Yoga Every Day at Home Week 3 - Breathing

Yoga Every Day at Home - a four week course for carers in association with Disability Bradford.

Week 3: Breathing

Who needs to learn more about breathing?  

We all know how to breathe, right?  We’ve been doing it since the day we were born after all. 

Whilst it is true that breathing is an automatic action that our body accomplishes without us giving it a second thought, still many of us develop bad breathing habits...

Poor general posture, repeatedly collapsing the chest and poking the chin forwards in desk work, driving or whilst sat on the sofa, holding the breath, breathing through the mouth, breathing in a shallow way...

Recognise any of those?  As stated in a previous blog post on breathing, which you can read about here, there is a large proportion of people who have fallen into a pattern of not using the diaphragm and other muscles of breathing around the ribs, chest and throat efficiently and in a balanced way. The previous post suggests a few tests you can do to see whether you’ve picked up any sub-optimal breathing habits, and offers insights into how so many of us fall into bad breathing habits.  I won’t repeat here what I already wrote, suffice to say, most of us will feel a greater sense of freedom around the throat, ribs and chest by doing the simple exercises in this post regularly.

Undoing those bad breathing habits

The following pair of exercises really get into places that other exercises don’t reach and re-balance the muscles of breathing, open the chest and throat and instil a sense of emotional balance, calm and peaceful vitality.  They don’t need to be done as part of any routine so it is really easy to fit them into your day.  Start with 5 or so rounds of each, performing the exercises slowly and carefully.  Keep your inhalations and exhalations smooth and even. With the help of some fabulous yoga friends, I’ve made some video clips to accompany the written instructions to give you greater clarity and confidence in performing them.

Dru Yoga’s Pigeon Breath

The pigeon breath is a great foundation breathing exercise.  It can help release spasming and tension from the diaphragm and strengthen and re-balance the muscles of breathing.  It is particularly beneficial for asthma sufferers.  I find that it also gives a sense of calm and well-being.

It is a simple exercise which you can fit easily into your day.  I have included written instructions, but for clarity please watch the short clip of the exercise being superbly demonstrated by fellow Dru yogini, the lovely Leanne: 

 

There are 4 parts to the movement.  All breathing is through the nose, APART from the ‘pigeon coo’ in part 2.

1 Sit in neutral spine, or stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Interlock your hands under your chin.  Your head faces forward.  Breathe in through your nose and raise the elbows sideways to expand the ribs and chest. (Pigeon wings).  This works the intercostal muscles and opens the rib cage.

2 Breathe out through your mouth, slowly, steadily and evenly, as if blowing out through a straw. (Pigeon coo). At the same time, bring your elbows together in front of you as you gently push your chin up.  (Do not force your head back).   This phase controls the upward movement of the diaphragm.

3 Hold this position as you breathe in through the nose, the head slightly tilted up, feeling the chest inflate. (Pigeon chest).  The expansion of the sternum and upper chest is the focus here.  
 
4 Breathe out through the nose, returning your head and elbows to the starting position.
  

Begin with 5 repetitions and build up to around 5 minutes over time. 

Dru Yoga's Windmill breath

This is a technique to open the chest and improve control of the muscles of respiration, easing restrictions and facilitating the breathing process.  The arms go around like the sails of a windmill.  It is a great exercise if you feel tight around the chest and shoulders.   It will also gently mobilise the thoracic spine.

The written instructions make it sound complicated, but if you view the video clip by following the link below, you can view the fabulous Peter, another Dru yoga teacher, give an excellent demonstration. 

1 Begin standing in good alignment, grounded feet, soft knees, neutral pelvis, sternum lifted, shoulders retracted.  Ears lifting away from shoulders and crown of head reaching upwards, chin parallel with floor and slightly retracted.
 
2 Inhale and raise the right arm behind you, turning the trunk to the right and allowing the right arm to raise until upper arm is  level with the ear and fingertips are reaching towards ceiling, and trunk turns to face the front again.  Do this movement in a single inhalation.

3 Pause momentarily with your right arm above your head.

4 Begin to breathe out, lowering the right arm in front AND AT THE SAME TIME, the left arm rises backwards and upwards and your turn you trunk to the left this time.  Continue to lift the left arm behind you and up to the ceiling, turning the trunk back to the front.  At the same time the right arm lowers down in front to your side.  Again, complete the set of movements in this paragraph in a single exhalation.

5 After the initial raising of the single right arm to the ceiling, the arms work opposite each other, so when one is directed to the ceiling the other reaches for the floor.  When one is lowering from the ceiling to the floor in front, the other is lifting from the floor to the ceiling behind.  Whenever an arm is raising behind the body, the trunk turns back towards that arm.  

You have now opened your right lung.  To even up, you need to repeat the exercise on the left side.  Follow the instructions again, but initiate replace right with left and left with right!

