Pranayama (The Fourth Limb of Ashtanga Yoga)

             

                Pranayama (breath control) is the fourth limb of the eight limbs of yoga.  The eight limbs are aspects of yoga and are equally important to the practice of yoga.  The limbs support each other and work together to guide us toward self-awareness, wellness, and peace.

                Pranayama enhances our prana or energy.  By changing our breath, we can manipulate and maintain our energetic life force.  When we practice pranayama, we change the pattern of our breath in an effort to enhance greater balance, soothe our nervous system and use our life force most effectively.

                We usually don’t think much about our breathing, but our breath has a big impact on us.  Our parasympathetic system regulates our metabolic functions such as digestion, healing, and growth.  When our parasympathetic system is in charge, our bodies function optimally and we breathe in and out through our noses warming and filtering the air.  The sympathetic nervous system takes control when we feel threatened or fearful our flight, fight or freeze mode.  When our sympathetic nervous system is in charge, we experience an increase in our adrenaline and our energy is diverted to increased alertness and physical strength.  This causes us to breathe in and out through our mouths to bring in more oxygen quickly.

                Sometimes our sympathetic nervous system gets stuck in the on position due to our environment including bright lights, loud noises, stress, and anxiety.  When this happens it is a challenge to stay focused and make decisions.  If you deliberately breathe through your nose during times of challenge, you can change the response of your nervous system and override your sympathetic nervous system.  Recognizing how your body reacts to stress and learning to master your breath is not easy, but with awareness and practice you will be able to keep balanced and grounded.

Reference: (J. Harper, Little Flower-Yoga for Kids, 2013, Oakland, CA)

Namaste,

Betsy & Jesse

Niyamas – Self Disciplines

Today’s blog continues on with the eight limbs of yoga.  The second of the limbs is the niyamas.  These niyamas are the self-disciplines or inner observances in which a yogi should follow in order to better oneself and further connect us with the divine.  The five niyamas are saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, and isvara pranidhana.

Saucha – means cleanliness or purity not just of our body, but of our mind, spirit and surroundings.   Emma Newlynn states in her blog (http://www.ekhartyoga.com/blog) on the saucha, “The habits we pick up throughout life off the mat may or may not serve us, and the idea of our practice is to recognize what doesn’t help us and what does, coming towards a state in which everything we do aids us towards being happier, healthier and more awake and aware in life. If we take our ‘bad’ habits on to the mat with us, then our practice becomes a lot harder, we have to sift through the ‘impurities’ or negativity we’ve picked up before reaping the benefits of Yoga. ”

Santosha- means contentment.  This isn’t the easiest niyama to follow for many people.  We experience so many different emotions and urges to want more or to be accepted.  Being content or happy with what we have is not easy by any means, but the key is not to look outside of ourselves for happiness, these attachments are fleeting, we must look within ourselves for peace and happiness.

Tapas – means austerity or discipline.  Tapas is about cultivating self-discipline, passion and courage in order to burn away any imperfections.  Making time each week to practice yoga, taking time to notice your breath throughout each day, daily meditation are all examples of self-disciplines that can help burn away distraction and help build ourselves up and pave the way for greatness and peace within ourselves. These self-disciplines help stimulate and build our inner strength and confidence. 

Svadhyaya – means self-study. Emma Newlyn explains svadhyaya so beautifully, she states, “By studying ‘the self’ and recognizing our habits and thought processes, we realize how much of what we do and think is far from who we really know we are.”  The ego is full of judgements of ourselves and others, and can easily fill your mind with thoughts that do not serve you. By studying the self, we learn to control the mind by becoming aware of and letting go of the negative thoughts from the ego.  

Isvara Pranidhana – means to surrender.  Emma Newlyn give a wonderful expression of this niyama as well, Emma writes, “In most translations of this niyama, we’re advised to ‘surrender’ to this Supreme Being or higher self, which in essence means cultivating a deep and trusting relationship with the universe, and making each action an offering to something bigger than us.”  Whether you surrender to a God, multiple Gods, to the Universe, to Mother Nature, it doesn’t matter, just being able to know there is more out there than just ourselves, and surrendering to that has such beauty. 

Maybe today you can take some time to observe yourself, and work towards creating some inner peace and happiness.  Find the beauty within yourself and share it with the world.  

Peace and Love,

Betsy and Jesse

The Value of Asanas (The third limb of yoga)

Yoga is not all about the asanas or body postures.  Yes, many people come to yoga class to practice the body postures and to increase strength and improve flexibility and balance, but there is more to practicing asanas.  The yoga poses are used as a tool to calm the mind so we can reach deeper inward to the essence of our being.

Asanas give us the opportunity to explore and control our emotions, concentration, intent, faith and unity between our physical body and ethereal (energy) body.  Practicing asanas challenges us and opens the physical body bringing harmony with all the unseen elements of our being.  Yoga poses help us explore our mental attitudes and strengthen our will while we learn to release and move into a state of grace that comes from creating balance between our material world and spiritual experience.  (W. Doran, The Eight Limbs, The Core of Yoga).

The asanas and pranayama (breath control) help quiet our mind.  The yoga postures are practiced before meditation for that reason to ground us and foster awareness and harmony with our mind, body and spirit.  That is why it is important to take some time to meditate or rest in shavasana after practicing asanas to experience that wonderful connection of peaceful healing energy.

So keep practicing those beautiful asanas and start to notice how your tree grows!

Namaste,

Betsy and Jesse