Yoga's Primary Benefits_autonomic_nervous_sytstem

Yoga’s Primary Benefits: Control of the Autonomic Nervous System

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, health, Science, yoga, yoga benefits, yoga practice

Yoga’s Primary Benefits

Honestly, yoga’s primary benefits are still unknown. Our science isn’t good enough yet. Not really. Science is just starting to catch up to the power of some of the world’s most ancient healing traditions and are learning their meaning in a whole new light. Yoga’s primary benefit is certainly related to the functioning of the central and peripheral nervous systems, but how is something that has yet to be explained. The Ujjayi breathing technique, or breathing slowly through the nose is almost certainly related to yoga’s primary benefits; how is something that we have yet to learn. The Western world is slowly learning that the Eastern traditions, medicines, healing techniques, and ritualistic traditions are grounded in some serious observational science, even if it isn’t quantifiable and measurable by current methodologies and technologies. Even if the causes aren’t completely explained. This is happening in Acupuncture, herbology, nutrition, Ayurveda, and even Yoga is one particular field where we are learning a lot about how beneficial something as simple as breath control can be. The human body is more complex than we can currently understand; we are continually learning more about the human ecosystem that is what we define as our body.

Yoga is one particular tradition that reaches very far back in civilization, but our scientific knowledge about how yoga can help the body to heal is fairly rudimentary. We know from clinical studies that yoga helps with sleep duration and quality of sleep, we also know that it helps with anxiety, depression, and stress. But yoga in our modern society mostly means exercise, something that is vastly under-rated in American culture and in our society; 66% of Americans are overweight.

Yoga almost certainly has benefits to the endocrine system, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the heart, and the digestive system, but many of these benefits have yet to be measured. Even our understanding of the functioning of the respiratory system is still somewhat archaic, especially in terms of the lungs interacting with the heart, especially in the paradigm of disease. We have a lot to learn, but another, even more powerful benefit that we are learning about is the control one gains over the nervous system.

Yoga and the Nervous System

The nervous system is the central source of energy for your body; the electricity in your body is the fundamental source of energy for your body and therefore your consciousness to exist. The electricity that runs down your spine and into your peripheral nervous system, or the legs, torso, arms, organs, and every other part of your body is a continually firing process that continues from before birth and ends with our final breath. This is what allows us to be alive and is the fuel for our internal fire, passion, love, and existence.

This nervous system that we have evolved into over billions of years is extremely adaptive; different aspects of it have partitioned and specialized; we have a parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system and a sympathetic part; a conscious part of the nervous system and an unconscious part of the nervous system.

Yoga and Stress Regulation

The parasympathetic autonomic system is largely outside of conscious control and regulates most of the “background activities” of the body, such as digestion, sexual activity and arousal, urination, etc. The sympathetic nervous system allows us to control our fight or flight response or panic responses. Yoga allows us to tap into both of these systems and influence their activities and awareness breeds control, making awareness of the proprioception of the nervous system a primary benefit as well. That’s why balancing in yoga is such an important part of the practice.

One of yoga’s greatest benefits that is also a byproduct of meditation is alleviation of tension from the muscles, cortisol from the bloodstream (stress hormone), and slowing down of the heart and therefore circulatory system. Control over the nervous system helps us to do this because it allows everything else to slow down as a result of slowing the mind, and allowing the body to reach equilibrium and decompress. This can help us to fully relax in preparation for strenuous activity and the two can balance each other out really nicely because of yoga’s benefit to slowing the nervous systems.

