Breathing de-automatization: proper timing and proper results

The body, the limbs, the organs of action and sense, the psyche are very much “ours.”

The breath is not as much “ours.” However, the breath is more “for us” than anything else.

Prashant Iyengar

Pranayama: a Classical and Traditional Approach

Prāṇāyāma, or the practices of de-automatization and control of the act of breathing, are attested from the earliest textual sources describing ascetic and yogic paths based on the governing of breathing. The Buddha practiced the prolongation of the physiological pause at the end of complete exhalation (today we would refer to it as the bāhya kumbaka technique), and the same technique is counted by Patañjali (in Yoga Sutra I.34.) among the practices useful for the removal of obstacles (viksepa) that distract citta, the plexus of cognition, preparatory to the consequent attainment of the condition of samāpatti and, hence, sabīja samādhi.

Regardless of the philosophical and soteriological substratum to which the various ascetic traditions referred, there is thus something in breath control that has always attracted the attention of ascetics whose ardent efforts were directed toward governing their own proliferations of thought and sublimating their asmitā, sense of self. The de-automatization of the breath, similarly and even more so than the de-automatization of bodily patterns experienced in the practice of yog-asana, centers and reaches the target of higher cognition, and, today, the physiological mechanisms underlying this process are beginning to be understood (see, for example, Yackle et al., 2017 and Stern, 2017).

Risk and reward
As is sometimes the case, however, risk and reward are directly proportional. Thus, while the government of breath promises great “ascetic” results, the risks from gross and improper prāṇāyāma practice have been equally well known since that time. Among others, in Haṭhayoga Pradīpikā (II, 16-17), the author admonishes the practitioner to learn the techniques gradually to avoid being annihilated by them, and similarly, in a śaivaNārāyanakantha commentary he warns that excessive practice of prāṇāyāma can lead to abdominal prolapse, labored breathing, insanity, and epilepsy (see Mallison and Singleton, 2017 pp.128). One wonders how they practiced it, exactly, to expose themselves to such risks but, without going too far, anyone familiar with these practices knows how each day (or session) of practice is a story in itself, and how a satisfactory prāṇāyāmas requires conditions created in a non-random way and cultivated over a long time. I am referring to the fact that the stability of the spine, the smoothness of all tissues (trapezius, internal and external intercostal muscles, diaphragm, lung tissue, abdominal organs, brain), the refinement of touching the breath (either with free nostrils or manipulated by fingers in the digital prāṇāyāma), the ability to be wholly absorbed by the breath cannot be achieved either in a few days or with exaggerated doggedness: it simply takes years of practice.

A gradual and mindful approach
In this respect, in the tradition of B.K.S. Iyengar, prāṇāyāma is approached very gradually, using the practice of yog-āsana propaedeutically. It is on this less slippery ground, in fact, that students begin to grapple with the idea of “inhabiting the body” and with what Iyengar called the 'intelligence of the body, that is, the ability to feel the body in all its parts: first the coarser ones (feet, legs, arms, hands, shoulder blades, back, chest, etc. ) and then the more refined ones (skin, internal organs, sense organs, brain); first one or a few parts at a time and then all, simultaneously, in a complete immersive condition. Gradually, tissues lose rigidity and gain elasticity and sensitivity. Regardless of the ranges of movement possible for each practitioner, new possibilities of movement and coordinated body-breath-mind action become direct experiences. In āsana there can be tapas: vigor, determination, volition, one can work on duration (to amplify the psycho-body effects of each posture and related biochemical processes) and even grapple with the idea of respectfully exceeding one's limit. In prāṇāyāma no, volition backfires and puts the practitioner at risk, and palpitations, a sense of heaviness in the retrosternal area, irritability, shortness of breath, can become common experiences.

Developing stability and softness
During prāṇāyāma, regardless of the technique being approached, the lietmotiv should be softness. Except for the spine, which remains stable and alert at all times, all tissues should be in a condition of release and softness. Soft is the contents of the abdomen, during exhalation and inhalation; soft is the contents of the chest during exhalation and inhalation. It is soft the contents of the skull, during exhalation and inhalation. I constantly repeat to students (and so do my colleagues) not to force either exhalation or inhalation and not to see the practice of new techniques as an accomplishment. One can do excellent prāṇāyāma in a lying position, possibly using various types of chest supports (e.g., a folded blanket, bricks, or a bolster). When the spine and the back of the chest receive adequate support, the practitioner does not stiffen in an attempt to keep the spine stably extended at its front, as is often the case in a sitting position. In addition, in the lying position (with chest support), the abdomen empties spontaneously and the conditions for the uḍḍīyana bandha are created, which is so helpful in creating a sense of vacuum in the brain as well, without the diaphragm or sense organs contracting in the effort.

