Yoga Beginner: A couple of weeks ago, my seven-year-old son, Hayes, let me know he was having difficulty falling asleep. He said that he was having “numerous thoughts” at night and couldn’t prevent his mind from thinking. I told him about a breathing practice that I had taught his older brother, Calder, a couple of years earlier, and I recommended that Hayes could try it while lying in bed at night to assist him relax and fall asleep. The practice was basic: a couple of minutes of diaphragmatic breathing followed by a couple of minutes of consciously and gently amplifying every exhalation.
“Possibly you’d like to attempt it?” I said to Hayes. “I think it was useful for your brother sometimes, and possibly it will help you, as well.” Just then, Calder, who had been going through the room, announced: “You’re wrong, Mom.” I held my breath, wondering if he’d tell Hayes that my recommendation wasn’t going to work. “It doesn’t help me sometimes,” he said matter-of-factly. “It helps me constantly.”
I was enjoyably stunned. I hadn’t understand that Calder was still utilizing the practice I had taught him three years before. As I stooped on the living room floor to teach Hayes the same practice, I was reminded that pranayama, the fourth of the eight limbs of yoga outlined in Patanjali‘s Yoga Sutra, does not have to be confounded.
Pranayama, which actually means “to extend the important life force,” or prana, is an amazingly rich practice made up of numerous breathing techniques that vary in complexity from ones basic enough for a child to do to those appropriate just for advanced experts. While the ideal way to practice pranayama is under the guidance of an professional teacher, there are basic techniques—such as gentle diaphragmatic breathing and easily lengthening the exhalation—that can be utilized at any time to transform not just your breath but as well as your state of mind.
In my role as a yoga therapist, I treat people struggling with a variety of problems, including depression, stress, chronic pain, sleep disturbances, and even life-threatening illness. Over and over, I’ve seen simple pranayama practices reduce anxiety and stress; promote restful sleep; ease pain; increase focus and attention; and, on a more subtle level, assist people connect to a quite, quiet place within so that they experience greater clarity and well-being on every level.
In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali describes pranayama as a procedure by which you can break your unconscious breathing example and make the breath long, smooth, and easeful. Most people’s unconscious breathing examples are anything but smooth and easeful; they tend to be tense, erratic, and shallow (Yoga Beginner). When we are afraid or hear bad news, we frequently gasp—inhaling and then holding the breath. These breathing examples can activate the sympathetic nervous system (frequently referred to as the “fight or flight reaction”).
One of the important reasons that pranayama techniques that foster a long, smooth exhale (like the ones presented here) are so useful is because, when practiced effectively, they can support the parasympathetic nervous system and activate what is regularly known as the “relaxation response,” reducing anxiety and its effects on your mind and body. As a result, your flexibility in the face of challenge or adversity increases, and your mind becomes more still and focused.
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