Breathing: Spiritual and Medical Benefits by Jamie Jancarik

Introduction

Breathing: we all know how to do it. But what exactly is it doing for us? The obvious answer would be gives us life, but those who practice hatha yoga in Eastern cultures say it does so much more. Pranayama, a rhythmic breathing, is used for gaining enlightenment as well as other health benefits. Our Western culture, too, believes that pranayama can do so much more for us then we believe. Scientists are now beginning to conduct experiments to study the effects on how this rhythmic breathing affects our body.

As a Western society, we feel the need to validate everything we come across. Currently we are in the process of validating just what exactly pranayama can do for us physical wise. Eastern society, however, has been practicing pranayamic exercises for centuries. They know how pranayama in beneficial, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Both cultures are interested in how pranayama will help, but meshing the two together is difficult.

This paper will discuss what exactly pranayama is and how the two opposing cultures, Western and Eastern, view how it helps us. It will view pranayama from different lenses: Western, Eastern, and my own.

A Brief History

Breathing is the first thing we do when we are born. It is “the first autonomous gesture of the living human being” (Irigary, 2002, p. 73).Since human existence, we have needed the breath. “Organisms cannot exist without oxygen, yet oxygen also happens to be inherently dangerous to their very existence” (Bhattacharya, Pandey, & Verma, 2002, p. 349). That is to say, because of all the toxins in the air from pollution, such as carbon monoxide and toxic fumes, breathing in the air can be detrimental to health. Regardless of toxins, though, we still need to keep breathing.

Pranayama is the practice of breathing, which is an “ancient Hindu ascetic practice” (Higashi, 1964). The word “pranayama” is comprised of two words, prana meaning “the vital life source” and ayama meaning “pranic capacity or length” (Muktibodhananda, 2009, p. 149). Swami Muktibohananda defines it as “[the] technique of breathing and breath retention which increases the pranic capacity; [the] fourth step of Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga (p. 625).

It is not just deep breathing, however. Pranayama is made up of different exercises, all for different benefits. There is alternate nostril breathing, three part breaths, and quick breathing to name a few. Originating in India as part of the hatha yoga practice, pranayama has been around for centuries. As defined by The Macquarie Dictionary pranayama is “any of various practices aimed at regulating the breath, as a means to achieving a meditative state of mind” (2005). Through concentrating on the breath and keeping the mind from wandering, it is believed that the state of concentration will lead to enlightenment.

Singleton describes pranayama as “cosmic energy flowing into the hollow limbs of the body with the breath” (2010, p. 146). What it comes down to is that pranayama diaphragmatic respiration, or breaths that engage the diaphram (Higashi, 1964). Breathing is breathing, no matter how many different ways it is said.

What the Westerners Have to Say About Breathing

Breathing in Western society is still a rather new topic. Although we have all been breathing since we were born, Westerners, as a science based cohort, have just begun testing what exactly what pranayama is all about. Besides those who are pushing yoga just as devote Catholic would push their religion, Western society has been taking baby steps to understanding pranayama by looking at what we think is obvious, how it is affecting our oxygen intake. Danucalov, Simões, Kozasa, and Leite discovered that while practicing pranayama, the volume of oxygen in liters per minute increased from our normal intake (2008). Not only that, but so did the volume of carbon dioxide in liters per minute (2008). Since oxygen is vital to human life, increasing the amount is an interesting concept to explore, whether or not it would be beneficial.

Although we may not realize it, we are constantly using pranayama in our culture. Whenever we are stressed, we are told take big, deep breaths. The comical image of someone breathing into a brown paper bag comes to mind. Women in our society practice breathing techniques for birthing purposes. Athletes use certain breathing techniques to keep themselves going. To a random person, they may not think how they are breathing could be related to yoga, but in actuality it could.

Since breathing affects the hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for emotions, different types of breathing sends different messages to the hypothalamus (Muktibodhananda, 2009, p. 150). Short breaths will equal a fast reacting hypothalamus and therefore fast reacting emotions. Likewise, slow breaths equal a slow reacting hypothalamus and therefore slower and calmer emotions.

What can Pranayama do for Me?

Through a Western lens, and articles by yoga advocates, pranayama is a cure all for almost anything. According to Brown and Gerbarg, pranayama exercises can help with depression, insomnia, anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and other stress related medical conditions (2005). But wait; that’s not all! Pranayama can help with pulmonary function, the autonomic nervous system, metabolism, the immune system; the list seems to never end (Jerath, Edry, Barnes, & Jerath, 2006). Is it all good, though? Some believe that it is possible that pranayamaic practices could actually be harmful for certain disorders, but these results are hard to find in academic journals (L. Douglass, personal communication, December 7, 2011).

Regardless of this cynical view, there are studies that show the effects of pranayama exercises on the body. One study has shown that pranayamic practices have helped to increase positive outlook and are more willing to look at negative slides (Arch, & Craske, 2005). Davidson et al. showed that mindfulness is associated with the left side of the brain, and that the left side is linked to adapting to negative or stressful stimuli (as cited in Arch, & Craske).

Why so Technical?

Westerns are a very science based society. We like to know fact; we cannot just take someone’s word for it; that is just plain silly. Instead we need to take this thing that is so natural to most organisms, and test it and apply it to something we can see on paper. The whole spiritual aspect of pranayama is ripped away. The Eastern cultures, however, are still keeping the original practice alive.

