The ability to breathe naturally and the importance of this aspect for gaining the physical and spiritual health of a person. Yogi breathing and powerful healing power yoga breathing practices, the concept of "prana". Varieties of yoga breathing: full, fiery breathing, breathing for weight loss, therapeutic effect. The impact of breathing practices on human life in general.

For all the peoples inhabiting the globe, the relationship between a healthy body and the ability to breathe properly is equally clear. Proper breathing does not need to be learned - this gift, along with the gift to live, is given to us by nature itself. But today, not every person has retained the natural ability to breathe correctly. Experts say that just one generation of people who breathe correctly could revive the human race. The savage and the child breathe correctly, but for a civilized person things are not so simple. Modern man walks, stands and sits in such a way that the possibility of natural and correct breathing is reduced to a minimum. To return lost opportunities to a person, yoga breathing exercises come to our aid. In Western culture, it is known that the air contains the components necessary for life, without which the body cannot exist. But that is not all. Indian yoga they know that with air a stream of vital force, which is called prana, penetrates into a person. Thanks to the rhythmic breathing process, one can connect with the harmonious vibrations of nature and develop latent dormant possibilities in oneself.

Some Varieties of Yogic Breathing

Full yoga breath

The full breath of yogis is like the alphabet for beginners, it launches the whole process into the process. respiratory system, not a single point of it is left without attention. Exercise should be done carefully, without exposing yourself to overexertion.

While doing this exercise it is necessary that the air on inhalation-exhalation enter and exit smoothly. There should be no jumps, breaks, delays from one movement to another.

If you experiment by doing the exercise in front of a mirror, which is suitable for beginners, then from the side, the full breath of yogis is a single wavy line.

First, in order for beginners to move on to mastering the “Full Yogi Breathing” exercise, you need to exhale completely.

Technique full breath performed lying down in Savasana. They inhale, inflating the stomach, this stage is called lower breathing. Further, the stomach seems to stop and transmit the upward movement, the solar plexus area is turned on and the edges of the ribs expand slightly. This element is like a middle breath. In the third stage, i.e., with upper breathing, the air moves up and the entire chest expands. At the last stage of the technique, when inhaling, the clavicles are slightly raised. You need to exhale in the same way: first, the air is released, blowing off the stomach, from the lower part of the lungs, then from chest and then from the top. For beginners, we can add that the described stages of the exercise are conditional, this is a single technique, divided only for clarity. This breathing practice is considered the basis and is the most effective, accompanied by a powerful therapeutic effect on the body.

fire breath

There is one great exercise related to . This breathing practice is called the breath of fire. If you feel that your body is overly tense and you want to loosen up, breaking free, then in this case it is suggested that you familiarize yourself with the fiery breath. The fear of the new, the unknown does not let us go beyond the limits of our world of life, and you so want to break out. What to do with fear, which becomes an insurmountable obstacle for us? Breath of fire is shallow, rapid breathing through the nose. It is important here to breathe with a relaxed diaphragm, and to ensure that the time interval of inhalation and exhalation coincide. The duration of Breath of Fire is 5-10 minutes. But try to focus on your own sense of comfort and well-being. Beginners need to choose the time of breathing fire for 1-2 minutes. The breath of fire not only removes fears and relaxes the body, it improves metabolic processes, strengthens the body's defenses.

Breath for weight loss

To one of the most effective ways weight loss refers to the breath of yogis. The path to weight loss, in terms of yoga, begins with correct execution inhalation and exhalation, and diet and exercise are already connected to this. For beginners who want to lose weight, you need to master the full yogic breathing.

People who practice yoga exercises claim that this practice can be learned in a few weeks, but it takes a lifetime to perfect it. Therefore, beginners should not worry if something does not work out on their first attempts, because there is still a lot of time ahead.

