Pranayama – 2 Simple Breathing Practices

Oldie But Goodie – A few yoga links from our archive November 2008 -

http://shareyoga.com/blog/connect/share/a-few-yoga-links/

This past weekend I had to visit the emergency room at our local hospital. (Thank goodness, we’re all okay.) Upon leaving, I was given a 7-page printout of Discharge Instructions.  In addition to a summary of the prescriptions and their usage, the packet included a lengthy Pain Management section which included the breathing and visualization techniques below. Of course, we’re all familiar with the Lamaze techniques taught to pregnant women for pain management, but as a yogi, I was excited to find that pranayama along with other alternative exercises are now being taught in a more main stream environment — the ER.

Alternative Techniques for Pain Management

1) Breathing exercises

Deep breathe/tense, exhale/relax, yawn for quick relaxation:

1. Clench your firsts; breathe in deeply and hold it for a moment.
2. Breathe out slowly and feel yourself becoming limp.

Slow rhythmic breathing for relaxation:

1. Breathe in slowly and deeply.
2. As you breathe out slowly, feel yourself begin to relax; feel the tension leaving your body.
3. Now breathe in and out slowly and regularly, at whatever rate is comfortable for you.
4. To help you focus on breathing slowly and rhythmically:
   • breathe in as you say silently to yourself, “in, two, three”
   • breathe out as you say silently to yourself, “out, two, three”
5. End with a slow deep breath. As you breathe out say to yourself, “I feel alert and relaxed.”

2) Imagery

There are a number of ways to help your body relax when you are having pain. Remembering a relaxing experience that happened to you in the past can make you relax again. Close your eyes and take yourself away from the present as you think of the answers to the following questions.

• Can you remember a time when you felt calm, peaceful, secure, hopeful or comfortable?
• Have you ever daydreamed about something peaceful? What were you thinking of?
• Do you get a calm feeling when you listen to music? What special music helps you relax?
• Do you have any favorite poetry that you find uplifting or reassuring?
• What favorite readings, hymns, or prayers do you find calming?

3) Music

1. Get a CD player or cassette player [ipod] and play the type of music you enjoy and find relaxing. Some people find fast, lively music can help distract them.
2. Get earphones or headset. Reduce the other noise in your immediate area, if possible.
3. Mark the time to the music by tapping out the rhythm with your finger or nod your head. This will help you concentrate on the music rather than on the pain.
4. If the music alone is not enough, try adding one or more of the following:

• massage your body in rhythm to the music
• add other music
• mark the time to the music

4) Simple touch, massage or warmth

• Try holding onto someone’s hand.
• Try briefly touching or gently rubbing the painful area.
• Try a warm foot soak in a basin of warm water, or wrap your feet in a warm, wet towel.
• Try taking a warm bath.
• Get a massage (from a whole body massage or a specific area of the back, hands or feet). Use a warm lubricant (small bowl of hand lotion warmed by putting it in warm water for 10 minutes).
• The person massaging the area for you should use smooth, long, slow strokes. Gently putting some pressure on your body may feel comfortable.
• A back rub will produce relaxation in just 3 minutes with continuous hand pressure.
• Setting aside a regular time for a massage will give you something to look forward to and be a very important strategy to control pain.

The Future is Integrative Medicine

Integrative medicine (which is the exploration of new ways to treat the mind, body, and spirit — all at the same time) is an exciting evolution of our health care system. Duke Integrative Medicine, one of the leading institutes in this area, offers a program called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which uses meditation and yoga to cultivate awareness, reduce stress and promote healing. The Duke model emphasizes preventive care and patient responsibility alongside conventional, Western approaches to health care.

Take a close look at the Duke circle diagram here. The patient (YOU) is at the center of the diagram meaning that personal responsibility and mindfulness are at the core of the Wheel of Health. Continuing outward, falling under the green “Self-Care” area shows each patient is responsible for their own:

• Nutrition
• Mind-Body Connection
• Movement, Exercise and Rest
• Personal and Professional Development
• Spirituality
• Relationships and Communication
• Physical Environment

Connected to the Self-Care area are the Professional Care areas of:

• Prevention and Intervention (I would add “Patient Education”)
• Conventional and Complementary Approaches

The genius of the diagram is that it is a circle — all areas are interconnected.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

I am excited about the potential for healing and growth as more and more experts treat the whole person and as more patients educate themselves and become their own health care advocate.  Aristotle wrote over 2200 years ago in his Metaphysica, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (paraphrased) and the same could be said about the application of integrative medicine.

Alternative techniques above provided by Little Company of Mary Medical Center

Krishna Das' Heart As Wide As the World, Released March 2010

Here’s something I highly recommend you add to your bucket list:

Attend at least one Krishna Das Kirtan.

It is an experience beyond words… transcendent. Normally I’m pretty shy, so I was very surprised when midway through my first Krishna Das concert I found myself standing up and dancing around…. I couldn’t NOT dance. Soon every one around me stood up and danced, too. And afterwards my heart felt lighter.

