The following is from an email to a friend - written with a view to posting it here.
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The breathing exercise is based on a Tibetan yoga system. My experience of training in this system is that it was arranged as:
(1) learn how to do a Complete Breath; (2) learn how to breathe through the nostrils in various ratios and sequences;
(3) learn the warming breathing exercise and visualisation.
A "Complete Breath" is basically filling the lungs with as much air as possible: expand the diaphragm first, then the ribs and finally the shoulders … and reverse order as one breathes out.
Learning to breathe through the nostrils in particular sequences etc will probably not be an issue for you as well. I’m going to use this elsewhere, however, so I will briefly review the sequence that I typically use when teaching people this:
- four-fold breathing; - alternate nostril breathing (progressive development; for convenience, I usually regard the
right nostril as the 1st, and the left as the 2nd):
(a) practice breathing through one nostril:
- close one nostril with a finger on the side of that nostril, and breathe in and out the
other nostril,
using a four-fold Complete Breath (CB) pattern:
including swapping the nostril being used half way
(b) begin alternating nostrils for breathing:
- close the 2nd nostril with a finger on the side of that nostril, and breathe in the 1st
nostril, then
- swap finger to other side of the nose to close the other nostril, breathe out and then
in through the 2nd nostril,
- swap finger back to original position to close the 2nd nostril again & breathe out the
1st nostril,
(c) begin lengthening the out breathe:
- close the 2nd nostril with a finger on the side of that nostril, and breathe in the 1st,
then
- swap finger to other side of the nose to close the other nostril, breathe out and then
in through the 2nd nostril,
- swap finger back to original position to close the 2nd nostril again & breathe out the
1st nostril,
(d) begin lengthening the “hold” period:
- close the 2nd nostril with a finger on the side of that nostril, and breathe in the 1st
nostril, then
- swap finger to other side of the nose to close the other nostril, breathe out and then
in the 2nd nostril,
- swap finger back to original position to close the 2nd nostril again & breathe out the
1st nostril,
(e) continue lengthening the “hold” period:
- close the 2nd nostril with a finger on the side of that nostril, and breathe in the 1st
nostril, then
- swap finger to other side of the nose to close the other nostril, breathe out and then
in the 2nd nostril,
- swap finger back to original position to close the 2nd nostril again & breathe out the
1st nostril,
I’ll do some sketches in a couple of weeks time (I’ll be busy until at least then!) to make it clearer – which I need to do to show the energy flows for a variation of the alternate nostril breathing exercise anyway.
The warming breath sequence is:
- breath in the right nostril for a count of 8 (or whatever is convenient); - hold for a count of four times the in period (32 in this example);
- breathe out the left nostril for a count of twice the in period (16 in this example);
- pause for a count of half the in period (4, in the case of this example);
- repeat the sequence (i.e., in the right, and out the left).
When that sequence is comfortable, there are two ways of proceeding to the next stage that I learned.
The first way is by chanting “Aum”, which is supposed to – when combined with the breathing exercise – to help build internal energy.
The second way is a seemingly more direct way, and involves visualising a furnace internally, being fed by the breathing.
These days I find I don’t particularly need either of these, just the visualisation, but initially I found the visualising a furnace slightly more effective than the chanting.
The recommendation I had when learning was to do this 20 times per day – I usually do 22. That’s OK, but the effect does seem to be a little cumulative, so I actually don’t do the exercise as frequently or as long – I tend only to do it when I feel cold (which is rare, these days). When I first came back to Melbourne in the 80s, I used to practice this exercise every morning, and could sit outside on cold concrete in summer clothes and feel quite warm. I first used it, however, in Queensland, when I was sailing. My crew did judo, and was open to learning about breathing, so he and I used to do a few of these breaths to keep us going when we were cold (which can happen when you’re wet and exposed to wind – the coldest I have ever felt was when caught in a storm while sailing near Brisbane, that was even colder than being in Kaifeng with below zero temperatures + wind chill, because at least I was dressed for the conditions then).
The traditional Tibetan way of testing someone’s application of this skill (I think called tumo - and also written about by Alexandra David-Neel) was for them to be wrapped with wet blankets while sitting in snow (at night), and they had to see how many blankets they could dry with their body heat through the night. I’m nowhere near that proficiency – and I know of Westerners who thought they were who froze to death high in the Himalayas because of their mistake. But, with a little practice, it can safely help take the chill off oneself during winter :)
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OK, that is the end of the extract.
I am working on a post about Alexandra David-Neel, by the way ...
More can be found about breathing exercises (pranayama) by reasearching Sri Sivananda.
I found the results of scientific tests, such as raising the fingers of fingers and toes by 8degrees C, reported in the Wikpedia article on this topic quite interesting (see here and here).
The "foulr-fold" breath I refer to is breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, breathe out for a count of four, then pause ("empty" lungs) for a count of four. Do NOT use heart beats for counting, as they may slow and cause you to experience breathing difficulties.Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
Tags: breathing, Tibet, warming, Tumo,
First published: Tysdagr, 17th May, 2011
Last edited: Tuesday, 17th May, 2011