It seems more complicated than it is in written form, but as you watch the clip and try for yourself the movements will become obvious.

Taking it further 

If you feel ready for more, download the following free podcast of breathing exercises.  Mary Sammon of the Sangha Yoga Center begins the recording with a superb explanation of the significance of breath in yoga.  This takes about 10 minutes (which you can of course fast-forward on subsequent uses).  She then leads the listener through 3 breathing exercises; (1-deep yogic breathing, 2-ujayii breathing (with sound) and 3-alternate nostril breathing).  Follow the link below and choose 'pranayama'.

Mary Sammon, Sangha Yoga Centre. Free breathing exercises podcast

And finally...

It is important to say that in yoga, breathing is a science called pranayama, and breath is prana, or life force.  Ancient yogis measured human life not by years, but by the number of breaths.  The wisdom is that if you learn to extend the breath, you learn to expand your life force, vitality and longevity.  

  

"When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady.  But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life.  Therefore, one should learn to control the breath".  

Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Yoga Every Day at Home Week 2 - Relaxation

Yoga Every Day at Home - a four week course for carers in association with Disability Bradford.  

Week 2: Relaxation

Everybody thinks they know how to relax.  Many people claim to derive their relaxation from watching tv/gardening/reading/taking a long bath, and whilst these activities undoubtedly offer the opportunity to switch off from daily life, they fall short of offering the range of health benefits that autogenic relaxation, known as yoga nidra to yogis, enables.

What exactly is autogenic relaxation?

Medical science recognises autogenic relaxation as a technique which restores the balance between the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the 'fight and flight' response) and the parasympathetic nervous system, (responsible for 'rest and repair').  It teaches your body to respond to your verbal commands and set off biological responses, known collectively as the 'relaxation response' in the body.  By following visualisations through all parts of the body, messages are relayed back to the brain and interpreted as cues to adjust and lower breathing, temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure.  

What are the benefits?

Done regularly, it has important health benefits as the parasympathetic promotes digestion and bowel movements, lowers blood pressure, slows the heart rate and promotes the functions of the immune system.  Below is some compelling evidence for the effectiveness of autogenic relaxation, taken from a study on relaxation to aid gastro-intestinal disorders by the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina:

 “Many researchers and health professionals believe that relaxation provides two important functions:

(1) as a coping skill that can be used immediately when a person is stressed, overly aroused, or in pain, and (2) by preventing some of the damaging effects of stress. Daily practice of relaxation lowers arousal that is associated with wear and tear on the body. Regular use of relaxation enables one to calm the body before beginning stressful activities and has been associated with improvements in the immune system as well as improved survival of cancer patients. Thus, daily practice of relaxation makes a person generally more relaxed, better prepared to manage daily demands, and better able to buffer the long-term effects of stress, while also providing a tool to use when things get out of hand. For individuals with functional GI disorders, relaxation appears to help by dampening the pain, managing the arousal naturally associated with physical distress, empowering the patient with self-help skills, and managing irritability which is a very common consequence of chronic pain.”

Preparing for relaxation

In terms of yoga,  relaxation is best practised in the posture (or asana, to use the yogic term) known as savasana.   
lie on the floor, arms out to 45 degrees, feet slightly wider than shoulder width, toes turned outwards, heels inwards.  

A cushion placed under the head and a bolster/rolled up blanket under the knees and or heels can make this position more comfortable.

 

When back pain is an issue, having the legs resting on a chair can ease symptoms.

Alternatively, take a side-lying position, assisted by bolsters, cushions or blankets.

As the body temperature lowers, it is a good idea to wear socks and cover up with a blanket.   

The icing on the cake is a softly weighted and scented eye pillow!

Try it for yourself

Here is a range of accessible resources available to help you begin a practice of autogenic relaxation or yoga nidra (yogic sleep).

The free Simply Calm audio download by Nirlipta Tuli on http://www.yoganidranetwork.org/  is 18 minutes long and serves as a good introduction to the art of relaxation. 

For those who wish to delve deeper there is an on-line relaxation course on the Psychology Tools website.  This is also free of charge. 

I may be biased, but Dru Yoga relaxation CDs are superb and available to buy in the  Dru Yoga Online shop.  My personal favourite is rather long at 30 minutes, but is amazingly thorough and deeply relaxing.  The Dru Yoga classes on CD (with EBR 1-5 in the title) all contain a relaxation typically 15 minutes long, at the end.  Of course full length DVD classes are also available.

 

Taking it further

Dr Wayne Dyer, an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of  self-development, once said; "You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can control what goes on inside".  Autogenic relaxation is the tip of the iceberg - by learning how to control biological responses within our body, we begin to learn that our emotional responses too are ours to bid.

