by Rolf Sovik
Coordinating abdominal movements with exhalation and inhalation is a good place to start. Here, movements of the abdominal wall signal that the diaphragm is descending and ascending properly. When this takes place, the abdominal organs are massaged, the supply of blood to that area is improved, and the muscles of the abdominal wall are toned. The following exercise will teach you to recognize the basic movements of abdominal breathing.
the abdominal squeeze inhalation
exhalation
Practice: Stand with the feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Bend your knees and lean forward, placing the hands on the thighs. Settle the weight of the torso onto the arms. As you exhale, slowly and firmly contract the abdominal muscles, pressing the navel toward the spine. Then, as you inhale, relax and let the abdomen return to its normal position. Repeat ten to twenty times, learning to associate contraction of the abdomen with exhalation, and expansion of the abdomen with inhalation.
2. Activate the Back and Sides of the Rib Cage
Many of us have acquired the mistaken idea that diaphragmatic breathing means only abdominal breathing. When you are resting on your stomach, relaxed breathing expands the lower back and the sides of the lower ribs as well as the abdomen. You can practice this in the crocodile pose.
crocodile pose
Practice: Lie on your stomach and arrange your arms and legs in the crocodile pose. Close your eyes and let your body rest. Bring your awareness to your breathing and feel the movement of the breath as it flows out and in. Let the breath find its own pace; simply observe it without judgment. Observe that the chest is not active in this pose.
Now bring your attention to your lower back, feeling it rise and expand as you inhale and contract as you exhale. Release muscle tension in the back to allow the breath to deepen. Next, observe how the sides of the lower rib cage expand and contract with each breath. Feel as if you are actively breathing into the lower ribs. Finally, notice the pressure of the abdomen against the floor as you inhale, and the release of the abdomen as you exhale.
Remain resting in the crocodile pose for seven to ten minutes, observing all these movements and deepening your breath. When you are refreshed, come out of the posture slowly, creating a smooth transition back to a sitting pose.
3. Immobilize the Chest
One of the reasons the chest muscles become inactive in the crocodile pose is that, when the arms are raised above the level of the armpits, the muscles of the chest wall are stretched and partially immobilized. You can take advantage of this to unlearn chest breathing. By observing your breathing while performing other yoga postures that immobilize the chest wall, you can develop awareness of the feel of diaphragmatic breathing. Here are two examples:
reclining symmetrical stretch
standing symmetrical stretch
Practice 1: Lie on your back. Bring your feet together and stretch the arms overhead on the floor with palms facing one another. While keeping the left side relaxed, lengthen the entire right side of the body, stretching both the right arm and the right leg. Then change sides, alternately stretching five times on each side. Finally, bring your legs together and stretch up through both arms. Lengthen the lower back and broaden the upper back as you simultaneously stretch both legs. Hold for five breaths, feeling the abdomen rise and fall as you breathe. Then release on an exhalation.
Practice 2: From a standing pose, inhale as you sweep the arms to the sides and overhead. Turn the palms at shoulder level so that when the arms are raised, the palms face one another. Lengthen through the rib cage and broaden the back. Hold the pose for five breaths, feeling the sides of the lower rib cage expand and contract with each breath. Then release on an exhalation.
4. Strengthen the Diaphragm
If you find it difficult to make the transition to diaphragmatic breathing, it may be that the diaphragm is weak. The diaphragm is a skeletal muscle and, like any other muscle in the body, it may be underperforming because it has lost its normal muscle tone. Yoga offers many ways to strengthen the diaphragm. Perhaps the easiest is to make a conscious effort to breathe deeply in poses that offer some resistance to diaphragmatic breathing (side bends, twists, inverted poses, and many others). For example, try the following posture.
side bend
Practice: This side bend is a relatively simple pose, yet it offers a surprisingly good opportunity to strengthen the diaphragm. Start with the feet three feet apart and parallel. Inhaling, raise the left arm to shoulder level, then turn the palm up and continue lifting the arm overhead. Reach up, lengthening the left side of the body, and begin bending to the right side. Do not tilt forward or backward; keep the left elbow straight. Let the right hand slide down the right leg, providing some support as you deepen the bend. Once you are in the pose, hold the stretch for five to ten breaths. Purposely inhale into both the left side and the abdomen, and don’t let the stretch prevent you from breathing deeply. Then inhale as you lift back to center; exhale and release the arm. Alternate sides, repeating twice on each side.
5. Sit or Stand Erect
When you are sitting or standing erect, relaxed breathing can be clearly felt at the sides of the lower ribs. The sense that you are breathing to the sides of the ribs even extends modestly upward into the sides of the chest. The abdomen is relaxed; although it does expand somewhat, it does not purposely protrude during this style of diaphragmatic breathing. The back also remains relaxed, but it moves even less than the abdomen because the muscles in the back are busy holding the spine erect.
