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Breathing

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Lauraa49
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« on: Jul 28, 2009 09:39 pm »



Breathing: easy and free destressing
Sherry Roberts

There is a saying in yoga: When you can control your breath, you can control everything.

People give you strange looks when you tell them you spent your Saturday afternoon breathing. But thats what I did. There were about 10 of us at the workshop on breathing at my local yoga center. We were all there for different reasons: to learn how to use breathing to cope with stress, asthma, and respiratory illness; to discover how to breathe efficiently during yoga, meditation, our daily chores, walks in the neighborhood, and hikes up mountains.

Were all born knowing how to breathe. Watch a baby breathe. See how she automatically fills up her entire abdomen and ribs like a little balloon? She doesnt breathe only from the upper chest in short, rapid gasps. As we age, we develop inefficient breathing habits as the result of other habits such as smoking. Women have been conditioned throughout history to alter their breathing habits for the sake of appearance: The corset made deep breathing impossible. Todays young woman is still trussed up in a media corset as she is bombarded from newsstands, videos, movie screens, and television shows with the message to suck in your gut.
Breathing is a healing tool, according to my yoga teacher, and it can be relearned with practice. How do we get back to the breath of babes?

First, we learned about the three types of breathing:

Low or abdominal breathing  breathing with the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. When you breathe in, the abdomen extends (as if you were pregnant). When you breathe out, it deflates.
Middle breathing  lower ribs expand forward and to the sides with each breath. To see if you breathe from the middle, place your fingers along your ribs and breath. Do your fingers move with each breath?
High or upper chest breathing  short, rapid, shallow breaths originate from this area. This is where many smokers and corset wearers breathe.
To relearn deep breathing or the breath of babes, as I call it, we stretched out on the floor on our backs. (Practicing breathing sitting up is more difficult.) Nearly all of us used pillows under our heads. Some of us also used pillows under the back and knees. The idea is to get comfortable. Then we placed one hand on the abdomen and one hand on the lower rib and practiced filling up those areas with breath. Keep the mouth closed and breathe through the nose.

The first thing you realize is that its been a long time since you tried to control those muscles and you growl at your teacher who is showing off by inflating one lung and then the other at will (a trick that looks like it belongs in the circus). Focus on the image of a balloon inflating from your abdomen and into your ribs or a wave of air filling you from abdomen up through the ribs and into the chest. It becomes all about controlling the breath: inhale hold  exhale. Our teacher suggested that we count as we inhale (10 counts), hold for 5 10 counts, and exhale slowly (another 10 counts). If you cant do a count of 10-10-10, do 7-7-7 or 5-5-5. It may take practice to get to 10-10-10 or 20-20-20.

Destressing is not just a bunch of hot air or is it?
The ultimate destressing comes with slowing the breath to 1 to 2 breaths per minute, my teacher says. He suggests doing three to five of those extremely slow breaths when you really need to relax and you will feel like a new person. However, on this Saturday afternoon, I cant even come close to that new person in me. You must practice the skills at night, my teacher says, and then use them during the day. He recommends posting notes throughout the house, near the telephone, on the computer monitor to remind yourself to breathe deeply.

The telephone can be a big stressor, so he advises more advanced methods of destressing. Dont answer the phone on the first ring, he says.

Impossible, says a mother of three teenagers. a stampede. Still, he maintains, let it ring, empty your lungs, take a slow deep breath, start to exhale, and then answer.

We all have events that trigger stress or anxiety ; answering the telephone, approaching green lights (will it turn yellow just as I get there?), serving during a tennis match, making the big presentation, meeting new people. You may find yourself unconsciously holding your breath during those moments. Feeling breathless or holding your breath is a cue to use deep breathing.

When do you use deep breathing?
Dont use deep breathing during meditation. That is the time when you want to be aware of your breath, but not necessarily controlling it. Use deep breathing at times when you need energy or want to fill calm: during yoga, during exercise (instead of panting on the treadmill and using only your chest to breathe, deepen and slow the breath), before stressful confrontations, before doing something you dont like to do, before meditation (a warm-up that calms the mind). Or do deep breathing just for the fun of it, just to feel calm and at peace.

