BREATH MEDITATION OR PRANAYAMA

REVISITED 

#3

One of the most profound and easiest form of Active Meditation is using the breath. In many forms of meditation one is told to follow the breath. Thich Nhat Hanh the Vietnamese Buddhist monk teaches;
"Breathing in I am following my in breath to the end. Breathing out I am following my out breath to the end."
However, this is really a passive form of breath meditation with a mantra. One can make it active with Yoga Ujjayi pranayama by actively creating sound. This form is commonly used in Yoga asana practice to fortify the movements. In expansion one usually breaths in and with contraction one breaths out in the poses. 
It can also be used at any time to invoke a relaxation or parasympathetic response and its effects can be immediate in times of stress. The active expression of making an "ocean" sound can be profound. Having practiced Asana Yoga for many years I have found this to be the easiest form of active meditation for me, especially when performing yoga postures and in stressful situations. The ocean or "Darth Vedar" sound is created during diaphragmatic breathing by constricting the glottis as air passes in and out. In the beginning it is easily done with the exhalation but with time can with time be managed during the inhalation as well. The calming and spiritual effects occur no matter how unskilled you are at first. It can be better explained by searching You Tube. Check it out and after 5-10 minutes of practice stop, open your eyes and see how the world looks? 
Eventually length and speed are controlled - longer is better and inhalation should be more or less equal to exhalation. It should be effortless without straining. Lamaze breathing used so commonly in childbirth more than likely is based on this ancient Yoga practice. Both also work during any surgical or medical procedures.

It is useful to look at some of the abnormal ways we breath at times which create tension and a sympathetic stress rather than a parasympathetic meditative relaxation response.

Reverse or Chest Breathing occurs when the abdomen moves in on the inhale and out on the exhale. With Diaphragmatic breathing which is more meditative the reverse should occur. By relaxing, lying on a flat surface and putting one's hand on the abdomen one can feel the hand rise on the inhale if one is using the diaphragm and fall on the exhale. Reverse or chest breathing occurs with restrictive clothing and when we are trying to look good with our posture by pulling in our abdominal muscles.

Hyperventilation can be present when we are stressed and can be very subtle. If severe it can cause one to blow off too much carbon dioxide and when this occurs in the blood stream the active calcium level drops leading to muscle spams, commonly tetany in the hands. It is corrected by rebreathing into a paper bag to the normalize ones blood CO2 and calcium .

Frequently when we are unaware and stressed we have a Collapsed breathing pattern where we are hardly breathing at all. This is easily remedied by invoking Ujjai. A more extreme form occurs with Frozen breathing for instance when we jump into cold water and the breath is suppressed from the sudden change in temperature.

Which one "happens" to you when you are stressed or very focused on a project? 

Ujjai rapidly over rides and corrects all of these.

The Ancestors 

There are numerous forms of Pranayama best learned with an experienced teacher but the two I recommend for non Yogis are Ujjai (or Victorious breath) and Alternative Nostril breathing. 

It is useful, however, to realize that there are three phases of breathing;

Puraka, Inhalation

Rechaka, Exhalation.

 And when the normal brief plateau in between is turned into breath holding this is called Kumbhaka. This phase is key to the deeper forms of Pranayamic experience. 

Pranayama is said to balance the sun and moon energy channels which spiral up the spine encompassing the chakras and the central channel. When these energy channels are balanced perfectly the feminine, Shakti, Kundalini, serpent power which resides at the base of the spine is awakened and can move up the spinal column energizing the chakras and creating polarity balance. If there is perfect balance and it reaches the crown chakra where the Shiva male principle resides the 

Oneness experience or Unity Consciousness is induced where the "Knower, the Known and the process of Knowing"

fuse into one thing. 

Alternative nostril breathing especially is supposed to balance the sun and moon. Check it out on line - it is also simple to do.

Below is an example of a oneness experience or what Maslow might have called a Peak experience written by Bunnell one of the party of pioneers who first entered Yosemite valley. In this instance nature was the yoga.

 The diaphragm is key to moving energy from the lower three chakras (representing earth, water, fire) into the upper chakras of air and eventually "ether." It also opens the fourth or heart chakra.

See figures below; the first shows the Sun and Moon channels spiraling up the central channel and ending in the nostrils - the second one is schematic.

"What is God? The breath within the breath." Kabir

Click on the link to highlight then play and focus on the breath

-_MP3s/06_Cosmic_Meditation.mp3