Primary Essay
Reclaiming Our Natural Breath:
The Purpose & Practice of Pranayama
Intro to Pranayama • Surrender at the Level of the Breath: An Introduction to pranayama in the Shambhavananda Tradition
The Breath is a Bridge between Physical and Subtle Realities
The Mirror of the Breath: The Breath frames our experience of life itself— we enter the world with an inhale and exit it with an exhale, and every step of the way in between, the breath mirrors our experience of daily life. 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. The Yogic tradition teaches that breath is a two way mirror— our state of being affects our breath, but our breath can also affect our state of being. The Science of Yoga, as well as modern day western medicine, shows that pranayama practices down regulate the nervous system, decrease overall stress, prevent insomnia, improve attention and emotional control, and more— the list goes on and on.
Breath is Consciousness:
This is to say that 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 of reality 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 bridge that allows us walk from the physical to the subtle.
Surrender at the Level of the Breath:
And this is precisely where Patanjali positioned the practice of pranayama in his eight limbs of yoga, as a bridge between asana (limb 2) and the beginning of meditative work (limb 4). 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. Pranayama is a stepping stone for us to bring our practice of surrender from the physical to the subtle and beyond.
Building the Bridge takes time:
The bridge of pranayama takes time to build. You have probably done Trikonasana hundreds of times, and now you are learning to teach it. How many times have you done Puraka Rechaka in the form we teach at Shambhavananda Yoga? Or Full Yogic Breathing without falling into the all too common ruts of doership and overbreathing? There is a lot to learn about pranayama overall, and even more to learn about doing pranayama with surrender. For this reason we hope you will start incorporating pranayama into your daily practice so that your internal experience of it will grow and develop, like your asana practice has over the years. The time to start practicing pranayama is now, don’t wait till the end of the training. It is a subtle art form that requires patience and surrender, so the more time you allow yourself to explore it, the more productive your experience will become.
Bridging the Work of Asana Up to the Breath
Effortless Effort…Yet Again:
Our work in pranayama is very similar to our work in asana— we are seeking a state of effortless effort, we are trying to move with the flow, not against it. To someone who has not practiced asana with Shambhavananda Yoga, these might seem like pithy euphamisms, but we hope that your experience of asana has shown you that Patanjali’s ancient teachings of effortless effort and perseverance without tension are not only possible, but incredibly practical— as the paradigm in yoga injuries for those practicing with doership continues to show. The following quote from Babaji is about doing pranayama with surrender. In it he teaches us to relax, and ride the breath as a vehicle, instead of direct it like a jackhammer. We are taught to seek simplicity and openess instead of complexity and doership, and that eventually this path brings us to an experience of the breath as a ceaseless flow of energy.
Shambhavananda Teaches Pranayama:
“Think of the breath as a vehicle rather than a jackhammer. Often students use the breath too strongly. You will not be using the breath to cut the rock open…The breath is like a massage…When students are able to be open and simple with their breath they realize that controlling the breath is not the same as watching the breath … The pranayama within the breath is simply flowing with the breath.”
Now take a look at this same quote and substitute the word ‘yoga posture’ or ‘asana’ for the word ‘breath' and we start to see just how similar the practice of surrender is in our work with pranayama and asana.
From the perspective of Asana:
“Think of the yoga posture as a vehicle rather than a jackhammer. Often students use the posture too strongly. You will not be using the posture to cut the rock open…The posture is like a massage…When students are able to be open and simple with their asana practice they realize that controlling the posture is not the same as feeling the posture … The asana within the posture is simply flowing with the asana.”
The Work of Surrender:
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— like stretching a tight hamstring till we suffer from tendonitis. 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 and 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.
The Most Advanced Pranayama:
But of course, the work of surrender is a work in progress. At first it seems like surrender means giving up, doing nothing, but over time we start to understand how to ‘work with surrender’, how to apply ourselves to a posture or pranayama in a way that helps us release tension and absorb energy. Similar to swimming with the current, we begin to feel supported by the techniques, and they carry us towards a natural and nourishing experience. This is why Patanjali concludes his teaching on Pranayama by saying “Besides these methods of altering the breath, there is another, more subtle approach to pranayama which transcends the concept of the breath existing merely inside or outside of the body” (2.51), which is to say that the most advanced pranayama we can do, according to Babaji, Patanjali, and the science of Pulmonolgoy, is the one that helps us connect to the flow of our life force, or as Babaji put it, “The pranayama within the breath is simply flowing with the breath.” Our goal with pranayama isn’t to change our breath, or manipulate it, but to re-discover its natural flow. We can conclude this thought with a poem by Zen Master Paul Reps…
“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”
Free Write: What is your current relationship with your breath? Is Pranayama a part of your daily practice or daily life?