Yoga Every Day at Home: Week 1 - Energising

Yoga Every Day at Home - a four week course for carers in association with Disability Bradford.  

Week 1: Awaken, revitalise and energise with Dru Activations

Good morning!

I'm writing this post shortly before the first of 4 sessions for carers in association with Disability Bradford.  First and foremost, the aim is to offer some rest and relaxation time to carers, but we also hope that you will learn some simple skills and techniques to take home and use in your daily lives for revitalising and recharging yourself or alternatively relaxing and recuperating. 

The topic of today's post is 'Activations'.  We use activations at the start of a Dru Yoga class to enhance circulation and warm up the body, preparing muscles for the strengthening and stretching to come later in the class.  You will also find that you feel more energetic and invigorated after a good activations routine.  It only takes 7-15 minutes to perform and is a great way to 'shake and wake' yourself in the morning, or to revitalise if you're flagging in the afternoon.

We're going to do the same activations routine for each of the 4 weeks, so you'll get to know it well from our classes.  I'm posting that routine and some simple instructions here as an aide-memoire.  All you need to add is some music with a good beat! 

 

Activations Routine

1 Shaking:
Progressively shake your body parts.  Imagine you are releasing stuck energy.  Shake off tiredness and stiffness.  Feel as if you have no bones in the parts that you are shaking, they are loose, floppy and free of restrictions and stiffness.  Shake fingers/wrists/elbows/shoulders, then ankle/knee/hip. Shake each leg in a crescent shape around to the back.  Use a chair/wall for support.

2 Twisting: 
i)Feet hip distance, feet forward.  Keep the pelvis steady and facing forward. Softly bend the knees as you twist gently from side to side, letting arms swing, tapping kidneys and looking over each shoulder.  Gradually raise arms to tap shoulders.  Pelvis remains still.

ii)Dynamic twist – Widen stance. Bend the knees a little more as you twist the spine from left to right.  Allow the arms to swing.  This time lead with the pelvis, allowing the pelvis to twist to the same side as your arms.  Weight shifts to front leg, back heel picks up to allow you to turn.  The twist originates in the pelvis and moves gently and evenly all the way up the spine to the neck.  Think of transferring all weight to front leg as you twist.

3 Scoops:

Roll each shoulder back in turn.  Start with small movements, gradually becoming bigger, finally leading with elbow and allowing the upper body to stretch up and rotate back as you do each side, opening the waist and stretching the kidneys.  You will find you squeeze the kidney on the opposite side.

4 Swing and Step:

Inhale to step forward on right foot and raise both arms, sternum lifts as you stretch through spine.  Exhale step back on right, swinging arms down then inhaling to swing the arms up again, lifting sternum and stretching spine.  The left foot remains in place, heel lifting as you step forward, toes lifting as you step back.  Co-ordinate movement and breath.  Keep ribcage down and avoid allowing it to flare.  Gradually increase the bend in your knee as you step forward for deeper work if desired.  Take the arms wider to alter the stretch around the shoulders and chest if desired.  Repeat around 10-20 times.  Do same on left. 
All the above moves to be performed with strong core and with control.

5 Punching:
Knees and feet hip distance.  Pelvis in neutral and fixed.  Without allowing the pelvis to move, punch the arms forward at waist level, allowing your ribcage to rotate.  Punch down the ground, at navel level, waist level, heart level, throat level, eye level and finally up the ceiling.  Feel your thoracic spine loosening. 

6 Legs:

Balance on left leg.  
 

i)Raise right leg and circle ankles slowly in each direction.

ii)right knee to 90 degrees and hinge from knee forwards and backwards, as if kicking your leg out gently and with control

iii)Straighten leg. Swing straight leg forwards and backwards from hip like a pendulum.  Hips level, still and facing forward.  Upper body still.  Avoid momentum.

All the above moves to be performed with control and core activated.

The whole thing will take you between 7-15 minutes.  Your body will be warm, energised and ready to get on with your day.  As your muscles are warm, it would be a great time to do a few simple stretches.

 

Activations routine in brief:

• Shaking (hands/elbows/shoulders/ankles/hips)
• Twists (hips fixed, bending knees/shifting weight)
• Swing and Step (step forward and back on on leg)
• Scoops (alternate kidney squeeze and arm circles)
• Punching (low to high/high to low, pelvis fixed)
• Legs (circle ankles/point and flex;hinge knee;pendulum)

Taking it further

You could also add:

• figures of 8 with a ball of light
• hip openers (Up Side Down)
• Spinal Wave 
• Hip circles/figures of 8
• Swaying from side to side with knee bends/arm raises
• Sink and rise (bend knees to sink, arms low, rise up and onto toes, circling the arms in front of body and reaching up). 

To feel even better, perform some stretches now your body is warm.