One of my favorite pranayama techniques is called The Breath of Fire. It is considered an advanced technique, but I often teach it to beginners because the results are immediate and powerful. This technique gets its name because it is associated with the lumbar, or third, chakra, which is associated with the "fire" element.
The practice begins with an exhalation instead of the more natural inhalation and breathing is done entirely through the nose.* Begin by sitting upright, feet flat on the ground, and place your hands on your lap (palms turned upward is best). It might be helpful, at first, to hold your hands at the navel area so you can get a feel for how your belly is moving which should visibly be thrusting in and out.
To begin, throw out ALL your breath through your nose (keeping your mouth closed will help) with great force while at the same time thrusting your navel back into your spine. Let your inhalation come on its own with no effort or thought of it. Pick up the pace—it is meant to be a bit aggressive, heating up (like a fire). A good goal is one full breath (inhale and exhale) per second. To help, mentally count "1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000" and so on, until you get a feel for it. If you feel light headed at any point, stop. There's no hurry.
You can start with just a few rounds and build up to 25 rounds or more (do as much feels right for you). This technique will wake you up and bring you into the present moment, here, now, and fast! It is super energizing and works great to clear the cobwebs out of your head! I do this pranayama more often than any other. It works wonders!
*
If breathing is constricted in your nose, it is okay to use your mouth.
Each element of the Trinity—mind, body, spirit—is independent yet must work interdependently to have true balance. We cannot function at peak performance if any one of these three aspects of ourselves is being neglected. To ensure you are not always throwing a wrench into the mix and getting out of balance without even realizing it, it’s good practice to start recognizing yourself as "mind, body, spirit" instead of just a mere physical body carrying around a load of muscles, bones, and organs in a protective layer of skin. Yes, we are physical, but the power of the mind and the energy of the spirit is what keeps us going. Think of your body as a car: Your thoughts as the fuel and your spirit as the battery power.
In the practice of yoga and meditation, the Sanskrit word prana is often used to describe the vital life force that feeds energy to our bodies and calms our minds. In my practice of yoga, blocked energy is released from joints and other areas in the body when we move into various postures; the mind is calmed when we say the affirmation that goes with each pose. In English, prana is translated as breath. Without the ability to breathe we would die.
Mind, body, and spirit are interdependent, and just as the body would die without the ability to breathe, so too would the body and mind die without spirit. I am not saying that you will literally die by not having a spiritual practice, but it's more like that sense of feeling dead inside—apathetic, indifferent, and lacking joy. My own body and mind both took very serious hits when I lost touch with my spirit—more specifically, my soul. In my old job I got so immersed in what some call the "rat race" and just trying to survive that I literally stopped doing all the things that fed my spirit. I'd never been a regular churchgoer, but I'd always attended some services and done lots of outdoor activities, like backpacking, swimming, biking, and other things that kept me close to the spiritual, to the elements. I'd always considered myself to be very fit and even did some mountaineering and several triathlons. So, when I could barely make it down a ski run one winter without stopping to rest, or unable to carry a basket of laundry up my stairs without feeling like my legs were giving out, I knew things were getting bad. My body was failing me as many tests indicated. And I often left business meetings with debilitating migraines that lasted for days. I really was falling apart mentally and physically.
I learned through the practice of yoga and meditation how to reconnect with the essence of spirit and reunite with my soul—in particular the power of using my breath. Understanding breath as spirit keeps me in touch with my Truth. Each breath anchors me. No matter what might be going on around me, I remain calm by using breathing techniques and mentally chanting "Trinity of Truth." My breath brings me back to center; it allows me to meet with the essence of my soul, where I find peace, in any given moment. Developing a habit of correct breathing has taught me to keep my Trinity working in harmony without even trying; I simply have a good breathing habit now. There are many tools to get back in balance, but I believe using the breath is one of the most powerful and easy to learn.
In Paramhansa Yogananda's book, Scientific Healing Affirmations, he writes: “In his mortal aspect man is a Triune Being. He longs for freedom from all varieties of suffering. His needs are: 1) Healing of bodily diseases. 2) Healing of mental or psychological diseases such as fear, anger, bad habits, failure consciousness, lack of initiative and confidence, and so on. 3) Healing of spiritual diseases such as indifference, lack of purpose, intellectual pride and dogmatism, skepticism, contentment with material side of existence, and ignorance of laws of life and man's own divinity.” He further states, “It is of paramount importance that equal emphasis be given to the prevention and cure of all three kinds of diseases.”
I no longer compete in the "rat race," but I have re-entered the business world. Instead of participating in the race as a competitor, I now act as cheerleader and coach. I teach meditation in the business community to help others learn how to win—not through blood, sweat, and tears, but through the simple act of breathing. Let's face it, not everybody can just up and quit their jobs. We need engineers, data entry administrators, doctors, teachers, taxi drivers, pilots, managers, worker-bees, and all those hard-working souls in the food-service industry. Giving people tools to not just survive, but actually to thrive, no matter their job, is what breath work can do for anyone willing to learn. Learning proper breathing along with some simple meditation techniques can quite literally transform your life. It did mine.
