The complete Yogic breath
It consists of :
- Belly breathing
- Chest breathing
- Clavicula breathing
Learn to control where you breath first by placing an object or a hand on the area of breath focus.
The technique :
- Stand or sit straight
- Inhale slowly filling the belly from the bottom
- while the abdomen slowly inwards you start filling the chest upwards and outwards
- After the chest is full you fill the upper part of the chest, the clavicula breathing.
- Pause for 1-2 seconds and exhale slowly before repeating
The benefits
It will be seen that by this method of breathing all parts of the respiratory apparatus is brought into action, and all parts of the lungs, including the most remote air cells, are exercised. The chest cavity is expanded in all directions. You will also notice that the Complete Breath is really a combination of Low, Mid and High Breaths, succeeding each other rapidly in the order given, in such a manner as to form one uniform, continuous, complete breath. You will find it quite a helpful to you if you will practice this breath before a large mirror, placing the hands lightly over the abdomen so that you may feel the movements. At the end of the inhalation, it is well to occasionally slightly elevate the shoulders, thus raising the collarbone and allowing the air to pass freely into the smaller upper lobe of the right lung, which place is sometimes the breeding place of tuberculosis. The Hindu‑Yogi Science of Breath At the beginning of practice, you may have more or less trouble in acquiring the Complete Breath, but a little practice will make perfect, and when you have once acquired it you will never willingly return to the old methods.