Take a Deep Breath! YS I - 34

Have you ever heard of taking a deep breath to calm yourself? I tell people on a daily basis in my classes to take a deep breath. Most adults do not breath properly. Ever notice how babies and toddlers breath? Their little bellies move up and down. When adults take a deep breath they raise their shoulders barely expanding their rib cage. According to Wikipedia Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing or deep breathing is the act of breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm rather than breathing shallowly by flexing your rib cage. I notice that most adults are not aware of this breathing, unless they are singers who are familiar about diaphragmatic breathing. Check out the short video clip on the breath process here. During this holiday season there are lots of people out their not breathing deeply, and continued to be stressed.

You might wonder what does this have to do with Pantanjali's Yoga Sutra? Well if you look at Yoga Sutra I-34 PRACCHARDANA VIDHARANABHYAM VA PRANASYA - Or that calm is retained by the contolled exhalation or retention of the breath, you notice the breath is mentioned to keep calm. The word prana, Sanskrit for breath is in this sutra. Swami Satchidananda says of this sutra Pantanjali is not specific about the different kinds of breathing here, but indicates that we should just watch our breath. He mentions that in Buddhist meditation uses similar breathing practices with different names like in Hatha Yoga. Sathdtananda states the aim is to bring the two forces prana (the upward breath) and apana (the down breath) together, which is what Hatha Yoga is based on bringing that equilibrium of the two forces.

So basically to have peace of mind we need to be aware of our breath. If we can remember that the mind and the breath are connected. If we become the witness or the observer, we can see that what happens to the breath. One can think of a person who has a panic attack. Or if one is deeply engrossed in something, if you stop and notice how you were hardly breathing. This is why we take a deep breath afterwards. Swami Satchidananda says this proves that when one concentrates and becomes still the breath stops. This automatic retention of breath is called kevala kumbhaka. If you can regulate your breath (pranayama) you can regulate your mind. It only takes a few minutes to accomplish and if you are stressed, angry, agitated, take a deep breath!