I’ve done yoga in airports, on airplane bathrooms, in buses, in random hotel rooms, in airplanes, in cars, in RV’s, while camping, after long days of strenuous activity, etc and I will always use it to keep my circulatory system “feeling good” while traveling. The benefits of yoga for the body are undeniable and we are just starting to learn about the real consequences of this powerful, healthy, spiritual, and enlightening practice.

sources:

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Teaching Yoga Full-Time Elliot's Crow Pose in Mysore Palace

Teaching Yoga Full-Time (Stepping in)

1 Comment / Personal, storytelling, yoga, yoga teaching

Teaching Yoga Full-Time in California

is simultaneously the most rewarding and challenging experience of my life. I’ve had people walk out in the middle of class and ask for their money back. I’ve had people come up to me after class completely blown back by what I taught that day. I’ve also had people that I could tell didn’t enjoy my class or felt that something was missing in it, but don’t mention anything. I think a lot of people have really enjoyed themselves in my class, but think about the spectrum of reactions to different forms of art and you start to get a general idea of the types of response my yoga teaching gets.

At the end of the day, I realize that my class is valuable and that my particular subjective take on yoga is simply one subjective view; but that also gives me a lot of room to create my art. That is why I feel comfortable teaching yoga full-time; I’ve practiced enough to feel as though I should be a guide for others. I draw upon multiple teachers, a journey through India and into Southeast Asia, a journey through China, and my junior year of studying in Paris to create something that I consider invaluable; expressions of peace, love, and life. My yoga is definitely unique and constantly evolving. But, at the end of the day, letting go of “my yoga” is just as important as anyone else letting go of their ego while practicing yoga.

Full-Time Yoga Teaching

Over the last two weeks I have pushed myself pretty hard. I’ve taught 9 classes in 5 days and 10 classes in a four-day weekend, which is quite a bit. I’m also working other jobs to make ends meet, so after this last week I have been exhausted. I’m aching to create music, but yoga is taking priority right now, which I like. I enjoy sacrificing one form of art for another. And it’s nice to have an excuse to practice extra yoga.

Make no mistake, yoga teachers are absolutely undervalued by our society. I blame a lot of this on the overly religious assholes out there like the evangelical ministers who prey of people’s weak beliefs in god to make money (check out this episode of “Last Week Tonight“, its great!) and other types of people who try to make spirituality into a profitable enterprise at the cost of their consumers. We are considered more or less exercise coaches that might have some experiences with meditation and spirituality. But in reality, there is a ton of sacrifice that goes into teaching yoga full-time that the majority of Yogins never see. Every class takes more effort than the time in the studio and many times it is at least an extra hour of work (not including driving). But at the end of a class, the reward of having happy people around you far outweighs the costs of what it took to teach yoga that day.

Making Ends Meet

I have recently added a Friday night Yin class to my schedule at East Wind Yoga in Auburn, CA and that means I will be teaching 5 classes each week, not including substituting for other teachers, which I do as often as I can. It’s about enough to pay rent and eat extremely minimally, so I have to find other work on the side, tutoring, doing odd-jobs, and most recently I’ve started driving for Lyft, though it’s not an everyday opportunity for me. This site is just getting close to breaking even, though it’s not very expensive because I do most development myself.

So it’s pretty hard to make a living wage as simply a yoga teacher. I think it will be possible in the future, but right now it’s not. That means I don’t get to spend all of my time on my art, which is a shame, but I have high hopes that yoga will become more respected in the near future. Plus, who knows, I’ll probably open my own studio eventually. First, I want to become a better teacher and build-up to sustaining myself by teaching yoga. Music will always be happening as long as I have extra time to spend learning and creating in front of my computer. Music has become a single pointed obsession, perhaps even more than when I first started practicing yoga. It’s as if I’ve found something I’ve wanted to do my entire life, except I’m 26 and have graduated from college and neither yoga nor music were things that I studied or cared about then. I’ve always loved music, but began making music when I was 24 after I downloaded a trial of Ableton Live. I played clarinet in third grade and it made me despise music, honestly. I feel like I found my passions a little too late in the game.

But alas, always in my mind there is hope and self-confidence and I will pursue what I feel called to do, which right now means teaching yoga on a full-time schedule and doing work on the side. Ramping up more and more to create sustenance for myself, then using what I can to fuel my musical and artistic endeavors. Obviously, writing will be a large part of this as well, and I’m just finishing a new painting. I’m also going to put out a podcast on Sundays with my friend Kyle, but we haven’t quite gotten started on that yet so don’t hold your breathe. Honestly, I just want to create all kinds of things over the next 60 years or so until I have to stop because I’m an old man or dead. It’s all about the future generations and creating for them. The youngsters and the kids.