Puraka Rechaka Pranayama: The Overlooked Power of Balanced Breathing
Wait—Don’t take a deep breath?
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!
How Oxygen is Delivered:
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.
No CO2, No O2:
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.”
Surrender the need to Over Breathe:
So the first step to better breathing is to stop over breathing, and start practicing how to breathe with balance. This is essentially the practice we are here to learn with Puraka Rechaka Pranayama. 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 start to learn how to “Breathe Naturally”— the essence of the Puraka Rechaka pranayama.
Summary & Reflection
The misconception of taking deep breaths for more oxygen may not be as helpful of advice as we think it is, as too much oxygen can hinder absorption. Oxygen delivery to cells depends on CO2 levels, with optimal respiration achieved by maintaining balanced CO2 levels. Over-breathing, often present due to deep breaths, disrupts this balance and can lead to various symptoms. The focus of Puraka Rechaka Pranayama is to restore natural breathing and CO2 balance for better respiration.
Free Write:
Was the idea of not taking a deep breath new information for you? How does this resonate with your experience of pranayama? Are you intrigued by the possibility that less is more when it comes to breathing?
Teaching Puraka Rechaka Pranayama
The following technique is an excerpt from the Level One 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Manual for Shambhavananda Yoga. We wanted you to have this resource, but don’t want you to feel burdened by the depth that it entails. See this as a resource to deepen your experience of Puraka Rechaka when and if you need it, but that the fundamentals of this practice can easily be gleaned by simply practicing the pranayama with the recordings. Even taking 5-10 minutes to simply read this section, and allow it to inform your practice organically, is a big boost. On the other hand, if you are seeking a little more insight into the process, then this section is here to assist you with that. Enjoy.
Free Write
If this section spoke to you, take time to share what cues or approaches you found the most helpful.
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. A natural breath flow is hard to find, but with the practice of Puraka Rechaka we will make our way to that effortless and spacious experience.
The Primary Technique:
“Begin by smoothing out, and evening out, the flow and pace of the breath”: The first step in Puraka Rechaka Pranayama is to simply smooth out, and even out, the breath. This should feel intuitive and require very little specific cueing, we are simply trying to say hello to the breath and feel it naturally.
“Next, lengthen the breath flow a little bit— make it just a little longer than your natural breath while still feeling it as a flow”: In Puraka Rechaka pranayama, the description of the effort is itself one of the main cueing techniques. If we breathe too strongly we will miss the point of the pranayama, and if we don’t breathe any slower it will be hard to focus on our breath. So as a teacher we have to ask ourselves, ‘how can we breathe a little deeper than usual, but not so deep that our own effort becomes the focal point?' One way of describing this effort is as a flow, lengthen the breath ever so gently, while continuing to feel it as a natural flow. There are many ways to describe this effort, and as you practice you will find your own. For now, the simple cue of lengthening the breath just enough so you can feel it move might suffice, but that is up to you.
Extra Credit exploration: The next time you are out on an easy walk on level ground, notice the depth and pace of your breath— this is precisely the depth of breathing we seek during puraka rechaka pranayama. It’s just a little more than a natural breath, but not so much that we only feel our own effort.
“As you keep the breath flowing slowly, yet smoothly, try to feel each phase of the breath as it happens— The inhale and the exhale, as well as the turning points between them”: Once the breath is smooth, we can begin to notice its phases. We often think of the breath an inhale and exhale, but there breath really has four phases: the exhale, the pause after exhale, the inhale, and the pause after inhale. Studies have shown that the phases of the exhale, and the pause after the exhale, are the most overlooked and neglected phases of of our breath. For this reason, taking time to look at the phases of the breath, and reminding students about the exhale and pause, can help us bring equal attention to these spaces that commonly get missed.
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 subtlety of the spaces between the breath, almost imperceptible. This is essentially the second teaching of the Vijnana Bhairava, to notice the ‘turns’ in the breath over and over again until those turns turn our awareness itself within. “As breath turns from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down—through both these turns, realize.”
