January 15, 2024 • 33 mins
Uncover the transformative secrets behind the breath in our latest episode where continue down the 8 limb path. Promising to elevate your understanding of yoga's approach to wellness, we reveal how mindful breathing can be the key to managing stress, nourishing the nervous system, and rediscovering your core self amidst the chaos of modern life. Let's break away from the shallow breaths that life's hustle often induces and instead, breathe our way to tranquility.
Embark on a thoughtful exploration of breath's power to harmonize the body and mind, as we navigate through yoga's transformative practices together. We shine a light on the oft-overlooked subtleties of breathwork that can soothe the fight or flight response, bringing a sense of safety and well-being that's essential in today's world. We will dive into the symbolism of breath in yoga, comparing it to a melody that guides us back to our spiritual essence, and we illuminate the vast therapeutic potential of pranayama for alleviating stress, depression, and anxiety.
Concluding this breath-centric symposium, we encourage you to make breathwork a staple in your daily routine to unlock the full spectrum of its benefits. As we discuss the interconnectedness of our breath with our body's systems, we delve into the practice of pranayama as a vital instrument for guiding life force and enhancing stamina. Join us in adopting simple yet powerful deep breathing practices, and feel free to reach out with your experiences or questions. Let's all breathe a little deeper and live a little brighter.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dan (00:15):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Become One
Living.
I'm Dan Boycitts, here with mywife, Joe, and today we're
talking about pranayama.
Let's see, it's one of thelimbs of yoga, Pranayama.
Joe, if I asked you what's thedifference between yoga, asana
(00:40):
and other types of exercise,what would that be?
Jody (00:47):
Well, my friends, that would be breathing the breath.
Yes, the breath.
The breath differentiatesexercise and other movements
from yoga and in the eight limbsof yoga.
For our new friends joining us,we have been talking about the
eight limbs of yoga and if yougo back and listen to our other
(01:09):
podcasts, you will be able tolisten and learn about all the
different limbs.
Dan (01:16):
Yama's.
The yama's the arrangementsthat set you up, understanding
of yourself and yourself in theworld and the world around you,
and guidelines on how to be, andwe move to asana and now
pranayama.
Jody (01:31):
So pranayama means life force, prana means life force,
yama means to extend your lifeforce.
Dan (01:42):
It's a compelling piece of yoga that brings together, it
awakens you, it calls for you tobe more mindful when you're
doing yoga, yoga practice, andit's like, in the grand scheme
of things, air or oxygen, youknow, to the human, is the water
(02:02):
, to the fish.
We need that.
Jody (02:07):
We need the oxygen, we need the breath Absolutely, and
I think about the system of yogaand the eight limbs of yoga.
We started at a gross level, anexternal level.
Pranayama is moving us towardsa more subtle layer of
(02:30):
understanding of self, and wecannot understand our true
nature, our nature in a moreeaseful place or our nature in
calmness, because most of us arestressed Now because of this
stress.
The stress impacts ourbreathing.
(02:52):
If we get on our yoga mat andwe breathe like we normally
breathe, we're actually inducinga stress response.
If the breath isn't used as afocal point, we're not using it
to learn more about ourselves,and now we're removing the goal
(03:16):
of yoga, which is to knowourselves.
So the breath is also soimportant because we live in
stressful times.
Dan (03:27):
And knowing yourself would require you to become more how
would I say that prefrontal.
So to self-realize or beself-aware requires you to get
out of the limbic part of thebrain.
Jody (03:44):
Yes, the limbic brain is the middle of the brain, and in
the middle of the brain is wecan call it a prehistoric or
some call it reptilian brain,where it's wired for safe and
unsafe.
That's about it.
It's wired to keep us alive andwith all the technology and all
(04:05):
the information and all thehustle and the bustle going on
in our world now we're inundatedwith information we don't
realize how much stress we'reactually under.
That alters our breathing andwhen the limbic system kicks in,
it actually creates a shallowbreathing.
Dan (04:27):
And shallow breath stresses the nervous system out because
you're altering, with shallowbreath, the ratio of oxygen to
carbon dioxide running throughyour bloodstream.
If you breathe shallow, there'sgoing to be more carbon dioxide
(04:48):
running through yourbloodstream, so less oxygen.
So just that alone will stressout your system.
How you get to shallowbreathing is other stressors
deadlines, responsibilities,work and it's not all negative
things that stress the body out.
If you were to hike way up highinto the mountains to an
(05:11):
elevation, the thin air is goingto be stressing your body out.
So it's not talking about likeyes, there's plenty of things
that are stressful in life, butit's not exclusively like.
What we're focused on we'rereally trying to get to the
point of pranayama is bringingawareness to your breath within
(05:34):
yoga asana.
Because the lofty goal ofsamadhi, or lesser than that,
the ability to meditate orlesser than that, the ability to
concentrate we need to getthese tools in order to start to
make our way towards thoseloftier goals.
Jody (05:50):
Absolutely.
It starts in the body.
We have to know ourselveswithin our body.
But if we're not using thebreath and the movement, we lose
that potential of going deeperinside.
The breath starts and themovement follows.
(06:11):
In yoga, You'll see or I haveseen over years people moving
quickly and the breath is not insync with the movement.
What happens is the body'smoving and the breath is
following that.
Instead, we want the breath tobe initiated first.
(06:35):
Let the breath start like aflow, and then we step into the
current of the breath.
Dan (06:44):
Yeah, the last five years or so, we've witnessed Asana be
hijacked, to be understoodessentially as yoga, as being an
exercise.
You know, we'd like to Reel itin a little bit and offer,
(07:04):
continue to offer in this, thisepisode, a little deeper
understanding of how importantthe breath is when you're doing
Asana and how that will bringyou into a more mindful space.
