As you begin reading this, pause for a moment and take a breath in followed by a full exhale. Nice. Did that feel like an extraordinary moment? Probably not, but it was! Breath is our most precious of life-sustaining energy — and the most under-rated.
The ability of a person to survive without food is difficult to measure. Mahatma Gandhi, at the age of 74 and already quite thin, survived 21 days of total starvation while drinking only sips of water during his famous nonviolent campaign for India’s independence.
The general timetable for survival without water is three days.
Three minutes is how long we can live without breathing…hmmm.
The involuntary exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide and water molecules within the lungs as we breathe is essential to life. “Our lives depend on this perpetual to and fro of gases…” writes Kevin Fong, M.D. in Extreme Medicine, and yet we pay so little attention to this process.
Did you know that the lungs are lighter than sponge? And that they look like the root system of a tree, starting at the trunk (trachea), branching into two primary bronchi leading to the lungs.
From there, the bronchial networks taper down into the tiniest of air sacs, the alveoli, where the air molecules are brought into contact with the blood.
These are the images I invoke when I practice the Three Part Breath, also known as the Complete Breath, because it is an intentional form of breathing that engages the lungs from bottom to top.
It includes breathing into the belly area, the lungs under the ribs and the area just under the collar bone.
I always include this breath in the yoga classes I lead because it is beneficial in calming the mind, soothing a frazzled nervous system, and can re-energize and nourish the body in a way that sleep and food cannot.
So, if you find that your mind is spurring you on to more and faster action, (and whose isn’t!) then come to the studio and engage your reset button.
We tend to take breath and breathing for granted because it’s an involuntary act; the truth is, it’s an underutilized way to boost your energy and clear your mind in any given moment.
The postures we practice and hold during Restorative Yoga open the lungs to allow for the most beneficial breathing. Please join me at my next Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra!