8 ms·
It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga,
by skilled 8y ago
It's interesting to see these modernization attempts for ancient wellness 'technology' that dates back thousands of years. I am, of course, talking about yoga, and more specifically -- pranayama. Otherwise known as the 'science of breath'.
You don't have to believe in anything to practice different breathing techniques, and the results are absolutely there. I have met freedivers who build up their lung capacity strictly through pranayama exercises.
If you suffer from anxiety or a stress disorder, pranayama can be extremely helpful in managing both your mental state of mind and the response that your body has to uncomfortable feelings.
- imglorp 8y agoCan you suggest an intro to practicing pranayama specifically, as opposed to generic mindfulness or meditation?
- theSage 8y agoLook for "baba ramdev + pranayam". There are a ton of videos online with him teaching pranayam. Like with all things of this nature there's a whole lot of junk surrounding it (marketing etc) that he also indulges in but the exercises themselves are good. Here's what I could find. You might find some books at patanjali[1]. They have a good list of exercises although the BS part does appear in some books. [1] https://patanjaliayurved.org/product-category/patanjali-publications/ https://patanjaliayurved.org/product-category/patanjali-publ...
- yogithrowaway 8y agofirst 3-7 years of intensive physical practices then only begin to investigate pranyama. https://shadowyoga.com/newsletter/pra%E1%B9%87ayama/ https://shadowyoga.com/newsletter/pra%E1%B9%87ayama/ """ Clarity about the required procedures, the appropriate tools and their use will allow one to tread the path of self-cultivation with the minimum of setbacks. Confusion will result in the multiplication of these setbacks, and the accumulation of injuries and disappointments will eventually result in the collapse of ones undertaking. """
- aryamaan 8y ago> first 3-7 years of intensive physical practices then only begin to investigate pranyama. I would say this is slightly far stretched and discouraging for newcomers along with being misleading. Being regular with yoga for a few months (if not weeks), one can start doing pranayama. Having a person to guide you along is highly recommended but saying that investing multiple years and then exploring as a suggestion makes it sound like some mumbo-jumbo which it's not.
- aham_34 8y agoIt's not exaggeration. These things require serious commitment.
- feanaro 8y agoWhy?
- aham_34 8y agoIf you are not ready and still somehow do it, you can pretty much know the results immediately. There will a turmoil within generally due to heartburn leading to sleeplessness and fever. For this reason, it's really better to find a guru who will guide the practitioner.
- feanaro 8y agoI suppose I wouldn't be ready because I haven't practiced. I've tried it but I didn't notice anything.
- mistrial9 8y ago.. accurate folk advice, if a bit on the conservative side, but not wrong.. Cardiac health is a long time to develop, and a long time to recover.. mental health stability is indicated by long, stable practice.. both mental health and cardiac health are directly relevant !
- ssvss 8y agoDon’t try all the exotic practises in the initial 1 or 2 years. Initially it is recommended only to observe breath, and may be the 4/4/4/4 technique mentioned in another comment, you can try the 4/4/4/4 technique by inhaling through one nostril and exhaling from the other. And gradually increase the count from 4 to whatever you are comfortable with. https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/living-ayurveda/yoga/nadi-shodhana-pranayama/ https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/livin... Recent Yoga teachers, try to teach all types of Pranayama to a beginner, but when reading books written 100 years back, it is mentioned that mind and breath are linked tightly, and practising techniques which isn’t recommended for your condition, by an experienced guru, can actually make you mad.
- nradov 8y agoThe notion that a normal mentally stable person could be driven mad by these practices is absurd. Citation needed.
- abledon 8y agoUgh the mindset that everything in the universe needs a previous citation in a scientific journal for it to be possible. barf
- EForEndeavour 8y agoThe more extraordinary the claim, the stronger the evidence required. The claim that trying to learn Pranayama from an "experienced guru" can "actually make you mad" is an extraordinary claim indeed.
- nradov 8y agoNever mind a journal citation, I'd settle for a clear hypothesis with a plausible method of action. All I've seen so far is woo.
- albanberg 8y agoAgree! Pranayama and other yoga practices are very powerful and effective. It's very important to have an experienced teacher rather than trying to do it yourself. These practices can have very strong effects and can be misused. There is a lot of misinformation floating around. I recommend finding an experienced teacher in the Krishnamacharya/Viniyoga tradition.
- andrewl 8y agoWhat are the negative effects people get when they don't work with a teacher?
- albanberg 8y agoThere could be many different issues that could arise, it depends on the person. I will note an experience that I had. I had been doing a Viniyoga practice for 1 or 2 years. I do pranayama in my asana (the physical exercises) and at this time I was not doing a separate pranayama practice. My teacher changed the pranayama in my practice and I became ill as if having a bad flu and I had some nasty boils break out on my legs. In retrospect, I needed to do some detoxing before doing this type of pranayama. My teacher kept me away from doing that pranayama for one or two years. Now I can, and have, been doing advanced pranayama for many years with no issues. I do this mostly in my asana practice but I do have seperate pranayama practices that I can do as well.