And then there's nothing wrongwith exercise, right?
But when you exercise, you say,alright, I'm gonna run this
(07:24):
amount of time or I'm gonna runthis amount of mileage in this
amount of time.
So what you're challengingyourself to do is different than
mindfulness.
It's trying to challenge yourheart or, you know, strengthen
your heart or strengthen yourmuscles, or Go back to the goal.
Jody (07:41):
There's a framework of yoga.
The eight limbs are a logical,clear framework that bring you
more in touch with yourself andthe self.
Before Stuff happened to you,the stuff before the stress,
before the injuries, before thedis ease, before the programming
that we've learned.
Dan (08:03):
Emotional programming can challenge, stress you out Right
from early on.
You know programming from fromour families and different
things were told to do or not todo can stress us out is
essentially Guiding you awayfrom your true nature.
Jody (08:22):
Yes, With the breath also.
We want to use the breath inyoga to calm the nervous system
down so we can inhabit our body,but also when stressful things
happen.
Stressful things happen, we cancontrol our breathing or guide
our breathing back to calmness.
Dan (08:45):
Sure a simple challenge I've found that was offered to
me was just simply making yourexhales Just any any bit longer
than your inhale will help tobegin to bring calm to your
nervous system.
Jody (09:05):
Yes right.
So if you're moving your bodyand focusing on the breath, you
can be moving your body and becalm yes, the other aspect of
breathing with Asana is Called abody up experience, and body up
(09:25):
means when you're moving yourbody and breathing, you actually
communicate to your brain andtell your brain.
Hmm, if Jodi is movingEasefully and her breath is a
little longer and slower, shemust be safe right now.
Dan (09:48):
Your brain is getting that message.
Jody (09:49):
Yes, and now I go into a relaxation state, rest and
digest, we call it, or downregulation, which means I'm no
longer Experiencing the stressresponse, and the stress
response can be dilated pupils,higher heart rate, higher blood
pressure, lack of digestionsomething that is missed in a
(10:18):
stress response.
Digestion shuts off almostAutomatically.
When we're in fight or flight,you don't need to be digesting
your food.
When somebody is coming to Hurtyou or when you feel threatened
, you wouldn't stand there andsay excuse me, I need to digest
my food.
(10:38):
Just give me 20.
The body says what's moreimportant?
Let me get Jodi safe.
So by yoga with breath, we cantell our bodies that we are safe
, just through Longer breath.
(10:58):
This is important, my friends.
I want to share.
I don't want you starting ifyou breathe three beats, meaning
inhale one Mississippi, inhaleto Mississippi, inhale three.
Or we sometimes go one ohm, twoohm, three ohm.
Okay, if you count your breathsand you only breathe three on
(11:21):
the in, three on the out, don'tgo to eight.
Eight can Retraumatize orstress out a body.
It's too much.
All at once go to four, then goto five.
The goal is, pranayama isactually a practice.
It is something that needs tobe done repeatedly to stretch
(11:45):
the lungs out, because our lungsactually shrink and Almost the
high, they get dehydrated andthey lose lubrication from the
lack of breathing.
So to go from three to eight,which I have tried, I'm one of
those, or I was one of thosework.
Yeah, I was one of those type ayogis, if I'm gonna meditate.
(12:06):
I'm gonna breathe.
Oh yeah, I was at the ashram.
I'm sitting cross-legged.
It's poor.
Dan (12:11):
Yeah.
Jody (12:13):
I fell back and so I hit somebody.
Thank god I didn't hit my headand the person was like, oh my
god, you're right.
And I sat back up and I'm likeI'm gonna get this ride and I
thought all days.
Yes, that was the old days andwhat I realized in that whole
experience.
The gift was what was I eventrying to do?
(12:34):
Here I am trying to get thebreath right.
The breath is an experience,experience.
The breath is the music to yoursoul when we're in yoga and if
you follow your breath in andout, that's the music to follow.
That music leads you home toyourself, not out to what the
(12:59):
pose looks like or I'm sure allmy friends listening have heard
this line, the final expressionof the pose Nobody cares what
your pose looks like.
Dan (13:09):
No, this is sweet.
You just are introducing theidea of you know Pratyahara or
drawing in, rather than beingdistracted by outward whether
it's a smell or other sound evenif it's not music, you know it
could be the fire truck going byreally loud noise.
(13:32):
Not allowing or concentratinginward rather than being
distracted by those types ofthings.
Jody (13:40):
Before we even get there, we have to use the breath to
start to prepare us for whenthere's nothing there.
Let me explain.
The body is gross, it's dense,it's thick.
Dan (13:55):
Versus our spirit.
Jody (13:56):
Versus our breath.
Dan (13:58):
Versus our breath.
Jody (13:59):
Yeah, definitely our spirit.
My husband loves to go right tospirit and soul.
He's such a soul man.
He's trying to keep him herewith us so we can stay on topic.
Stay with me, dan.
He's in the aether sometimes,but I want to come back to this,
that.
So you have this body, this big, dense skin suit.
Dan (14:24):
Bones.
Jody (14:25):
Bones that you live in this whole time here on this
planet.
The breath initiates themovement.
The breath is life.
That's prana.
When your breath moves,oxygenates your body.
Within the oxygen the bloodflows better the synovial fluid,
the cerebral, spinal fluid.
(14:46):
If we can get in touch with ourbreath, our breath is the most
gross, subtle thing.
I don't know if that makessense.
Dan (14:56):
That makes perfect sense.
Jody (14:58):
Well, maybe to our friends it might seem tricky.
What I mean is energy we talkabout.
You can't see it and you haveto get really quiet and
sensitive to feel it.
