by Rolf Sovik
Negative emotions have an almost immediate effect on breathing. Remember the way your breathing changed when you last lost your temper, were startled by a loud sound, or felt overwhelmed? As we focus on managing a disturbing event, deeper, more abrupt, or more rapid breaths shift the balance of energy within the body. This momentarily heightens our attention level, preparing us to take action or allowing us to vent emotional energy.
Breathing changes like these have been recognized by Western science for many decades. For example, a study titled the “Influence of Emotions on Breathing” was published in 1916 in an early issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. In it, Annette Felecky illustrated how strong emotion alters many of the most important characteristics of normal breathing. She noted that, depending on the emotion, we may breathe faster, sigh, gasp, or even stop breathing altogether. In 1986 Italian researchers suggested that even preconscious emotions (emotions that have not fully manifested or that have been suppressed) may have similar influences on our respiratory style.
The converse of these observations—the knowledge that each of us can influence our emotional reactions through breath awareness and voluntary changes in breathing—is much less widespread. For the most part, work in this area has been limited to the study of anxiety disorders, hyperventilation, and a few other mental health problems. Medical texts on breathing rarely focus on voluntary awareness of the breath, and even among trained yoga students, few of us automatically turn to our breathing when we are in emotional pain. The admonition to “take a few deep breaths” when we are upset is still just a bit of folk medicine.
Awareness of the Breath
When breathing is affected by emotion, it usually takes place at the edge of awareness. But if we are going to make use of the breath at times of emotional distress, we need to learn to bring it easily to our awareness. This can be done by making the cleansing and nourishing sensations of breathing a familiar reference point. Daily practice is the key. It gives us the opportunity to observe relaxed breathing and to bring the interactions between breathing and emotion into view, much in the way that a laboratory environment amplifies the clarity with which experimental effects can be observed.
During periods of relaxed breath awareness, the breath flows with satisfying ease. It courses in and out of the lungs in an environment of plenitude—the supply seems limitless. Our identity as a breathing being is secure—the opposite of the feelings we experience when we are under emotional stress.
Awareness of breathing yields rich information about the conditions of the body and mind. As we watch the breath, we not only perceive the quiet rhythm of exhalation and inhalation, we also sense the barriers and comfort zones that exist within the body: a subtle tightness that collapses the chest wall; a general sense of muscle restriction relieved only by deep, throbbing sighs; or, conversely, the comfort of a relaxed abdomen. We feel the pervading desire of every part of the body to breathe. And we sense the mind relaxing or tensing in concert with the breath.
Practicing Breath Awareness
Although the mechanics of relaxed breathing differ depending upon the posture of your body, many of the basic characteristics are similar. Practice a very simple version of breath awareness in a sitting pose or lying on your back, following these instructions:• Close your eyes. Relax your abdomen, your back, and the sides of your rib cage. Feel each exhalation and inhalation, and experience the sensations of cleansing and nourishing with each breath.
• Recognize that no single breath needs to be perfect; another soon follows to correct any sense of shortness of breath.
• Let your breath become deep and smooth—flowing without pause.
• Observe that once your breathing is smooth and unbroken, it cannot be easily disturbed. The pressure of thoughts and emotions on the breath is reduced.
• Sense the flow of time. You are anchored in the present, not chasing after time or dashing ahead of it.
• Notice that as you attend to the breath you assume a more quiet, watchful role—you become an inner observer.
Continue watching your breath for five to ten minutes, observing the breath as if your whole body breathes.
Breath Awareness in Action
In the midst of an emotional reaction, breathing feels radically different than it does during quiet periods of breath awareness. An angry burst of energy may activate muscles in the chest wall and dramatically increase the speed and depth of breathing, which then becomes restricted, uneven, or jerky. An anxious sigh may punctuate breathing—as if coming out of nowhere. Or a sick feeling in the stomach, the result of a sudden sense of sadness, may tighten abdominal muscles and make it difficult to breathe at all.
Restoring a more normal, relaxed breathing pattern will not in itself resolve the source of these emotional reactions, but it may carry you a good way in that direction. Relaxed breathing can reduce the feelings of defensiveness that accompany distorted breathing patterns, and quiet the impulse either to act out or to suppress a negative emotion without considering the consequences. Relaxed breathing also creates a less pressured inner environment, one that is more suitable for inner analysis. This makes it much easier to process the stimulus that has prompted the emotional reaction in the first place.
While relaxed diaphragmatic breathing is the primary strategy for working with the breath during emotional times, it is applied differently for various emotions. Here are strategies for addressing three common sources of emotional distress: anger, anxiety, and sadness.
