Your respiratory system is one of the most important parts of your body. It is connected with the whole body and supplies oxygen to every cell. It includes lungs, nose, mouth, sinuses and all the passages through your body which transport the oxygen through the blood. Oxygen is inhaled, transformed into energy and carbon dioxide is exhaled. Additionally the air is used to produce sound through vibration of your vocal chords.
Anything that causes lack of oxygen in the respiratory system has a series of negative results and in the worst case leads to death. This simple fact makes it very clear how important it is to breathe correctly and to keep your lungs and respiratory system healthy.
Pranayama translated from Sanskrit into English means ‘Expanding Vital Force’. We are considered alive as long as we breathe and Pranayama talks about extending your life simply by breathing healthily.
Complete breathing splits into three parts: Puraka, Rechaka and Kumbhaka which mean inhalation, exhalation and holding one’s breath. With each of these three parts you can feel the work it is doing, how oxygen enters the body with inhalation, how it is used and circulates while holding and how you exhale the used rests that your body does not need. Breathing deeply is like vacuum-cleaning your body, taking out all carbon dioxide and leaving the body with fresh and refreshing air.
yoga and Pranayama offer many different ways of breathing for different problems with the respiratory system like sinus problems, asthma, hay fever, shortness of breath and allergies. There are breathing exercises that heat or cool the body and there is even a yoga exercise for Tinnitus.
You give your lungs the ability to breathe properly. We usually use only a minimal part of their capacity and asthma and frequent breathlessness can be helped immensely by practicing Pranayama regularly as your body slowly gets used to take deep breaths even when you are not especially concentrating on it.
Apart from the breathing exercises there are of course also physical yoga poses that support the respiratory system in doing its work by expanding the lungs and giving them space to breathe, by activating the different body parts and stimulating the blood flow so that oxygen can be provided until the tips of your toes.