But the breath you can feel andit's the last thing that that
is that dense to engage and toplay with before we go into
(15:21):
pratyahara, and the rest of thelimbs.
You've got to get your breathright.
Dan (15:26):
Yeah, that symbolism of Krishna and the flute, you know,
allowing the breath to movethrough you as the instrument,
learning how it moves your ribcage and learning how deep you
can breathe and how full of lungcapacity you can get and
(15:46):
achieve, and how nourishing thatis.
Jody (15:50):
And Dan is a body worker If you're just joining us or new
to us.
He works on numerous bodies for25 years or so and he'll tell
me I was holding someone for 60minutes before they even took a
breath.
Dan (16:11):
That's right.
Before their breath deepened.
Jody (16:18):
Because they were probably in a stress response.
Why or how we don't know, butwhen we're stressed we don't
breathe fully, and the concernor the challenge with that is if
you breathe shallow, shallowbreathing tells the brain you're
(16:39):
not safe.
Stresses you out, yes, and somepeople become very depressed
because they don't get enoughoxygen and some people actually
become very anxious because theycan't get enough oxygen in
their body.
That's why now the new trend isbreath work.
It's such a trend and it's kindof it could be kind of
(17:02):
dangerous to.
I know my friends people arenot going to like when I shared
some of these things.
Dan (17:10):
Well, they don't like when you share about Asana either,
because it's like you reallyhave to get in the game and do
it regularly to start to haveenough experience with your own
body to deepen that.
Jody (17:23):
Yes, that's it.
That's all I was going to sayis we want a quick fix.
People go into something and itfeels good, but it's cathartic.
But the thing is you have topractice the breathing so it
becomes yours, so you own it,you live it.
Dan (17:45):
Yeah, you can't think your way into this.
Jody (17:49):
Some people reverse breathe and I'll share a little
about that for all my friendslistening.
Take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath in andnotice what happened to your
body when you inhaled.
Did your chest lift, did yourbelly pull in Notice?
(18:12):
So try it again.
Just take a nice deep breath inand notice if you pulled up.
If you pulled up, that's calledreverse breathing.
That's when the diaphragm movesup.
Or perhaps the diaphragm isstuck due to years of not
breathing deeply because it's amuscle and the psoas are hip
(18:38):
flexors.
These muscles, called the hipflexors, they attach into our
inner groin, our inner thigh,and goes all the way up into our
spine.
Where our diaphragm connectsinto our spine is where our hip
flexors are.
Dan (18:57):
Yeah, the hip flexors share fibers with the diaphragm, as
do all of the visceral organsshare fibers with the diaphragm.
Jody (19:06):
Wow.
Dan (19:08):
That sounds important.
Jody (19:09):
Yes, so breathing then reverse.
Breathing or lack of breathimpacts communication to your
organs and can tighten your hipflexors.
Yeah, and that's how you gettight hip flexors from sitting
can pull on the diaphragm anddecrease your ability to take a
(19:31):
full breath in.
Dan (19:33):
And if you are being challenged with your breath and
finding that you have shortbreath and what I witness is
people say I'm anxious.
I feel anxious all the time,but that's not truly who they
are and that's not truly theirdemeanor and it's not truly
(19:55):
their personality.
If they could get connectedwith the idea of deepening their
breath on a regular basis, theywill find that they're not the
anxious person that they'rewitnessing or experiencing or
perceiving that they are in amoment of being in high stress.
This is yoga and the breathwork with asana, this great tool
(20:18):
and doorway in to beginning toget to know yourself and bring
some balance to a very stressfulwhat could be a stressful life.
Jody (20:29):
Pranayama regulates the impulses of the nervous system
so that you can build a capacityto stay focused and to return
to balance.
So Pranayama regulates thenervous system.
I think of it as a tonic, andwhen you are moving and doing
(20:56):
asana and the breath is movingwith it, it becomes a dance not
a dance in a way of moving onyour breath, if that- Not what
has become to be known asvinyasa.
Yes, not inhale, exhale, inhale,exhale.
Not that it could be a choppiertransition, but if you're
(21:19):
breathing with that transition,you're doing yoga.
This concept of flow in yoga orit has to be graceful or smooth
.
I'm not sure where that came inBe.
Dan (21:33):
Yeah, I mean, I love your classes when you teach and it
could be like three couplings ofposes and with exploration and
mindfulness to the breath.
You've got a wonderful I mean aclass, but you've got a
wonderful practice that gets youall you need if you're gonna
(21:54):
really be with it.
Yes, you don't need to do a lot.
Jody (22:02):
No, no, you don't need to do a lot, and that's why your
breath is one aspect in yogathat is the most overlooked.
There's not that much emphasisSometimes.
There's emphasis on ujjayi, onthis type of breath.
That's what we'll share aboutujjayi at one point.
(22:25):
But staying just on breath, ingeneral, the breath is to me
more important than the asana,because if I'm only doing asana,
I'm in my head and I'm tryingto get it right.
But once I add the breath inwith the focus, I'm feeling my
(22:46):
way in.
And if we can feel our way intoa pose with our breath, we can
feel restriction, softness,awareness.
We can feel things that wecan't think.
And if we start to feelsomething different, dan, then
(23:08):
maybe we get insight that ourlife could be different.
Dan (23:13):
Then you're doing yoga.
Yes, I mean, you're making methink of people are racing to
get to yoga class.
If you find that you'resqueezing it in, maybe rethink
it.
If you're on a mission to domore than three classes a week,
(23:36):
let's say, but you're rushingthere and you've got plans after
the class, maybe not do that.
Maybe try to find one classthat really suits your schedule,
that you can show up a littlebit early.