What Eastern Cultures Say About Pranayama

Pranayama in India is used to raise awareness, or sattwa, which will eventually bring awareness and enlightenment. According to Ravindra, pranayama is “concerned with the right posture, which makes one both relaxed and alert, and with proper regulation of breathing for steadying the attention” (2006, p. 52). It is also the fourth out of eight limbs in Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga (2006). Ashtanga yoga will lead to inwardness, or awareness (2006).

The goal of pranayama is to be able to increase the retention of the breath, or the gap between inhaling and exhaling, and eventually between exhaling and inhaling (Muktibodhananda, 2009). In addition, it is practiced in order to control how prana runs through the body and gain an understanding of it since pranayama is the direct absorption of prana (2009). Since prana is the vital energy, having control over, and increasing the intake, is vital to enlightenment.

Through pranayama, the fear of death shall be overcome (2009). It strengthens the part of the brain connected with fear and emotion, something both cultures agree on. According to Swatmarama, Brahma and the other gods practice pranayama for this reason (as cited in Muktibodhananda, 2009, p. 228). By eradicating the fear of death, immortality of the soul can be achieved.

Practicing pranayama will help to calm the mind for other exercises in hatha yoga. It allows the person to be able to switch the mind from tamas, unawareness, or rajas, rapidly moving between unawareness and awareness, to sattwa, awareness. Through practicing pranayama correctly, the practioner should be able to do this freely without much thought or concentration. In the case of nadi shodhana, or alternate nostril breathing, the person should be able to breathe through either nostril without blocking one physically.

Physical as Well

Pranayama has physical benefits as well. It is a cleansing activity; while practicing the body heats up and therefore sweats and releases the toxins of the body through the pores ((Muktibodhananda, 2009). Although before practicing pranayama, the practitioner should remove as many toxins as possible (2009). Certain diseases can also be removed through pranayama. Which ones that are removed depend on what type of exercise is being practiced

For example, suryabheda pranayama helps to purify the mind as well as destroy worms (Muktibodhananda, 2009). Sheetali pranayama helps “[cure] an enlarged stomach or spleen and other related diseases, fever, excess bile, hunger and thirst, and counteracts poisons (2009, p. 249). These types of practices are done with effort, unlike nadi shodhana, and there are eight in total (2009).

What I Have to Say

From my experience, I use certain breaths depending on how I am feeling. I find that when I am frightened, my breath becomes shallow and quick. Recently I was climbing a mountain and became stuck; I was unable to move because my breath was not allowing me. By using the three part breath I was finally able to calm myself down and carry on with my activity. Whenever I am extremely excited and flittering around the room, my breath is quick, like a dog panting, or just stops flowing normally. On numerous occasions I have been told to breath while telling and excited story. I also find myself breathing deeply when I want to wind down and go to sleep. At night after a stressful or exciting day I will spend a few minutes just doing deep breaths to calm myself down.

In Class

In class I find my mind wandering frequently. However, when we do pranayamic practices, particularly ones that I enjoy, I am able to focus on the breath better and my mind wanders less. I believe it is because I have something to actually concentrate on rather than silence.

For the yoga project, the yoga class I went to instructed us to use ujjayi breathing in order to have something to listen to when breathing. While I think this would be helpful by myself, I was even more distracted by the noise the other people in the class were making.

Conclusion and Future Considerations

Although both sides are using pranayama for different benefits, they both have the main goal of healing. Regardless, both cultures only give the benefits. I am interested to see the negative effects of pranayama on the body. Nothing can be completely good, so seeing the negative side would be beneficial for health care now.

For future considerations, Western scientists should study what the Easterners believe the different practices are used for. This needs to begin with an understanding of all the different practices of pranayama and then go into what each one is supposed to benefit. It would be interesting to see if each breath is actually true to what Eastern culture says it does. In addition, seeing the two cultures mesh would be interesting. Taking both the spiritual aspect, leading to enlightenment regardless of religion, as well as the health benefits could really help people of today.

References

Arch, J. J., & Craske, M. G. (2005). Mechanisms of mindfulness: Emotion regulation following a focused breathing induction. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1849-1858.

Bhattacharya, S., Pandey, U. S., & Verma, N. S. (2002). Improvement in oxidative status with yogic breathing in young healthy males. Indian J Physiological Pharmacology, 46(3), 349-354.

Brown, R. P., & Gerbarg, P. L. (2005). Sundarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: Part II – clinical applications and guidelines. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 11(4), 711-717.

Danucalov, M. Á. D., Simões, R. S., Kozasa, E. H., & Leite, J. R. (2008). Cardorepiratory and metabolic changes during yoga sessions: The effects of repiratory exercises and meditation practices. Applied Psychophysiology Biofeedback, 33, 77-81.

Higashi, M. (1964). Pranayama as a psychiatric regimen. Lancet, 2(7370), 1177-1178.

Irgaray, L. (2002). Between east and west (S. Pluháček, Trans.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Jerath, R., Edry, J. W., Barnes, V. A., & Jerath, V. (2006). Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanis, that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Medical Hypothesis, 67, 566-571.

Muktibodhananda, S. (2009). Hatha yoga pradipika. Bihar, India: Yoga Publications Trust, Munger.

Pranayama. (2005). The Macquarie Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/macqdict/pranayama

Ravindra, R. (2006). The spiritual roots to yoga: Royal path to freedom. Sandpoint, ID: Morning Light Press

Singleton, M. (2010). Yoga body: The origins of modern posture practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.