Explorations
A note on cueing for Depth in Puraka Rechaka Pranayama:
No matter which approach you take to deepening your experience of Puraka Rechaka, it should be known that the magic of Puraka Rechaka Pranayama is in its gentleness. We are so accustomed to breathing deeply in order to facilitate change, the hardest pranayama for any of us may very well be breathing gently for a period of time. Don’t be surprised that as you are able to breathe gently you actually feel uncomfortable. We have literally become accustomed to the feeling of hyperventilation, and when our O2 and CO2 levels begin to equalize, you might find the experience unsettling. Sort of like how your hand might hurt when you open it after squeezing an object for a long time. 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.
Exploring Through Observation (Essential):
In this cueing for depth segment, students are guided to pay attention to the physical aspects, and then subtle aspects, of the inhale and exhale as a means of maintaining detached inner focus on the breath.
Part One: Inhale Focus
“Place your attention on the inhale, slowing it down, and allow the exhale to be a natural pace”: Step one of this depth segment is to isolate the inhale in order to focus on its qualities. The exhale is allowed to move in a natural way, and we keep the inhale gently lengthened as we did before to both aspects of the breath.
“Begin by noticing the physical qualities of the inhale— can you feel the coolness of the inhale in the nostrils, the sinuses, or even the throat? You may notice the physical expansion of the inhale in the chest, ribs or navel”: The first stage of feeling the breath is to feel it physically. This begins very intuitively by allowing the student’s to notice where they feel the inhale in the body itself. This is implied by the “…” in the cue above. After a moment or two, it is also beneficial to give them some direction on where they may be feeling it according to the anatomy of the breath. The coolness of the breath can often be felt in the nose or sinuses, and sometimes the throat, and the expansion occurs throughout the torso. Its important that we remind students that we are not trying to create this expansion, but rather notice what is already occurring.
“Now shift your awareness to a more subtle experience of the inhale. How does it feel to inhale?…”: The progression of this depth segment takes us from the physical to the subtle, following the well tread path of the Koshas. Subtle sensations are of course hard to describe. It can be helpful to allow them to take a moment to feel for their own version of subtle.
“The inhale is often described as an experience of expansion, a feeling of lightness, what does inhaling feel like to you?…”: Giving time for intuition is good, but we also want to guide the students towards time tested experiences— we do so here by relating the feeling of subtleness to the experience of ‘feeling’— if you can describe what it feels like to inhale, you are connecting with the subtle experience.
“Visualize the inhale entering from every direction, not just the lungs, like feeling the sun on your skin”: It is also said that prana does not just enter through the physical breath itself, but pulses through every cell of our being, which is the basis for the last cue. As Patanjali teaches, the most subtle pranayama transcends the experience of the breath merely coming and going, which points us towards an experience of prana.
Part Two: Exhale Focus
“Release the slow flow of the inhale and turn your attention to the exhale. Gently lengthen the exhale, making it a little slower, and a little smoother”: We now shift our focus to the exhale, and begin by lengthening it gently in order to better perceive it. We may have to come back to the original cue of how to gently lengthen the breath, especially if you see someone in the class making this into a more aggressive pranayama. Remember, the magic is in the observation. We lengthen the breath to feel it, but we don’t want to just feel our own effort.
“As you exhale smoothly and slowly, notice physically where you feel the exhale…”: As before we give the students time to notice their own experience before guiding.
“Do you notice that the exhale is harder to feel in the nostrils than the inhale? This is because it is the same temperature as your body…”: Similarly to the inhale, we start our exploration of the exhale by focusing on its physical qualities. As is seen in the cue, the exhale can be harder to feel because its the same temperature as your body. This is actually something to notice though, and helps us see our exhale.
“Can you feel the gentle hugging compression around the torso as you exhale?”: The exhale has a distinct physical sensation though, this is the hugging compression that we can notice with each breath out.
“As you continue to exhale smoothly and slowly, try to feel the more subtle experience of the exhale…”
“What does it feel like to exhale?…”: Here we give the student time to work with the experience of subtleness in an intuitive way.
“The Exhale is a moment of physical release of CO2, and it can also feel like a subtle release of that which you don’t need, a feeling of surrender”: The exhale is a physical release of the body, and on a subtle level there is also a release of tension. Most people recognize this in the deep sigh of an exhale, but its present in every experience of the exhale if we are paying attention.