Focusing on breathing concentrates the mind. The great Paramahansa Yogananda compared breathing and restless thoughts to storms. We cant find serenity  that no stress state � until we calm those storms through deep breathing and meditation.

http://www.yogamovement.com/resources/breathing.html
« Last Edit: Jul 28, 2009 09:44 pm by lauraa49 » Report Spam   Logged
Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?
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« Reply #1 on: Aug 02, 2009 12:55 am »



We all have events that trigger stress or anxiety ; answering the telephone, approaching green lights (will it turn yellow just as I get there?), serving during a tennis match, making the big presentation, meeting new people. You may find yourself unconsciously holding your breath during those moments. Feeling breathless or holding your breath is a cue to use deep breathing.

When do you use deep breathing?
Dont use deep breathing during meditation. That is the time when you want to be aware of your breath, but not necessarily controlling it. Use deep breathing at times when you need energy or want to fill calm: during yoga, during exercise (instead of panting on the treadmill and using only your chest to breathe, deepen and slow the breath), before stressful confrontations, before doing something you dont like to do, before meditation (a warm-up that calms the mind). Or do deep breathing just for the fun of it, just to feel calm and at peace.

Focusing on breathing concentrates the mind. The great Paramahansa Yogananda compared breathing and restless thoughts to storms. We cant find serenity  that no stress state � until we calm those storms through deep breathing and meditation.

http://www.yogamovement.com/resources/breathing.html

i have been giving more attention to the 20 20 20 breathing (or what ever is comfortable in that proportion) before practicing a mantra; Taught by Paramahansa Yogananda in the SRF lessons. Sometimes the simplest of things need reminding the most. Paramahansa Yogananda mentioned that the state of consciousness we have is in direct relationships to the breath. If you are angry, you will breath very fast. If you are calm and at peace your breath becomes slow. He also asks the question : 'When you consciously watch the breath, what happens?' Try it and you will see that eventually your heart and internal organs calm down. This slows down the process of decay, calms the restless mind and interiorizes the consciousness for spiritual awareness. It is good thing to keep in mind: thanks Lauraa.......Steve

 
« Last Edit: Aug 02, 2009 04:01 am by Steve Hydonus » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #2 on: Aug 21, 2009 07:39 pm »


  Hello Laura and Steve. It seems as though, somehow, people are establishing, authorized or not, affiliate groups of Self-Realization Felowship. It dosn't bother me so much that even though our friends here didn't learn all of their meditation from SRF we are still practicing some of the same techniques.

  I'll make sure I pray to the great masters for our forgiveness even though I know we have done nothing wrong. I get weird like that, sorry. May our lord God bless us all.

  I think my brothers and sisters are, in a positive way, rubbing off on me. I really like to sometimes, as Namaste does, end a strain of thought with,

                                                                                                                                                    Sat Tat Om *
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Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?
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« Reply #3 on: Aug 21, 2009 09:38 pm »


  Hello Laura and Steve. It seems as though, somehow, people are establishing, authorized or not, affiliate groups of Self-Realization Felowship. It dosn't bother me so much that even though our friends here didn't learn all of their meditation from SRF we are still practicing some of the same techniques.

  I'll make sure I pray to the great masters for our forgiveness even though I know we have done nothing wrong. I get weird like that, sorry. May our lord God bless us all.

  I think my brothers and sisters are, in a positive way, rubbing off on me. I really like to sometimes, as Namaste does, end a strain of thought with,

                                                                                                                                                    Sat Tat Om *

i think it would be difficult to start an affiliate group of SRF and for me personally and this forum it would be out of the question. The organization was started by the Guru. i/we support it and are grateful to be members. There are many paths to self realization. SRF is by no means the only one. Paramahansa Yogananda honered all other paths leading to God and/or enlightenment. In that spirit we do the same and are pleased when people from other paths join us here at soulsearching. This forum was not designed to exclude other paths nor to make others in our image. We all are climbing that mountain. Someday we will be at the top and ask our freinds how they got there and they might point to a different mountain slope they climbed. However the peak remains the same.

