The Ins and Outs
If Pranayama is so health-enhancing, why is it so unpopular? It looks weird, and boring, very unglamorous and unexciting. How could anything so basic thrive in an instant gratification savvy, societal culture built largely on the external? Subcultures of people who get it, like you.
Reframe it for yourself: pranayama is also the gateway to mental, emotional, physiological and behavioral transformation. Yoga is a tool to influence the mind. We can’t influence it directly, but we can use tools. One way, arguably the most accessible, is through the breath.
Whatever is on or in your mind that presents as an impurity, such as egoic attachment, pessimism, aversion, ignorance and fear, enter breathing. It renders the mind ready for the work of meditation, whereby we connect to a positive focus. Taking on its redeeming qualities, we gain traction to build healthy mental habits and relinquish what holds us back in our personal and professional realms.
Emotional impurities often lodge themselves into deep knots in our bodies. The breath, honed through intentional, specific techniques in asana, becomes a doorway to release. Depression, disconnection, loneliness, frustration, grief, guilt, resentment - they dissipate, slowly, leaving room for a renewed sense of self, even if for a moment. This sets precedent for innovation in emotional experiences. Perhaps sparkles of awe, joy, curiosity. Leaning into more nourishing emotional experiences becomes possible once the breath is under our control.
Physiological impurities aplenty plague us as we stray from balanced, holistic living. Digestive upset, autoimmune diseases, immunodeficiencies, allergic disorders, hormonal imbalance and the likes are driven by chronic stress. When we can reduce the drastic ups and downs via the literal ins and outs of pranayama, we remove one of the unfavorable variables keeping our system in unnecessarily activated states.
Personality characteristics open deepen their grip on our very identities as we grow older. What if some of these contribute to suffering? Do you always need to be busy? Is it hard for me to be alone with myself? What if you always seek external validation to boost your sense of self? What if I am unable to read social cues? If I people please and abandon my own needs? If you gain power by putting others down? We cannot even become aware of these tendencies unless we get connected to a safe and trusted source. Divorcing from seemingly integral parts of who we are, for our own greater good, is some of life’s hardest work. With Yoga’s breathwork, we create room for a new sense of self, another identity that can replace former ones.
The ins and outs of personal transformation rest on our ability to find our breath. To refine it. To repeat this process daily. To remember, as we navigate our own life paths, that inhaling and exhaling is an all pervasive tool that Yoga is asking us to master, so we can master ourselves. Learning with a teacher who knows how to apply these tools is an instrumental aspect in their effectivity. There is a system in place to ensure we tame the breath slowly. With acuity and presence. With guidance and revision.