When you slump, the movement of the diaphragm is restricted. Often the breath becomes more shallow, and movement can be observed in the abdomen or the chest wall rather than in the sides of the rib cage. The antidote, of course, is to sit or stand erect whenever possible.
sitting pose
Practice: Sit erect in any pose you choose. You may sit on a flat-seated chair, on a bench, or on cushions on the floor. Close your eyes and turn your attention to your breath. Soften the sides of the rib cage and let the muscles of the abdomen and back support your posture with very modest muscle tone. Now notice how your breathing results in a quiet expansion of the lower torso. Much like a fish, whose gills expand and contract to the sides, you can feel the lateral movements of your lower ribs.
The blend of movements that feels best for you is an individual matter. By observing the movement of the breath and exploring the balance of movement in the sides, front, and back, you will gradually arrive at a breath that flows easily. You will find that when the ribs are expanding to the sides, the abdominal movement is not nearly so pronounced as when you are lying prone. Continue to observe your breathing, making it your focus. As time passes, notice the sensations of cleansing and nourishing that take place each time you breathe out and in. Let the breath become deep, smooth, and even.
6. Relax
If the muscles of the chest wall are overactive, you can calm them during periods of systematic relaxation. Most relaxation exercises are practiced in shavasana, the corpse pose, in which even the sides of the rib cage remain still, and breathing results in deep movements of the abdomen—it rises with inhalation and falls with exhalation. The chest is still and relaxed.
shavasana, corpse pose
Practice: Lie on your back on a firm, flat surface with a thin cushion to support the neck and head. Bring the shoulder blades slightly together, and draw them down toward the waist, opening the chest. Place the arms six to eight inches from the sides, palms turned upward. Spread the legs about twelve to fourteen inches apart. If there is discomfort in the lower back, support the knees with a folded blanket or cushions. The head, neck, and trunk should be aligned.
Breathe rhythmically, allowing the abdomen to rise and fall. Feel the cleansing and nourishing sensations of each breath. Observe the movement of your breathing with the same tranquil feeling that you might get from sitting alongside a peaceful country stream, watching the water flow.
Now bring your attention to your chest. Relax the mus
cles there and let the wall of the chest seem to soften. Focus at the base of the breastbone, the heart center, and sense the knots and tensions that accumulate at the heart being gradually released. Then return to watching the breath. Let your breathing be deep, smooth, and relaxed. Continue for five to ten minutes, releasing tension from the chest wall as you breathe comfortably and without pause.
With the practice of these six exercises, habits of good breathing will become part of the language of your body. Using a portion of your regular meditation time or simply employing spare moments for practice, you can incorporate one or more of the exercises into your day. In a short time you will begin to see results, and within six months you can firmly anchor the habit of natural, diaphragmatic breathing. You’ll experience the benefits with each meditation.
Systematic Relaxation
Systematic Relaxation
Relaxation skills play an important role in learning to meditate. They restore balance and replenish energies that have been unsettled by the stresses of daily life. Relaxation rests the senses and initiates the process of sense withdrawal (pratyahara). It prepares the body and mind for refined states of concentration, offering a preview of meditation.
Formal relaxation exercises are practiced in reclining postures. At the end of the relaxation, the practitioner sits up for meditation. But meditation is often practiced without a formal relaxation preceding it. During sitting meditation a brief survey of the body (from the head to the toes and back to the head) can be used to quiet muscle tensions that might otherwise disturb the sitting pose. As a result, sitting proceeds with minimal effort and attention is directed to the concentration process rather than being defused by inner tensions.
The first chapter in this section, “The Art of Relaxing,” overviews the basic principles of relaxation and outlines the most common method of practice. The next chapter makes the point that without a reasonably healthy sleep pattern, neither meditation nor daily life is likely to prosper. In addition to considering the importance of good sleep, the chapter reviews a short method for “Sleeping on the Run.” Finally, “Balancing Your Energies” describes how subtle energies propel inner functioning. It presents a satisfying method for harmonizing these energies and deepening the experience of relaxation.
The Art of Relaxing
Relax! Slow down! Do not be anxious and afraid.
—Lal Ded (b. 1355)
When I was younger, I trained to become a cellist. I loved to play and was fortunate to have teachers who could help me resolve the mysterious problems that visit string players from time to time. With their assistance, music filled my life—although not without some bumps in the road.
During one phase of my training, for example, I struggled with a tense bow arm. The muscles descending from my shoulder were strained and the stress traveled into my hand, creating tightness in my grip. When long periods of playing tired my hand, the exertion reverted into my shoulder and arm—a spiral of fatigue and frustration.