What triggers the weight loss process? enrich your blood with oxygen, which speeds up metabolic processes, fat is burned, so you lose weight. The respiratory organs are healed, become stronger, the volume of the lungs increases. Comes back to normal arterial pressure, work improves of cardio-vascular system, increases the overall resistance of the body. Thanks to yoga pranayamas, metabolic processes return to normal, and toxins are released. Your general well-being and mood improve, you feel toned and in shape. There is a theory that overweight appears when a person needs protection and therefore gains overweight enhancing your own security. With the help of such practices, you can harmonize your overall emotional state, lower your anxiety threshold, which will also help you lose weight. I would like to immediately tell beginners that you should not set yourself up for the fact that you can lose weight very quickly. Overweight will go away gradually, but with regular breathing exercises and a healthy approach to nutrition, you will definitely lose weight.

The best way to learn is by watching videos

For beginners, it is best to learn yoga breathing exercises with the help of videos. By watching the video, which contains teaching techniques, you will be able to visualize this process more clearly. Choose for yourself the video that you like, the breathing process in which will be presented in an easy and accessible way. Another advantage of watching the video is the fact that you will be doing the exercises with the instructor of your choice. And I would like to give one recommendation to beginners. When studying a video on this issue, choose a person for training with whom you will be pleased with the video, and you will feel his positive influence on yourself.

Conclusion

The benefits that a practitioner receives cannot be overestimated. A person who controls prana is able to control many life processes. Proper air circulation in the body, accompanied by the flow of prana, brings with it not only the healing of the physical body, but also improves the quality of life, enhances mental activity, insight, self-control, moral firmness, in a word, strengthens the spiritual strength of a person.
Dare, try, turn on the video, learn to absorb healing power that enters you along with prana, be healthy!

Breath of Fire, the benefits of which I learned in a seminar, is commonly practiced in Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga classes. Breathing is a truly magical ability human body. It is not surprising that with the help of proper breathing, you can get rid of diseases, improve metabolism, improve mood, strengthen nervous system. Unfortunately, we know little about it and use even less in our lives.

I increasingly began to come to the conclusion that very powerful and effective techniques for self-healing, changing your life, solving many problems lie literally in the palm of your hand and are available to absolutely everyone. The only thing that is required of a person is to do it every day. In this place we all stumble together. Well, okay, let's start breathing Fire!

Why is it good

Fire Breath is considered one of the most powerful cleaning techniques. A is called fiery, because it enhances the "fire" of digestion, "burns" toxins and toxins. In general, it normalizes the functioning of the digestive system, relieves gases, bloating, indigestion, positively affects the functioning of the kidneys and liver, normalizes acidity, relieves discomfort. Also, the breath of fire relieves depression, as it literally “breathes” optimism into you and burns all the bad. Since this technique can cause an increase in appetite when performed from 100 cycles at a time, you need to remember this and, in order to completely cleanse, do not increase your daily diet, but drink. This will contribute to an even faster and more effective cleansing.

How to do

The exercise is performed only on an empty stomach. Best in the morning before breakfast. You need to sit straight with a straight spine in the lotus position or on your knees, lengthen your neck, tilt your chin slightly to your chest, thus forming a light throat lock. Relax the abdomen completely. Remember that this breathing is performed only by the diaphragm, the chest is not involved in the process. Put left hand on your stomach, exhale sharply with your stomach, then just relax your stomach. Just feel how the diaphragm works. Do not intentionally inhale, as the abdomen relaxes, the air will enter by itself. Inhale-exhale is one cycle. The duration of inhalation and exhalation should be equal. The hand on the stomach is only to check that you are breathing from the stomach and not from the chest, you do not need to put pressure on the stomach.

At first, you may feel a slight dizziness and fever, this is quite normal. Start small - 27 cycles is enough for a start. Gradually reach 108 cycles. And remember that the power of this technique is in its daily repetition. Just do it every morning the same way you brush your teeth.

As many people know, yoga has many aspects, each of which studies a certain effect of the vital energy flowing in the human body on its mental, spiritual and physical state. One such aspect is prana yoga or the yoga of breathing. This is a kind of yoga style that focuses on breathing, so that through practice a person can find harmony, as well as strengthen his health and clear his mind. This practice allows you to significantly increase the energy potential of the human body. How exactly with the help of prana yoga you can achieve unity with the environment, clear your mind of "unnecessary" and learn to enjoy life, read in this article.

