Energy Management — Part 1
This article is the first of a series of three articles aimed at deepening in scientific terms the breathing techniques at the base of Yoga practice.
Author: Sara B. Levi
Pranayama, the importance of breathing in the practice of life.
Traditionally speaking, with Pranayama we mean the set of breathing control and management techniques, in all its phases (inhalation, exhalation and apnea).
Trying to break up the function and the exercise of the breath from the physical and meditative practice would be like considering our body as the sum of organs, bones, muscles, liquids, nerves, and not as the totality of all this.
From the way we breathe (or often do not breathe), it is very evident about the style and quality of a person’s life; it is possible to understand where someone lives, how much and what physical activity it carries out, the level of accumulated stress, what he or she eats and how, and the type of stress itself.
On the other hand, only through the conscious use of breath, it is possible to make considerable improvements into our daily routine and control the way we respond instead to react.
Most humans breathe about 15 times a minute and about 21,000 times a day. Breathing is one of the most vital processes of the body. Our breath feeds each of our cells and influences the functioning of our brain. Breathing is the fuel that allows the body to burn oxygen and glucose, which in turn is the fuel that fuels each of our muscular contractions, mental processes and glandular secretions. It is intimately connected to our experience of being human.
As vital as it is to pay attention to the breath, as we move within our days, commitments, existences, our breathing is often treated superficially, something to forget about, using only a small percentage of our real lung capacity.
An unconscious way to breath deprives the body of oxygen and limits the flow of Prana, vital energy, which translated means that often and willingly, we sabotage the possibility of living better and healthier.
Yoga and the breath
Within the practice of Yoga, “to breathe” means everything; learning to bring attention to the breath is the first tool to develop.
Bringing your attention back to your breathing is the only way to learn how to be present.
Human beings use to pin on Mind, more power over us than it should. Gently driving us to observe the way the body supports itself, it speaks to us through the inhalation, the exhalation, the apneas, the pleasant or unpleasant sensations that arise during the life cycles of the breath, becomes a gesture of absolute self-love, as well as a powerful meditation.
Once we begin to become aware of our breathing, and we report this technique in the physical practice of yoga (asana), little by little we discover when the breath itself governs the rhythm and intensity of the movement and not the contrary.
At this stage, initially it probably looks complicated to coordinate the correct execution of the asanas with the rhythm of the breath, but no fear, it is like driving the car; as you become an expert, we no longer have to think about friction, brake, accelerator and gear. The more we become familiar, the more the guide itself becomes refined.
We start to move on to a level of understanding and ability to use the real breath: breathing and breathing techniques, become the tool to direct the energies within the body.
We learn how to manage energy through the breath along the spine, from top to bottom and vice versa, from inside to outside and vice versa, and we do it, consciously or unconsciously at various levels of tissues, internal organs, areas of the body, points and energy channels.
Moreover, it is at this point that pranayama (breathing techniques), and prana (life energy), come together, or at least we become intensely aware of it.
The relationship between us and the vital energy of all things in the world is present from the first breath that we already emit into our mother’s body and stays with us until the day when we breathe in and out for the last time.
Prana, Biology and Science.
Prana is essentially the intrinsic quality of the “movement” that goes through everything.
Whether it is the beating of an eye or the falling of a star, Prana is what makes the very fact of existing, possible.
The Sanskrit word does not find in any language a truly adequate tradition; Sanskrit does not create words to describe something, but it is the word itself that represents the sound that the object occupies in space, at an electromagnetic level.
Energy is the most commonly used translation, but it immensely limits the sense of Prana; this word wants to refer to the quality of “being in life”.
The Yogis first saw the whole universe as an entity “pulsating with vitality”: they then called it Shakti, or Prakriti, the feminine cosmic principle of creation.
To validate this Dogma, which in the Yoga Tradition has been considered a foundation for millennia, a recent scientific discovery, costing millions of dollars; God’s Particle Theory, or “Boson of Higgins”.
They are not just “things” in this world, to be created and radiated by energy, but the spaces themselves between these things are equally alive and electrified.
Everything literally “swims” in an ocean of Prana, is everywhere, inside and outside of everything, and if we try to separate it in some way, the whole factory of creation would collapse.
Life just would not exist.
Imagine the wind.
You can not see it, but you perceive its existence through the movement of the leaves of the trees.
Think of nasal cilia, for example, olfactory receptors that send messages to the brain and activate areas related to short- and long-term memory.
What we like and what we don’t, intrigues: smells and memories, therefore, have to do with sensations, which often trigger emotions linked to unconscious memories.
These processes are called patterns, programs within our central nervous system.
We react or respond to these patterns without being fully aware of what drives us towards an experience or away from it.
Mind alone cannot understand these signals: one must learn to understand the language of the body and the nature of life energy.
Energy and Environment
The quality of the breath is strictly connected to the quality of the air we breathe.
Open and fresh spaces naturally lead the body to breathe deeply; closed and polluted spaces automatically lead us to shorten the breath, to inhale less energy, to fall back on ourselves.
When we can spend time “in good air”, the oxygen atom is composed of 8 protons inside it, with the positive charge, and 8 electrons that “turn around”, with the negative charge.
When the air is nasty, the atom loses an electron, the free radicals affect the level of vitality of the energy that flows and unfailingly influences, differently through us.
Pranayama and Mind
A calm and stable mind is particularly crucial for daily life.
We mistakenly believe that mind’s control makes us efficient: but it is the control of the breath that allows us to manage energy.
It’s the conscious use of the energy that allows us to operate at and for the best.
Therefore a calm and stable mind is the first step towards this result.
A calm and steady mind is also particularly important during the Pranayama exercises.
A stable mind creates a stable “container” within which Prana can not only be cultivated or enclosed but can flow where necessary.
Think of a glass of water: without the glass, water would pour everywhere without being drunk.
With the glass, the water is contained, and even full to the brim, the glass remains still.
The glass is our mind; water is our Prana.
The effects of deficient or excessive breathing can be extreme and dangerous for the nervous system.
Also, it is precisely on the nervous system that we focus the attention of the next articles related to Energy Management.
Which areas of the brain are involved, what resonance they have on the body, what techniques to use and which energies we can control, manage and address.
The quality of the energy we cultivate determined the quality of our awareness of it, and to be aware, we must be able to access the present moment, through the breath.
If we try to access Prana and Pranayama with an unstable mind, the result is an increase in stress, anxiety and agitation.
On the contrary, if we move methodically through practice, with a mind that is stable, the result is power developments and capacity to reach concentration and remain calm.
To be continued…
About Sara B. Levi :
Made in Italy but literally daughter of the world, is a Yoga Teacher, writer and ex marketing and communication manager.
Degree in Economy and Study in Psychology, Sara decided to quit her old life 2 years ago, direction Bali, to go deeper into the world of Yoga.
She has been practicing since 2000, but the way she started to understand Yoga through the first teacher training at The Practice Bali, is something that has completely changed her point of view.
She began studying, practicing and teaching traditional tantric hatha yoga and yin yoga, finding the basis to deeply roots her knowledge and developing an authentic voice as a teacher, coach and as a channel between the world in which she lived and the one in which she lives.
Currently living in between Europe and Asia, she have completed the 200 and 300 Hours Teacher Trainings.
She works as writer, teacher, personal coach and is building a specific workshop format about Energy Management, dedicated to the integration of the Yoga System tool within specific categories of workers (office managers, doctors, teachers, people with traumas).
She is also working to create a Retreat Format for beginners and advanced Yogi, and Breathing Techniques Masterclasses for all levels.
Read more on our blog
