Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Respiratory exercises -- Pranayams, Cont'd...

3. Anulom-Vilom :Close your right nostril with thums then inhale fully gradually by
left nostril. Close left nostril with middle two fingers and exhale
by releasing thumb with right nostril. Count it as one respiration.
Now do other way round for second respiration and so on. This
Should be done for 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Ujjai : Exhale completely. Start inhaling slowly by making friction
sound from throat [sound box]. Hold it for sometime and then
exhale slowly by left nostril.This gives excellent exercise to
thyroid increasing immunity and resistance power against
disease. Anyone having thyroid problem must do this.

For better demonstration of above pranayams, buy CD of Baba Ramdevji and try or
download video clippings of Baba Ramdevji from youtube. You can see two of the
clippings in my profile -- my videos--. Best way is, Baba ramdevji knocks your door every
morning between 5 to 7 am through Aastha channel. Welcome his and observe him
doing these exercises.

Please note in conclusion that these exercises be done before sun rise, if possible
as there is lot of ozone in atmosphere that time. You should be empty stomach, [water can be taken] and bowels cleared. Junk food/fast food and cold drinks should
be avoided as far as possible.

Though I have concluded here but let this topic be opened for any repercusssions or
questions or any suggestions. Wishing you all a good health.

Astu

Respiratory exercises -- Pranayams

I have tried my best to explain a proper way of respiring in my above threads. I shall now tell you something about respiratory excercises.[These are also known as Pranayams].
There are 27 types of such exercises or pranayams but I will high light major four or five
of them which should be carried out every day.

1. Kapalbhanti : Breathing in with stomach coming out and breathing out with stomach
going in is done at about 60 respiratory stokes per minute. Only thing
exhalation is done little fast with a jerk stomach going in. A healthy
person should carry out atleast 600 stokes every day and people
having problems related to stomach, digestion, blood pressure or
sugar, should carry out atleast 1200 to 1500 stokes may with
intervals.

2. Bhastrika : This exercise is of breathing in fully and breathing out completely
with no Kumbhak [holding]. There are two different ways. Healthy
people having no physical problem should carry out 24 to 30
strokes per minute for five minutes and people having heart
problem or blood pressure should carry out 10 to 12 strokes per
minutes for at least ten minutes, may be with intervals if tired.
This exercise increases the capacity of lungs to fullest and clear
blockages in artery if any. I hope, you understand by now, what
happens when lungs function to its full capacity.

To be continued...

Pranayam[respiratory control] & good healthT

To proceed further, let us review the following sentence from 'Swaroday'

प्रवेशे दशभिही प्रोक्तो निर्गमे द्वादश अन्गूलम. That means, when we breath in, we inhale air from 10 fingers distance from nose and exhale 12 fingers distance from nose. This is the normal distance when we respire at normal ratio of 16 per minute.

When we curtail our respirations by giving it a rhythm from 16 to 8 or so, automatically distance from nose while exhaling decreases. That gives us achievements [सिद्धि]. For example, if this distance is reduced to 9 fingers, one get good thinking power. If reduced to 8 fingers, one get 'Vachansidhi' [वचन सिद्धि]. If reduced to four fingers, one gets Ashtasiddhi [अष्ट सिद्धियाँ].

God has not kept anything with him. He has put the ball in our court and it is entirely
up to us, how best we use it and achieve goals.

To continue with Respiratory exercises and conclude with some useful tips

Pranayam[respiratory control] & good health

We have so far seen Pranayams roll in increasing longevity and rendering good health. I am now giving hereunder a chart, which is self-explanatory , comparing respirations per minute of human being, some animals/creatures with their longevity.

S.No. Particulars Respirations per minute Longevity in years

1. Rabbit 38 8

2. Monkey 32 10

3. Dog 29 12

4. Horse 22 25

5. Human being 16 120

6. Snake 8 1000

7. Crab 5 2000

The above chart reveals that lesser the respirations per minute, more the longevity in years.