Anger
Treat anger with care. It often signals an underlying hurt or need, but it may also simply be a convenient way to get what you want. You may be a hot reactor who angers easily or a cool reactor whose anger rarely reaches a boil. Your anger may manifest as impatience or it may burst out in rage; but whatever form they take, angry outbursts of all kinds can be embarrassingly ineffective and quite draining.
Anger often masks deeper feelings that need thoughtful attention. For example, anger is a familiar aspect of grieving and a common component of anxiety. But when angry feelings persist in your mind, disturbed breathing can make it difficult to quiet down enough to see what lies beneath the anger. During meditation, periods of relaxed breathing open the door for insights that transform anger into appropriate action. Often this means gaining a more objective view of the stimulus prompting your anger— perhaps one that admits to a bigger picture than you were first disposed to see.
In the midst of an anger attack, yoga offers a technique that can help you manage the explosiveness of your anger and provide you with valuable time in which to process the situation without losing control. The method is to feel the breath flowing in the nostrils. Try it now. Feel the breath flowing in the nostrils for just ten or fifteen seconds, and you will sense a centering process taking place within you. When you are angry, focusing in this way can give you time to gain a clearer perspective on the events unfolding around you. So learn to shift your attention to the breath in the nostrils when your anger is building. It will help you analyze the source of the disturbance, weigh the benefits of unleashing your anger, and gain enough distance to choose an appropriate reaction.
Acute Anxiety
Anxiety is always about the future—we feel anxious because we perceive danger lurking ahead. When anxiety becomes overwhelming, it leads to a sense of powerlessness.
A good remedy is to shift to breath awareness as often as possible—it will begin to calm your agitation and lessen the sense that you have lost control. Lie down and watch the breath a number of times each day. Take five minutes in your chair to close your eyes and watch your breath. Walk around the block, watching your breath. Let the sensations of the exhalation and inhalation keep you relaxed and in the present so that you can think and act clearly and decisively.
Sadness and Depression
Sadness is the sense of loss; depression is a shutting down of emotional responses when loss seems overwhelming. In either case, the outward appearance of inac
tivity and inertia that often characterizes these two states is deceptive—the mind is active, turning events around and around in an effort to accept them. This affects the breath by creating short pauses—moments in which we are lost in thought, moments during which the thread of energy we so need in order to feel whole is subtly broken. You will feel better if you use breath awareness to maintain a constant flow of breathing. Take regular practice sessions. Let sighs or deep, heaving breaths alert you to the fact that your breathing has been interrupted. Do not fight with yourself. Encourage the breath to flow without pause so that you can release fatigue and sorrow, and meet the challenge of acceptance with less fear.
In the End
The interaction between emotions and breathing is usually involuntary, and we do not pay much attention to it. Yet the habit of attending to the breath can reduce energy loss and help us better manage our emotions. The key is to develop a daily routine of breath awareness that we can turn to for balance when distressing events disturb us. Practice ten minutes of relaxed breathing once or twice daily—then use the tips listed in this chapter to tailor your breathing skills to the situations you encounter.
Breathing Strategies for Managing Pain source of distress strategy
Nadi Shodhanam: Alternate Nostril Breathing
A sage is one established in that supreme seat
to which the sun and moon have no access.
—Yoga Vasishtha
Inner energy powers the body and mind, traveling in currents that branch and intersect like streets and highways in a city. Among the multitude of such currents, or nadis, three govern overall functioning and determine the general tone of the entire system. They lie along the spinal column—two twining upward on either side and ending in the nostrils, and one rising directly upward in the center. The channel ending in the left nostril is called ida; pingala ends in the right nostril; and sushumna rises centrally along the spine to the base of the skull. This configuration can be seen not only in traditional yogic symbolism but also in the art of other ancient cultures. The Greek image of the caduceus is a familiar example.
Yoga texts such as the Shiva Svarodaya point out that the flow of energy through ida and pingala is rarely equal and that this can be noted in the nostrils. If you check your breathing right now, you will probably find that one nostril is more open than the other. The nostril with the greater air flow is called the “active,” or dominant, nostril; the other nostril is termed “passive.”
You can gain a better appreciation of this by breathing out onto a mirror held horizontally just under the nose. The exhaled air from each nostril will form a moisture pattern on the mirror’s surface, and the difference in size between the two sides of the pattern makes visible the discrepancy in nostril dominance. Moreover, comparing the evaporation times on each side of the pattern will provide an approximate ratio of nostril activity. For example, if the moisture pattern on the left side evaporates in thirty seconds, while the pattern on the right lasts just fifteen seconds, then your left nostril is about twice as active as the right.
caduceus
nadis along the spine
Differences in nostril activity are quite normal—nostril dominance, in fact, is said to alternate approximately every ninety minutes. But while this may be ideal, you may find that one nostril remains active for much longer periods of time, or that regular alternation in nostril dominance rarely occurs. Such irregularities can have subtle effects on your mood and activity level.