It’ll take a few more weeks to get truly comfortable in an apartment by myself, cooking a lot, driving, etc, but I am definitely happy where I am. I get to ride my bike to teach two yoga classes today, which will be a blast in less-than-crowded streets of Sacramento! I really enjoy cities, especially after spending a lot of time in Paris when I was 20. Moving back to Sacramento is really a cool feeling, now it’s as if I am trying to affect and support the people who I grew up with in the place that I am from. It feel right, whatever the fuck that means.

Following Passion

I am sure that I will be happy over the next few weeks, for the pure joy of following things I love to do. Struggling makes me feel alive, I’ll always want a little bit of discomfort. I guess what is right feels good to me at this point, which means I am at least somewhat aligned with whatever it is that I am supposed to be doing here. Onwards and upwards I guess!

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Sustainable Life: 5 Actions you can take NOW

Leave a Comment / ecology, happiness, philosophy, philosophy, Science

Sustainable Life for Humans

Humans are on a crash course with our destiny. If we don’t find a way to live sustainable life, our species could become extinct. Over the next five-hundred, the extinction of our species will looms above us, as it has in the past. Will we fall into the oblivion of our over-consumption and completely destroy our eco-system? Or can humanity persevere into sustainable life and even become something greater than we have ever imagined? Could humanity bring life to new worlds and expand into a universe of global consciousness? Anything seems possible with human ingenuity.

There is no doubt that there are major issues that threaten the survival of the human species, namely our consumption patterns. There are five major actions you can take today for humanity’s future.

Stop eating meat; move to a vegetarian or largely vegan diet. Cavemen were opportunistic carnivores; we will discuss these implications for your diet and for planet Earth. This is something you will almost never hear about, but has the biggest implications for our planet.
Make your own things. If you need to buy something, understand the product life-cycle before buying (especially cars!). This is called “ethical consumerism“. We’ll come back to this.
Try to drive less on a daily basis, but enjoy traveling long distances a few times a year. Your oil consumption matters, but there are other things that you consume that matter more. (hint: go back to #1)
Stay away from authority. (police, judges, courts, politicians, bosses, anyone with a gun, or that thinks they can tell you to do something; teachers often also fall under this category when you a young). The idea is to limit your encounters with these types of people as much as possible to avoid conflict and destructive behavior.
Enjoy a nice meditation, stretch, or even some yoga. Spend more time away from TV, screens, and stimulation/electronic radiation. Walk, run, hike, be outside, find outdoor activities. You’ll look better for it. Remember to enjoy the present moment whenever you can. It’s all that we really have.

These are just a few principles to help you live a simpler, more economized, sustainable, and efficient lifestyle.

Now, let’s talk about sustainability.

You want your life to be sustainable. You want your children to enjoy what you have enjoyed in your life. And through your life, you’ve realized what is important and it is surely not things! If so, you are living excessively! When there is excess, there is stagnation, we see it in all kinds of royal families throughout history and now in the wealthy corporation owner families like Wal-Mart. They always get slaughtered and killed in revolutions and replaced with leaner governments with more representation from citizens. This might happen soon in this county, but there are actions you can take to stop your over-consumption and to be a lean consumer.

The truth is that no one really values sustainability. Everyone wants more because they think that it will make them happier. Corporations want you to believe this! But this type of consumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

You do not value things. You can lie to yourself all you want, but if there is a bigger TV out there, you are going to want it! This means that anytime you buy a TV, this will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction, whether it is because a larger/more inexpensive TV is being produced, or the TV that you have breaks. Understand the tricks that your mind plays on you. You want things that will last, especially when you invest lots of money into these things.