“The gentle release of the exhale naturally draws the awareness down to the navel, As the body compresses in towards center, you too may feel more centered”: the exhale is incredibly grounding and centering because of its inward flowing nature. If you bring awareness to the navel, and this inward hugging, these qualities easily present themself.
OPTIONAL Part Three: Inhale and Exhale Focus
“Allow both the inhale and exhale to be slow and smooth, and notice the physical and subtle qualities of both as you breathe”: This is basically an opportunity to bring it all together for a minute or two and allow the depth of the practice to occur naturally. This section is optional because it might have taken a long time to get to this point, and you might be ready to conclude. Feel it out, and be sensitive to the less is more paradigm of pranayama.
Exploring through Counting & Option for Extended Rechaka (Optional)
In this cueing for depth segment, the student is cued to create a balanced breath first through feeling, and then by counting, in order to approach a balanced breath from the perspective of science, while also maintaining a natural feeling of surrender. As has been quoted in this section, studies have shown that the ideal length of an inhale and exhale is 5.5 seconds each. This means that counting one’s breath for that amount of time can help a student achieve a more optimal breath rate resulting in better oxygen assimilation. This also leads to down regulation of the nervous system, filling us with a sense of calm.
“As you continue gently lengthening the inhale and exhale just enough to feel them, count up the next time you breathe in, and count back down as you breathe out”: It is important during depth cueing to make sure that students always know they should be breathing at their own rate. For that reason it is common to include the phrase ‘the next time you are inhaling…’, or ‘when you are exhaling…”, as it empowers them to follow their own pace. Even though the ideal breath count may be 5.5 seconds, their is no benefit to forcing ourselves to breathe to an uncomfortable depth— this produces strain and tension and has the opposite effect we seek in our nervous system. For that reason it is good to encourage them to work with their natural breath before imposing any outside influence of ‘what’s best’.
“As you continue to count up and down with your breath, consider extending the length of the breath by 1 or 2 seconds, maybe breathing 4, 5 or 6 total seconds for the inhale, and the same length for the exhale This should not produce any strain, but may feel like a beneficial stretch”: As with all things yoga, we stretch. The Sanskrit word Yama actually means ‘to stretch or extend”, so if we have taken time to respect our natural breath flow, stretching it by 1 or 2 seconds will probably feel healthy and productive. The times of 4, 5 and 6 seconds are mentioned here because of the aforesaid science on the ideal breath length. Some students may be reaching for too much depth here, and reminding them of these numbers might bring them into a more balanced state. This portion of the depth cues can be worked on indefinitely, as balanced breathing is itself the goal of this pranayama. You can continue to the next depth cue, though, if you feel it would be beneficial.
“You can also substitute counting numbers with the syllables of the mantra Namah Shivaya, using Om as the pause between the breaths. Take time to hear each syllable, Na-Ma-Shi-Va-Ya, as well as the OM in the pause between the breaths, in order to create a sustainable breathing pattern”: This may be a lot of information if your students have never heard the mantra before, but if you have mentioned it previously, then calling on it now can initiate a very powerful shift in awareness.
OPTION TO ADD RECHAKA EMPHASIS: “If your breath feels steady and without any strain, you may also consider extending the exhale by 1, 2 or 3 seconds”: It can be beneficial to take time to emphasize the most overlooked phase of our breath, the exhale. 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.
Extending the exhale has been shown to balance the O2 and CO2 levels in the body, aiding in oxygen absorption. The exhale has also been shown to be the most overlooked aspect of the breath, which means that focusing on it here, even if only making it a 1 second longer, could have wonderful benefits for the practitoner. And as always, we must remember that strain does not equal gain, and all steps forward are only as valuable as they are sustainable— so only extend the exhale if it feels productive, sustainable, and beneficial.
It should be noted that 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.
Concluding the Pranayama
“Let the eyes open if they are closed, and try to release the subtle grip we may have on our breath”: No matter what depth cues you choose to work with, its important to take time to release our grip on the breath, even if it is a gentle one.
“Take note of the overall experience, has the practice of balanced breathing left you feeling more balanced and centered?”: The Puraka Rechaka pranayama should leave the participant feeling centered, calm and relaxed— although due to prior imbalances in breathing this may not always be the case. That’s why we leave space after the pranayama to simply feel and reflect on our state of being. Let the eyes open, let the breath go, and notice how the world looks, sounds and feels.