- maxxxxx 8y agoWhere do you practice? I would love to have a teacher that understands pranayama and can prescribe the right technique. Most teachers just know asana.
- albanberg 8y agoI practice on my own. In our tradition, yoga is taught one to one. There are some classes you can find, but the intent of these is to introduce people to the tradition and for people to get to know the teacher a bit before doing private sessions. Yoga is taught this way so that the program that a person follows has been customized for their situation. This can have a great effect. Back to your question. My teacher is fully booked and not taking new students. He mostly does seminars and teacher trainings. His name is Chase Bossart and he studied with TKV Desikachar over a 20 year period. I've had almost 12 years of study with Chase and I'm now teaching on a limited basis. There are other students of Chase here in the SF Bay area and there are many people who studied with Desikachar around the world.
- webreac 8y agoDo hou have a link for a beginner ?
- skilled 8y agoActually, I think this book[1] you might find useful to get started. It's really concise, has a digital version, and totally tailors to the notion of starting slowly. The breathing exercises, in particular, are divided into weekly segments, sometimes more. You start with 2-3 breath counts on week 1 and then continue to build. [1]: https://www.yogaindailylife.org/system/en/ https://www.yogaindailylife.org/system/en/
- dibbledribble 8y agoA lot of the comments here are so far over the edge of sanity for me. If folks want to believe you need to train for X years before learning breathing techniques that is up to them, but no one is backing those claims up. If you are looking for a simple and not particularly woo woo guide to this breathing technique (and yoga in general) the yoga with adrienne Youtube channel is a great resource. In general, learning good breathing techniques and some basic yoga are the single best things you can do for net improvement of physical and mental health in my opinion. You can get many of the benefits of asana/insert type of yoga here without investing in expensive courses or devoting yourself to any non provable beliefs - which is also clearly my opinion.
- thatcat 8y agoYoga with Adrienne is legit, thanks for the recommendation.
- bitexploder 8y agoOne breathing technique and why I think the some of the Yoga works is pretty simple. I am not sure if Yoga would reset the fight/flight response further. 4x4 breathing. It mimics deep sleep and presses the reset button on the sympathetic nervous system. This helps with anxiety a lot. The technique is simple. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds , breath out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds. I notice I do tend to do this through my nose, which probably helps. edit: meant to add this is also taught to Navy SEALS to help them in high stress situations. A lot of the training is to recognize when you are OBE (overcome by events) and how to deal with that to make clear decision.
- culot 8y agoOne method I like is breathing up into sinus for x seconds from one nostril whole holding other closed, then breathing out through the previously closed one. Then reverse it, ping ponging from one nostril to the other.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThat's a good one. When I did this first time, just trying to be aware of and to control my breath caused some anxiety but with some practice it got easier and now my breath is much more even. I am also able to bring my heart rate after exercise down quicker just by conscious breathing.
- graeme 8y agoThis technique appears to habe cured my physical anxiety. I learned of it six weeks ago, and had had such anxiety for two years post burnout. Now it's gone. I'm amazed. There were a couple other things that may have helped. I wrote down my main source of worry, and considered it in depth, worst case, odds, how to recover, and it became clear that it's not actually an urgent problem. Don't know which one had the greater effect, I did both at once. But I could feel the 4*4 breathing blocking a physical anxiety response in the middle of one happening.
- maxxxxx 8y ago"Don't know which one had the greater effect, I did both at once. But I could feel the 4*4 breathing blocking a physical anxiety response in the middle of one happening. " To me it feels the other way. I feel the breathing opens up something that allows me to release the anxiety. In the end it's probably the same just from a different viewpoint.
- perseusprime11 8y agoAre there any great books or videos that teacH Pranayama effectively?
- maxxxxx 8y agoIt's great to see that a focus on correct breathing is getting more acceptance. It seems the yogis were really onto something. Same with gut health. Ayurveda states there is a connection between gut health and general health and slowly mainstream medicine also seems to acknowledge that connection. There is also a lot of nonsense in Ayurveda and Yoga but I am happy that a lot of their good parts are getting more respect.
- dec0dedab0de 8y agoI like to think of the various ancient techniques as abstraction layers that were developed around a black box. In that there are definitely useful outcomes even if the traditional reasoning may be flawed.
- dwiel 8y agoIt's also possible the traditional reasoning is the same kind of abstraction layer developed around a similar black box, not necessarily most helpful to be taken literally.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mettamage 8y agoAre there books about pranayama and neuroscience that one can point me to? For meditation I found Search Inside Yourself to be a good book. I wish there was a book like that for yoga.
- ramblerman 8y agoPerhaps, but did you read the article. It merely tested that people recalled smells better when they didn't have a clipper put on their nose. The title is highly spurious.