Prana yoga is a complex special exercises, practicing which you can provide your body with everything that it urgently needs for optimal life. But before trying out such a complex, you need to study a lot of specific nuances, since respiratory manipulations, if used incorrectly, may not provide a miraculous effect.

In fact, prana yoga is very simple and amazing. But master breathing exercises recommended, having a certain "experience" of hatha yoga. The fact is that pranayamas (prana yoga exercises) are more high level and therefore require special concentration and skills from the practitioner. And if beginner yogis can get acquainted with the theory from this article, then in practice they the first is better time to study with an instructor who can literally “on the fingers” explain the technique of performing exercises.

Life energy (prana) is the basis of all life on earth. That is why you need to start practicing, understanding the basic aspects and principles of yoga, through which it is able to change the physical and energy body of a person.

Internal life energy is necessary for every person. A practitioner who regularly receives such nourishment will be able to clear his mind, getting rid of unnecessary thoughts, and also improve his health, which is also an important point in the teaching. With an insufficient level of prana, a person may begin to seek pleasure in something else (food, vivid impressions, etc.). This, in turn, can lead to not very favorable consequences: depression, apathy, diseases.

The main pranas in this direction

If you delve into the basics of the teachings of yoga, you can understand that all vital energy moves inside human body in the form of flows through energy channels. They are called nadis, and represent a whole system that connects the energy and physical body of a person through certain points in the body. However, they are not lymph nodes, nerve endings or blood vessels.

Only 5 main energy flows and the same number of pranas move through such a system. Each of these vital forces circulates in a certain cavity of the body and is responsible for the functioning of various body systems. And, if all pranas function in harmony, then the human body will work without failures. If in any of the channels or energies there is a failure, the general harmony of prana will be violated.

About the benefits of practices

prana yoga, breathing practices which are based on certain techniques, is very useful for a person. Initially, it can increase one's inner potential, as well as help the practitioner learn to transform and control his inner power.

The physical aspect of the benefits of pranayama breathing practice is expressed in several of its benefits at once. So, prana breath in yoga:

• oxygenates the entire body;
• improves blood circulation;
• strengthens the nervous system;
• relaxes internal organs;
• creates a stable emotional background;
• makes a person more stress-resistant;
• increases the adaptive capacity of the human body.

Contraindications

But, even despite its harmlessness, yoga breathing exercises have some contraindications. This is due to the fact that the technique of this practice involves holding the breath. Beginning practitioners should not start pranayama tactics if they have the following diseases:

• traumatic brain injury;
• mental health disorders;
• diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• any disease of a chronic nature;
• eye diseases;
• oncological pathologies;
• diseases of the respiratory system;
• pregnancy.

The rest, who do not have health problems of this nature and who are already familiar with hatha yoga asanas, can start prana yoga. Where exactly to start and what breathing exercises from yoga can be performed, read on.

Varieties of exercises

Having decided to try healing breathing exercises for yourself, you must first familiarize yourself with the varieties and techniques of pranayamas. In total there are several basic types of breathing that are used in prana yoga:

1. Calming breath. This is the most commonly practiced yoga breath by beginners. Its name is Ujayi, which literally translates as "to master something after the conquest" (or "to conquer"). With the help of this technique, yogis are able to learn to control their internal energy. As a result of regular practice of Ujjayi, a person can control his inner background and keep his life force in harmony.
2. Cleansing Breath - Kapalabhati. The cleansing, cleansing or fire breathing of the yogi helps the practitioner clear the mind and also open the pranic channels so that life energy can flow freely through them. How to breathe yoga Kapalabhati (fiery breath) correctly, we will describe below using several exercises as an example.
3. Bhastrika or Bellows Breath. This is a specific yogic technique with which the practitioner can kindle the inner fire and, thereby, bring the spiritual body closer to the physical.
4. Full Breath is the deepest yogic breath. This technique allows you to use all the muscles of the respiratory system and fill the lungs with oxygen completely. With this technique, a person will be able to fully provide his body with fresh air.

