An Alison Miller Blog

The inhale is the part of the breath that symbolizes the ability to take in life - the ability to create, draw in new opportunities, new relationships, new challenges and goals. The inhale, naturally followed by the exhale, can be rythmically timed to create a healing response.

In the yoga practice, it is said, that the practice on the mat is a symbol of how we live our lives off the mat. If we are frustrated and judgemental with ourselves in our postures then it is likely we are judgemental and frustrated with ourselves off the mat. If we hold our breath on the mat it is a clue to that we may also hold on to things in our life. If we hold or grasp on the exhale it is likely we have difficulty letting life flow, allowing new things to come into our life and allowing the old to flow out. The breath is a very symbolic limb of the yoga practice. Imagine the inhale as being symbolic of your ability to take in new life, ideas, relationships, thinking patterns, and the unexpected. Now imagine the exhale as being a symbol of your ability to let go, to release, to destroy - negative thinking, old thought-forms that don’t serve your highest good, relationships -personal and professional - tensions and toxicities. For today, see if you can practice extending your exhale longer than your inhale in your breathing patterns. Consciously count the length of your inhale and your exhale. Now lengthen the exhale to allow the breath to exit two to three counts longer than the inhale. See if you can practice this exercise for 5 minutes every hour and then choose to lengthen this practice, up to 15 minutes or more, on days when you are needed extra helping letting go. Notice how easy it begins to be to let go and let if flow! As they say in Maui - relax and let go!

Yoga is a an amazing diagnostic tool. A regular practice of yoga can give you immediate feedback to the strengths, weaknesses, and muscular imbalances that are currently existing in your body. For instance, if you are asked to practice a shoulder bind (both shoulders pulled behind the back with hands clasping eachother), and you are unable to wrap both arms behind the shoulders, this gives you immediate feedback that the musculature in your shoulder girdle and/or rotator cuff are inhibited. This information is important for three main reasons. 1. Shoulders are designed to have range of motion where the shoulderblade can easily lift up and away from the back body giving the arms the freedom to move behind the back. 2. With regular awareness, into this area, you can begin to actively target a yoga sequence to release the shoulders BEFORE injury occurs. 3. To receive, on a regular basis, feedback about your body’s flexibility is empowering! When you understand where the body is limited you can change it!

Many times I hear students asking questions, such as, what is pranayama? How is pranayama distinguished from our regular breathing patterns? What is the best way to breathe? In this blog entry I will address these questions.

Prana - refers to a life force energy. Yama - is the active process of observation. Pranayama is the active process of observing and controlling the breath to create a desired response in the body. Prana - refers to life force energy that exists in all living matter. Have you ever noticed when you are standing next to the ocean sea how the air feels alive? It is actually the ions - the energy particles - that a causing the elating feeling in the body and mind. When we breathe in and out we are also actively taking in and releasing energy.

Pranayama has four parts to it: 1. Inhale 2. Exhale 3. Space at the top of the inhale 4. Space at the bottom of the exhale. Actively controlling these four parts of the breath are what we call a pranayama practice. In regular daily breathing patterns we, typically, do not focus on the space between the inhale and exhale, which are the key parts which distinguisha pranayama practice from regular daily breathing.

One of the best ways to breathe, to cause long term health, is to breathe from the bottom of the belly. Many times, due to habit, we breathe from our chest and miss the opportunity to deliver the most amount of oxygen to our system as possible. Try this now. Place your hands on your belly. As you inhale let your belly expand like a balloon. At the top of your inhale and the beginning of your exhale let the belly begin to deflate. As the belly deflates actively pull the navel towards the a back side of the spine. Do this ten times with the hands on the belly. After you have completed your tenth time remove your hands and now focus on steadying the breath so the length of the inhale matches the exhale. It has been said that the mind follows on the coat tails of the breath. Steady breathe equals a steady mind. Practice is the true teacher. Let your own experience guide you. I recommend starting a breathing practice with the initial aim to breathe from the belly and then focus on aligning the breathe to an even pace. Start this exercise, practicing 5 minutes a day- working up to 15 minutes a day.