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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 04 2007 : 10:34:19 AM
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I'm a fan of the book "Mind, Body, Sport" (<http://www.amazon.com/Body-Mind-Spo...09807897>), a popular protocol for doing exercise (aerobic, weight lifting, etc) with mouth closed, breahing deeply and slowly through the nose and exhaling with ujiya. The book's written by an ayurvedic doctor, and it's extremely popular, so I'm guessing a number of forumites now and in future may be following it.
Here's what I say about it in the thread at http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=2671 :
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I'd seriously recommend it for anyone taking up exercise (including weight training) in the midst of spiritual practice, especially yoga.
There's a lot of stuff on ayurvedic body type that's eminently skippable, as is the diet info. But the breathing stuff is incredible, and I find it works most dramatically in weight lifting. Read the opening, hypey info, and read the stuff in the back about changing training regimen and breathing. You'll be shocked by what it does for you.
In a nutshell: you breath only thru nose, mouth closed. You breath slowly (maybe 12 cycles per minute), doing ujiya breathing on exhale. You start this breathing pattern well before a given exercise task, and keep it rolling throughout the task. I find this invests my weight lifting with bhakti. Freaks out people at my gym, because sometimes I'm lifting just glaciallly slow, with this huge radiant smile on my face, and it feels natural and GOOD....none of the pain, wooziness, etc. Glacial slowness is not the aim, btw....it just gets like that sometimes.
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But then.....in this thread: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=2718
Yogani noted that using pranayama techniques like ujiya breathing outside of AYP pranayama can cause "doubling up"...i.e. cumulative effects of overdoing.
I wrote:
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Oh no! Yogani, I just realized...I'm following an exercise protocal from the book Mind, Body, Sport (I posted about it a few weeks ago). It recommends doing all exercise (aerobic, weight lifting, etc) with slow, calm, very deep inhale and ujiya exhale, and with mouth closed. It's real smart and very helpful (I can get up lots of stairs without getting winded, weight training's more intense, I don't get as "anguished" while running). But I'm doing this 45 mins day or more every single day....so, yes, "doubling up" has to be an issue!
And now....I'm not sure what to do! Any suggestions?
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Yogani replied:
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Hi Jim:
It is important to recognize that similar practices, derived from different sources, done in the same day, have cumulative effects. The effects can be delayed...
If adverse symptoms arise, self pace accordingly. Better yet, anticipate possible effects beforehand, and tread carefully.
More can be less, and less can be more.
The guru is in you.
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And here's my reaction:
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quote:
Originally posted by yogani
More can be less, and less can be more. 
Thanks, Yogani.
Hmmm...I know about "less can be more" (in a lot of practices, the more subtle and refined you make the action or intention, the more the result magnifies). But I'm not sure what "more can be less" means in this context. All I can think of is that the lack of silence, openness and spiritual intention in the ujiya during exercise dilutes its energetic effect, regardless of the relatively long length of application.
If that's it, shall I ponder, during exercise sessions, Paris Hilton, my 401-K plan, and drivers who've recently cut me off? I.e. to assure the ujiya breath isn't received by the body with full spiritual potency? :)
Problem is I think the ujijya breath, even in this context, does relate to practice. My inner guru (Floyd) has perked up a few times during running, thinking that the breath felt like AYP pranayama. I ignored him.
Can anyone see a pacing solution on this one? I could cut AYP pranayama down from 10 mins to 5 mins, but, aside from that, I'm doing this breath 45-60 mins per gym visit, and unless I bail out of the exercise protocol (which has been helping) entirely, I'm not sure what to do, as 45-60 mins is the length of time it takes to do the exercise I need. And it wouldn't be effective to switch to mouth breathing for part of the time... |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 04 2007 10:56:17 AM |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jul 04 2007 : 11:34:29 AM
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Hi Jim,
I find it funny/ curious that this fellow recommends this type of breathing as I have been doing it with the running part of my training for probably over 20 years. I breathe slowly in and out through my nose, while restricting the out-flow ever so slightly like in ujjayi breath. When I think about it, I realize that my body naturally does it while weight-lifting as well, though sometimes going to open mouth exhale on the concentric movements. I would say that I never do it between sets or between exercises where I observe that I just breathe normally. When I get extremely winded, the ujjayi breath is quickly abandoned and I go straight to big open mouth gulps for air!  Yes, sometimes with tongue hanging out!
I would say that over the last 2 and a half years of AYP where I did much more sitting yoga practice than ever before in my life, even though my overall training time was much reduced to an average of 2 hours a day, I still never had a problem going over despite the evident doubling up.
Of course the important part here could possibly be that I never imagined I might end up going over because of this. I also never gave any conscious thought to the breathing or followed the breath, it just occurred naturally. It is extremely important for athletes to remember to breathe as it is very common to hold the breath during intense levels of exertion. It sounds like this exercise protocol does a good job in ensuring this happens and is a likely reason it feels so good.
Long story short, I would suggest letting ujjayi breathing happen, don't worry about it or think about it, keep practicing the way that is making you feel good in the gym. If you should find yourself going over then look to breathing normally between sets and exercises as a first step, which would cut your overall time down considerably. Focus on the movements and not the breath for the time being as well. If you are still over, which I doubt will happen, then you might have to explore other means of self-pacing.
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Edited by - Anthem on Jul 04 2007 11:55:01 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 04 2007 : 1:21:45 PM
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| Thanks, Anthem. My situation's a little different...I've breathed through mouth during all exercise for all my life. This book makes a case that this causes a fight/flight reaction that makes exercise feel unpleasant...like you're always fighting something. Indeed, since I switched breathing, i find myself much more in "the zone". But it's not natural...I do have to remember to do the nose breathing, just because I spent so long doing it the other way. What I can do, certainly, is continue to nose breathe on breaks, but cut the ujiya...but, still, this adds up to a whole lot of ujiya breathing every day! |
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