Is there a “right” way to breathe?

Since opening Karmic Yoga and beginning this journey, I’ve often thought how strange it was that in a time when a respiratory illness was ravaging the world, racial injustice in our country came to a head after George Floyd was choked to death, and wildfires started clogging the air with smoke, I was drawn back to a practice that emphasizes breath.

Then again, maybe it’s not that strange after all.

Connecting to the self through breath.

Breathing is an involuntary function of the body for a reason. Aside from needing this ability to sleep, if we had to consciously tell ourselves to breathe for every single breath we take in a day (which on average is somewhere around 22,000 times), it’d be hard to get anything else done. But there lies the problem. Through the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we can literally forget to breathe. We’ll keep going, our bodies taking over for us, but where is our consciousness?

When we enable our voluntary breathing function, actively choosing to inhale and exhale, we connect to our humanity. We remember that we’re more than machines that are just here to work and eat and poop (and some other stuff). And, of course, mindful breathing has health benefits by reducing stress and anxiety, allowing us to return to our bodies and live in the present moment.

So, at a time when the universe seemed to be saying “respect your breath (and that of your fellow beings) or lose it,” I did my best to take heed. And it led me right back to yoga.

So, is there a right way to breathe?

Put simply, yes. When breathing in the involuntary state, many people unconsciously breathe through their chest, inhibiting their ability to take deep, full breaths that use the full capacity of the lungs.

Deep belly, or diaphragm breathing, allows for fuller breaths by engaging the diaphragm muscle within the abdomen. Take a moment now to breathe in as you normally would. Do you notice your chest or your stomach area rising? If you’re breathing through the diaphragm, you’ll see your stomach rising with each inhale and lowering with each exhale, and you’ll know you’re getting deep, full breaths!

There are so many benefits to deep breathing. For one, it helps regulate the autonomic nervous system, decreasing the heart rate and promoting relaxation in the body. This can be particularly useful for people with anxiety and stress disorders (*raises hand*). It can also help lower blood pressure and improve strength in your core.

Take a few minutes to try this simple breathing practice.

Pranayama is the fourth limb of yoga, and its benefits cannot be overstated. It’s the observations or practices we take to enhance our prana, or life force. These exercises are the first steps to mind-body awareness and are vital in any meditation or yoga practice.

Deep belly breathing in Sanskrit is called dirgha (pronounced “deer-gah”) pranayama. It’s a good place to start when you want to add deep breathing to your life. Here’s a quick how-to that you can do in just a few minutes:

1. Get in a comfortable seated position. Take a moment to settle in, making sure the spine is long with shoulder blades drawing down the back and the chin parallel to the floor, lengthening the back of the neck.

2. Brings hands to the belly area, on either side of the navel. Take a deep inhale through the diaphragm, feeling the stomach expand. Try to inhale for at least five counts. If you can go for longer, then get on with your bad self.

3. Exhale for the same number of counts you inhaled, letting the stomach gently deflate like a balloon.

4. Continue breathing this way for at least five rounds.

5. If it begins to feel available to you, try filling up the ribcage and chest as you inhale as well, making it a three-part inhalation. Let your hands travel up the torso with your breath as if you’re guiding it. As you next exhale, slowly let the chest, ribcage, and stomach deflate one by one.

Congratulations, you just practiced dirgha pranayama!

Slow down, live long.

There’s a yogi saying that goes something like this (I’m paraphrasing since I can’t find the exact quote, so don’t read too much into the specific numbers): “If you breathe 15 times a minute, you’ll live to be 80. If you breathe 10 times a minute, you’ll live to be 100.”

Now, none of us will live forever. But I have to think the idea behind this quote, at least in part, was that slowing down our breaths, taking time to really feel them rather than just going through the motions, will add more life to our years, no matter how many we end up having.

Mindfully breathing might not change the world. It won’t cure our climate problems, bring about world peace, or magically make it so that Covid never happened. But taking a few moments a day to connect to your life force through your breath just might make a small difference in your personal world. And sometimes that’s enough.