My teacher offered a solution. She explained that I was trying too hard and that the key to relieving tension was to reduce the pressure I was creating on the bow. She said that I really did not need to force the bow into the string at all. The natural weight of the arm, transmitted by gravity, was enough to produce a strong, healthy sound—one that was far more pleasing than the one I was making.
But the concept was not easy to put into practice. I had difficulty lightening up on the bow without letting it skate across the strings ineffectively. Worse, the misplaced exertion I was already making had robbed me of sensitivity. Without pressing on the bow, I could hardly feel my arm at all, much less sense its weight.
With my teacher’s help, the strategy I used to restore awareness was simple: slow, patient practice. Focusing on the arm and allowing it to hang from the shoulder, I spent months drawing the bow back and forth. I worked with each of the four strings separately, carefully attended to changes in bow direction, and shifted from one string to the next at very slow speeds. I learned to slow down and analyze the arm movements of technically difficult passages so that eventually I could retain this awareness when I played at faster speeds.
The discipline paid off. An arm gradually appeared on the horizon of my awareness—a cylinder of flesh and bone guided by muscles that were now friends rather than enemies. And as these muscles propelled the movements of the bow, the arm remained suspended from the shoulder like a pendulum—relaxed. What emerged in the end was a more vibrant, lively sound and four words that encapsulated the lesson I had learned: try less, be more.
Yoga Relaxation
When the time came, this lesson transferred well to yoga. It was especially appropriate for yoga relaxation, a process in which subtle overexertion—making too much of the effort to relax—is a common experience. This might seem puzzling, given that relaxation by nature implies letting go of effort. But anyone who has practiced is well aware of the impulse to “try to relax.”
Calming one’s effort and finding the natural experience that serves as the underpinning to relaxation is a process every bit as interesting and complex as gaining a handle on a recalcitrant bow arm. So to get started, let’s review the basic technique of relaxation. It is refreshingly simple:• Rest on your back using a thin cushion to support your neck and head.
• Calm and deepen your breath, feeling the sensations of the breath emptying and filling you.
• Practice a systematic relaxation method.
• Feel the breath as if the whole body breathes, relaxing your mind and body.
Now let’s use these steps to recognize and relieve telltale signs of strain.
A Still Posture
I remember the first time I was allowed to stay up late enough to observe the New Year’s Eve transition. My brother and I made a tent by covering a card table with a blanket. Then we crawled inside and read books until midnight, when the new year arrived. Of course, the new year didn’t feel any different from the old year, so we shouted and blew whistles and ate food to make it all seem worthwhile.
The transition from normal, everyday awareness to relaxation has a similar feel. During the first moments in shavasana, one’s state of mind is not much different than it was the moment just before lying down. It is easy to feel the need to do something to make shavasana more relaxing. This could mean adjusting the posture or trying to hurry the relaxation along in some way. As in most transitions, a reasonable time needs to pass for the magic of the relaxation pose to make any noticeable difference. When left to its own devices, shavasana will produce a deep feeling of stillness that is truly relaxing. The trick is to wait for it.
Relaxed Breathing
Breathing is itself a relaxing experience. But during relaxation exercises, exaggerated and self-conscious breathing efforts are a common miscue. To reduce strained breathing, it is important to be able to shift your awareness away from the mechanics of breathing and to focus on the timeless feeling of emptying and filling that accompanies each breath. Once your attention has been focused on the feeling of breathing, relaxation is sure to follow.
An accurate understanding of the mechanics of breathing is important, too. Anatomically, the corpse pose is unusual because in it the secondary muscles of breathing are almost completely quiet and the ribs remain essentially motionless. Only the diaphragm plays a primary role in causing air to flow into the lungs.
Inhalations that markedly engage muscles in the rib cage or cause the abdomen to puff out disproportionately are signs of strain. Tensions that resist the easy flow of breathing must also be identified and calmed. With regular practice, all these signs of respiratory strain can be brought to the surface of your awareness and dealt with. Just as rehearsing slow bow strokes brings awareness to the motion of the arm, so the corpse pose makes it possible to feel the motion of the diaphragm and to minimize any interruptions to its smooth, regular cycles.
Traveling Through the Body
Systematic relaxation techniques, the heart of the relaxat
ion process, most commonly involve mentally traveling through the body from one area to the next. You usually begin by placing your awareness at the head, moving it down through the body, and returning it to the head. But there are many different ways to do this, ranging from relaxations focused on muscle groups to relaxations that follow the breath or travel along lines of subtle energy. From a yogic point of view, no method is purely physical; a deep relaxation ultimately produces a clearer and more joyful mind.
The most common relaxation technique is called “systematic muscle relaxation,” in which awareness is gradually led from the crown of the head down to the toes and back again, releasing muscle tension while maintaining deep, relaxed breathing. Here is the basic outline of practice:
