Nirmala Seshadri
August 8, 2020
Over a decade ago, I went through a 7-day bout of insomnia. Confession - it was Sudoku-driven; I would play till very late at night and my brain remained alert and active through the days and the nights. By the 7th night, I felt it was time to pull myself out of that zone. I wasn’t keen on medication and as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I decided to practice a breathing technique my yoga teacher had taught me. Instead of the usual one cycle, what if I practice as many cycles as required to get my body-mind into a deeper and deeper state of relaxation? It worked… I finally had a good night’s rest and (touch wood) have never experienced that sort of insomnia again. I also stopped playing Sudoku at night! (I will talk about night time rituals in a separate post)
After that episode, I started working consciously to calm my body-mind through breathwork. While I became aware of the effects of the practice on my mental and emotional states, what I didn’t realise immediately was the physiological effect on my body. It was my doctor in Chennai who drew the correlation between my breath-centric yoga practice and the positive impact on my asthmatic condition that she had been treating for years. She then asked if I would teach it to her patients! (The rest, as they say, is history).
Breath control is an integral aspect of yoga. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and who also practices yoga and meditation says, “There is a very direct relationship between breath rate, mood state, and autonomic nervous system state.” We all are aware of the change in the rate of our breathing when we are anxious or angry. And we know that at those moments, slowing down and deepening our breathing gets us past those states. The focus of breathwork is to reverse this, that is, to allow the breath to steer the mental-emotional states and not vice-versa. This became even more tangible to me when I attended an actors workshop some years back where we were introduced to the breathing techniques of Kudiyattam, a traditional theatre form of Kerala in India. It is an entire system whereby breath is utilised carefully to produce different emotional expressions. While trying one of the techniques adopted to produce the expression of fear, I suddenly found myself screaming and crying involuntarily! It was a mind-blowing experience and one that really underscored for me that connection between the breath and our emotions.
Coming back to relaxation, research points clearly to the fact that the breathing exercises of yoga can enhance parasympathetic and decrease sympathetic (excitatory) nervous activity. Studies show that this helps in managing the heart rate, blood pressure and can lower the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Breathe is the word that I use most often when I facilitate breathwork. However I’ve found that not everyone feels calmed down by being told to breathe! For some, the word can initially cause anxiety. And that's where other interventions become necessary to gradually lead the individual to more effective breathing.
The benefits of breathwork are manifold, but like anything else it takes committed practice. Having said that, most people feel some difference within themselves, even after just 5 to 10 minutes of focused breathing. So I must say I do believe in the something is better than nothing principle. Getting into the practice of proper breathing can lead to so many positive outcomes including improved sleep patterns, heightened energy levels, improved concentration, reduced stress and anxiety levels, a sense of peace, calm and relaxation, and a greater ability to manage anger and depression.
Breath becomes that constant companion, leading us gently into that immense space within, while also serving as an effective link to the outer environment. As I write this, I am thinking of some of my clients who have had to deal with challenging home and work environments; for them, the practice has been both a refuge as well as a means of engaging with their outer worlds on their own terms.
Breathwork nourishes us in so many ways. And along with other forms of nourishment, can be important in helping us cope with the present challenges.
