’s take time to walk this path together step by step.
Smooth and Even Breathing: The practice of puraka rechaka is a way for us to experience a natural breath flow, to feel the breath as a flow. To do this we start by making the breath smooth and even. This requires effort, but a gentle effort. The next time you are walking on an even surface, watch your breath and you’ll feel the level of effort we seek on our cushion. It’s just a little more than a natural breath, but not so much that we only feel our own effort. As you feel the breath becoming smooth and even, try maintaining that quality as you use a little less effort. Less and less effort, while maintaining your focus, is the path we seek.
Phases of the Breath: As we are able to smooth and even out our breath, it can be helpful to observe its four phases: the exhale, the pause after, the inhale, and the pause after. Studies have shown that the exhale and the pause are the most overlooked aspect of our breath, so its good to take time to make sure they are present as we breathe. These four phases of the breath become a focal point for our awareness, giving our mind a place to focus. It’s important to remember that we aren’t trying to hold any phase, just notice it, and to allow that awareness to be our focus. Feel how the exhale, when allowed to complete, naturally draws in a fresh inhale, and how the inhale then effortlessly becomes the exhale. Try to notice the breath as a steady flow, like a river, with no perceptible start or stop. And like a river, you can’t step your awareness into the same spot twice, as each breath is a unique experience of the present.
Physical to Subtle Breath: As you continue to gently lengthen the inhale and exhale, we can begin to notice their physical qualities.
Physical: Where do you feel the inhale and exhale physically in your body? Can you feel the coolness of the inhale as it passes through the nose and sinuses, maybe even in the throat? Can you feel the invisible warmth of the exhale in the nostrils? Keeping the effort to a minimum, can you feel the gentle expansion of the torso as you inhale— maybe at the chest, ribs or even belly— and the gentle compression of those same spaces with each exhale? Take time to notice the physical experience of your breath flow.
Subtle: Allow your awareness to sink to a subtler level of experience. What does it feel like to inhale? What are the qualities of it? Traditionally it is described as expansive and light— without deepening the inhale any more than it is now, notice how it feels to you. Then watch the exhale, what does that experience feel like? Traditionally, the exhale is associated with feeling grounded and centered, or letting go and surrender. Keeping the breath steady, see what you feel.
Counting our Breath: It’s a slippery slope, but it could be helpful to take time to experiment with breathing according to a counter at this point in your practice. I say slippery slope, because its easy for us to overlook our own intuition when presented with a ‘scientifically proven’ length of breathing. But if we can maintain our inner sensation while we breathe according to a certain count, it can be helpful lat showing what we are overlooking in our breath flow. It’s important to remember that this could also become an obstacle on the bigger journey of using the breath as a means of surrender. Knowing how long to inhale and exhale can help you begin to feel a new equilibrium in yourself, that is absolutely true, and breathing to a certain count is fun and valuable, but in the end, as Patanjali wrote, the experience we seek with our breath goes beyond ‘the breath merely existing inside or outside the body’— we are here to connect to the actual pulsation of the present through the vehicle of our breath, and the present can’t be contained by a number.
That being said, there have been numerous studies that seem to indicate that there is, in fact, an optimal rate of breathing that allows for the best oxygen absorption. That rate is five and a half seconds in, and five and a half seconds out, resulting in five and half breaths per minute (cite study). To experiment with this, feel free to start a stop watch in order to establish how long a second is, and then count up to five, silently in your mind, with each inhale and exhale. I like to pause for a second after saying five to myself as way of incorporating that half second. Similarly, we can use the 5 syllable mantra “Na-mah Shi-Va-Ya” with each breath to assist in a 5 second breath, or “Om” for a 6 second count. As you count, stay connected to your experience of breathing. There should never be a feeling of ‘holding the breath’ or feeling ‘out of breath’— adjust your count to ensure that you feel good right now during this breath. Though science might tell us that a certain count is preferable, science can’t determine each person’s individual and daily needs. In the end, your awareness is the finest algorithm.
