What is All the Talk About the Breath in Yoga?
Think about it, to live we must breath. We can go a while without food, we can go several days without water but we cannot go more than a minute without air. That air is drawn into our bodies through our breath. From a physical stand point when our breathing is shallow we are depriving our bodies of oxygen. Oxygen is needed in the body for our systems to function. When we breath deeply our bodily systems simply function better. From a mental and emotional stand point, when we are stressed out or upset our breathing becomes shallow. If we stop and breathe deeply we instantly begin to calm our minds and feel better. Pranayama (one of the 8 limbs of yoga) is the art of breath expnasion and control. Through a variety of breathing techniques, yoga uses pranayama to help us more fully oxygentate and purify our bodies, to slow and calm our minds, to steady our emotions and to balance our energies.
