The Tibetan Yoga of Breath: Breathing Practices for Healing the Body and Cultivating Wisdom (3 page)

As the name suggests, thoracic breathing comes from the accessory breathing muscles in the upper chest and rib cage rather than the diaphragm. Thoracic breathing is shallower and faster than abdominal breathing, and often includes active or forced exhalation. The passive relaxation of the diaphragm is accompanied by active contraction of additional muscles that forces the air out of the lungs, rather than simply allowing the diaphragm to relax, as during abdominal breathing. In other words, in thoracic breathing, we are contracting muscles to exhale, rather than just allowing a contracted muscle to relax.

Exercise 1

LEARN HOW YOU BREATHE

To experience these two styles of breathing, try this exercise: Place one hand on your belly and the other hand on your heart. Now take a deep breath. Did you feel your rib cage elevate and expand? That is thoracic breathing (exaggerated, of course, by the deep inhalation). Now take in a deep breath but concentrate on not moving your rib cage. Instead, slightly push your stomach out into your hand. Try to breathe so that the hand placed over your heart does not move. This is abdominal breathing. Repeat this a few times, exploring the subtleties of the muscle groups working, until you can feel the difference.

T
HE
S
CIENCE OF THE
B
REATH

When we are physically and mentally healthy, these two styles of breathing work together. When the body’s metabolic demands require an immediate short-term energy boost, thoracic breathing supports this increase. Thoracic breathing is not necessarily unhealthy; it is just less efficient. When we are at rest, abdominal breathing is more efficient than thoracic breathing. It is slower, deeper, and more calming to the body and mind, which intuitively leads to the feeling that abdominal breathing must have positive, cumulative health effects.

Just as abdominal breathing can have a long-term beneficial effect on the body, the absence of abdominal breathing may indicate an absence of health or the presence of a medical condition. Indeed, medical research shows that people who are ill take more thoracic breaths even when at rest than people who are healthy.
⁴
Some medical conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, cancer, and cystic fibrosis, are associated with higher breathing rates—patients breathing in two to three times more air in a minute than
healthy people.
⁵
Excessive thoracic breathing is not uncommon; in fact, surveys suggest that 60 percent of ambulance runs in major US cities were to provide medical care for persons suffering from symptoms directly related to “overbreathing,”
⁶
also called
hyperventilation
.

Oxygen in the blood.
What are the effects of thoracic breathing when we are at rest—in other words, breathing in excess of the metabolic demands of the body? When we overuse the accessory breathing muscles—the muscles in the shoulder girdle as well as the chest wall—as we do when we engage in thoracic breathing, the upper lungs quickly fill with air. However, oxygen exchange is less efficient in the upper lungs. The lower lungs are six to seven times more efficient at exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide, due to gravity, which pulls the blood supply into the lower lungs, giving more time for oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange. Thus, breathing with the upper lungs provides the body with less oxygen than breathing with the lower lungs.
⁷

Carbon dioxide in the blood.
However, less oxygen in the blood is not the only issue; less carbon dioxide in the blood is also problematic. Carbon dioxide is necessary for oxygen to be released within the bloodstream, and it is also an important vasodilator; it opens the blood vessels so that blood can flow through. Additionally, a lack of carbon dioxide causes the smooth muscle in the digestive tract and connective tissue to contract, which restricts blood flow.
⁸
When the blood vessels constrict, the blood is unable to carry the necessary amount of oxygen to the organs and brain, and the heart also has to work harder to circulate blood throughout the body. When we breathe too shallowly and too rapidly, such as when we breathe thoracically at rest, carbon dioxide is exhaled faster than it is produced, and carbon dioxide levels in the blood decrease. Even though it seems like we are getting more oxygen into our bodies when we breathe rapidly, we are not. Breathing thoracically at rest decreases carbon dioxide levels in the blood, which in turn deprives the tissues of the body, including the organs and the brain, of oxygen.
⁹

pH balance in the body
. And there is more scientific evidence that links the effects of breathing to our health and wellness. Too little carbon dioxide in the blood results in a higher blood pH, increasing blood pH from 7.4 to 7.5.
¹⁰
This can lead to a medical condition called
respiratory alkalosis
. Respiratory alkalosis may sound like a complicated disorder, but we can understand it by relating it to what we know about systems in balance. When a system, such as groundwater, becomes either too basic (alkaline) or too acidic such that its pH is not in equilibrium, it becomes unhealthy, and its ability to sustain life becomes compromised. The same is true of the blood. If blood pH is out of balance, in this case too alkaline, that imbalance spreads throughout the body. The blood’s ability to sustain our body’s overall health becomes compromised. Respiratory alkalosis is associated with many chronic health conditions, and can be an early or intermediate indicator of cardiac and pulmonary disorders, diseases that affect the heart and lungs.

Cell function
. Additionally, the cells in our bodies behave differently depending on how much oxygen is available to them. Some doctors and medical researchers believe that reduced cell oxygenation is the driving force behind many chronic diseases.
Cell hypoxia
is a disorder in which cells are deprived of oxygen, and some research shows that cell hypoxia encourages the growth of cancerous tumors.
¹¹
Also, when the cells in the heart-muscle tissues are deprived of oxygen, this results in heart problems and a painful heart condition called
angina agony
. Other diseases, such as diabetes,
¹²
cystic fibrosis,
¹³
asthma,
¹⁴
bronchitis,
¹⁵
osteoporosis,
¹⁶
and gastrointestinal disorders,
¹⁷
are all associated with low amounts of oxygen in the brain or other bodily organs.

