Yoga Fundamentals -
For Enhancing Your Life & Health
( Part I )

© 2003 - 2007 Richard J. Chandler, RPP, CA, LMT
All Rights Reserved Worldwide

In 1992 Richard Chandler, RPP, began Yoga studies in Acu-Yoga with Michael Gach and continued his study in Hatha, Polarity, Ashtanga and Power yoga with nationally and internationally recognized teachers such as Will Leichnitz, David & Doug Swenson. He has taught yoga in the St. Cloud Minnesota Area for over 13 years and currently teaches beginners to advanced students of Hatha, Polarity and Power Yoga.

In what new ways might we move our bodies, to propel us forward on our personal quest towards optimal health and well-being? How may we better integrate movement therapies like yoga, tai chi, martial arts or dance into our life, to enhance our health and be more present for the benefit of our co-workers, family and friends?

To answer these questions, we will explore a handful of fundamental principles underlying yoga and other movement traditions. With this discovery of underlying principles, we will seek to reinvigorate the ways in which we move our bodies, increase our awareness and deepen what we are already doing with movement, by doing ever more interesting and integrative patterns of physical movement.

My hope is that by reading this article and experimenting with these concepts, you’ll journey further down your own path of self-discovery. By moving your body in ever more improvisational ways, you may transcend mere performance of your chosen way of exercising, to become a composer in the music of physical movement.

Let’s start with perhaps the most fundamental notion, breathing deeply. How may we best do this? First, by breathing through our nose whenever possible. In his book, “Body, Mind and Sport,” author John Douillard makes a great case for nose breathing. With the athletes he has worked with, he found that nose breathing temporarily dampened their performance, but they immediately felt calmer and more relaxed while exercising. Over several weeks to several months, the performance of his athletes improved with nose breathing and ultimately was superior to what it formerly was with mouth breathing.

Why the nose? The shape and additional length of the nasal air passageway, nose hair and mucous lining all contribute to humidify and either cool or warm the air, so it is better prepared for absorption in the lungs. Furthermore, nose breathing is the natural way for us to breath.

Mouth breathing is associated with emergencies and is physiologically linked to “flight or fight” situations. Our nervous system interprets mouth breathing with threats to our survival and therefore can’t relax into the activity at hand. Nose breathing on the other hand relaxes our nervous system, leading to feelings of ease and effortlessness as we move.

Our second breathing technique is to deepen and lengthen our natural breathing cycle by consciously utilizing our abdominal, back and intercostal muscles. Just at the time when our exhalation naturally ends, we simply squeeze out more air by contracting these muscles. Then we relax for our inhalation. Again, just at the point when our inhalation would end, we expand our ribcage and abdominal cavity, letting in a little more air. It’s like an accordion. We simply pull it out a little farther and squeeze it in a bit more, so we are breathing at the outer edges of our capacity.

By repeating this process with each breath, we can dramatically increase the length and depth of each breath, better utilizing the blood-rich lower lobes of our lungs, which most effectively oxygenate our blood.

Yoga Fundamentals Article Continued & Concluded - Click Here