Revolving Energies
The nostrils function much like a gauge on an automobile dashboard. To know the temperature of a car’s engine, for example, it is not necessary to open the hood. The temperature gauge shows us whether or not the engine is operating within the normal range.
Similarly, the nostrils provide information about the status of the energy governing the body and mind.
Differences in the energy of the two nostrils are beautifully symbolized in yogic literature. The current of energy ending in the left nostril (ida) is cooling like the moon; it is associated with the latent power of consciousness and with nourishment and replenishment. It denotes inward, nurturing energy, feminine in character. When it is overly dominant, however, it may lead to chilliness, passivity, lack of assertiveness, and depression. The current of energy ending in the right nostril (pingala) is warming like the sun; it is associated with the dynamic aspect of consciousness and with growth and expansion. It denotes outward-moving forces, male in character. When it is overly dominant it may lead to fever, agitation, over assertiveness, and lack of concentration. Sun and moon, male and female, active and receptive, rational and intuitive, contracting and relaxing, hot and cool, unbending and fluid—these and other pairs of opposites are captured in the archetypes of the two channels of breath.
The domain of these two primary modes of human energy extends into the world of activities. For example, exercising, controlling an automobile, prescribing medicines, creating a good appetite, performing physically demanding tasks, arguing, inspiring others, going to sleep (warmed by an inner fire), and undertaking any difficult or harsh action are all activities that are most likely to prosper when the right nostril is active. Digging in the earth, taking medicines, planting gardens, visiting temples, entering one’s house, investing safely, performing artistically, or reciting mantras are all activities that will prosper when the left nostril is dominant.
Like a revolving wheel, the energies associated with the two nostrils alternately dominate, but during moments of transition the two become equal. Brief as they are, these moments provide a glimpse of equilibrium before the energies tumble back into action again. When ida and pingala interact, they color every perception. During the short periods when they flow equally, awareness is drawn inward, inspired by a quiet inner joy.
Nadi Shodhanam: Channel Purification
Breathing practices have a direct effect on the flow of energy in the nadis. Through pranayama, energy can be aroused or calmed, used to produce heat or inner cooling, and directed for the restoration of health and for longevity. As in so many other practices of yoga, the initial focus of pranayama is purification. The goal is to cleanse the nadis of impurities that might otherwise disturb concentration and impede the natural movement of prana.
Nadi shodhanam, or channel purification, is the primary practice used to accomplish this. It is a cleansing practice, also called “alternate nostril breathing” because it involves breathing through one nostril at a time. In addition to opening the flow of energy along the nadis, this practice is an excellent preparation for meditation. It calms, purifies, and strengthens the nervous system while deepening self-awareness. Finally, it leads to establishing sushumna breathing, the condition in which the sensation of the breath flowing through the two nostrils is united in awareness in one central stream.
Preliminaries
The preparatory information needed for practicing channel purification is very specific.
• Sit with an erect spinal column. The posture of the head, neck, and trunk during channel purification is crucial—if the practice is done with a bent spine, it can disrupt the nervous system and increase physical and mental tension. A well-known teacher in India described practicing nadi shodhanam with a rounded back as the equivalent of bombarding the spine with a hydraulic jackhammer!
• Breathe diaphragmatically and without pause. In the process of concentrating on manipulating the nostrils, it is easy to lose touch with one’s own breathing. The breath should remain deep, smooth, relaxed, and diaphragmatic during the entire exercise. Gradually the length of the breath will increase.
• Close off the nostrils by lightly pressing the small flap of skin at either side of the nose. This is done with a special hand position, a mudra, in which the index and middle fingers of the hand are curled to touch the base of the thumb, opening a space between the thumb and ring finger for the nose. The thumb is used to close one nostril and the ring finger is used to close the other.
• An
d finally, during the practice of channel purification, it is a common mistake to focus so much on manipulating the nose that you bend the head forward. Or you may apply too much pressure on the nostrils with the finger and thumb, thus bending the nose to the side. Remember that the nose should not be distorted during the practice, nor the balanced alignment of the head and neck altered. Close the nostrils lightly.
vishnu mudra, hand position for nadi shodhanam
Pattern for Nadi Shodhanam
There are a number of patterns for alternating the breath in the nostrils—some simple and some complex. In the following method, the flow is alternated with each full breath, and so it is easy to remember and monitor.
Yoga breathing exercises, including this one, frequently begin with an exhalation. This is both symbolic and practical. Symbolically, it reminds us that we must prepare ourselves by emptying wastes and impurities. Practically, the exhalation is a cleansing breath and readies the lungs and nervous system for the inhalation, which is the rejuvenating breath in channel purification.