The First Steps

Your meat consumption will have the largest effect on your world. Consider this: animals are living breathing beings just like you and they need to be taken care of. This includes water, food, warmth, medicine, and social interaction. Right now, we can’t even give the animals social interaction because they are too numerous. We over-medicate them because they are too numerous. The whole system is completely unmanageable because everyone wants to eat meat.

A human diet optimally contains mostly vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts for health. Most people don’t need meat and can subsist on a completely vegan diet. However, some people do need meat in their diets. These people can absolutely live on chicken and bug proteins (just like our ancestors). Human beings are absolutely not meant to eat red meat in large quantities. We simply do not have the stomach acid to break it down, which results in acid reflux, compacted digestive systems(think about old men with huge “beer bellies”; meat is the real culprit here), and slowed metabolism and digestion because of nutrients that are too densely packed for a human stomach to efficiently digest. Advancements in science are also helping to improve this, making fake meat tastier and closer in texture to real meat, but really our ancestors had very limited access to meat. You only need it occasionally.

Be Aware of your Water Consumption

We Americans use the most water of anyone in the world by at least 2x. Japan is the only country very close to us. How do we use so much water? Beef. Cows drink enormous amounts of water and they are an extremely inefficient converter of energy. Cows are the biggest reason why we Americans consume so much water.

We also take long showers, wash our cars, water our lawns too much and waste water on completely unproductive plants and animals. The key here is unproductive land. We need to use our land to cultivate healthy and nutritious food for ourselves and stop relying so heavily on mass farmers so they can be reasonable about their crops. We undervalue food in this country. I’m not talking about fancy restaurants; I’m talking about produce aisles at the grocery store.

Vegetables require far fewer nutrients, water, care, and money than cows do. That’s why you’ll never hear about this in the news, or on T.V. People have literally been killed over it. There are billions of dollars in beef and the beef companies want to keep it that way.

Showering for shorter times helps. Doing laundry only when clothes are really dirty also helps. Not watering your lawn is also a huge contribution. But rest assured, beef is the #1 culprit for water loss in this country.

Stop Being a Mindless Consumer

This is really all that you have to do. This falls under what we talked about earlier in the second point about ethical consumerism. Understand that all of the products in target and Wal-mart are made in China, basically in labor camps forced by the Chinese Communist government. They would do the same to Americans if they could and they do get away with quite a bit already! That is what you are supporting when you want to save money at those stores. All of fast-food comes from factory farms. They are the worst ones! I’m sure that McDonald’s cow’s aren’t loving anything that is being done to them. Neither are the pigs or chickens from all of the other fast-food chains. Deli meats are no better, don’t try to kid yourself. You wanna look lean, sexy, and be healthy? Stop eating meat altogether. Give it a try, don’t try to kid yourself that you need it after a week. You could survive without food for something close to 3 weeks. I’ve gone 5 days myself and didn’t lose too much weight, but I was also very thin and already living in India.

If you want high-quality, long-lasting products, then we have to invest in the art and craftsmanship of the people around us. The paintings that no one knows about have the highest mark-up anyways. Products with character and durability are getting harder and harder to find and its a shame. It’s an art to create beautiful crafts and we need to remember to value that and support the people who make it.

So it’s simple. Sustainable life is all about your decisions. Your existential power in this universe. Consider where your money goes, how it is funneled into the economy. Be serious about understanding your own patterns of consumption, and then you can run on next to nothing, or sustain yourself completely.

You can do it!

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Yin Yoga Meditation

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, meditation, yoga, yoga practice

A Unique Approach to Meditation

Meditation is one of my favorite things. Yoga, sitting cross-legged while doing various mental exercises, running, teaching yoga, and performing other focused exercises are examples of what I define as meditation. Anything where there is focus and concentration.

Yin yoga has become more and more prevalent in my own practice, as I have seen it grow in popularity in general over the past few years. I prefer ashtanga for a more regular practice, but Yin offers an excellent counterbalance to the strenuous application of the four ashtanga series. And best of all its all online for free at Yinyoga.com from a guy named Bernie Clark. It’s a really cool website and you should explore it if you want slow deep ligament and tendon focused stretching.

