PRANAYAMA BREATHWORK

Cultivate Your Inner Life

Conscious Connected Breathing: The two-part Pranayama Breath, as taught to me by my teacher, the master healer David Elliott, is a technique that promotes an experiential journey inward that's different for every body and novel each time you open up to it. The practice of breathwork has been around for centuries. Pranayama is a Sanskrit word that translates as prana = breath/energy + yama = control/extension. It teaches discipline and manipulation of breath to promote healing. Results like mental clarity, emotional purging, increased alertness, and improved mind-body connection, as well as physical benefits like lower blood pressure, better cardiovascular health, stronger lungs, and more restful sleep, are just a few of the positive benefits.

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Breathwork is a self-empowering and self-healing technique using the awareness, control, and manipulation of your breath. It works on the physical, mental, and emotional levels to help open and connect you more deeply to your spiritual nature. The two-part Pranayama Breath uses increased oxygen levels to enhance blood flow and activate your parasympathetic nervous system - your rest, digest, and relax response. Building your ability to control and balance O2 to CO2 levels can help lower your blood pH and correlates to better regulation of eating habits, respiration, how your body repairs itself, and disease prevention. By changing your vibrational energy patterns, breathwork helps you feel more in control, less vulnerable to stress and anxiety and gives an overall sense of well-being. These subconscious changes help you experience a deeper connection to yourself and the world around you.

The two-part Pranayama Breath is considered active meditation. It's done with an open mouth—the breath is drawn into the belly, then the chest, with an easy exhale to complete the rhythmic circle. The breath stimulates the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve. The vagus nerve's sensory functions are divided into two components: Somatic—sensations felt on the skin or in the muscles—and Visceral—sensations felt in the body's organs.

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Sensory functions of the vagus nerve include:

»»» Providing somatic sensation information for the skin behind the ear, the external part of the ear canal, and certain parts of the throat.

»»» Supplying visceral sensation information for the larynx, esophagus, lungs, trachea, heart, and most of the digestive tract.

»»» Playing a small role in the sensation of taste near the root of the tongue.

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Motor functions of the vagus nerve include:

»»» Stimulating muscles in the pharynx, larynx, and the soft palate.

»»» Stimulating muscles in the heart, helping to lower resting heart rate and increase blood flow.

»»» Stimulating involuntary contractions in the digestive tract, including the esophagus, stomach, and most of the intestines.

I have been trained to observe the breath and see, physically, where your breath is being held. I use simple verbal cues to modify your body's position, music to help deepen the experience, and positive affirmations to help the breath to expand, deepen, and flow more freely. This all works together to clear negativity in the subconscious mind and help you feel clearer, calmer, lighter, happier, more connected, and peaceful!

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Yoga Breath Coach® Certified

YOGABODY Stretching Coach® Certified

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