You can not rush out becauseit's like not something that is
(24:01):
squeezed in If you really wantto enjoy or get to appreciate or
get to know the depth that thispractice can bring to you.
Jody (24:13):
Mindfulness.
Breathing in yoga creates apause and in that pause there's
a slowing down.
That's when the aha momentscome in.
If you get on your mat and youdo your practice like you live
your life, you ain't never goingto change.
You will continually repeat thecycles you're in.
(24:36):
I don't want to assume yourcycles bad, but I've had bad
cycles Habits, addictions,whatever you would like to call
them.
But when we're in them andmomentum or the momentum of life
happens, we can't see clearly.
The breath is a quick way, atapas, a fire, a burning.
(25:00):
A quick way to clear the mindis to work the breath, deep
breath in, deep breath out.
Do that just a few times andnow you get to see clearly.
The goal is to see clearly andwe cannot do that if we're
(25:21):
rushing and if our breath issecondary and the asana is more
important.
The breath also helps you tosustain the pose, to build
stamina in the uncomfortability.
So if you're not breathing orholding some poses and trying to
breathe through the pose withthe pose, you're not building
(25:45):
sustainability, which is notgoing to add to your capacity to
regulate stress.
You'll keep living that sameloop and that same cycle.
So the breath and just a littleslowing down, not much, but
enough to make the breath moreimportant than the movement, or
(26:06):
else you're doing exercise.
Dan (26:09):
Don't worry about jumping up and jumping back.
Don't worry about perfectingcrow.
Jody (26:17):
Unless, that's where you are.
Dan (26:19):
Unless that's where you are , yeah.
Jody (26:22):
Right, with breath, we go past, like Dan just did a little
while ago.
Right, if you're just listeningor joining us, my husband,
we're talking about breath andhe's already on the soul.
But that's what happens in yoga.
You take a yoga class and theteacher says, oh, we're doing
crow, it's your second class.
(26:43):
We bypass the progression.
There is a progression in yoga.
That's why it's called apractice, and if any of you have
ever done something that youwanted to learn, you probably
know this already.
You cannot skip steps becausethere'll be holes in what you're
(27:07):
learning.
You can say I want this, I'mjust going to go there and think
that you've mastered somethingyou have to do.
The progression and theprogression is are you even in
your body?
Okay, no, maybe, yes, all right, now that I'm making friends
with my body.
Where is your breath?
That is your life force.
(27:28):
If you learn how to use yourbreath, you can calm your heart
rate, you can lower your bloodpressure, you can increase
digestion and absorption, youcan have better sleep.
The benefits are endlessbecause of the oxygen in our
(27:51):
body.
Our body longs for oxygen andoxygen is life.
That's why it's called prana,and if you're not breathing,
perhaps, maybe you're afraid totake in life because you feel
overwhelmed.
It could be that simple.
Dan (28:10):
Sure, I mean, it's a perfect moment just to revisit.
The breath to a human is thewater to the fish.
We take it for granted.
But when you're little or whenyou're stressed out, when
somebody scares you, the veryfirst thing that you do is you
(28:31):
go and you hold your breath.
That's the response, and that'sthe response, in a lesser
degree, to stress over time.
Less breath, less oxygen in thebloodstream, less oxygen going
to the head, the brain, and itfeeds the vicious cycle of the
(28:54):
human body being stressed out.
So it's really, reallyimportant to get a handle on the
breath and in this framework,in this paradigm, we're talking
about getting the breathcoordinated with your movement.
Jody (29:08):
Yeah, I have experienced complex trauma, which means
multiple traumas, and I neverfelt I could take a deep breath
in, and a part of me was alwaysafraid to take a deep breath in
(29:30):
which I never knew until I knewI wasn't breathing.
I don't know if that makessense, my friends.
Dan (29:35):
I didn't know, I didn't tell you?
Jody (29:36):
no, yeah, I didn't know.
I wasn't breathing until I knewand I was away for a month
training Think it was Yin withSarah Powers years ago, and this
young girl said you're notbreathing, I wanna work on your
diaphragm.
And I looked at her and I saidwork on my diaphragm, how are
you gonna do that?
Well, she showed me and she wasworking under my ribs, but up
(30:02):
under my ribs and pulling itdown and like dough, kneading it
and kneading it, and it wasexcruciating.
And after I could breathe andit was in that moment I realized
I was stuck in a startledresponse.
Dan (30:20):
For who knows how long.
Jody (30:22):
That's the response Dan was saying when you get shocked,
now think about this If youlive in New Jersey, where we do,
it's very stressful.
We live right outside New Yorkand traffic and driving in New
Jersey is insane.
I don't know how many times Igo.
Oh my God, they almost hit me.
(30:43):
Oh my God.
Now that might not seem like alot, but that over time can be
considered trauma.
The buildup of it can impactnot breathing because you're in
shock.
Please take time to honor andnourish yourself daily, because
(31:07):
there's little stressors aroundus that we don't know that cause
us to hold our breath becausewe're afraid or we don't want to
say something or we'resurprised at something.
It alters our breath and overtime, if we don't start
breathing fully, it gets stuckthat way and then we wake up
(31:29):
with numerous dis-eases becausethe body becomes acidic.
Breathing, oxygenating the body, adds alkalinity.
When the body doesn't getbreath or doesn't push out the
CO2, acidity can occur anddisease can happen.
Dan (31:58):
So, gosh, did we scratch the surface?
We didn't even scratch thesurface, so Well, we do want to
get through a couple more of thelimbs, right?
So stay tuned.
We're gonna try to at leastgive an introduction.
Jody (32:14):
To all of the limbs.
And before we end, my friends,I encourage you take a deep
breath.
