Enhancing Wellness Through Breath

Prana, or breath, energizes and feeds the whole body and person. Full breath creates optimal functioning in both body and mind. Disordered breathing serves as an alert system: the body tells the mind something is not right. With mindful awareness, the self can regulate and return to a relaxed, calm, and peaceful physical and mental state.

To create energy, cells need two things: nutrients from food and oxygen from the breath. The arteries and veins act like a train dropping off and picking up oxygen and CO2 at various stops throughout the body. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, and veins carry blood to the heart. Blood moves from the heart to the lungs where it drops off CO2 and picks up new oxygen. The new oxygen rides back in the veins to the heart and is delivered to the body. In turn, more CO2 is picked up in the body, moves back through the heart, and eventually is dropped off in the lungs. Thus the cardiac cycle continues.

Assisting this cycle, the respiratory muscles aid and support the flow of prana, or life force, throughout the body. When the breath is balanced and stable, the diaphragm, intercostals, and abdomen serve as the primary respiratory muscles while the upper back, chest, and neck serve as secondary respiratory muscles. When you breath from the diaphragm, you move and massage all of the internal organs including the heart: “When the diaphragm moves in the luxurious expansions that mark full breathing, all these organs are massaged, rolled, churned, and bathed in new blood, fluids, and oxygen” (Fhari 51). Breathing correctly optimizes the function of the entire body specifically the organs; conversely, the organs are often forgotten in Western exercise. You cannot breathe fully, if the breath is restricted or if the body is not able to fully relax and release tension.

The diaphragm rests directly below the heart and is attached to the heart by facia. The diaphragm, works as the thoracic or respiratory pumps and directly aids in the work of the heart. In Donna Fahri’s Breathing Book, she states that cardiatric patients are recommended to practice diaphragmatic breathing. “[A] study showed that all 153 patients of a coronary unit breathed predominantly in their chest” (59). Breathing fully and diaphragmatically increases heart health.

In addition to the primary and secondary respiratory muscles, the nose plays a key role in preparing the oxygen for the body by regulating the temperature and humidity of the oxygen before it is pumped to the heart. The air alternates nostril dominance every 90 minutes or so. “Right nostril dominance stimulates the arousal-producing sympathetic nervous system and left nostril dominance elicits the relaxation-producing parasympathetic system” (63). Balanced breath stimulates both “excitation and relaxation.”

Patterns of breathing, both healthy and unhealthy, are for the most part unconscious and long-formed habits. When we respond to stress, our sympathetic nervous system is triggered -- releasing adrenaline to the body in order to prepare the body to fight, run, or freeze, essentially escape the stressor. Restricting the breath, triggers this stress response, and we move into a state of fear, anxiety, and dis-ease. Returning to full diaphragmatic breathing, activates the parasympathetic nervous system which releases the hormone acetylcholine. This hormones slows the heart and returns the body to its basic functions: digestion and relaxation.

The major consequence of disordered breathing is hyperventilation. When the breath is restricted, additional breaths are taken to make up for the missing oxygen. This speeds up the inhalations, but never allows for the full range of the breath. The blood holds on to the oxygen instead of distributing it to the body during the cardiac cycle. To make up for the missing oxygen, the breath again speeds up. This cycle continues and ultimately the brain and body do not get enough oxygen. The oxygen and carbon dioxide balance shifts and the body turns towards a state of alkalosis. This state of alkalosis in turn causes a laundry list of symptoms including: “headache, dizziness, lack of concentration, cold hands/ feet, muscle tension, irritability, inappropriate responses, and overreactions, etc” (84). Hyperventilation itself can cause: “fatigue, exhaustion, heart palpitations, rapid pulse, dizziness and visual disturbances, numbness and tingling in the limbs, shortness of breath, yawning, chest pain, a feeling of a lump in the throat, stomach pain, muscle pains, cramps, and stiffness, anxiety, insomnia and nightmares, impairment of concentration and memory, and not surprisingly a feeling of ‘loosing one’s mind’ ” (85). In sum, disordered breathing disrupts the functions of the entire body.

However, if you do suffer from disordered breathing, you can remedy and retrain your breathing patterns through awareness, slowing down, and practicing relaxation techniques. More often than not it is our own mind that triggers our nervous system. By connecting to our breath, we can self-regulate our breathing, regain control of -- first our body and then our mind -- and ultimately turn our thoughts inward and toward peace. With mindfulness and breathwork, our inner and outer states unite and return to a calm and tranquil state. Even when agitated by a pebble, the lake returns to its smooth, glassy surface able to absorb the ripples.

Farhi, Donna. The Breathing Book. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1996. Print.