Pranayama complex

To master yogic breathing, you must first do the simplest pranayamas. As they are assimilated, it will be possible to move to the next level of classes, practice the breath of fire in yoga (Kapalbhati), Bhastrika and other techniques.

Pranayama Ujjayi

To master this technique, you need to take a sitting position on your heels with a flat back. This position is best because it allows you to relax. Especially after doing hatha yoga asanas.

Sitting on your heels with your buttocks, you need to close your eyes to focus on your breathing, and completely relax. Further, having narrowed the glottis in order to make barely perceptible hissing sounds, you can begin to do pranayama.

First, a measured deep breath is taken for eight seconds. Then we begin to release air from the lungs, stretching the exhalation for 16 seconds. At first it will seem difficult, but believe me, after a few sessions you will be able to gradually make pauses of 8, 16 and 32 seconds between inhalations and exhalations.

Pranayama Uddiyana Bandha

This is a whole cycle of exercises that is highly recommended to be performed in the morning on an empty stomach and bladder. Initial position for this exercise - the lotus position or the same position as in the previous case. Relaxing, you can begin to take sharp and not deep breaths and exhalations without counting. In general, beginners need to perform 450-500 breaths, although beginners who have not dealt with yoga before can do only 200-250.

After such a “warm-up”, a series of exhalations and exhalations follows with the maximum possible speed and amplitude. You can try to first make a series of five such breaths, gradually increasing this number to 2-3 series of 10-15 repetitions each.

From the last exhalation of the bhastrika, inhale calmly and slowly until a comfortable volume of the lungs is filled with air. In this case, you need to fix your breath by pulling up the dimple under the Adam's apple and the root lock. It is better to exhale with a second impulse and immediately move on to uddiyana bandha: having straightened the chest and lowered the chin to the chest, you need to prepare the lungs for inhalation, and then, in fact, inhale after a long delay from the last exhalation.

The cycle of such exercises should be repeated two more times, while trying not to forget to relax and clear your mind, freeing it from unnecessary thoughts.

Pranayama Kapalabhati

Breath of fire in yoga, a technique which consists of alternating passive inhalations with sharp exhalations through the nose, can be performed in or sitting Turkish with closed eyes for greater concentration. I. p. as in the case of others yoga exercises, during the fiery breath you need to relax. But at the same time, Kapalbhati is different in that the muscles of the abdominal cavity of the abdomen must contract and decompress sharply during exhalation so that the press is relaxed again when inhaling.

In total, it is recommended to perform 100-110 times in one session of this practice. As you manage to master the technique flawlessly, you can try to increase the number of approaches to 2, and then to 3.

These are just some of the exercises that will help clear the pranic channels and balance the current in the body. vital energy. Moreover, each breathing technique unique and at the same time has its own special advantages. Therefore, by practicing pranayama, you will have the opportunity to see for yourself the benefits of yogic breathing.

What is the breath of fire, why is it so beneficial for health and self-development, and what should be expected from regular practice?

Breath of fire (agni pranayama) - fast, rhythmic diaphragmatic breathing. It helps to cleanse the body, especially the lungs, of toxins and toxins, strengthens the immune system, and expands the lungs.

How to do breath of fire?

Perform the breath of fire very quickly and rhythmically, without pauses between inhalation and exhalation. The practitioner exhales due to a sharp retraction of the abdomen inward and upward. At the same time, the abdominal organs press on the diaphragm from below, causing it to rise, expelling air from the lungs.

Inhalation occurs automatically when the abdominal muscles relax. The diaphragm then moves down, allowing air to fill the lungs.

To master the breathing practice, it is first recommended to perform in slow pace, controlling the movement of the abdomen and the immobility of the chest with the hands.

Execution technique

1. The practitioner sits cross-legged or in a chair, placing one hand on the abdomen and the other on the chest.

2. Slightly draws the abdomen in and up, pushing the air out through the nostrils. The diaphragm rises slightly. Hand movements during breathing will help to understand the correct technique.

3. Then the practitioner slightly relaxes the abdomen - air automatically enters through the lungs.

Breathing should be performed at a rate of 2-3 inhalations / exhalations per second (slight variations are possible).

