An ode to the Master
Hi! My name is Ramya Iyengar. I am a yoga therapist who loves to code among many other things. My articles reflect my current understanding which is always work in progress. It is enriched by my personal practice and continuous study with my teacher and mentors who lead by example.
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On January 22, 2022, the world mourned the passing away of a true master, world renowned monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
Lovingly known as Thay (Teacher) among his students, his teachings were simple and profound. All through his life, he practiced mindful breathing, mindful walking and peaceful living in the present moment. Here is a short and powerful video talk by him. His voice reflects the freedom and peace he experienced within.
He seems to have said this to his students once:
"Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase. Please do not lock me inside and limit who I am. I know this will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure that you put a sign on it that says, I am not in here. In addition, you can also put another sign that says ' I am not out there either' and a third sign that says 'If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh"
This beautiful request by Thay melts my heart. What better motivation than to unite with your teacher in your mindful breath? And it is in this request, that I find the most appropriate and auspicious moment to elaborate on breath.
In my previous post, I briefly mentioned that yoga practices suggest replacing the unconscious patterns of Inhale-Exhale with conscious rhythmic cycles of Exhale-Inhale. This subject cries for our attention.
Yoga or no Yoga, I’m sure you have come across the popular phrase : take a deep breath in. Two important questions arise here :-
a) How deep?
b) What is my capacity for deep?
The answer to both these questions lies in
a) how you breathe and
b) how long can you maintain the deep breathing rhythm.
More often than not, deep breath is one or more forced gasps of long inhale followed by a quick exhale (or a forceful exhale). The longer we force, the shorter the rhythm. We soon start feeling uncomfortable with deep breathing and run out of patience. Our mind is more agitated than when we started.
Why does this happen?
Unless I change my relationship with the outgoing breath, unless I finetune its quality, I cannot receive the incoming breathe fully.
The quality of my exhale reflects what my body makes of the previous inhale. It reflects the state of my mind and the state of my health.
It reflects the impatience/mindfulness in my responses.
Taking charge of one's exhale is to own one's responses in our engagement with the world.
I have often repeated that Yoga is all about cleaning our vessel (body and mind). It is an inside-out process. But how can we strive to clean the vessel while focusing on filling it up / hoarding all the time? Learning to empty effectively is the first step.
The first and foremost important aspect of prANAyAma is therefore learning to exhale long and subtle, effortlessly.
Often times, this requires us to revisit a lot of essentials right from the quality and quantity of our food to sleep to our daily engagements - what is preventing us from being able to breathe out comfortably?
Yoga texts suggest 1:4:2 (Inhale: Hold after Inhale : Exhale ) as the classical breath ratio in prANAyAma . In simple terms, this translates to the output (exhale) being twice the input (inhale).
Sri T. Krishnamacharya, the Father of modern Yoga, extended this ratio further to 1:4:2:1 (Inhale: Hold after Inhale : Exhale : Hold after Exhale ) suggesting that we train ourselves to not only double the output, but also refrain from breathing in immediately, thereby increasing our oxygenating capacity.
Breathing out mindfully has an uncanny way of quietening the mind. When we hold the breath after exhalation, we enhance this quietness. However, part of the training to breathe out well involves learning to receive without any force or expectations, what we call a passive and quiet inhalation. Breathing in this manner gives way to deeper inhalation.
When we hold the breath after inhalation, we enhance our ability to focus.
The direction is clear - learn to Exhale before Inhale, learn to Hold after Exhale before Holding after Inhale. (unless contraindicated based on an individual’s health).
The interconnectedness of these parts of the breath become more and more apparent with practice. The longer and more comfortable we are with our exhalation, the better we inhale.
Lightness enhances fullness.
R. Sriram, one of the senior teachers of Yoga in the tradition of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, observed a fascinating connection between this principle and Indian sculptures.
The thin waist represents our control over our breath and the broad chest represents the fullness of the breath. The combination of a thin waist and a broad chest depicts our ability to stay light in full abundance - such a profound way to depict the interconnection of exhalation and inhalation.
Starting today, I hope you find some time for mindful breathing. I hope you stop fighting to breathe in more, and start paying attention to how you are breathing out, knowing well that with lightness comes abundance. What you wish for will come to you when you are ready!