To be continued
We have so far learnt about respirations three parts i.e. Poorak, Kumbhak and Rechak and giving it rhythm by maintaining different ratios. The whole ‘Bhrahmand’ works on rhythm only and it is well said यथा भ्रहमांडे तथा पिंडे. Everything that exists in Bhrahmand, is within us. So just try with the ratios given for few days only and see the results yourselves. Let your body form a habit of maintaining ratio of 1:1:1 during your working hours and when you are free at home or traveling, you can try other ratios given.
You need to be attentive to your respiratory ratio for few days only and then automatically, your system will work accordingly even if you are deeply engrossed with your work

If you really achieve this, then let me tell you one secret of Swar Vidya [Expressed to Parvatiji by Lord Shiva] that by adhering to even the lowest ratio of 1:1:1, your respirations per minute, considerably drop down between 6 to 8 against normal ratio of 16 per minute.[ Normally a human being respire 23,040 times a day.] .God has not gifted life to human being in terms of years, months and days. Years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds are created by human being only for his convenience. For example, if X number of respirations are gifted to one person by God and if he respire as per the method shown above, his longevity increases in terms of years. That is the secret of very long life [to the tune of 1000 years] of our Yogis, Mahatmas and Rishis in ancient time.

Note: If one find difficult to hold breath during kumbhak in the said ratio, do not worry, hold it at least for some time to your ability but exhale gradually and fully.

To be continued………

Pranayam[respiratory control] & good health

As mentioned in para 2 above, when lacks of holes are blocked by carbon, as a result of not breathing out 100%, your body, by itself tries to remove toxins by way of cough or cold. If this type of breathing practice forms a habit, frequent attacks of cough and cold occur and we say शर्दी रो कोठो हे. अरे भाया कियु दवा रे पुटे पीया खरसे हे ने तोई हेरोन वीए हे . थारो श्वास लेवा रो तरीको सूदार ने पसे देक का वीए . I have tried this therapy with my younger son, Himanshu [will be 38 tomorrow], who suffered at least for five years by severe cough and cold attacks very frequently. Now, after sparing at least one hour daily in the morning for Pranayams and breathing in a way shown above, he has completely got rid of cough and cold.

In our Karmakanda [ कर्मकांड]also, equal importance is given to Pranayams before commencing the Pooja. i.e. Poorak [Inhalation], Koombhak [holding breath for sometime and giving enough time for oxidation] and Rechak [exhalation]. The ratio of time taken for Poorak, Kumbhak and Rechak, can initially be 1:1:1 and then gradually increasing time for Kumbhak to 1:2:1 then 1:4:1 then 1:8:1 and so on. It means rechak should be carried out slowly and completely.

To be continued………..

Pranayam[respiratory control] & good health

It is well said in english that if wealth is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost and if character is lost, everything is lost. I venture making little correction to this proverb by saying that if health is lost, everything is lost because, a sicky person, having lot many problems in his body, always have negative thoughts and good character can only be achieved by positive attitude/thoughts. Lets now see, how respiratory control i.e. प्राणायाम helps maintaining good health.

We all know that oxidation process take place in our lungs with our every inhalation
Whereby oxygen is absorbed and supplied to the whole body via nerves [ नाडी] and
Carbon dioxide thrown out with every exhalation..

In this fast era, I think man has forgotten how to respire as gifted by nature. You just observe a small child up to the age of 6 months respiring, you will find that his stomach
Comes up while inhalation and goes down while exhalation. That is the correct system of respiration. Majority of people, do not inhale to the maximum capacity of their lungs and exhale completely resulting into following problems:-

1. By not breathing in to the fullest capacity of lungs, capacity of lungs keep reducing
and an aging process starts early.

2. By not breathing out completely, some percentage of carbon dioxide remain in lungs and block small holes connected to nerves, supplying oxygen to body.

3. Fast inhalation followed by immediate exhalation, by not giving sufficient time for oxidation process, one exhales out maximum oxygen itself, resulting into body not getting required quantity of oxygen.