We typically discount the importance of the breath in our daily lives. This week, I want you to experience how central the breath is to your health. The breath is enough means that simply improving our breathing can increase our wellbeing in very concrete, measurable ways.

There is data to back this up. Yogic breathing techniques have been shown to reduce stress and improve immune function. They also significantly improve several measures of lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (Click here for a meta-analysis of eleven studies.)

Reducing Stress and Boosting Immunity

Through the conscious regulation of the breath you have the power to influence your autonomic nervous system (ANS).  The ANS is typically not under conscious control, so the ability to manipulate it through the breath is quite extraordinary. The ANS is responsible both for stressing you out, and for calming you down. It releases stress hormones into your system to make you more alert, and also lowers stress hormone levels to calm you down. When you become aware of your breath and learn how to alter it deliberately, you can consciously influence your ANS. You can breathe faster, more powerfully, and higher in the torso to increase your power output when desired. However, you can also breathe slower, lower, and more gently to inhibit the stress mode and reduce stress-induced immunosupression.

Increasing Lung Capacity

When we breathe normally, we move about 500 mL of air in and out of our lungs (called tidal volume). Well-functioning lungs can inhale and exhale about 5 L of air, or 10 times the tidal volume of a normal inhale. However, most people, and especially older people, have lost much of that additional, protective capacity. It stands to reason that the more your lung capacity is restricted already, the more problematic any further restrictions will be. The good news is that yogic breathing techniques allow you to regain a significant portion of that lost capacity with regular practice.

This week we will learn specific yogic breathing techniques to down-regulate our autonomic nervous system and boost immune-function. We will also learn techniques to improve lung capacity.

In addition, we will focus on moving from the breath to learn to become more breath-centered on and off the mat. Lastly we will also learn how to use our breath to take us into yoga poses with less effort, and with more awareness, more grace, and more joy.