predominantly by oxygen plus glucose. The former aids in the process of
elimination by oxidising the waste matter, while glucose supplied with
oxygen nourishes the body cells in the flow of respiration.
The purpose of pranayma in to make the respiratory system function at
its best. This automatically improve the circulatory system, without
which the processes of digestion and elimination would suffer. Toxins
would accumulate, diseases spread through the body and ill-health
becomes habitual.
The respiratory system is the gateway to purifying the body, mind and
intellect. The key to this is pranayama.
Respiration is essential sustaining all forms of animal life from the single-celled
amoeba to man. It is possible for to live without food or water for
a few days, but when respiration ceases so does life. In the Chandogyopan-
breath, all is fastened. Life moves with the life breath, which gives life to a
living creature. Life breath it one’s father, . . . one’s mother, . . . one’s
brother, . . . one’s sister, and one’s teacher, . . . the Brahman. . . . Verily,
he who sees this knows and understands this becomes the excellent
speaker.’ (S. Radhakrishnan: The Principal Upanisads, VII, I5, I-4.)
The Kuasitaki Upanisad says ‘One can live deprived of speech, for we
see the dumb; one deprived of sight, for we see the blind; of hearing, for we
see the deaf; and of mind, for we see the childish; one can live without arms
and legs, for thus we see. But now it is the breathing spirit alone, the
intelligence-self that seizes hold of this body and makes it rise up. This is
the all obtaining in the breathing spirit. What is the breathing spirit, that is
the intelligence-self. What is intelligence-self, that is the breathing spirit,
for together they live in this body and together they go o-..t of it.’ (S.
Radhakrishnan: The Principal Upanisads, III, 3.)
Breathing starts with independent life outside the mother and ends
when life ceases. When the child is still in the womb its oxygen is supplied
through its mother’s blood, and its lungs are not required to function.
When it is born, the first breath of life is started by command from the
brain.
During most of one’s life, the depth and rate of breathing are self-
regulated through the nervous system to meet the purposes of breathing, to
supply in a regulated and controlled way the fresh oxygen which is
constantly needed by the cells and to discharge the carbon dioxide
accumulated in them.
Most of us assume that because breathing is usually automatic, it is
beyond our active control. This is not true. In pranayama by arduous
training of the lungs and nervous system, breathing can be made more
eflicient by changing its rate, depth and quality. The lung capacity of great
athletes, mountain climbers, and yogis is far greater than that of ordinary
men, allowing them to perform extraordinary feats. Better breathing means
a better and healthier life.
sixteen to eighteen times a minute. Fresh air containing life-giving oxygen is sucked into them, and gases containing carbon dioxide from the body tissues are sent out in exchange through the breathing passages. The rhythmic inflation of the soft, honey-combed bellows of the lungs is maintained by the movements of the rib-cage and diaphragm. The latter in turn are driven or powered by impulses sent down by the respiratory centre in the brain to the relevant muscles through the nerves. Thus the brain is the instigator through which the respiration and the three mental functions of thought, will and consciousness are regulated.
The breathing cycle consists of three parts: inhalation, exhalation and
retention. Inhalation is an active expansion of the chest by which the lungs are filled with fresh air. Exhalation is a normal and passive recoil of the elastic chest wall by means of which the stale air is exhaled and the lungs are emptied. Retention is a pause at the end of each inhalation and exhalation. These three form one cycle of breathing. The breathing afects the heart rate.
During the prolonged holding of breath, a slowing of the heart rate is observed, which ensures increased rest to the heart muscle.
Respiration may be classified into four types:
(a) High or clavicular breathing, where the relevant muscles in the neck
mainly activate the top parts of the lungs.
(b) Intercostal or midbreathing, where only the central parts of the lungs
are activated.
(c) Low or diaphragmatic breathing, where the lower portions of the lungs
are activated chiefly, while the top and central portions remain less
active.(d) In total or pranayamic breathing, the entire lungs are used to their
fullest capacity.
In pranayamic inspiration, diaphragmatic contraction is delayed until after the conscious contraction of the muscles of the anterior and lateral
abdominal wall. These muscles are diagonally connected to the ribcage
above and the pelvis below. This action lowers and stabilises the dome-shaped diaphragm which originates at the lower rib margin; it pushes up
the abdominal organs and increases the capacity of the thorax. This prepares the diaphragm for a subsequent contraction of maximum extent
and efliciency by reducing the centripetal pull. This minimises interference
with the next action of the sequence, the elevation and expansion of the
lower ribcage in ascending upwards. This is accomplished by the vertical
pull of the diaphragm followed by the sequential activation of the
intercostal muscles to allow the fullest caliper-like movements of the
floating ribs, bucket-handle like movements of the individual ribs, elev-
ation and full circumferential expansion of the ribcage as a whole from its
origin at the spine. Finally the highest intercostals and the muscles
connecting the upper ribs, sternum and clavicles to the neck and skull are
contracted, enabling the upper part of the lungs to be filled. Then the
already expanded thoracic cavity expands further forwards, upwards and
sideways.
This series of movements of the abdomen, chestwall and neck, in
which each step of the sequence prepares the ground for the next, results in
a maximum filling of the lungs, to create space for the incoming air to reach
every corner of each lung.
The sadhaka must first direct his body-conscious awareness specifi-
cally and intelligently at the lower anterior abdominal wall just above the
pelvis. To accomplish this, he has to move the lower abdominal wall
towards the spine and against the diaphragm as if massaging from the skin
to the muscles and muscles to the inner organs. This sense of active
conscious contraction is associated with visible movements of the ab-
dominal wall from the surface skin to its deepest layers, and can be directed
regions of the chest. Elevate the lower chest wall simultaneously expanding
the top chest wall with its skin and muscles. The diaphragm gradually and
smoothly resumes its domed shape as it starts to relax towards the end of
inspiration. During exhalation the dome moves up again. It is active at the
start of expiration to encourage a smooth slow start to the elastic recoil of
the lungs.
The fresh oxygen which is sucked in percolates the minute sacs (the alveolar sacs) which fonn the basic unit of the lungs. The membranes
round these alveoli convey this oxygen into the blood stream and then the carbon dioxide from the blood into the air of the lungs for its disposal through exhalation. The blood with fresh oxygen is carried by arteries from the left side of the heart to cells in every nook and corner of the body, thus
replenishing their store of life-giving oxygen. The waste products (mainly
the carbon dioxide) thrown out by each sac are then taken by the venous
blood stream from the right side of the heart to the lungs for disposal. The
heart pumps this blood through the body at an average rate of seventy times
per minute. Hence to breathe properly we need the smooth co-ordination
of all the relevant parts of the body, the power or controlhouse (the nervous
system), the bellows (the lungs), the pump (the heart) and the plumbing
system (the arteries and veins), besides the driving motor of the rib cage and
the diaphragm.