Cueing for Depth: Even if we are breathing ‘on the clock’, we can release that practice in order to bring our awareness back to the pranayama as a whole— breathing smooth and even through all four phases, with less and less doership as we continue to notice the subtler experience. This is the essence of Puraka Rechaka Pranayama, its strength is in its gentleness. We are so accustomed to breathing deeply in order to facilitate change, we often overlook the depth of what is occuring in our body and mind at this point in the pranayama— but if you are working well in this pranayama, you might be feeling significant shifts occurring inside. Because as we are able to breathe steadily and evenly for a length of time, our O2 and CO2 levels will begin to equalize, and the feeling of more oxygen assimilating can be unsettling in a body that has become accustomed to hyperventilation. That’s one of the reasons we approach pranayama so gently in the ShambhavAnanda tradition. Because when you change your breath, you are literally changing the world around you and within you— and such profound changes need to have a light touch.
Concluding: This can be a good point to conclude your pranayama, trying to let go of the pranayama as gently as you began it, taking time to notice any shift in your physical or subtle experience.
Option to emphasize Rechaka: If you feel balanced and focused at this point, it can be beneficial to take this pranayama one level deeper, to an emphasis of the exhale. This means that we gently lengthen our exhale, making it longer than our inhale. We can do this by counting, or through mantra, or simply trying to feel the exhale and the pause as intuitively longer. The Yoga Sutras say that the bahya vrtti (exhalation) is the most important aspect of the breath, followed by the abhyantara vrtti (inhalation). Teaching that, “When the blockage is cleared from the pipe, the water must flow,” meaning that a slow, smooth and quiet exhalation naturally draws in a full, balanced inhalation— ie. a conscious exhale is also the path to an optimal inhale.
This phase of the pranayama can be taught as long as the first phase, but it should be noted that we are accelerating our approach to equilibrium here, and should keep checking in with our inner experience. From the scientific perspective, the exhale, and the pause after it, are when our body’s CO2 levels begin to rise— which we remember is a good thing. It seems paradoxical, though, that as we release our CO2 with an exhale our CO2 levels rise…but but the data is clear about this aspect of our breath and that giving our exhale a little extra time, as well as the pause after it, will take us towards the state of O2 CO2 equilibrium we seek. It is because of this gentle acceleration that we incorporate the Rechaka focus of the pranayama after the breath flow has been established as steady, comfortable and balanced. Even lengthening the exhale a small amount in a body accustomed to hyperventilation can be uncomfortable, and so we need to trust that this level of the practice will naturally arise when we are ready for it. As teachers, it is impossible for us to know the subtleties of our student’s experience, so it simply behooves us to emphasize simplicity, patience and persistence when teaching pranayama, and not to be too quick to change ourselves from the outside in.
The exhale, and the pause after it, have been shown to be the most overlooked aspects of our breath— Watch yourself the next time you are talking with someone, the most common experience is that the person will cut off their exhale, and quicken their inhale, to support the pace and rhythm which which they wish to speak. There are many reasons our exhale is such an overlooked aspect of our breath. Science has taught us that it is a waste product, so we easily let ourselves ‘throw it away’. Also, the exhale physically leaves us, and that can draw our awareness outside, which naturally distracts us from our practice. The exhale is also very relaxing, so its not uncommon to lose our focus, falling asleep even, while exhaling. Yet another reason we aren’t too familiar with it. But the exhale could very well be the missing link you are seeking in your breath. In the yogic tradition we feel the exhale as synonymous with the quality of surrender, as it allows us to directly participate in the act of ‘letting something go’ while ‘maintaining inner awareness’. The pause after the exhale is even described as a ‘direct path’ to your true nature, a type of ‘warp tunnel' to an experience of perfect stillness at the causal level. Perhaps this is why Sri Shambhavananda often teaches that the practice of ‘opening our hearts’ is better experienced through our exhale than our inhale. So whether we see it through the lens of Yogic Science of Worldly Science, the exhale deserves our attention, and gentle deepening our experience of the Rechaka phase of this pranayama is a time tested method of supporting it.
Guided Long Form experiences of Balanced Breathing (Optional, just included here for those seeking more paths to working with surrendered breathing)