By Neil Crenshaw
How should you breathe when you do yoga? Yoga instructors will often say "breathe" as if you were not already. Breathing is usually a natural process that takes little effort, either physically or mentally. However, there are times when breathing correctly, while moving the body through space, is as important as knowing how to do the yoga pose. Sometimes yoga students will unintentionally and unconsciously hold their breath while doing a pose. A case in point, is the prowling tiger pose where you are on one knee and the opposite arm with the other leg and arm stretched out in front and back. The prowling tiger is a fairly difficult pose to hold for any length of time because it requires the use of strong back muscles. A beginning yoga student will tend to hold their breath when doing this pose because, in the first place, they are unaware of their breath. This is why an experienced yoga teacher will say "breathe."
Being aware of the breath is a learning process that gets easier with practice. Awareness becomes almost instinctive, in that the breath "flows" with the movement, without having to think about it. In the beginning, learning to be aware of the breath is more like watching the breath. When holding a pose and even while moving from one pose to the next, being the observer of the breath is more of an intentional act than an instinctive one. It isn't until the student finally becomes a yogi that he is aware of the breath. So, the question is, how do you become aware of the breath?
If you are relatively new to yoga, begin by feeling the difference between positive and negative forces when you move your body. For example, from a standing position slowly squat down and then slowly stand back up. The movement down into the squat is a negative force and the act of standing up is a positive force. In weight lifting they call the standing up movement, concentric (positive force) and the going down into the squat, eccentric (negative force). Pressing a barbell up off of your chest in bench pressing is a concentric movement and lowering the barbell is an eccentric movement. It is not necessary to know the terminology but what is important is to be able to feel the difference between positive (concentric) and negative(eccentric). The general rule for breathing correctly is to breathe in while performing a negative force movement and breathe out while performing a positive force movement. This is true for 98% of all yoga moves.
By intentionally breathing in while doing a negative force movement and breathing out while doing a positive force movement is the first part in learning to be aware of breath. Do a push up and intentionally breathe in while going down and intentionally breathe out while pushing up.
This simple exercise will demonstrate how breath influences movement.
The act of breathing out engages the abdominal muscles, the diaphragm, and the muscles of the pelvic floor. When these muscles contract, the core of the body is strengthened and the transition between poses becomes easier. By practicing intentional breathing in yoga, the sense of union with body and breath will become apparent. Before long, the union of body and breath will become automatic and instinctive. When that happens, moving through yoga poses will occur naturally without thinking.
Neil Crenshaw, Ph.D.http://www.pureawareness.info/
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