In mid-2017, I spent a couple of months being a teaching assistant at a yoga studio run by Dr.Sunita and her son Kalidas. I'd been practicing yoga for a few years by then,and was a convert to the science and therapeutic power of this mind and body technique.
Sivananda, the institution I learnt from, addresses the spiritual part of yoga as much, if not more than just the physical aspect of it. In the Sivananda style of yoga, there is repeated emphasis on the postures being learnt primarily as a means to the greater end of bringing 'stillness' into one's being. Observing the breath, to this end, is the most critical component of ones practice.
Both Dr.Sunita and Kali were practitioners of the Sivananda style of yoga.
"All of us have a bank of breaths", Kali said, in a class he was conducting.
"There are times we write out breath-cheques like millionaires and there are times when we're parsimonious. Extravagance with breath,is when we breath heavily - which is always the case when we 're stressed out or angry. Conversely, thrift is when we slow down our breathing. If you've noticed, we're at our calmest when our breath is at its slowest".
"Is there an optimum speed of breathing?", I ask.
" It's more about utilizing the lung to its fullest. Normal breathing doesn't make optimal use of our lung's capacity. The average human takes around 15-16 breaths per minute. A dog, on the other hand, might take upto 30 breaths per minute, while a tortoise takes only around 4 breaths per minute. A mouse, on the other hand, takes around a 100 breaths per minute."
"Therefore?", I pipe in.
"You'll actually find that there is a co-relation between the pace of breath and lifespan. An average tortoise lives longer than a human, who lives longer than a dog, which lives longer than a mouse".
"Never thought about it that way!", I exclaim.
"The faster one breathes, the more the metabolic rate. The more the metabolic rate, the quicker we burn out the body's vital resources. The quicker we burn out the body's vital resources, the quicker we die"
"Whoa!"
"And that's what the science of yoga is about", Kali continued, "techniques to slow down ones breathing, and make it deeper. It might not be a coincidence that the when you work on making your breath deeper, the less shallow you'll end up becoming as a person too". I think I detected a twinkle in his eye when he said that.
That's what the Breath Bank is about - where the ones with the deepest breaths have the biggest bank balances.
Sivananda, the institution I learnt from, addresses the spiritual part of yoga as much, if not more than just the physical aspect of it. In the Sivananda style of yoga, there is repeated emphasis on the postures being learnt primarily as a means to the greater end of bringing 'stillness' into one's being. Observing the breath, to this end, is the most critical component of ones practice.
Both Dr.Sunita and Kali were practitioners of the Sivananda style of yoga.
"All of us have a bank of breaths", Kali said, in a class he was conducting.
"There are times we write out breath-cheques like millionaires and there are times when we're parsimonious. Extravagance with breath,is when we breath heavily - which is always the case when we 're stressed out or angry. Conversely, thrift is when we slow down our breathing. If you've noticed, we're at our calmest when our breath is at its slowest".
"Is there an optimum speed of breathing?", I ask.
" It's more about utilizing the lung to its fullest. Normal breathing doesn't make optimal use of our lung's capacity. The average human takes around 15-16 breaths per minute. A dog, on the other hand, might take upto 30 breaths per minute, while a tortoise takes only around 4 breaths per minute. A mouse, on the other hand, takes around a 100 breaths per minute."
"Therefore?", I pipe in.
"You'll actually find that there is a co-relation between the pace of breath and lifespan. An average tortoise lives longer than a human, who lives longer than a dog, which lives longer than a mouse".
"Never thought about it that way!", I exclaim.
"The faster one breathes, the more the metabolic rate. The more the metabolic rate, the quicker we burn out the body's vital resources. The quicker we burn out the body's vital resources, the quicker we die"
"Whoa!"
"And that's what the science of yoga is about", Kali continued, "techniques to slow down ones breathing, and make it deeper. It might not be a coincidence that the when you work on making your breath deeper, the less shallow you'll end up becoming as a person too". I think I detected a twinkle in his eye when he said that.
That's what the Breath Bank is about - where the ones with the deepest breaths have the biggest bank balances.
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