The Balancing of Yin and Yang

Yin yoga is not a complete package, however, as no system of yoga or even physical condition can really provide this. If too much time is spent lengthening, softening, and stretching the muscles then they will be easily strained when performing physically demanding tasks. There needs to be a balance between the soft stretching of yin and the more active stretching of yang yoga like Iyengar, Hatha yoga, or Ashtanga and other more active physical activities. Even more engaged, active physical activities like running, circuit training, even weightlifting can be combined with a yoga practice to extraordinary gain.

The Benefits of Yin Yoga

Because the benefits of yoga are extraordinary. Yin yoga, in particular, has a myriad of physical benefits for the body, not to mention the mental and psychological benefits for the mind. The benefits of yin yoga are a bit different from those of the yang styles, but in a way that is completely complimentary.

Science has shown that Yin yoga has the following benefits:

Myofascial releases of tension resulted in increased healing processes
Improved immune response
Increased metabolism and serotonin levels (happiness neurotransmitter)
Improves sleep performance
Improves circulation around joints which can alleviate arthritis, osteoporosis and chronic pain
Stress reduction
Anxiety reduction
Depression reduction

As you can see, Yin yoga boasts quite a few benefits, though some people have a hard time starting the practice. It can be difficult at first to breath properly for the duration of a long-held stretch and it is easy to get agitated or just lose focus. Yin yoga is something that you practice over time and its pretty normal to have a slow start and to take some time to develop a consistent practice; but when you do you will be very happy with the ever-increasing depth of a yin practice.

As you become more advanced in one style of yoga, particularly Yin yoga, you start to find yourself becoming almost too good at poses; sometimes muscles can be too flexible and not strong enough, but this is fixed with a changing yang practice. This is also one of the reasons Ashtanga is easier when you practice it every day; the muscles get used to the same stretches. This is also why you perform poses twice in Bikram classes.

Yin Yoga is a long road that I know I will continue to talk about and expand upon. I might even have a bigger section of my blog eventually devoted to the practice, so please let me know what you are interested in learning/reading about!

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"Konfuzius-laozi" by Shih K'ang - http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln471/pix.htm. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Konfuzius-laozi.jpg#/media/File:Konfuzius-LaoTse.jpg

Lao Tse | 李耳 – The Founder of the Philosophy of Taoism

Leave a Comment / history, religion, taoism, yoga, yoga philosophy

Lao Tse, The First Taoist

Lao Tse, Laozi, Lao-Tzu, Lao-Tze, or Laozi was a philosopher and poet in ancient China who is best known for founding Taoism by writing the Tao Te Ching. He is a deity in certain traditions and probably lived around 4-500 BCE, but is often dated to the time of Confucius at 600 BCE. Lao Tse is one of the great teachers and influencers of early eastern philosophy and helped to give foundation to the great traditions of the East. He famously said, “Be still like the mountain and flow like a great river.” (his work is riddled with allegory and word plays)

Lao Tse is a title meaning “venerable” “master. Many scholars argue that he was many people rather than one, but most ancient texts mention him in 600 BCE. The first copy of the Tao Te Ching is from 400 BCE. In any case, Lao Tse is said to have spent his life revealing the Tao. Much of his work after his death was used by anti-authoritarian establishments throughout history.

Er Li was a scholar and Alan Watts believes that he was the man that we know as the great master, but other scholars have argued that the figure of Lao Tse must have been many people. He was mentioned by several historical texts after his death.

According to tradition, Laozi studied in the royal court of Zhou and attracted large numbers of people, legends tell of an encounter with Confucius, but Lao Tse never opened a school.

One story says that Laozi is a hermit who lived in the woods until he was 160 years old. One day he was stopped by Yinxi at a gate and Yinxi asked Laozi to record his wisdom. He wrote the Tao Te Ching in response. Many stories then tell of Laozi traveling all the way to India to teach the Buddha. Some say that he was the Buddha.

The Tao Te Ching is one of the most powerful works in Chinese history. It describes the Tao as the source and ideal of all existence and all of nature flows from it, so when humans defy their nature, they separate themselves from the flow of the Tao.

Laozi said that technology brings about a false sense of progress and taught about a method of existence called Wu-Wei, or non-action. What it really means is flowing with the moment, not forcing, acting spontaneously, not doing anything, or creating nothingness.

Zhuangzi was Laozi’s disciple and was a central authority to monastic life amongst normal populations and drifting anonymously though society. Some modern politicians think that Laozi was the first libertarian, believing that people should be allowed to govern themselves loosely and without much governmental structure.

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http://ashtangayogaathens.com/2014/08/healing-injuries-with-ashtanga-yoga/

5 Reasons I Don’t Practice Ashtanga Everyday

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, asana, Ashtanga, injuries, yoga

I still practice Ashtanga.

Just not every day. I practiced every day while I was in India up until 3 months ago and when I began to travel. However, I stopped practicing every day and have gone back to a more diverse practice of general Hatha poses. But there are some major reasons why I stopped practicing Ashtanga every day and starting practicing it more like twice a week. You should know them

Muscle mechanics – Muscles are designed to handle unforeseen obstacles, in fact they perform extremely well in a diverse landscape and require different types of movements than only the poses of the primary series to functioning optimally. We are not meant to walk on treadmills, we are meant to climb hills and rocks, ice and mountains. There are fundamental movements that are missing from Pattabhi Jois‘ method, originally prescribed by Krishnamacharya. Low lunges, certain types of sitting, abdominal exercises, and back lengthening are all missing from Krishnamacharya’s sequences, likely because they were as necessary in the lifestyles of young Indians at the time. With modern science, especially in the fields of anatomy and physiology, we can structure other exercises to compliment the poses of the primary series to make our practice of the old method more efficient.
Injuries – It’s easy to get injured while practicing Ashtanga, especially while practicing every day. Some studies have posted numbers as high as 60% of people who practice Ashtanga get injured and I would be willing to bet a lot of the injuries are knees, ankles, and toes. When you practice the same routine every single day it is easy to become somewhat mindless in the practice and to allow things to move on autopilot. This is not necessarily very good for your muscles either because they get used to the same movements and over time try to create shortcuts. Muscle confusion is a good remedy for this.
Sense of Progress – Ashtanga give the practitioner a false sense of progress every day. You become efficient and masterful at certain asanas while forgetting others and focusing on a non-existent path in Ashtanga. The path is the same whether you practice Ashtanga or not and being able to perform yoga poses should only lead to a sense of internal triumph, rather than comparative progress. Where is yoga taking you anyways?
Time – Yoga is a huge time commitment. Ashtanga is oftentimes an even bigger one, with full sequencing and the need to warm up and prepare mentally. I like to take 2 hours to practice Ashtanga, it gives me plenty of time for headstand and the closing sequences and I don’t feel rushed. Did I mentioned I spent 10 breaths in a lot of poses?
Variation is beautiful – Why practice only one style of yoga? We are born into an age with seemingly limitless traditions and styles to draw from, we should take advantage of this. Incredibly skilled teachers also seem to be popping out like daisies so take advantage while you can!

I also do other forms of exercises, like running, and climbing, hiking, and generally spend a lot of time outside. You should switch it up every once in a while, your body will love you for it!

See a few more articles about Ashtanga here:

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Taoism and Modern Yoga

Leave a Comment / ancient yoga, patanjali, philosophy, taoism

In Westernized yoga, there appears to have been a bit of a confounding of eastern traditions in regards to their application in yogic philosophy. We tend to mix up Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, even Jainism and put them all into the same category of “mindfulness” aimed towards stress reduction and happier, more meaningful living. Not that mindfulness isn’t an appropriate subject, but I think it can be important to differentiate between the Eastern religions especially to understand their unique, individual philosophies.

Yoga doesn’t really have a category. Traditional yoga is very similar to Buddhism, but the yoga sutras of Patanjali seem to be the most authentic “yogic” teachings from a historical perspective. Many scholars would also agree that Patanjali’s sutras are heavily influenced by Buddhism. Ujjayi breathing is influenced by Taoist practices and many of the meditational practices in yoga come from Jain and Buddhist traditions.

Most modern yoga teachers seem to be most influenced by Buddhism when teaching, focusing on concepts of Dharana and Dhyana for meditation that are the same in buddhist texts. Many bring modern science and anatomy into the practice which is a more efficient way to practice because it allows us to understand what is happening while we are performing asanas. With these tools we can avoid injury and progress safely into a fuller and easier practice.

Buddhism teaches that at the center of all things is peace, which is a bit different from the Hindu belief that all things have a divine core. The yoga sutras of Patanjali seem to be more influenced by the Hindu side of things and his concepts in the 8 limbs of yoga support a divine core of all beings. However, the Buddhist state of Nirvana and the Hindu state of Samadhi seem to be very similar conceptually.

Most modern yoga is geared towards balancing the body not necessarily towards complete purification. This is because the whole body purification is more of a youthful activity, it requires a lot more effort once you are older and the body is increasingly more toxic with age (at least as a general rule). Aging well in a yoga practice is not necessarily aligned with yang style of ashtanga or Bikram yoga, but rather a combination of Yin and Yang style of exercises. In this way, modern yoga is more Taoist than Buddhist or Hindu.

The yoga sutras are undoubtedly Hindu, but they borrow many buddhist teachings and concepts. The past of yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism seem to be vastly intertwined with the rest of the eastern traditions, most notably Taoism to produce a modern hybrid western style of yoga. Patanjali’s famous quote to still the fluctuations of the mind might be very similar to finding Lao Tzu’s Tao. It is important to remember that eastern traditions tend to be less ordered and regimented than western religions because the religions tend to cross over into each other. If you get a chance to read Patanjali’s yoga sutras then enjoy searching for the different influences of the texts.

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Ujjayi Breathing – The Victorious Yogic Breath

1 Comment / Anatomy, Respiratory System, taoism, yoga

The “Victorious” Breath

That changes in respiration that occur during a yoga practice might be the greatest benefit of yoga. Deep breathing using a technique such as the Ujjayi breathing technique can relieve stress and toxicity from the heart and the entire circulatory system. Ujjayi breathing specifically relaxes the body through diaphragmatic breathing meaning that air travels first into the bottom of your lungs, then fills them up from the bottom.This will normally sound a lot like the waves of ocean.This form of breathing is done during the entirety of a yoga practice, until one rests in savasana and the breathing is relaxed into normal mouth/nose breathing. But yoga is not the only time that you should feel you are allowed to practice this powerful relaxation technique. Anytime you need to control your stress response, you can use this technique to help regulate your stress level and respond appropriately to the situation.

How to Do Ujjayi Breathing

There are a few ways to begin Ujjayi breathing:

Start with a cross legged seated position, if possible:

Take deep breaths through your nose into your abdominals while sitting upright. Try to relax your muscles as you breath exclusively into your nose
Inhale into your nose and relax your shoulders as much as possible. Notice your belly rise and fall and your shoulders relax down your spine a little as you lift your best.
Bend your torso over your thighs, bend your knees, release your neck muscles so your forehead is heavy and leaning forward towards the floor. Take big breaths through your nose.

These are just a few ways to get started, but eventually you will get your Ujjayi breathing to be second nature, especially if you practice a lot of yoga.

A few more notes about how the Ujjayi breathing functions optimally: try to keep your inhales and exhales about the same length and continuous throughout the practice; if you notice your breathing stopping then try backing off a little and focus on increasing the quality of your breathing; don’t strain your lungs if you haven’t practiced in a while, its easy to do when you take extended breaks from yoga.

These techniques should help you to maintain a safe and powerful breath technique during your yoga practices.