P.S. Thank You for your contributions Goldwolf they often give me a chance to respond to larger issues that may or may not affect those who visit us and become members of soulsearchingforum.com They also bring up points that can/will be added to our 'Misssion Statement'.

« Last Edit: Aug 21, 2009 09:51 pm by Steve Hydonus » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #4 on: Aug 22, 2009 10:51 pm »

 
  Hey Steve, hello Laura49. I hope everyone is well. By no means Steve am I saying that myself of anyone else should start an affiliate group of SRF because the wisdom is, of course, most pure from the source. The point I am trying to make is that affiliate groups of Self-Realization Fellowship do exist. (Ananda for example) SRF is like the planet or earth. The affiliate groups are like moons of Self-Realization Fellowship, God is the Sun. I suppose that a sub point I'm trying to get accross, one which most of us know already, is that it doesn't matter where or from whom a person learns the techniques, the important thing is to stay on the yellow brick road. That is to say, love all as we are one in Spirit, all paths lead to Sat, who is our lord existing beyond vibratory creation.

                                                                                                                                         Sat Tat Om
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Lauraa49
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« Reply #5 on: Aug 23, 2009 01:58 am »

deleted

was having a particular testy day for some reason

to many things  gone wrong in a short span of time

things hit me weird  at that moment..... we all have those moments..i had one of mine

i apologize to all    of my behavior....

sorry guys...
« Last Edit: Aug 24, 2009 01:42 am by lauraa49 » Report Spam   Logged
Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?
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« Reply #6 on: Aug 23, 2009 11:19 pm »

i think the important thing we learn from communicating with others is that we all have something to learn from the way we communicate. What ever we do we try to do it with love. i have a lot to understand and i constantly try to understand just what others mean in their conversations. No relationship is going to be harmonious at all times. i think that others are here to learn from one another and to understand others in their spiritual growth. That is what i strive for. So i look forward to working out problems also and trying to grow in the process. It appears to me that we are all trying to understand each other here. Wouldn't you say that?

Steve Hydonus
« Last Edit: Aug 23, 2009 11:27 pm by Steve Hydonus » Report Spam   Logged

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Lauraa49
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« Reply #7 on: Aug 24, 2009 12:16 am »

That was actually my whole point ..I did not understand any of what  was being said  ...

couldnt figure out what i needed prayer about...of course rayer  is always good but forgiveness prayer ....hmmmm...

left me totally confused it die  lol

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Lauraa49
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« Reply #8 on: Aug 24, 2009 01:43 am »

i apologize to steve and namaste and anyone else that read my testy  post earlier.

of which i  have now deleted

was having a moment.....i dont have  alot of them  thank goodness....

sorry again to all who read it
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Jitendra Hy-do-u-no-us?
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« Reply #9 on: Jul 01, 2019 12:56 pm »

This whole subject of the breath as  related to meditation  has been on my mind for sometime. The awareness of breath seems to be the most important part of meditation. Because focusing on it slows it down and since the breath is related to the restlessness of the mind the slower the breath the less thoughts and the less thoughts the slower the breath. Breath binds our consciousness and soul to the body. If we are free of breath the consciousness automatically expands and transcends the body.
« Last Edit: Jul 01, 2019 03:48 pm by Steve Hydonus » Report Spam   Logged

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https://youtu.be/CQgAybAlVO0
Silent Voice Within
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stevehydonus@aol.com
For CD\'s of music by Steve or hydonus@yahoo.com
guest88
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« Reply #10 on: Aug 14, 2019 04:02 am »

Slowing the breath down alters the mind, I remember being still once and feeling what could be described as gentle waves of peace rolling along my consciousness literally overriding my thoughts- Great thread.  Smiley
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