Deep abdominal breathing promotes full exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide. An important point to be aware of is that the word
deep
refers to the depth of breath in the lungs. Research shows that this type of breathing can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.
¹⁸
A lower resting heart rate and low blood pressure are general signs of good health.

T
HE
B
REATH,
W
IND
E
NERGY,
AND
W
ELL
-B
EING

The breath is not only a source of support for the physical body; it is also a support for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the breath are easily understood in the context of traditional Tibetan language and philosophy, where the air element is central to all of life—including all of our physical, mental, and spiritual experiences.

In the Tibetan Buddhist teachings, the element of air and the breath are tied together through the word
lung
(Tib. rlung), which is embedded with several layers of meaning.
Lung
describes not only the breath, the movement of air we call wind, and the basic atmosphere around us, but it has the additional meaning of “wind energy.” From the point of view of Tibetan medicine, physiology, and the practice of meditation, the physical body is permeated by five types of wind energy, which support the body’s most basic functions, such as circulation, digestion, and excretion. Therefore, according to Tibetan medicine, the breath is part of an intricate system of wind energy that regulates and supports the body’s health. For this reason, we often use the words
breath
and
wind energy
interchangeably. However, while the breath is one form of wind energy, referring to wind energy speaks to our entire bodily system, and all of its physical, mental, and emotional components. Tibetan medicine tells us that when all the wind energy is in balance, all of the body’s basic systems work efficiently and we feel healthy.

Although there are some differences in the style of explanation, the results of imbalanced wind energy are very similar to the explanations given by Western medical science. From the point of view of Tibetan medicine and physiology, when wind energy becomes too excessive and builds up in the upper part of the lungs, as occurs during thoracic breathing, this can result in a condition called
nying lung
(Tib. snying rlung), literally “heart-wind.” When we experience nying lung, the wind energy in the
region around the heart and lungs has become too strong and too agitated.

Heart-wind has mental and emotional effects as well as physical ones. When we experience heart-wind, the region around the heart can feel agitated and fiery, especially inside the rib cage, making us feel impulsive, agitated, and short-tempered. The excessive energy of heart-wind can manifest in different ways. The agitation and volatility of heart-wind can lead to anxiety and restlessness. Or, if experienced over a long period of time, the chest and lungs can feel energetically heavy and may cause feelings of depression. The manifestation of heart-wind depends on the temperament and disposition of the person, as well as what the sensation of heart-wind feels like in the body.

Tibetan medicine sees heart-wind as the basis for all kinds of systemic imbalances. In terms of our bodily health, the medical tantras state that it is a source of pulmonary and cardiac disorders such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart attack.

According to our Tibetan tradition, heart-wind does not only result from habitual breathing patterns. Extreme emotional states, such as rage or despair, can produce heart-wind. These strong emotions can raise the level of wind energy in the upper part of the chest, and result in an immediate, severe physical and emotional reaction such as a heart attack or suicidal thoughts. Heart-wind is a condition that can be calmed through taking traditional Tibetan herbal medicine in conjunction with breath practices such as are taught in chapters 4 through 7 of this book, to correct the voluntary breathing pattern.

Wind Energy and the Emotions

We may think of the breath as something that is simply related to the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide and that keeps us alive. However, wind energy not only supports our ordinary bodily systems but it also quite literally drives our emotions. Thus, it is more than simply the experience of inhalation and exhalation. Wind
energy is also the physical rush of energy that accompanies all of our feelings and sensations. If we examine the body and mind carefully, we notice a connection between the breath and how we feel. When the breath is calm and relaxed, we notice that the body’s energy is also calm, especially in the areas of the abdomen, lungs, and chest. As a result, the mind becomes clear and we feel relaxed and even-tempered. We feel that we can take things as they come and that we are capable of dealing with whatever life brings us.

On the other hand, when we are emotionally upset, we may notice that we breathe harder and faster, or that we are unable to inhale deeply and exhale fully. We notice a sense of pain, heaviness, or dullness in the abdomen and chest area, or even throughout the whole body, and that the mind is agitated by thoughts or overpowered by emotion. This overpowering energy manifests in all sorts of neurotic ways, such as depression, obsession, fear of intimacy, fear of trust, or feelings of grandiosity or inadequacy. Research has associated breathing patterns with specific emotional states—and it has also shown that we can influence our emotions by the way we breathe.
¹⁹
In addition, Western medicine connects our psychological state with respiratory alkalosis. Respiratory alkalosis is associated with a lower pain threshold,
²⁰
with feelings of discomfort and agitation,
²¹
and with imbalances such as anxiety and fatigue—all the result of less efficient oxygen delivery to the tissues and organs, including the brain. Some research states that dysfunctional breathing is as high as 5 to 11 percent in the general population, 30 percent in asthmatics, and up to 83 percent in those who suffer from anxiety.
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