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Breathe - Pranayam
BREATH is SPIRIT!
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The word spirit means breath. (Respiration.)
Spirit and breath are LIFE! One cannot underestimate the value and power of proper breathing.
It is fundamental to yoga practice. Yogis have recognized and named
dozens of different types of breath and breathing techniques.
The most famous are: long deep (slow) breathing, or "complete breath," rapid abdominal breath,
or "pranayama" (Breath of Fire), and "alternate nostril breathing."
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Breathing Exercise:
LONG, DEEP, "COMPLETE" BREATH
(Breathing properly is an essential element
in safe and effective practice.)
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S
it with your spine erect and heartspace open (chest expanded).
Hands on your thighs, palms up! Elbows in, close to your sides, but relaxed.
Remember to breathe through your nose, long, deep, and slow.
First, fill your tummy, like a balloon, as you inhale. Stretch it!
Continue inhaling until you have expanded your chest completely, as well.
Press the backs of your hands into your thighs for leverage!
Now, "sip" in even more air a couple times! STRETCH those lungs!
Hold it without "bearing down" or "locking up." As if you are sitll on the inhale cycle.
(Not as if you are "blocking" the exhale cycle.)
Gradually increase the time you hold it from a few seconds...
up to several minutes(!) as you progress in your practice.
Then exhale completely.
Contracting first your anus, then your "sexual muscles,"
and finally your diaphragm ("bearing down" intensely).
Squeeze it all out!
Do this from three to eleven times.
Repeat this technique two or three times each hour while at your computer!
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"Pranayama In Three Easy Steps"
Go to page 4 and STRETCH!
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Breathe - Pranayama
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