When the breath of fire is mastered and the practitioner can easily perform the technique without the help of hands, then at the next stage of mastering the technique, he is recommended to perform agni pranayama in such asanas¹, where the position of the chest is fixed in one way or another.

For example, sitting in a cross-legged pose, with the arms raised vertically up above the head (fingers interlaced into the lock). Or in backbend poses such as Camel Pose or Cobra Pose.

Rules for the practice of agni pranayama

Mastering the fire breathing technique, the practitioner should know a few basic rules:

• Begin the breath of fire in a position where the chest is slightly raised.
• The head must be kept straight; the chin is slightly drawn to the neck. This position of the spine facilitates the access of energy to the head due to the fact that the neck and spine form one straight line.
• Breathing is carried out only due to the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. The upper part of the chest remains motionless.
• On inhalation, the stomach protrudes forward, on exhalation it retracts.
• Inhalation and exhalation are equal in duration and intensity! If you focus on one thing, then there will be an energy imbalance.

Women during menstruation are not recommended to perform agni pranayama, as well as other breathing practices².

What is the benefit of Breath of Fire?

Agni pranayama:

• Increases the working volume of the lungs.
• It cleanses the lungs of toxins, as well as the walls of blood vessels.
• Performs intensive massage of internal organs.
• Strengthens the nervous system and increases.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Restores balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
• Synchronizes the internal rhythms of all organs and parts of the body.
• Helps to get rid of bad addictions such as addiction to drugs and smoking³.

Proper breathing of fire brings health to the entire body, cleanses the energy channels, and ensures unhindered circulation of energy in the body. It serves as a good basis for mastering the technique of deep slow breathing.

"When breathing is wrong,
the psyche is also unstable,
and when the breath is even,
then the psyche is balanced".
Hatha yoga pradipika.

It's amazing how little attention we pay in our daily lives to correct breathing. We can go a day without food and water, but take our breath away and we will die in a few minutes.Breath is life. Most people have forgotten how to breathe properly. They breathe shallowly through their mouths and use little or no diaphragm, raising their shoulders or squeezing their stomachs as they inhale. In this way, only a small amount of oxygen is inhaled and only top part lungs, which leads to insufficient viability and low resistance to disease. A lot of "stagnant" oxygen remains in our lungs - and how can we saturate all our organs with this vital component?! ..

People often consider inhalation to be the most essential part of breathing, but in factexhalation is keybecause the more carbon dioxide-laden air you exhale, the more fresh air you can breathe in. And now we can define: breathing is the process by which oxygen enters the body and carbon dioxide is removed from it. Let's take this as a good starting point.
Some time ago I , - then I wrote about the healing respiratory system Kokyu-Ho, - but there is not much difference, i.e. basic techniques they are also basic in Africa. Almost in all breathing exercises There are basic types of breathing. Is it the bottom or abdominal breathing, medium, upper and full breath.
Since our state of mind affects how we breathe, therefore, we can learn to control the psyche by controlling breathing. By regulating our breathing, we not only increase our oxygen intake, but also prepare ourselves for concentration and meditation.

fire breath

And so, after such a short introduction, we finally come to the main topic of my article.
Imagine an exercise that can clear and activate the lungs, stimulate cardiovascular activity like jogging, tone the body, and clear the mind. Now imagine doing this while sitting comfortably with your eyes closed (or open). Intrigued?
Yoga practitioners are well acquainted with an exercise that meets all these requirements - it is Kapalabhati . She is also calledfiery or cleansing breath.
If you have already practiced this pranayama and understood its impact, then my article, using the materials of the magazine "YOGA-International", headings "Pranayama", 1992 and advice on the practice of Kevin Hoffman, will answer your questions and inspire you to further deepen the practice. . For those who are not familiar with the practice, there will be an opportunity to learn something new and useful for themselves.

Let's start with a detailed look at the effects of Kapalabhati on the body. These effects are just a by-product of vigorous contractions of the abdominal muscles and fast, active expiration, which are a sign of this exercise.