Take a deep breath in, take inlife, let it feed you, let it
nourish you, imagine it beingwarm and toasty, smelling sweet,
(32:36):
and then exhale it all out aslong and as deep as you can.
Keep letting the exhale go andtrust that the inhale will
return.
And do that even once a day,once at night or once in the
morning, and just start topractice now.
Don't wait just one breath, notechniques, just a deep breath
(33:02):
in and a deep breath out, tostart to guide your life force
and build your stamina.
Pranayama is your breath andit's the music in your heart.
May you sing it and breathe it.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
(33:24):
You can find us at Become OneLiving on Instagram and please
email us any questions or topicsthat you would like us to share
on, if we can, atBecomeOneLiving at gmailcom.
Thank you again.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Become One
Living.
I'm Dan Boycitts, here with mywife, Joe, and today we're
talking about pranayama.
Let's see, it's one of thelimbs of yoga, Pranayama.
Joe, if I asked you what's thedifference between yoga, asana
(00:40):
and other types of exercise,what would that be?
Jody (00:47):
Well, my friends, that would be breathing the breath.
Yes, the breath.
The breath differentiatesexercise and other movements
from yoga and in the eight limbsof yoga.
For our new friends joining us,we have been talking about the
eight limbs of yoga and if yougo back and listen to our other
(01:09):
podcasts, you will be able tolisten and learn about all the
different limbs.
Dan (01:16):
Yama's.
The yama's the arrangementsthat set you up, understanding
of yourself and yourself in theworld and the world around you,
and guidelines on how to be, andwe move to asana and now
pranayama.
Jody (01:31):
So pranayama means life force, prana means life force,
yama means to extend your lifeforce.
Dan (01:42):
It's a compelling piece of yoga that brings together, it
awakens you, it calls for you tobe more mindful when you're
doing yoga, yoga practice, andit's like, in the grand scheme
of things, air or oxygen, youknow, to the human, is the water
(02:02):
, to the fish.
We need that.
Jody (02:07):
We need the oxygen, we need the breath Absolutely, and
I think about the system of yogaand the eight limbs of yoga.
We started at a gross level, anexternal level.
Pranayama is moving us towardsa more subtle layer of
(02:30):
understanding of self, and wecannot understand our true
nature, our nature in a moreeaseful place or our nature in
calmness, because most of us arestressed Now because of this
stress.
The stress impacts ourbreathing.
(02:52):
If we get on our yoga mat andwe breathe like we normally
breathe, we're actually inducinga stress response.
If the breath isn't used as afocal point, we're not using it
to learn more about ourselves,and now we're removing the goal
(03:16):
of yoga, which is to knowourselves.
So the breath is also soimportant because we live in
stressful times.
Dan (03:27):
And knowing yourself would require you to become more how
would I say that prefrontal.
So to self-realize or beself-aware requires you to get
out of the limbic part of thebrain.
Jody (03:44):
Yes, the limbic brain is the middle of the brain, and in
the middle of the brain is wecan call it a prehistoric or
some call it reptilian brain,where it's wired for safe and
unsafe.
That's about it.
It's wired to keep us alive andwith all the technology and all
(04:05):
the information and all thehustle and the bustle going on
in our world now we're inundatedwith information we don't
realize how much stress we'reactually under.
That alters our breathing andwhen the limbic system kicks in,
it actually creates a shallowbreathing.
Dan (04:27):
And shallow breath stresses the nervous system out because
you're altering, with shallowbreath, the ratio of oxygen to
carbon dioxide running throughyour bloodstream.
If you breathe shallow, there'sgoing to be more carbon dioxide
(04:48):
running through yourbloodstream, so less oxygen.
So just that alone will stressout your system.
How you get to shallowbreathing is other stressors
deadlines, responsibilities,work and it's not all negative
things that stress the body out.
If you were to hike way up highinto the mountains to an
(05:11):
elevation, the thin air is goingto be stressing your body out.
So it's not talking about likeyes, there's plenty of things
that are stressful in life, butit's not exclusively like.
What we're focused on we'rereally trying to get to the
point of pranayama is bringingawareness to your breath within
(05:34):
yoga asana.
Because the lofty goal ofsamadhi, or lesser than that,
the ability to meditate orlesser than that, the ability to
concentrate we need to getthese tools in order to start to
make our way towards thoseloftier goals.
Jody (05:50):
Absolutely.
It starts in the body.
We have to know ourselveswithin our body.
But if we're not using thebreath and the movement, we lose
that potential of going deeperinside.
The breath starts and themovement follows.
(06:11):
In yoga, You'll see or I haveseen over years people moving
quickly and the breath is not insync with the movement.
What happens is the body'smoving and the breath is
following that.
Instead, we want the breath tobe initiated first.
(06:35):
Let the breath start like aflow, and then we step into the
current of the breath.
Dan (06:44):
Yeah, the last five years or so, we've witnessed Asana be
hijacked, to be understoodessentially as yoga, as being an
exercise.
You know, we'd like to Reel itin a little bit and offer,
(07:04):
continue to offer in this, thisepisode, a little deeper
understanding of how importantthe breath is when you're doing
Asana and how that will bringyou into a more mindful space.
And then there's nothing wrongwith exercise, right?
But when you exercise, you say,alright, I'm gonna run this
(07:24):
amount of time or I'm gonna runthis amount of mileage in this
amount of time.
So what you're challengingyourself to do is different than
mindfulness.
It's trying to challenge yourheart or, you know, strengthen
your heart or strengthen yourmuscles, or Go back to the goal.
Jody (07:41):
There's a framework of yoga.
The eight limbs are a logical,clear framework that bring you
more in touch with yourself andthe self.
Before Stuff happened to you,the stuff before the stress,
before the injuries, before thedis ease, before the programming
that we've learned.
