The other day I was listening to a gentleman and guru who has named himself AiR abbreviation for Atman in Ravi. He said that the best thing to do on a plane is meditate, as a plane pulls off the runway and makes altitude start breathing and well deeply breathe all the way, unless you fall asleep and then as the Dalai Lama says fall into the best meditation there is – sleep or simply allow yourself to actually be aware and meditate all through. Well that would be some in-flight entertainment alright. Now in a similar vein I was told that the best thing to do in traffic is oxygenation again! Driving or not, obviously in the former do not close your eyes. In the air while we are 30000 ft up in the air we are dependent on the air-conditioning facility of the plane and the car, well just make sure the air circulation vent is closed in case of sitting in traffic!
But the best place to fill up oxygen in the lungs is in the surrounds of trees and plants that are harbingers of this gas that is known for multiple life processes. Of the breathing exercises we know of, anulom vilom or alternate nostril breathing is one of the best and can be done for half and hour or so balancing out the parasympathetic nervous system. In addition there are many more, Brahmi for instance keeps the humming within the system and activates the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the human body that connects all the vital organs, when activated also calming the nervous system. Brahmi is done by covering the eyes with fingers and humming while the mouth closed, humming like a bee.
And then there is a breathing style to beat nazar or the evil eye (!), its called the Sitali, where the breath is drawn in through the mouth and released through the nose. In such a case, while breathing in through the palate one can roll the tongue, else pursing the lips to form an ‘O’ shape is also good. Ujjayi breath that is also called the Ocean breath or the Victorious breath is one where one constricts the throat to produce an oceanic sound from the throat. And the best ones to have immediate calm is keeping the outgoing breath twice as long as the incoming one. In those are the 4-7-8, where the breath in is 4 seconds, a hold of 7 seconds and then an outflow of breath for 8 seconds, and the cyclic breath when two breaths are drawn in instantly and then a breath is left out for twice as long as the duration of the two inhales.
Breath is life, the way we breathe can showcase the mental and physical body so being mindful of our breath can give away a lot of our state of being. While some practitioners also sing eludes to the fact that too much breathing and too forced can also cause oxidative stress to the body, so breathing gently and slowly are the best ways to draw in the life force. Some sages have reduced their breaths to 4 breaths per minute, which is real slow breathing! While the mammals that live the longest have the slowest breaths, think tortoise, the ones with the fastest breathing speed, live the shortest, think of the proverbial hare. We also lose our excess weight as carbon dioxide that we breathe out and hence aerobic activity brings out the weight loss in this fascinating human body.
So well then, sit up straighter, give the lungs space to shine, draw in an eager breath, let the abdomen expand and then let it all go in twice the time, all this while making sure you are under a tree and away from the road as much as possible!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 