A Taoist Tradition

Ujjayi comes partially from Taoist and yogic practices for meditation. Ujjayi can significantly add to the meditative quality of a yoga class and I have personally found it to be the defining factor of how well my yoga practice goes. It can also increase internal body heat and increase oxygenation to the muscles, both can significantly increase vitality.

Krishnamacharya taught that Ujjayi breathing helps to keep the energy sealed into the body, while using the bandhas to fully interlock energy into the spinal cord while practicing yoga. He also taught that a lock of the pelvic floor is essential to keep the energy within the body.

Ujjayi breathing is a powerful technique that shouldn’t be overlooked in everyday life. It can help you to deal with anxiety, stressful situations, bad drivers, mean bosses, anything that might cause an internal reaction. Use your Ujjayi breathing to your advantage when you want to calm and de-stress your body.

Here are some additional resources for your reference:

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The True Meaning of Yoga

Leave a Comment / asana, philosophy, yoga

Yoga provides exercises and experiences that allow you to experience life more fully and vitally. This means that the breathing exercises, stretches, calisthenics, abdominals, standing poses, back-bend, inversion, spinal twists, and hip-openers that you do during a yoga class are pretty useless by themselves. The idea is that they free you up inside to be present to everyday life and can therefore appreciate everything a little bit more and make you healthier to enjoy them. I think this is why looking at pictures of people doing yoga can feel so hollow, there is so much going on in that simple picture and you can’t really see the after effects of what the yoga is doing.

A human being performing an asana, or a positive postural alignment of their body is an incredible thing, if simply because the human being is alive and functioning in the compromised position, especially if they are doing ujjayi breathing. When you start to combine muscular stretches and skeletal alignments to focused the consciousness of that human in asana, postures can assist their body in realigning, strengthening, increasing flexibility and endurance. Yoga does this by innervating muscles that may not normally be flexed or contracted and distributing weight evenly among muscle groups while inversions provide your circulatory system with some much-needed filtration and release from gravity’s constant pressure. Yoga can help your body to recover from intense exercise and to stay young by keeping the fluid systems functioning properly.

Yoga is much more than an ancient Indian philosophy because it has evolved alongside American culture in today’s world, even if it is very romanticized in much of the western world’s culture of yoga studios, classes, teachers, etc. It is a part of the West’s culture now in a way that people really do appreciate and take advantage of in a good way. It is also a part of Hinduism and may be very old in India.

From science we have learned that the biggest benefits of yoga are usually the stress releases. Yoga is a powerful tool for mental and physical sensitivity, meaning that it gives you a good idea of how functional parts of your body are and how much endurance you have. It is especially useful in aligning nerves, which is why lots of people with sciatica find relief in yoga. We are just beginning to explore the effects of exercises such as headstand, shoulderstand, back-bends like camel pose, reclined hero pose, wheel pose, bow pose are all extremely powerful postures that science still has a lot to learn about. But it seems to have huge effects on nearly every system in the body because of the controlled levels of stress input and release and overall stimulation and fitness of the body’s muscular systems.

Yoga becomes an aspect of appreciating life. Sometimes yoga may come and go and I really think everyone experiences a little of this from time to time and that it isn’t a big deal. Sometimes life is just good and we are very happy and yoga can be in the background for a while, especially if everything is really good. But yoga is something that doesn’t really leave you. When you stand up straight, when you stretch your back while standing in line, the yoga is still a part of how you do things if you internalize it. The #yogaeverydamnday hashtag is kind of funny because I don’t think anyone does yoga 365 times a year. Even Ashtangis are supposed take the full moon of every month off.

Yoga doesn’t have to be something very formal, we don’t even really know much about the origins of what we practice now. Its not super religious, or ultra sacred, or anything more than what you want to make of it. You can practice in small quantities by yourself at home to really get things moving for your body in terms of flexibility and mobility. Teachers are good for more advanced things like inversions, breathing exercises, or advanced arm balances and advising you on how to advance in your practice. But its also something you can learn on your own and that can provide stability or whatever you may need it to be.

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