Dan (08:03):
Emotional programming can challenge, stress you out Right
from early on.
You know programming from fromour families and different
things were told to do or not todo can stress us out is
essentially Guiding you awayfrom your true nature.
Jody (08:22):
Yes, With the breath also.
We want to use the breath inyoga to calm the nervous system
down so we can inhabit our body,but also when stressful things
happen.
Stressful things happen, we cancontrol our breathing or guide
our breathing back to calmness.
Dan (08:45):
Sure a simple challenge I've found that was offered to
me was just simply making yourexhales Just any any bit longer
than your inhale will help tobegin to bring calm to your
nervous system.
Jody (09:05):
Yes right.
So if you're moving your bodyand focusing on the breath, you
can be moving your body and becalm yes, the other aspect of
breathing with Asana is Called abody up experience, and body up
(09:25):
means when you're moving yourbody and breathing, you actually
communicate to your brain andtell your brain.
Hmm, if Jodi is movingEasefully and her breath is a
little longer and slower, shemust be safe right now.
Dan (09:48):
Your brain is getting that message.
Jody (09:49):
Yes, and now I go into a relaxation state, rest and
digest, we call it, or downregulation, which means I'm no
longer Experiencing the stressresponse, and the stress
response can be dilated pupils,higher heart rate, higher blood
pressure, lack of digestionsomething that is missed in a
(10:18):
stress response.
Digestion shuts off almostAutomatically.
When we're in fight or flight,you don't need to be digesting
your food.
When somebody is coming to Hurtyou or when you feel threatened
, you wouldn't stand there andsay excuse me, I need to digest
my food.
(10:38):
Just give me 20.
The body says what's moreimportant?
Let me get Jodi safe.
So by yoga with breath, we cantell our bodies that we are safe
, just through Longer breath.
(10:58):
This is important, my friends.
I want to share.
I don't want you starting ifyou breathe three beats, meaning
inhale one Mississippi, inhaleto Mississippi, inhale three.
Or we sometimes go one ohm, twoohm, three ohm.
Okay, if you count your breathsand you only breathe three on
(11:21):
the in, three on the out, don'tgo to eight.
Eight can Retraumatize orstress out a body.
It's too much.
All at once go to four, then goto five.
The goal is, pranayama isactually a practice.
It is something that needs tobe done repeatedly to stretch
(11:45):
the lungs out, because our lungsactually shrink and Almost the
high, they get dehydrated andthey lose lubrication from the
lack of breathing.
So to go from three to eight,which I have tried, I'm one of
those, or I was one of thosework.
Yeah, I was one of those type ayogis, if I'm gonna meditate.
(12:06):
I'm gonna breathe.
Oh yeah, I was at the ashram.
I'm sitting cross-legged.
It's poor.
Dan (12:11):
Yeah.
Jody (12:13):
I fell back and so I hit somebody.
Thank god I didn't hit my headand the person was like, oh my
god, you're right.
And I sat back up and I'm likeI'm gonna get this ride and I
thought all days.
Yes, that was the old days andwhat I realized in that whole
experience.
The gift was what was I eventrying to do?
(12:34):
Here I am trying to get thebreath right.
The breath is an experience,experience.
The breath is the music to yoursoul when we're in yoga and if
you follow your breath in andout, that's the music to follow.
That music leads you home toyourself, not out to what the
(12:59):
pose looks like or I'm sure allmy friends listening have heard
this line, the final expressionof the pose Nobody cares what
your pose looks like.
Dan (13:09):
No, this is sweet.
You just are introducing theidea of you know Pratyahara or
drawing in, rather than beingdistracted by outward whether
it's a smell or other sound evenif it's not music, you know it
could be the fire truck going byreally loud noise.
(13:32):
Not allowing or concentratinginward rather than being
distracted by those types ofthings.
Jody (13:40):
Before we even get there, we have to use the breath to
start to prepare us for whenthere's nothing there.
Let me explain.
The body is gross, it's dense,it's thick.
Dan (13:55):
Versus our spirit.
Jody (13:56):
Versus our breath.
Dan (13:58):
Versus our breath.
Jody (13:59):
Yeah, definitely our spirit.
My husband loves to go right tospirit and soul.
He's such a soul man.
He's trying to keep him herewith us so we can stay on topic.
Stay with me, dan.
He's in the aether sometimes,but I want to come back to this,
that.
So you have this body, this big, dense skin suit.
Dan (14:24):
Bones.
Jody (14:25):
Bones that you live in this whole time here on this
planet.
The breath initiates themovement.
The breath is life.
That's prana.
When your breath moves,oxygenates your body.
Within the oxygen the bloodflows better the synovial fluid,
the cerebral, spinal fluid.
(14:46):
If we can get in touch with ourbreath, our breath is the most
gross, subtle thing.
I don't know if that makessense.
Dan (14:56):
That makes perfect sense.
Jody (14:58):
Well, maybe to our friends it might seem tricky.
What I mean is energy we talkabout.
You can't see it and you haveto get really quiet and
sensitive to feel it.
But the breath you can feel andit's the last thing that that
is that dense to engage and toplay with before we go into
(15:21):
pratyahara, and the rest of thelimbs.
You've got to get your breathright.
Dan (15:26):
Yeah, that symbolism of Krishna and the flute, you know,
allowing the breath to movethrough you as the instrument,
learning how it moves your ribcage and learning how deep you
can breathe and how full of lungcapacity you can get and
(15:46):
achieve, and how nourishing thatis.
Jody (15:50):
And Dan is a body worker If you're just joining us or new
to us.
He works on numerous bodies for25 years or so and he'll tell
me I was holding someone for 60minutes before they even took a
breath.
Dan (16:11):
That's right.
