The Power of Breath

“Breathing is the first place, not the last, one should look when fatigue, disease, or other evidence of disordered energy presents itself.”

— Sheldon Hendler, MD, PhD

Let’s think about the rule of threes for a moment…

The average adult human being can survive 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, but only 3 MINUTES without air.

Based on this fact alone we can deduce how vitally important breathing is to our life. There's no doubt that breathing, something we’ve done from day 1, is often taken for granted.

But let’s take it a step further.

As I’m learning more about different spiritual systems and their approach to healing, a common thread amongst all of them is the importance of the breath.

But not just breathing as we know it.

Yogis, monks, shamans, and all healers understand that to control your breath--to gain mastery over it, is to tap into the elemental kingdoms, to gain command over the thoughts and emotions, and to ultimately transcend the physical planes of reality.

In today’s post I will share my 3 favorite breathing techniques and show you how I use them in my own daily practice.

Wave Breath

The wave breath is a breathing pattern that makes use of the abdomen, diaphragm, and lungs. If you have ever taken a deep breath in and out, you have performed this breath.

Begin by inhaling for 3-4 seconds, first filling your abdomen, then your diaphragm then your lungs. Exhale for the same amount of time.

Once you are comfortable with the wave breath, you can build upon it using breath retention, inhaling and exhaling for longer durations, yoga positions, visualization, mantra, and more.

I currently use this breath with a 7-second pattern regularly to deepen my journeys and for daily cleansing and clearing.

Ujjayi Pranayama

This form of breathing, also known as Ocean Breath and/or Victorious Breath is used to warm up the body, clear phlegm and even said to regulate thyroid hormone levels.

I was introduced to this form of pranayama via a yoga tutorial I bought many moons ago.

To perform this technique took a good amount of practice, but I started out by pretending to fog a mirror with my breath while keeping my mouth closed. Now I use this with asana (yoga positions) and during energy healing sessions.

Nadi shodhana

Nadi is a sanskrit word meaning channels—it describes the energy channels that exist throughout the body similar to meridians. Shodhana means purification. This particular pranayama is used to not only clear the energy channels but to bring balance to your entire physical and energetic systems.

Even before I knew the proper name and technique, I would use a form of this at work to stay awake and to clear my sinuses.

With this technique, you inhale into one nostril and exhale from the other nostril going back and forth for several cycles.

As with other pranayamas, this can be enhanced with mudra, visualization, and breath retention.

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So there you have it! These are my top 3 breathing exercises that I have found to be very useful.

What are your favorite breathing techniques?