There was once a little girl who kept having repeated nightmares about monsters chasing her. Her parents were concerned for it was getting out of hand. She was not capable of falling asleep as terror would haunt her dreams.
A talented psychiatrist talked to her and suggested next time she found herself being chased by monsters that she turn around and look at them in the eye. She said nothing, just looked at the doctor.
On her next session she told the doctor that when she found herself being chased by the scary creatures again she turned around, and as soon as she did the monsters turned into bubbles and started jumping up and down in place. She never had the dreams again.
I don't remember where it was that I read that story but it perfectly illustrates what Gregor says on page 201
---Context: This is a series called Claudia's Book Club. The first book we are looking at in great detail is Pranayama The Breath Of Yoga, by Gregor Maehle.
I find the book infinitely rewarding to read and to learn about the fourth limb of yoga and a very timely message to carry as we move away with our obsession with asana and start paying attention to the breath which is really the most central element of yoga.
We are now entering the final part of the book which deals with the specific techniques of pranayama.
If you haven't yet, look at the previous posts on preparations, they contain the foundation which build up to this part in which we finally get to explore all of the actual practices. Exciting times!
----
Back To Getting Rid Of Our Fears
It turns out that no pranayama is possible if we cannot clear the basic emotions that run our lives, I mean, it is possible just not effective, not when it comes to taking us to higher states of silence and concentration, and hence to the heart of this very moment.
Leaving behind all preconditioning is hard to do, and fighting who we are is useless just as the Gita pointed out (which Maehle reminds us of), there is no use in fighting our own nature, no use in repressing our negative emotions, all we can do is look at them:
"Once acknowledged as a denied part of us, they [negative emotions] will shrink to life size. It is usually the fear of he fear that is most fearful, and not the primary fear itself" (Page 202)
A talented psychiatrist talked to her and suggested next time she found herself being chased by monsters that she turn around and look at them in the eye. She said nothing, just looked at the doctor.
On her next session she told the doctor that when she found herself being chased by the scary creatures again she turned around, and as soon as she did the monsters turned into bubbles and started jumping up and down in place. She never had the dreams again.
I don't remember where it was that I read that story but it perfectly illustrates what Gregor says on page 201
"Emotions, especially the powerful ones like pain, fear, shame and guilt tend to get bigger and more powerful when we don't look them straight in the eye. They grow bigger and bigger when we turn our back on them, and eventually they become so big that we get the feeling they may devour us, which is true in a metaphorical sense."Just like in the little girl's dream.
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| Let's go down the rabbit hole of pranayama together. We start by releasing irrational fears, the breathing described here heps click on the image to see Gregor's book |
I find the book infinitely rewarding to read and to learn about the fourth limb of yoga and a very timely message to carry as we move away with our obsession with asana and start paying attention to the breath which is really the most central element of yoga.
We are now entering the final part of the book which deals with the specific techniques of pranayama.
If you haven't yet, look at the previous posts on preparations, they contain the foundation which build up to this part in which we finally get to explore all of the actual practices. Exciting times!
----
Back To Getting Rid Of Our Fears
It turns out that no pranayama is possible if we cannot clear the basic emotions that run our lives, I mean, it is possible just not effective, not when it comes to taking us to higher states of silence and concentration, and hence to the heart of this very moment.
Leaving behind all preconditioning is hard to do, and fighting who we are is useless just as the Gita pointed out (which Maehle reminds us of), there is no use in fighting our own nature, no use in repressing our negative emotions, all we can do is look at them:
"Once acknowledged as a denied part of us, they [negative emotions] will shrink to life size. It is usually the fear of he fear that is most fearful, and not the primary fear itself" (Page 202)
The Exercise
The exercise is a simple three part breathing exercise which Gregor calls oceanic breath, and makes quite nice by adding the metaphor of the "waves". Iyengar calls it the three part breathing, I call it the exercise that will put you to sleep, it is that relaxing!
Here is a post in which I describe it, at least the first part. It all comes down to being able to separate the three parts of the torso:
Gregor says it is good to pay attention to the wave, to see how smooth we can make it and also to the sensations of the spine (pent up emotions) we may have as we go up and down. These are the monsters we need to look in the eye and watch them turn into bubbles.
What I did Not Know
Gregor then reverses the wave, this I did not know. Instead of going up (from the abdomen to the chest) and then down, he does the wave as a "double up" meaning that you breathe from the belly to the chest, and then, again in three parts, exhale from the belly up, leaving you at the chest area on the end of the exhale.
He says this is so that the energy is directed upwards, which is what we want, rather than down and into the worldly energies. Very interesting.
Another thing is that once the breaking into three parts becomes comfortable he breaks it again into six parts, making us pay a lot more attention to each little part of the torso to which the breath goes and turning it into a real wave.
Have you tried it yet? I am loving it.
Here is a post in which I describe it, at least the first part. It all comes down to being able to separate the three parts of the torso:
- Abdomen
- Ribcage
- Ceiling of the Chest
Gregor says it is good to pay attention to the wave, to see how smooth we can make it and also to the sensations of the spine (pent up emotions) we may have as we go up and down. These are the monsters we need to look in the eye and watch them turn into bubbles.
What I did Not Know
Gregor then reverses the wave, this I did not know. Instead of going up (from the abdomen to the chest) and then down, he does the wave as a "double up" meaning that you breathe from the belly to the chest, and then, again in three parts, exhale from the belly up, leaving you at the chest area on the end of the exhale.
He says this is so that the energy is directed upwards, which is what we want, rather than down and into the worldly energies. Very interesting.
Another thing is that once the breaking into three parts becomes comfortable he breaks it again into six parts, making us pay a lot more attention to each little part of the torso to which the breath goes and turning it into a real wave.
Have you tried it yet? I am loving it.
------
CLAUDIA'S BOOK CLUB:
"PRANAYAMA THE BREATH OF YOGA"
Chapter One: How Many Breaths Do You Do Per Minute?
Chapter Two: Part I: Who Is An Expert In Yoga?
Chapter Two: Part II: How To Get Your Body To Be 16 Years Old Again
Chapter Three: Meditation is Useless Unless Both Nostrils Are Active
Chapter Five: How Do I Know If I Am Ready For Pranayama?
Chapter Eight: Pulling Your Brain Updwards. On Bandhas and Pranayama
Chapter Nine: Why Gross Purification Is Critical To Yoga
Chapter Ten: The Breathing Exercise That Gets Rid Of Our Fears
Chapter Eleven: How Not To Be An Idiod In Pranayama. Nerve Purification
Chapter Twelve: Bhastrika Pranayama - Life Force on Steroids
Chapter Thirteen: What The World Needs Now Is More Left Nostril Breathing
Here is a link to the book in Amazon. Join me in reading!
My teacher introduced the wave breathing a couple of days ago when we had a private lesson together, he even told me to close my eyes and visualize the wave of the sea touching my feet. He told me that I should start with the abdomen both inhale and exhale, leaving the chest last, so I guess it is what Gregor suggests.
ReplyDeleteI still have work to do on isolating the three parts of the torso, however I found breathing this way very refreshing. :)
Gregor's book sounds very interesting, I will definitely put this one in my books-to-read list! Thank you!
Olympia
http://journeytoatmanashtangayoga.blogspot.gr/
Nice to hear your teacher offers breathing exercises :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog, will add now the blog rool
The book is quite amazing yes, technical and practical at the same time, I am learning lots from re-reading in the book club.
Your right I was looking for this kind of blog interesting. Keep sharing! :) Boston yoga here!
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