Before their breath deepened.
Jody (16:18):
Because they were probably in a stress response.
Why or how we don't know, butwhen we're stressed we don't
breathe fully, and the concernor the challenge with that is if
you breathe shallow, shallowbreathing tells the brain you're
(16:39):
not safe.
Stresses you out, yes, and somepeople become very depressed
because they don't get enoughoxygen and some people actually
become very anxious because theycan't get enough oxygen in
their body.
That's why now the new trend isbreath work.
It's such a trend and it's kindof it could be kind of
(17:02):
dangerous to.
I know my friends people arenot going to like when I shared
some of these things.
Dan (17:10):
Well, they don't like when you share about Asana either,
because it's like you reallyhave to get in the game and do
it regularly to start to haveenough experience with your own
body to deepen that.
Jody (17:23):
Yes, that's it.
That's all I was going to sayis we want a quick fix.
People go into something and itfeels good, but it's cathartic.
But the thing is you have topractice the breathing so it
becomes yours, so you own it,you live it.
Dan (17:45):
Yeah, you can't think your way into this.
Jody (17:49):
Some people reverse breathe and I'll share a little
about that for all my friendslistening.
Take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath in andnotice what happened to your
body when you inhaled.
Did your chest lift, did yourbelly pull in Notice?
(18:12):
So try it again.
Just take a nice deep breath inand notice if you pulled up.
If you pulled up, that's calledreverse breathing.
That's when the diaphragm movesup.
Or perhaps the diaphragm isstuck due to years of not
breathing deeply because it's amuscle and the psoas are hip
(18:38):
flexors.
These muscles, called the hipflexors, they attach into our
inner groin, our inner thigh,and goes all the way up into our
spine.
Where our diaphragm connectsinto our spine is where our hip
flexors are.
Dan (18:57):
Yeah, the hip flexors share fibers with the diaphragm, as
do all of the visceral organsshare fibers with the diaphragm.
Jody (19:06):
Wow.
Dan (19:08):
That sounds important.
Jody (19:09):
Yes, so breathing then reverse.
Breathing or lack of breathimpacts communication to your
organs and can tighten your hipflexors.
Yeah, and that's how you gettight hip flexors from sitting
can pull on the diaphragm anddecrease your ability to take a
(19:31):
full breath in.
Dan (19:33):
And if you are being challenged with your breath and
finding that you have shortbreath and what I witness is
people say I'm anxious.
I feel anxious all the time,but that's not truly who they
are and that's not truly theirdemeanor and it's not truly
(19:55):
their personality.
If they could get connectedwith the idea of deepening their
breath on a regular basis, theywill find that they're not the
anxious person that they'rewitnessing or experiencing or
perceiving that they are in amoment of being in high stress.
This is yoga and the breathwork with asana, this great tool
(20:18):
and doorway in to beginning toget to know yourself and bring
some balance to a very stressfulwhat could be a stressful life.
Jody (20:29):
Pranayama regulates the impulses of the nervous system
so that you can build a capacityto stay focused and to return
to balance.
So Pranayama regulates thenervous system.
I think of it as a tonic, andwhen you are moving and doing
(20:56):
asana and the breath is movingwith it, it becomes a dance not
a dance in a way of moving onyour breath, if that- Not what
has become to be known asvinyasa.
Yes, not inhale, exhale, inhale,exhale.
Not that it could be a choppiertransition, but if you're
(21:19):
breathing with that transition,you're doing yoga.
This concept of flow in yoga orit has to be graceful or smooth
.
I'm not sure where that came inBe.
Dan (21:33):
Yeah, I mean, I love your classes when you teach and it
could be like three couplings ofposes and with exploration and
mindfulness to the breath.
You've got a wonderful I mean aclass, but you've got a
wonderful practice that gets youall you need if you're gonna
(21:54):
really be with it.
Yes, you don't need to do a lot.
Jody (22:02):
No, no, you don't need to do a lot, and that's why your
breath is one aspect in yogathat is the most overlooked.
There's not that much emphasisSometimes.
There's emphasis on ujjayi, onthis type of breath.
That's what we'll share aboutujjayi at one point.
(22:25):
But staying just on breath, ingeneral, the breath is to me
more important than the asana,because if I'm only doing asana,
I'm in my head and I'm tryingto get it right.
But once I add the breath inwith the focus, I'm feeling my
(22:46):
way in.
And if we can feel our way intoa pose with our breath, we can
feel restriction, softness,awareness.
We can feel things that wecan't think.
And if we start to feelsomething different, dan, then
(23:08):
maybe we get insight that ourlife could be different.
Dan (23:13):
Then you're doing yoga.
Yes, I mean, you're making methink of people are racing to
get to yoga class.
If you find that you'resqueezing it in, maybe rethink
it.
If you're on a mission to domore than three classes a week,
(23:36):
let's say, but you're rushingthere and you've got plans after
the class, maybe not do that.
Maybe try to find one classthat really suits your schedule,
that you can show up a littlebit early.
You can not rush out becauseit's like not something that is
(24:01):
squeezed in If you really wantto enjoy or get to appreciate or
get to know the depth that thispractice can bring to you.
Jody (24:13):
Mindfulness.
Breathing in yoga creates apause and in that pause there's
a slowing down.
That's when the aha momentscome in.
If you get on your mat and youdo your practice like you live
your life, you ain't never goingto change.
You will continually repeat thecycles you're in.
(24:36):
I don't want to assume yourcycles bad, but I've had bad
cycles Habits, addictions,whatever you would like to call
them.
But when we're in them andmomentum or the momentum of life
happens, we can't see clearly.
The breath is a quick way, atapas, a fire, a burning.
