Louise Fisichella...
Louise Fisichella has studied Comparitive Religions,Yoga, nutrition and health for over 30 years
Yoga Made Weezie
Back to Basics
Too often when we in the Western Hemisphere hear the word “yoga” we immediately think of some long drawn out exercise created in the Far East by some elderly, sheet wrapped, anorexic dude with a beard who spends his spare time twisting his body up into an unrecognizable pretzel shape for fun. So, it is no wonder that many people don’t think that they can also benefit from practicing yoga. You can and here’s how.
First, forget every thing you have ever seen or heard about the practice of yoga. We are going to adapt yoga to fit us instead of fitting us into yoga. Let’s start with breathing because it is the beginning of good health. Most Western Hemispheric people were not taught to breathe properly. We pant with shallow breaths thru our mouths into our lungs. When we were in elementary school the teachers taught us that the lungs were made to breathe through, but that isn’t the whole story! Our nose and the hair inside our nose is what we need to breathe thru. More often than not you will see people breathing thru their mouths. Wrong. The nose hair takes some of the dirt, dust, and particles out of the air before it makes its way into the rest of the body. The sinuses continue to filter and moisturize the air we breathe.
Next, the air travels deep into the lungs, with the movement of the diaphragm as long as we are breathing correctly. You see we don’t have to think about filling our lungs when we breathe, the body will do that for us. What we need to concentrate on is how to exercise our diaphragm. Filling up the lungs as we inhale, while extending our stomach muscle and then contracting them when we exhale. This forces the air into and out of our bodies as deeply as possible. Completely filling to capacity and evacuating the entirety of our breathing system, one breath at a time.
You will have to concentrate on your chest and make sure that the up and down motion you have come to associate with breathing stops almost entirely. When you breathe through the diaphragm, the abdominal wall muscles, along with the diaphragm, contract and extend with in and out motions. This has a two fold advantage, it makes you more aware of your abdominal muscles and you will evacuate more the stale air trapped inside. When we become more consciously aware of our stomach muscles they get toned. That’s right, just by thinking about a muscle we can help it stay toned! When we “forget” about our muscles they become atrophied, flabby, and weak. You can literally think your way to better health. When we breathe strictly with our chest some the air remains in our lungs depleted of oxygen. We want to take in as much oxygen as we can and emit as much carbon dioxide as possible. This can only be done when inhaling and exhaling at full capacity.
Your body will respond immediately. You will sit up straighter, get more energy per breath and feel more refreshed and energized. As with all bad habits this too will take time and work to change. You can learn how to breathe like a yogi and make the most of the oxygen in the air by following these simple suggestions right now. So, forget all you have heard about “yoga” and get prepared to become a Western Hemispheric Yogi by learning how to breathe like one.
In my next article I will be talking about stretching and how to do it in the Western Hemisphere ! Until then, keep breathin’!
Contact Louise at Go Figure Body Works
E-mail: Louise Fisichella
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