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    Yoga and Breathing: Muscles Work Together

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    vksk1951
    1) The document discusses how breathing works, noting that the lungs have no ability to breathe on their own and rely on skeletal muscles like the diaphragm. The diaphragm contracts to pull the lungs downward and expand them to inhale air. 2) When the diaphragm contracts, it compresses the abdominal organs and pushes them outward, causing the abdomen to rise. On exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and the abdomen falls. 3) The goal of yoga is not acrobatic breath control but bringing awareness to the elements of breathing and allowing them to work without tension to breathe effortlessly. This opens the door to more advanced pranayama and meditation

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    Yoga and Breathing: Muscles Work Together

    Uploaded by

    vksk1951
    59 views2 pages
    1) The document discusses how breathing works, noting that the lungs have no ability to breathe on their own and rely on skeletal muscles like the diaphragm. The diaphragm contracts to pull the lungs downward and expand them to inhale air. 2) When the diaphragm contracts, it compresses the abdominal organs and pushes them outward, causing the abdomen to rise. On exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and the abdomen falls. 3) The goal of yoga is not acrobatic breath control but bringing awareness to the elements of breathing and allowing them to work without tension to breathe effortlessly. This opens the door to more advanced pranayama and meditation

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    Yoga

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    Yoga and Breathing

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    1) The document discusses how breathing works, noting that the lungs have no ability to breathe on their own and rely on skeletal muscles like the diaphragm. The diaphragm contracts to pull the lungs downward and expand them to inhale air. 2) When the diaphragm contracts, it compresses the abdominal organs and pushes them outward, causing the abdomen to rise. On exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and the abdomen falls. 3) The goal of yoga is not acrobatic breath control but bringing awareness to the elements of breathing and allowing them to work without tension to breathe effortlessly. This opens the door to more advanced pranayama and meditation

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    59 views2 pages

    Yoga and Breathing: Muscles Work Together

    Uploaded by

    vksk1951
    1) The document discusses how breathing works, noting that the lungs have no ability to breathe on their own and rely on skeletal muscles like the diaphragm. The diaphragm contracts to pull the lungs downward and expand them to inhale air. 2) When the diaphragm contracts, it compresses the abdominal organs and pushes them outward, causing the abdomen to rise. On exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and the abdomen falls. 3) The goal of yoga is not acrobatic breath control but bringing awareness to the elements of breathing and allowing them to work without tension to breathe effortlessly. This opens the door to more advanced pranayama and meditation

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Yoga and Breathing

    While the breath is necessary to live, yet the remarkable fact is that lungs cannot
    breathe. It would be awkward to note that the lungs are immobile. Embedded in the
    chest, the lungs are connected by tubing to the air around the body, but the lungs have
    no ability to force air through these tubes. They are guests at a banquet being served to
    them by the muscles of respiration.
    Accurately, we "breathe the lungs." Unlike other inner processes such as pumping
    blood and moving food through the body, breathing results from semi-conscious and
    habitual contractions of skeletal muscle that can be brought to conscious awareness.
    This awareness is the foundation for all Pranayama practices. How we accomplish
    breathing-our choice of the muscles we use to move the lungs and our ability to use
    these muscles skillfully-makes all the difference.
    Muscles Work Together
    Muscles produce movement by contracting. From the blinking of an eye to a high
    jump, our movements are the result of muscle contractions. Skeletal muscles work in
    coordination with one another.
    Process of Breathing
    Because the lungs are not muscles, they should be stretched to create an inward flow of
    air. The muscles that do this surround the lungs-top, sides, and bottom. The main
    muscle of breathing, the diaphragm, forms both the floor of the chamber containing the
    lungs and heart, and the ceiling for the abdominal organs. As the diaphragm contracts,
    the central portion, called the central tendon, is pulled down. This expands the lungs.
    The contraction of the diaphragm is purely an internal movement.
    Lying in the corpse pose makes it quite easy to feel the effects of diaphragmatic muscle
    contractions. When the diaphragm pulls the lungs downward, creating an inhalation, it
    compresses the organs of the abdomen and presses them outward against the
    abdominal wall. If there is little resistance from the muscles of this wall, the abdomen
    rises. It falls when the compression of the diaphragm is relaxed.
    Yogic manipulation
    An acrobatic ability to manipulate breath is not the goal of yoga. Yet the different
    forces involved in exhalation and inhalation do need to be brought to awareness and
    coordinated. That's what this article has really been about. By identifying each of the
    elements of breathing and allowing them to work without tension, you can develop an
    ability to breathe effortlessly.
    1

    During the practice of yoga postures, shift your awareness frequently to the flow of
    breath. When you can hold a posture comfortably, let the breath become your primary
    focus and explore the effect of the posture on respiratory muscles and on breath flow.
    The deep force of prana uses the vehicle of the breath to sustain our lives. Breathing is
    the act of moving air in and out of the lungs. It is quite natural to be able to guide the
    muscles of respiration-to know how they feel, how they work most effectively, and
    how respiratory tensions that create fatigue and nervous problems can be released.
    When this is accomplished, the door to Pranayama practices and meditation is opened.

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