(25:00):
A quick way to clear the mindis to work the breath, deep
breath in, deep breath out.
Do that just a few times andnow you get to see clearly.
The goal is to see clearly andwe cannot do that if we're
(25:21):
rushing and if our breath issecondary and the asana is more
important.
The breath also helps you tosustain the pose, to build
stamina in the uncomfortability.
So if you're not breathing orholding some poses and trying to
breathe through the pose withthe pose, you're not building
(25:45):
sustainability, which is notgoing to add to your capacity to
regulate stress.
You'll keep living that sameloop and that same cycle.
So the breath and just a littleslowing down, not much, but
enough to make the breath moreimportant than the movement, or
(26:06):
else you're doing exercise.
Dan (26:09):
Don't worry about jumping up and jumping back.
Don't worry about perfectingcrow.
Jody (26:17):
Unless, that's where you are.
Dan (26:19):
Unless that's where you are , yeah.
Jody (26:22):
Right, with breath, we go past, like Dan just did a little
while ago.
Right, if you're just listeningor joining us, my husband,
we're talking about breath andhe's already on the soul.
But that's what happens in yoga.
You take a yoga class and theteacher says, oh, we're doing
crow, it's your second class.
(26:43):
We bypass the progression.
There is a progression in yoga.
That's why it's called apractice, and if any of you have
ever done something that youwanted to learn, you probably
know this already.
You cannot skip steps becausethere'll be holes in what you're
(27:07):
learning.
You can say I want this, I'mjust going to go there and think
that you've mastered somethingyou have to do.
The progression and theprogression is are you even in
your body?
Okay, no, maybe, yes, all right, now that I'm making friends
with my body.
Where is your breath?
That is your life force.
(27:28):
If you learn how to use yourbreath, you can calm your heart
rate, you can lower your bloodpressure, you can increase
digestion and absorption, youcan have better sleep.
The benefits are endlessbecause of the oxygen in our
(27:51):
body.
Our body longs for oxygen andoxygen is life.
That's why it's called prana,and if you're not breathing,
perhaps, maybe you're afraid totake in life because you feel
overwhelmed.
It could be that simple.
Dan (28:10):
Sure, I mean, it's a perfect moment just to revisit.
The breath to a human is thewater to the fish.
We take it for granted.
But when you're little or whenyou're stressed out, when
somebody scares you, the veryfirst thing that you do is you
(28:31):
go and you hold your breath.
That's the response, and that'sthe response, in a lesser
degree, to stress over time.
Less breath, less oxygen in thebloodstream, less oxygen going
to the head, the brain, and itfeeds the vicious cycle of the
(28:54):
human body being stressed out.
So it's really, reallyimportant to get a handle on the
breath and in this framework,in this paradigm, we're talking
about getting the breathcoordinated with your movement.
Jody (29:08):
Yeah, I have experienced complex trauma, which means
multiple traumas, and I neverfelt I could take a deep breath
in, and a part of me was alwaysafraid to take a deep breath in
(29:30):
which I never knew until I knewI wasn't breathing.
I don't know if that makessense, my friends.
Dan (29:35):
I didn't know, I didn't tell you?
Jody (29:36):
no, yeah, I didn't know.
I wasn't breathing until I knewand I was away for a month
training Think it was Yin withSarah Powers years ago, and this
young girl said you're notbreathing, I wanna work on your
diaphragm.
And I looked at her and I saidwork on my diaphragm, how are
you gonna do that?
Well, she showed me and she wasworking under my ribs, but up
(30:02):
under my ribs and pulling itdown and like dough, kneading it
and kneading it, and it wasexcruciating.
And after I could breathe andit was in that moment I realized
I was stuck in a startledresponse.
Dan (30:20):
For who knows how long.
Jody (30:22):
That's the response Dan was saying when you get shocked,
now think about this If youlive in New Jersey, where we do,
it's very stressful.
We live right outside New Yorkand traffic and driving in New
Jersey is insane.
I don't know how many times Igo.
Oh my God, they almost hit me.
(30:43):
Oh my God.
Now that might not seem like alot, but that over time can be
considered trauma.
The buildup of it can impactnot breathing because you're in
shock.
Please take time to honor andnourish yourself daily, because
(31:07):
there's little stressors aroundus that we don't know that cause
us to hold our breath becausewe're afraid or we don't want to
say something or we'resurprised at something.
It alters our breath and overtime, if we don't start
breathing fully, it gets stuckthat way and then we wake up
(31:29):
with numerous dis-eases becausethe body becomes acidic.
Breathing, oxygenating the body, adds alkalinity.
When the body doesn't getbreath or doesn't push out the
CO2, acidity can occur anddisease can happen.
Dan (31:58):
So, gosh, did we scratch the surface?
We didn't even scratch thesurface, so Well, we do want to
get through a couple more of thelimbs, right?
So stay tuned.
We're gonna try to at leastgive an introduction.
Jody (32:14):
To all of the limbs.
And before we end, my friends,I encourage you take a deep
breath.
Take a deep breath in, take inlife, let it feed you, let it
nourish you, imagine it beingwarm and toasty, smelling sweet,
(32:36):
and then exhale it all out aslong and as deep as you can.
Keep letting the exhale go andtrust that the inhale will
return.
And do that even once a day,once at night or once in the
morning, and just start topractice now.
Don't wait just one breath, notechniques, just a deep breath
(33:02):
in and a deep breath out, tostart to guide your life force
and build your stamina.
Pranayama is your breath andit's the music in your heart.
May you sing it and breathe it.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
(33:24):
You can find us at Become OneLiving on Instagram and please
email us any questions or topicsthat you would like us to share
on, if we can, atBecomeOneLiving at gmailcom.
Thank you again.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!