The Power of Pranayama

The Latest Installment in Dharma Warrior’s “Yoga: Life Transformation Beyond Fitness” Series with Dr. Christie Smirl.

Watch the Premiere of DWTV Podcast Episode #8 “The Power of Pranayama” March 29, 2022 @6pm AST/2pm PST!!

The Power of Pranayama

Prana is defined as breath or life force. Ayama means extension or expansion. Pranayama is a yogic practice that systematically and consciously controls the breath to reach a specific goal or state of mind. A human takes about 15 breaths per minute and 21,600 times a day, usually unconsciously. Yet there are two modes of breathing: Metabolic and Behavioral. Metabolic breathing is involuntary breathing based on metabolic demand. Whereas behavioral respirations are intentionally manipulated. That being said, let’s start by looking at the plethora of benefits of mindful breath work in general.

• Promotes proper flow of prana
• Connects mind and body
• Induces focus, concentration, calmness and meditative states
• Reduces the effect harmful emotions
• Reprograms neural pathways linked to breath – emotional patterns
• Deactivates stress responses from the sympathetic system
• Balances doshas
• Eliminates respiratory toxins
• Improves tidal volume and spirometry
• Normalizes blood pressure and heart rate
• Balances hormones and neurotransmitters
• Balances metabolism
• Enhances agni
• Reduces perception of pain

For all you science nerds, you may already know the physiology of basic metabolic breathing, but let’s do a quick review for a deeper understanding. Breathing is controlled by the brainstem. Sympatho-excitatory neurons in the brainstem are oxygen sensors and are regulated by blood oxygen levels. Chemoreceptors in the aorta and carotid arteries monitor blood oxygen concentrations and provide feedback. Low oxygen levels trigger deeper breaths. Chemoreceptors and the brainstem monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in blood and CSF. High CO2 levels trigger deeper breaths.
Now, with that being said, let us look at how that reflects upon the nervous system. Remember that the sympathetic nervous system is responsible for “fight or flight” reactions and the parasympathetic nervous system promotes the “rest and digest” or “feed and breed” sides of life.

When a person encounters stress, real or only perceived, the sympathetic nervous system provides rapid mobilization of energy to respond to situations and activities. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are cranked out, resulting in vasoconstriction, increased heart rate, increased respiratory rate and elevated blood pressure. In addition, blood flow is shunted away from the digestive
track toward muscles for a fast fight or flight response. Oh, and don’t forget, the adrenals secrete cortisol and that’s not something you want on a chronic basis.

When a person learns pranayama and can therapeutically regulate their breathing patterns they can regularly activate the parasympathetic nervous system to promote energy conservation, rejuvenation and that “rest and digest” phenomenon I mentioned. In this state, digestive enzymes
improve, the heart rate normalizes along with the respiratory rate, blood pressure and body temperature. Muscles relax and repair, and vasodilation occurs to provide better blood circulation. Another benefit is the stimulation and release of endorphins “feel good hormones” as well as a more balanced hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis which is responsible for hormonal regulation.

Earlier I eluded to “real or perceived stress”. The brainstem translates incoming emotional data and responds in turn, whether it is truly happening or just a mental crap storm. Much of the data that triggers the nervous system is based on how you breathe. So let’s peek at some breathing patterns.
• Anger – long forced breaths, like a bull about to charge.
• Panic – short, fast, shallow breaths, like hyperventilation.
• Pain – shallow and held breaths, like OMG, don’t move.
• Sad – shallow, slow, more frequent sighs, like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
• Calm and happy – longer slow steady inhales and exhales.

Many breath patterns are driven by the subconsciousness and old looping emotional patterns, but pranayama can completely revolutionize this phenomenon. There are nearly 50 different styles of pranayama, each with different benefits and aims. I’m going to discuss two of the most common and
safest breath modifications. Note that not all pranayamas are safe for everybody. When done wrong or an inappropriate method is chosen, it can result in the air hunger, seizure, overheating, syncope (fainting), cardiovascular instability, stroke or death…. just to name a few risks. I’m going to cover Ujjai pranayama and Nadi Shodhana pranayama, which are typically safe for anybody, so let’s check them out.

Ujjai pranayama aides in obtaining victory and control over the mind. Ujjayi actually means victorious. This breath technique, when done properly, tricks the mind into thinking it is in a state of deep sleep relaxation, not stressed. It provides all the benefits listed above, plus facilitates in reprograming breath-brain neural patterns linked to old emotional traumas. Here’s how it is done.

