Change up your breathing by trying the Sun and Moon Breathing method.

Change up your breathing by trying the Sun and Moon Breathing method.

I would like you now to try Alternate Breathing or, as it is also called, SUN AND MOON BREATHING.
Don't be afraid of the funny words, 'Prana' is simply the life force all around us, which is divided into 'Pingala', its positive side, and 'Ida', its negative side. One of the aims of Yoga is to balance their opposite currents in the body, which then produces a state of perfect spiritual and mental equilibrium. When you breathe through the right side of your nose it's called the sun breathe, if its through the left side it's called the moon breathe.

The ALTERNATE BREATH consists of deep controlled breathing through each nostril in turn.
Sit cross-legged on a a seat or floor with your back straight and head level. Shut your eyes, then close your left nostril using your left thumb while inhaling, deeply and slowly, through your right nostril.
Take a deep breath and hold it for two seconds.

Close the right nostril with the last two fingers of your left hand and exhale very slowly through the left nostril.
Part of this exercise involves taking a natural break in respiration and when the urge to inhale occurs, keep the right nostril closed and breath through just the left nostril.
Take a deep breath and hold it for two seconds.

Close the left nostril and then release your breath slowly through the right. One cycle is now complete.
Those new to Pranayama should start slow with two rounds and build up to 6 rounds a days by adding one per week. Ideally this exercise should be performed facing different points of the compass according to the time of day, following the path of the sun. Thus in the early morning you should perform it facing east, at midday facing the meridian, at sunset facing the west, and at night facing the north, SUN AND MOON BREATHING should be preceded and followed by three or four Complete Breaths to create the right atmosphere of peace and tranquillity throughout the mind and the body.
Though 1 have concentrated on the physical aspect of Yoga in this book, as I said in the beginning, it is impossible to divorce the body from the mind and all Yoga exercises, breathing or otherwise, must always affect all parts of the organism, physical, mental, and spiritual.

When you have been practising Sun and Moon breathing for a few days and have established some sort of rhythm and balance in your performance, proceed to the next stage, which is the regulation of the length of your exhalations to twice that of your inhalations. If you breath in up until you count to four, then you breath out to a count of eight. Four is just an example for the count on your inhalation, since your inhalation count needs to be about your own individual needs, capacity, and comfort level.

I reiterate the warning about undue strain. Please, no straining in this or any other Yoga exercise. It's useless at best, but also possibly harmful. After a few days of the above controlled breathing your next step is to prolong very gradually the retention of the breath until it equals the length of your inhalation. Thus if you inhale on a count of four then hold your breath for four and then exhale on a count of eight.
Again you must adjust this counting to suit your own capacity.

This is the simplest form of Sun and Moon breathing and will deal with the calming of the mind and nerves. The advanced forms of this exercise call for almost superhuman discipline and are practised in connexion with the awakening of a mysterious force in the body known as Kundalini, the Serpent Power.

This may briefly be described as the Divine Power of Knowledge and Wisdom from which, through civilization, Man has become separated. Every man has the potential of divinity within him no matter how far he's veered away from the Divine path because the Kundalini lies coiled at the base of the spine dormant but not dead.

Performing the Complete Breath to calm your mind and rid yourself of your worries and frustrations in everyday life.

Performing the Complete Breath with the goal of calming your mind and eliminating your worries and the frustrations you find in everyday life.

Because mind and breathing are intertwined you must learn proper breathing techniques to clear and free your mind.When doing Complete Breathing pay attention to your lungs expanding from stomach to shoulders and then the calmness from the slow exhale. The exercise should never be undertaken too hastily. Rather than taking ten hurried breathes, it is much better to take two controlled and correct ones. In Yoga exercises it is always quality and not quantity that counts.

If performed nightly before bed, this exercise promotes restful and refreshing sleep which will greatly benefit individuals who are very tense. When you are able to perform it correctly do try to practise it whenever you can during the day but particularly when you feel tired, depressed or upset. You can even take a few deep breaths as you take that morning walk up to the bus stop or the train, in which case you can match your breathing to your footsteps, say breathe in for six and exhale for six. If you are lucky enough to be anywhere near the sea draw in that wonderful, sweet-smelling air for all you are worth.
Maybe some people are just naturally tense. False. Some are tense by habit and they subconsciously let them build until surprise:boom! a beautiful, full-blown peptic ulcer, a chronic heart condition or worse. The breaking up of tension is going to be, for most people, the breaking of the habit of a lifetime. I have been told in all seriousness many times, 'But, Miss Richmond, I must build up tension while I am working otherwise . . .' Otherwise what can one do? Additionally, I would say, you would otherwise have so much more energy that you wouldn't know what to do with it, so you feel you have to squander a little by becoming tense!

Let us consider this problem in its proper perspective.
No one, repeat, no one ever got the best out of themselves by means of tension. You may think that you need it, that you could not do without it, but still you wonder sometimes why you cannot sleep, why your nerves are often 'torn to shreds', and you suffer from fears you cannot identify. Can you imagine what it would be like to be free forever of these distressing symptoms, to feel relaxed and cheerful and full of energy?

The way to accomplish this exists within Yoga; however, be mindful of the cost. You will have to part with those precious tensions of yours.
My intention in this story is to show you the way to better health through Yoga and not to moralize in any way, but may I tell you just one story which I hope might stick in your mind for the rest of your life? Those readers who maintain that they are unable to live without a burden of tension on their shoulders should find it especially useful.
There was once a wise old man who was sitting at the window of his house when he saw, down in the street below, a poor beggar carrying a heavy load on his back. 'What is that you carry?' calledthe old man. The beggar looked up at the window and then opened up the large sack he was carrying. There was a bunch of junk inside.

'It's nothing but a lot of rubbish' the old man protested,and asked,why do you burden yourself with it?The beggars answer was he had to, he had nothing else.