Today, Krishna Das shares his story in an article on The Huffington Post, so click on over and read it. An excerpt:

So what about here in the West? Many of us just want to do our practice and “get off.” Most of us find a lot of difficulty bringing the peace and joy we get from chanting into our daily lives. We can't extend those feelings to the so-called “Real” world. I think this is because we have not been brought up to love ourselves. My parents didn't love themselves, so how could they show me how to love myself? We might be able to touch the “Loving Presence” when we chant, but we lose it when we “live”. This is because of the way our minds work. We keep reacting the same way to the same situations, over and over again. “We” have learned to hide behind the wall of “me,” and we will only let love in under very specific circumstances.

via Krishna Das: Chasing The Spirit Through Song.

Listen to Krishna Das’ latest album, Heart As Wide As the World, on his website.

More about chanting & kirtan.

Heart As Wide As the World Available on Amazon.com

As reported via the Huffington Post:

In Indian prisons, the lotus position can truly help set you free.

According to the BBC, inmates in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are being freed early if they complete courses in yoga. The deal is as follows: for every 3 months a prisoner spends practicing yoga, he or she will cut their jail time by 15 days.

A state inspector general of prisons tells AFP: “Yoga is good for maintaining fitness, calming the behaviour, controlling anger and reducing stress.”

According to the Telegraph, one prisoner reported that his anger had subsided since taking up the practice, and that he plan to become a yoga teacher. After, that is, he’s released.

Indian Inmates Take Yoga Classes To Reduce Jail Time.

Matthew Sanford was paralyzed in an auto accident 30 years ago. Today, he teaches yoga and works to educate the health industry on the importance of the mind-body connection. Read his story and be amazed and inspired.

Matthew Sanford links yoga’s self-awareness and healing | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

www.matthewsanford.com

It’s already December 2nd and so far I have practiced yoga zero times, to be honest, in the last 3 weeks. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. My parents were in town for Thanksgiving for a week and just left yesterday. But that’s not why I didn’t practice yoga. There was plenty of down time while they were visiting when I could have taken 30 minutes, or even an hour, to practice. But I didn’t. If it sounds like I’m sharing a confession, I am; a confession of yogi sin. Because, as we all know, we are not allowed to call ourselves “yogis” if we do not practice yoga every single day, right?

The above paragraph is an example of a thought process that leads to the avoidance of a regular yoga practice. It is useless thought-chatter that, when I align and identify myself with it, keeps me from the very thing that brings me peace and joy: practicing yoga and meditation.

The very nature and opportunity that yoga provides for us is the realization that we are not our thoughts. Yoga teaches us that consciousness and thoughts are not the same thing. In fact, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali in verse 1.2, tells us that Yoga (union) is the restraining of thought streams natural to the mind.¹ Another translation describes the same verse this way, “Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness.”²

So how do we practice yoga when our very thoughts get in the way of our practice. Mind trickery? Guilt? Sheer will? Force? Positive self talk?

The first and most important step is to realize that you are not your thoughts. Start by noticing your thoughts. Why does this help? Because our thoughts are so pervasive, when we don’t actively notice them and thus separate our consciousness from them, we begin to think that we are them. And, when that happens, we “wake up” 3 weeks (or 3 years) later and realize we have not been living the authentic life we had hoped for.

Other things we can do to disengage from thought-chatter:

• Repeat the word om (1.28)
• Pause for a moment at the top and bottom of your regular breath cycle (2.50)
• Begin to notice each of your five senses  – What am I touching? What am I smelling? What am I hearing? Tasting? Seeing? Noticing each of the senses leads to sense withdrawal, which naturally leads us to a more meditative state. (2.54)

These simple acts remind us of our true nature; we are not our thoughts. The more we attempt to wrestle our thoughts (excuses) into submission, or to justify them, the further we get from our practice of yoga.

Citations:

1. BonGiovanni, The Yoga-Sûtra of Patañjali

2. Chip Hartranft, The Yoga-Sûtra of Patañjali

One of my yogi friends recently explained the difference between practicing yoga and working out in the gym this way: When you workout in the gym you use your mind to exercise your body but with yoga you work your body in order to exercise and focus your mind. This mindfulness is what sets yoga apart from most other physical exercise and ignites the bodies own healing processes.

Dr. Weil’s blog today discusses a recent study by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that showed the mindfulness in yoga led to more conscious eating choices.

“It’s not the poses or the stretching that works – instead, the mindfulness associated with yoga seems to promote weight loss and prevent gains.”

Read Dr. Weil’s blog post here: Yoga Promotes Weight Loss – Dr Weil’s Daily Health Tips – Natural Health Information Blog.

Ashtanga Primary Series.

Okay, technically it’s not mountain pose, but …

photo credit: a4gpa