For everyone, the first attempts at prāṇāyāma from a seated position are characterized by the trade-off between the effort of staying with a straight back and feeling the breath flowing, moving and making space on a soft substrate. If a door is locked, you will have to shoulder it open; if it is ajar, a gentle touch will suffice. Similarly, if, as B.K.S Iyengar said, the chest is “open” (i.e., the back able to extend, the front chest able to open softly, the lung tissue supple and soft), the breath will permeate the lungs becoming deep and full, as water permeates fertile, soft and porous soil. If the chest is closed (rigid and inelastic in the joints, intercostal muscles, diaphragm, etc.), the breath will initially have to slip by remaining on the surface before it can be made deep and full. Making the breath forcibly deep by pushing it on a rigid and dry substrate such as a dry ground (as is the case as a beginner) will only generate frustration and discomfort, irritating the nervous system instead of calming it.

From the gross body to the subtle body and vice versa
In the practice of āsana, movement proceeds from the gross body to the subtle body, which is unknown. The body unfolds to proprioception and enteroception and fragments-from a raw, undifferentiated monobloc to multiple points of observation, sensitization, and feed-back-and then re-assembles in its wholeness when the mind fully diffuses into it. In prāṇāyāma the movement proceeds from the breath, which is subtle and inner, to the outer gross body, which must be ready and properly prepared to handle and absorb it. While in āsana the practitioner is almost totally free from the risk of self-suggestion, in prāṇāyāma it can happen. In āsana it is difficult to confuse a feeling of immersion in the body and “mind spread” with anything else-because there is fatigue and there is a clear sense of the material and real concreteness of the body-in prāṇāyāma, on the other hand, it is easy to delude oneself into a state of proximity to meditation when in fact one has slipped into a stupor without clarity, into an illusory state.

A receptive and quiet mind
The clarity and mental lucidity to be maintained in prāṇāyāma, preparatory to the various degrees of absorption (samyama: dhāranā, dhyāna, samādhi), are learned without risk in the practice of āsana and become tangible, stable and concrete goals. The practitioner learns the way to reach such a state of mind, which is not “extraordinary” but is certainly “non-ordinary.” The prāṇāyāma enhances clarity and mental clarity if there is a proper substratum and preparation. Otherwise, the practitioner risks autosuggestion or having to handle something he or she is not ready to handle. Even simply sitting still in the face of the whirlwind of one's thoughts can put a neophyte in crisis. Hence the importance of having a holding point, a support (ālambana) on which to rest and sit cognition. In Iyengar Yoga, the support is the āsana (where technique is precisely handholding for cognition) and, in prāṇāyāma, the support is the column. This is why the holding duration of āsana in Iyengar Yoga seeks to be protracted, even with the use of props (the supports such as pillows, bricks, belts, chairs and other specific wooden supports). As Guruji said, “For me prop is not just for asana. It should contribute to the posture of the body, which in turn allows the mind to be calm and in a state of “chitta vritti nirodha.” The body is my first prop. The body is a prop for the soul [...].”

Advice for newcomers
The advice I would give to those who are not very practical but want to start approaching prāṇāyāma is to allow yourself time to begin with simple observations of the breath in lying posture, savasana, with or without support, or in supine positions (supta baddha konasana, supta swastikasana, etc.). The indications could be: let the support under the back create the conditions for stability of the spine, shoulder blades and opening of the anterior chest, let the abdomen empty, allow the breath to set the chest in motion and not vice versa, be the object of the breath and not the subject, be breathed in and not breathe out. Only after that, begin (but without tapas!) with the governing of the breath.



Bibliography
B.K.S. Iyengar (1981). Light on Pranayama. Eds. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. London.
Mallison J. and Singleton M. (2017). Roots of Yoga. Eds. Penguin Random House.
Prashant Iyengar (2014). Pranayama: A Classical and Traditional Approach. Eds. Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI).
Stern P. (2017). “The calming effect of breathing.” In Science 31: Vol. 355, Issue 6332, pp. 1386-1387.
Yackle K., et al. (2017). “Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice.” In Science 31: Vol. 355, Issue 6332, pp. 1411-1415.