Breathing Lessons

By making it a conscious, controlled action, pranayama begins to transform breathing into a spiritual practice.

By Judith Lasater

The Physiology of Breathing

To understand why breathing practices can be so transformative, it helps to know a little bit about the physiology of the breath. Even though we take it for granted as a simple part of life, breathing is a complicated process that involves three distinct stages. The first stage moves oxygen into the body, across the membranes of the lungs, and into the bloodstream. At the same time that oxygen passes from the alveolar sacs of the lungs into the bloodstream, carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolic processes, moves in the opposite direction and is expelled from the body by exhalation. This first stage, called external respiration, is what we normally refer to as breathing.

The red blood cells bear fresh oxygen throughout the circulatory system, preparing the body for the second stage of breathing called internal respiration. In this stage, the life-giving oxygen crosses the membranes from the red blood cells into all the other cells of the body. Once this happens, intracellular respiration occurs as the cells make use of the oxygen for growth, repair, and replication. This use of oxygen in cellular metabolic processes is the final stage of breathing.

Benefits of Pranayama

For thousands of years, yogis have recognized that pranayama can have profound physiological effects. More recently, modern science has offered its own proof. One study I came across during my physical therapy training focused on the benefits of breathing while lying on your back. When you breathe lying down, blood spreads easily throughout the lung tissue, just as water spreads out when you pour it on the floor. With more surface area available, you are able to use more of the oxygen that enters the lungs, however large or small the amount.

Another study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in the 1960s found that yoga-type respiratory training may have elements in common with adaptation to high altitudes. One possible explanation for this training effect is that the practice of breath retention increases the ability to tolerate build-up of carbon dioxide in the body. Interestingly, it is the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, not the level of oxygen, which drives the body's respiratory apparatus. If you can tolerate increased carbon dioxide in your blood, your body will not feel a need to breathe as often, and you can get by on less oxygen.

Of course, the ancient yogis didn't use the language of modern physiology to explain the benefits of pranayama. To yogis, pranayama is much more than breathing practice. According to yoga theories, once prana is drawn into the body and properly restrained, it can be directed into subtle energy channels called nadis. These nadis course through the body like nerves or acupuncture meridians. These subtle channels are believed to carry our spiritual energy. When you can control the prana in the nadis, it can be directed to arouse kundalini, the form of cosmic energy that lies sleeping at the base of the spine. As kundalini moves up the spine, it activates the spiritual energy centers known as chakras. This whole process is believed to awaken your dormant higher consciousness, a state of deep understanding and wisdom. (I advise students who are interested in practicing pranayama in this subtle and intense way to seek out the advice of an experienced teacher.)

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