This is the newest in a new series I am creating, all inspired by a book I have been reading:
How Yoga Works by Geshe Michael Roach
This book works to explain the practice of yoga through a novel, the story of a young woman introducing and teaching the practice, all the while teaching us as well. As I read I am finding myself inspired to share with you. I hope you will enjoy this series as I highlight pieces of the book that gave me pause and got me excited to be in conversation with you all. Let me know what you think as we go!
As they continued practicing together, they begin talking more about the inner workings of yoga together with the physical. They speak more and more about winds, thoughts, and breath and how connected it all is.
She tells him: “Now at different points in our poses we want all the breath to be either outside your body or inside your body. …at the very point when you are stretching to the limit — your breath is all inside; you are at the very end of an inhale of your breath. The stretch should be a very natural, smooth, and happy experience … Your lungs are full, radiant with the air, and your blood is drinking its food, the oxygen” (71-72).
Did you just take a deep breath?
Every time I read this I feel myself drinking in a big, deep breath and noticing how great it feels.
Both parts of the breath are so important.
She continues:
“There are other points when all the breath should have gone outside the vody: like in the very next step of the same pose …out to the outside, delivering the carbon dioxide waste from your blood back to the air of the world” (72).
It makes me think about how and why we start and end every practice with breath work. It sets the stage, brings us to our mat, helps us separate practice from the world AND then helps us seal in our practice before we return.
It’s also why breath work any time of the day at any point can be so helpful and powerful.
Fresh air in
Bad air out.
As she tells her student, “If you don’t get the fresh air in, full, the body won’t have enough fuel. It you don’t get the used air out, there’s no place for the next breath of fresh air. And then the breath begins to go out of rhythm” (72).
But that’s not all. The breath goes out of rhythm, but that is just the beginning. It impacts us more completely and thoroughly than just that. It’s not just the breath but physical AND emotional as well.
“And then the muscles tense up a bit, just a bit, and that knocks the breathing more out of balance, and that disturbs the winds in the channels rather than smoothing them out — which is what the poses are supposed to do …” (72).
“And so a little smile, while you’re doing your poses, is one of the most important poses of all” (74).
Did you just smile? I hope so.
I hope you spend a few moments now breathing and smiling and opening up those channels and those winds to flow freely and well. Be healthy; be happy; and do yoga 🙂
What is your experience or thoughts, questions, reactions? Comment below to tell me!
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