Gentle breath
Slow, even, through the nose, seated.
What is a safe, gentle breathing practice to begin with for the chakras?
What it is
Pranayama is the regulation of the breath, the fourth of Patanjali's eight limbs. Prana means the breath as life-force, which the texts divide by its direction into the five vayus, or winds, and the practices range from simply slowing the breath to long holds taught only under a teacher. The house keeps to the first kind: slow, even breathing through the nose while seated, with the out-breath allowed to lengthen a little. That is enough to steady attention, and it is where every tradition starts.
The teaching
As Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika teaches it.
What pranayama is
Pranayama joins prana, the breath of life, with ayama, its drawing out and its restraint. Patanjali places it fourth among the eight limbs, after the seat is steady, and defines it as a break in the ordinary, unthinking flow of breathing in and breathing out. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika gives the reason in one line: when the breath wavers, the mind wavers; when the breath is steady, the mind is steady. To steady the breath is to steady the mind, and so the breath is the bridge from the body to meditation.
The movements of the breath
Patanjali names the movements. There is the outward breath, the inward breath and the breath at rest, and each is regulated by place, by time and by number, until it becomes long and fine. A fourth goes beyond outward and inward, when the breath grows so quiet that it seems to rest of itself. The fruit, he says, is that the veil over the inner light grows thin, and the mind becomes fit for concentration.
The hatha texts give the three movements their names: rechaka, breathing out; puraka, breathing in, as a vessel is filled; and kumbhaka, the pot, the breath held. The direction of the whole practice is towards a breath that is long and fine, and never towards force.
The seat comes first
No breath practice begins before the body can sit steady and at ease. The texts place the yogi in a firm posture with the spine, neck and head in one line. For a reader, a chair does as well: both feet on the floor, the back upright and not leaning, the shoulders loose, the hands resting on the thighs, the eyes closed or lowered. The breath goes in and out through the nose, with the mouth gently closed.
The natural breath
Every teacher starts with the breath as it already is. Sit and watch it come and go through the nose. Notice where it is felt, at the nostrils, in the chest, in the belly, and notice the small pause after the out-breath before the next in-breath begins. Do not change it.
Left alone and watched for a few minutes, the breath usually slows and deepens of its own accord, and the out-breath grows a little longer than the in-breath. That is the gentle breath the house teaches, and it is the whole of it: slow, even, through the nose, seated and unforced. Five minutes is a full session for a beginner.
The breath that prays itself
The yogic Upanishads teach that the breath already says a mantra. Going out it sounds ham, coming in it sounds sa, so that every breath says hamsa, the swan, which stands for the self; turned the other way it says so'ham, I am That. Because the breath says it without being made to, they call it the unspoken prayer, ajapa, and count that a person breathes it twenty-one thousand six hundred times in a day and a night.
To practise it the meditator only listens: so with the in-breath and ham with the out-breath, silently, at the breath's own pace. The sound is joined to the breath; the breath is never fitted to the sound.
Slowly, as wild animals are tamed
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika surrounds its breath practices with warnings. Lions, elephants and tigers are tamed little by little, it says, and so must the breath be; handled by force, it destroys the one who practises. Breath worked wrongly brings hiccups, asthma, coughing and pains in the head, the ears and the eyes. The breath is let out slowly and drawn in slowly, never in a rush.
The same text names six things that ruin practice: eating too much, straining, talking too much, holding rigidly to harsh vows, crowding company and restlessness. It names six that bring success: enthusiasm, boldness, patience, true understanding, firm resolve and keeping apart from the crowd.
The breaths kept for a teacher
The Pradipika names eight kinds of breath holding: the sun-piercing breath, ujjayi with its soft sound in the throat, sitkari and shitali, which cool, the bellows breath, the humming bee, the swooning breath and the floating breath. With them come seals and locks of the throat, the belly and the root. These are the parts of pranayama that the old texts give only from teacher to pupil, in person, and the house does not teach them. The rapid, forceful breathing sold today as breathwork has no place in this gentle practice either.
None of these is ever practised in water, in the bath or at the wheel. The art's caution keeps anyone who is pregnant, or who has a heart condition, epilepsy, or a history of panic, psychosis or mania, from forceful breathing and from holding the breath at all.
The signs to stop
Dizziness, tingling in the hands or lips, a tight chest, a racing heart or a feeling of unreality means stop: open the eyes, let the breath go back to its own rhythm, and sit quietly until it passes. The breath is never counted into discomfort; comfort is the guide, never a number. If any practice brings frightening states or sleepless nights, stop it, and see a doctor.
How it is practised
The reader sits upright and at ease, lets the breath come and go through the nose, and lets it slow of its own accord. Five minutes is a full session for a beginner. Studies of slow breathing used a pace of about six breaths a minute; comfort is the guide, never the count. There is no holding and no forcing. Dizziness, tingling or unease means stop and breathe normally. The art's caution names those for whom even this needs a doctor's word.
Where it comes from
The Upanishads already treat prana as the breath that sustains life. Patanjali gives pranayama a few lines. The hatha texts of the fifteenth century describe eight kinds of breath retention, kumbhaka, and surround them with warnings: the Hatha Yoga Pradipika says the breath must be tamed slowly, as lions, elephants and tigers are, or it destroys the one who practises. The forceful methods now sold as breathwork are mostly inventions of the twentieth century.
What is known, and what is not
Reviews of studies find that slow breathing, near six breaths a minute, tends to raise the variability of the heart's rhythm and is linked with feeling calmer; the studies are small. Forceful over-breathing lowers carbon dioxide in the blood and can bring dizziness, tingling and fainting, and breath holding in water has drowned strong swimmers. That prana is a substance moving in channels is the tradition's account.
Its words
- Prana
- Sanskrit for the breath as life-force: the vital breath that the Upanishads and yoga texts say sustains and moves the body.
- Pranayama
- The regulation of the breath, the fourth of Patanjali's eight limbs: from simple slow breathing to holds taught only under a teacher.
- Five Vayus
- The five winds: prana as the texts divide it by direction, into prana, apana, samana, udana and vyana, each with its own work.
- Kumbhaka
- The holding of the breath in pranayama, with the lungs full or empty. The old texts hedge it with warnings, and the house does not teach it.
Ask the Oracle further
How slow should a gentle pranayama breath be for a beginner?Why do the old texts warn against forcing pranayama?
Before you practise
These are maps of attention from the yogic traditions, not anatomy. Keep to slow, gentle breathing while seated; never breathe forcefully or hold your breath in water or at the wheel, or at all if you are pregnant or have a heart condition, epilepsy, or a history of panic, psychosis or mania. If practice brings frightening states or sleepless nights, stop and see a doctor.
Its other branches
Where the chakras come fromThe seven centresKundaliniThe third eyeThe whole artSearch the tree
