The Intelligence Of Our Breath

We all have access to a constant companion, an ever-present teacher that exists both inside of us as well as outside of us. A teacher that visits us tens of thousands of times a day. A teacher whom we can ignore or engage with. A teacher that can excite or calm us. A teacher that caresses our heart each time she enters and by her exit makes us softer. This teacher, of course, is the breath and as we learn to appreciate her full reach into both our bodies and our lives we uncover the remarkable beauty and potential that she holds.

It’s easy to come into a yoga practice with a pretty limited view and experience of our breath. We often take the breath for granted and don’t give it a ton of thought unless something goes awry. We easily reduce its influence to just the lungs and its most famous job of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. This seems to be a fairly recent forgetfulness though, seeing as many different languages and cultures around the world use the same words for spirit, soul and breath. For instance, in Latin the word anima spiritus is the same word for breath and soul. In the Greek language, psyche pneuma is used interchangeably for breath as well as the fine instrument of the soul. In the Chinese language, the character for breath is made up of three characters that mean “the conscious self or heart.” The vital connection to breath and its effect on us is even woven into our common sayings and cliches like “she was a breath of fresh air” or “he took my breath away.” The full movement and power of the breath is usually only gleefully rediscovered after some time, patience and dedicated study with this enduring and all abiding Guru.

There is an intelligence in our own breath and how it responds to changes both to our internal and external environment. Chances are if someone were to jump out from behind you, you wouldn't let out a long exhale, but rather draw in a quick sharp inhale. You would prepare to engage run or fight. Conversely after getting home after a long day at work, you would most likely put your stuff down and sigh out along exhale rather than sniff in a quick inhale. The body and mind are ready to let go of your day soften and relax. If you think of the last time you saw an amazing sunset or heard the most stunning piece of music, it might have taken your breath away The breath spontaneously pauses, your focus narrows and everything slows down to take in the beauty fully. The yogis of old realized its potential and created technologies and techniques, otherwise known as pranayama, by emphasizing the inhale or exhale phase of the breath or the pauses in between. They discovered that they could reverse engineer some of its effects to bring about a more desirable or useful state. 

While I’m a firm believer of there not being just one correct way to breathe while doing asana, there is a technique that I think offers us stability, space and a reconnection back to the embodied concept of Union. I’d like to introduce you to the Sri Yantra Breath.

You might have seen the pictorial depiction of the Sri Yantra before. Often showing up in meditative art, temples and even the occasional piece of yoga jewelry this sacred geometric shape, like most things in the Yoga world, have a lot of correlations, representations and meanings. Sometimes referred to as the Sri Chakra, it is often pictured as having nine overlapping triangles, some with the points facing down and others with their points facing up with a bindu or central point in the middle. Of course these overlapping triangles create even more triangles carrying with them their own correlations but I’ll do my best to simplify without losing the richness to be found in this special symbology. 

The downward pointing triangles represent amongst other things the concepts of the Feminine, embodiment, receptivity and Shakti. The upward pointing triangles represent the Masculine, transcendence, strength and Shiva. Their overlapping nature is representative of their relationship, lila (cosmic play), or potentially their merging or Union. 

Remember one definition of a Yantra though is- the body of the Mother, and we can find this sacred geometry and concepts being played out in our own bodies and breath. As we breathe in we can feel or picture the breath moving down through us like a downward pointing triangle or arrow. The spine gets longer, the rib cage bigger and the collar bones widen almost like they are turning upwards into a small smile. We are reminded of the potential of our own bodies to become a welcome vessel for the breath to fill. This downward energetic movement might also help us to reconnect to the process in which the ethereal breath or perhaps spirit/consciousness becomes manifest or embodied in our forms and in our lives. 

We can feel or picture the exhale moving inside of us like an upward pointing triangle as we lift or engage the pelvic floor and belly in and up almost like an arrow pointing us back to our heart. The strength and stability this engagement or moment provides the body is made only more profound by the realization that the exhale phase of breath is all about our letting go and deep surrender which slyly nods towards our transcendence. 

Inside of our asana and pranayama practice we can play with the relationship between the inhale and exhale phase of breath. Finding a equanimity between the inhale and exhale phase of breath might be an interesting way of finding equanimity between your own Feminine and Masculine energies. It also might be interesting though to play with unequal ratios of breath to emphasize or highlight one specific quality in your practice. 

The breath really is the quickest and most efficient way to enter into the nervous system. At some point your teachers might have even asked you to extend the inhale or exhale phase of breath asymmetrically during your asana or pranayama practices. No doubt you experienced that this has a very immediate energetic and physiological effect on the body. When you extend the inhale phase of breath longer than the exhale, you get a sympathetic activation and often an invigorating, awakening and energizing effect. Extending the exhale longer than the inhale, you receive a parasympathetic activation and often a soothing, calming and steadying effect. This natural phenomenon is called sinus arrhythmia. There is a nerve that travels to the heart called the cardiac sympathetic nerve that gets activated every time you inhale and it will speed up the heartbeat. You have another nerve called the vagus nerve that as you exhale will slow the heartbeat down. By playing with lengthening one side of the breath cycle you are extending the speeding up or slowing down of the heart causing a cascade of physiological and energetic responses.