Stage 1 – Sit in any comfortable meditation posture with head and spine upright, preferably padmasana or ardha padmasana. Eventually this can be done while in motion during asana or martial arts. Relax the whole body, close your eyes and begin diaphragmatic breathing. To learn diaphragmatic breathing, inhale fully while relaxing the abdominal muscles. Be sure that each inhale is to full lung capacity, slow, deep, controlled and through the nose. On exhale, activate the inward and upward contraction of abdominal muscles to facilitate the upward contraction of the diaphragm. (see image A) Be sure that each exhale is full, slow, controlled and through the nose.

Once you have this pattern down pat, start stage 2 of Ujjai pranayama by learning how to performing a gentle constriction of the glottis. First, let’s talk about the glottis (see image B). How do you know if you are constricting the glottis? Well, try making a sound like Darth Vader. Go ahead, try it. Ok, tone it way down now, close your mouth and produce a soft hissing sound in the back of your throat, like you’re pretending to breath like you’re sound asleep. This gentle glottis constriction will be applied for the entire duration of all inhales and exhales.

Now that you have that part of the Ujjai technique added, it is time to manipulate the duration and ratio of inhale to exhale. Ensure that the rhythm is comfortable, smooth, controlled, and relaxed without air hunger. Start with an inhale count of 4 second and an exhale count of 8 seconds. That’s 5 breaths per minute. Once that feels manageable try and inhale count of 6 seconds and an exhale count of 12 seconds, resulting in 3.3 breaths per minute. Eventually, you can lengthen the inhale count to 8 second and the exhale count to 16 seconds to equate 2.5 breaths per minute or even slower as tolerated without dizziness, discomfort or air hunger . At first, try this pranayama 10 minutes morning and night as tolerated. Many people perform Ujjai longer, throughout an entire asana practice. Gage it for yourself. Stop if it’s difficult. Don’t go overboard and of course consult a doctor or yoga trainer if you have questions, concerns.

Here’s one more famous pranayama method call Nadi Shodhana. Nadi Shodhana means channel cleansing. This technique is also known as Anuloma Viloma pranayama, meaning alternate nostril breath control. It has the same benefits as pranayama in general, but it has a few extra special benefits.

• Balances right and left hemispheres of brain.
• Balances ida and pingala (right/left, yin/yang channels of subtle body).
• Reduces stress, fear, anxiety, pain and insomnia.
• Increases focus, concentration, inspiration, intuition and higher states of consciousness.
• Stimulates the ajna chakra (third eye).
• Great before tests, speeches, important interactions, stressful encounters.
• Quick note: if your nose or sinuses are clogged or obstructed in anyway (polyps, cysts, swelling, deviated septum), this will not be a good method for you. Stick to Ujjai pranayama.

This is how we do it. Stage 1 – Place your right hand in Nasagra Mudra (see image C) with the thumb by the right nostril and the ring finger by the left. Close left nostril and inhale slowly and fully in through right nostril. Now close right nostril and exhale slowly and fully out left nostril. Inhale slowly and fully in through left nostril, then switch and exhale slowly and fully out right nostril. Find a steady rhythm with a 1:1 inhale – exhale ratio. First try inhaling to the count of 6 and exhaling for the count of 6 to achieve 5 breaths per minute. Eventually you can try inhaling to the count of 12 and exhaling to the count of 12 to achieve 2.5 breaths per minute. Repeat this for 5 – 10 rounds or 5 – 10 minutes a few times a day. Don’t go crazy though. Avoid air hunger or dizziness. If you have any unstable cardiovascular conditions, just stick to stage 1.

When stage 1 feels totally comfortable, you can progress to stage 2 of Nadi Shodhana pranayama by adding breath retention after each inhale. Using the same method, try inhaling for 6 seconds, holding your breath for 6 seconds, then exhaling for 6 seconds (3.3 breaths per minute). After extensive practice over time some people achieve 1 breath per minute, but like I said, don’t go crazy. Enjoy and find your comfort zone. Remember that when you are emotionally stressed, one of the quickest ways to avoid farther progression into a rabbit hole is to BREATH. Regular practice makes pranayama second nature, not just an emergency band aide.

Visit HealthierVibrations.com to learn other yogic techniques, watch Healthier Vibrations YouTube videos or to find out more about formal online Yoga Teacher Training with Christie Smirl.