I have a 3 1/2-year-old son whom is with me all the time. There are many days when I feel I don’t have the time or space to do the things I feel nourish me like exercise (without simultaneously pretending to be a steam roller, or run without also pushing a stroller while answering a thousand rapid fire questions), read, have a meaningful conversation with a friend, sleep… We all have demands of real life (work, travel, other obligations) that don;t always accommodate to dropping down to child’s pose or sprawling out in a luxurious twist.
However, one thing we always, always have in every situation, no matter how busy, who we’re surrounded by, or what we’re feeling, is our breath. The yogic belief is that breath is a vehicle for prana — the vital life force, source of supreme nourishment. Interestingly, the pranic center of the body is around the navel, which connected us to our source of nourishment in our mother’s womb.
“Breathing is the most readily accessible resource you have for creating and sustaining your vital energy. Tapping this resource involves a process of unleashing the potent elixir of what I call the ‘essential’ breath. This is the breath you breathed as a young child… Opening the doors to this life force involves rediscovering the virgin nature of the breath.” — Donna Farhi, The Breathing Book
Place one hand over your heart and the other on your belly. Close your eyes, and turn your attention inward. Notice your breath exactly as it is right now. You don;t need to change it or manufacture any other sort of breath. On the contrary, allow it to come and go freely. Just observe it.
You may have heard yoga teachers say something like, “Allow your belly to fill with breath,” or “Let your breath drop down to your belly.” I say these things all the time to lend imagery to the movement that full breathing creates. But to be clear, air doesn’t actually go into your belly. What happens anatomically is that air fills your lungs, your diaphragm (dome-like muscle under your lungs) contracts and lowers, moving the other contents of your abdomen (organs, intestines), and the belly moves outward. Then on the exhale, the lungs empty and the diaphragm relaxes and moves back upward. This diaphragmatic breathing helps to allow the lungs to fill fully, optimally, and without restriction, therefore nourishing by way of supplying oxygen for every cell of your body.
So we have this smooth, relaxed, easy, yogic breath that we can return to at any time. A little visit home. Will we breathe in this way all day every day? No way. That’s not how real life goes. Just as we’re trying not to grasp while breathing, we’re also trying not to grasp to any one way of breathing. Healthy breathing is variable, flexible, and spontaneous — adaptable to any situation. And we can always bring it back home to this calm, regular breath.
As you move through your day, keep your awareness on your breath, or at least keep checking back in. It will likely change in depth, speed, texture, and that’s okay. Dance with it. Follow it. And remember that you always, always have your breath, and with it access to your ultimate source of energy and life. Breathing at it’s fullest potential is a full-body experience and a full engagement with life.
Krystal Barschig 