'We typically use only 25-30% of our lung capacity' said the instructor. Now, I cannot be sure but I have a strong suspicion that I might be using even lesser capacity than this. No argument here.
'God has designed our body to last for 300 years but since we use only a quarter of our lung capacity, we live to be only 75' he continued. I found it hard to digest this one but let it go. I was in no mood to argue this early in the morning.
The instructor was explaining why he had taught us the Kapaalbhaati breathing exercise (which is the 2nd one in the course) on the very first day. That is because it apparently cures 80% of physical problems. Speaking of Kapaalbhaati, my bubble of happiness at being able to do it correctly yesterday burst first thing today morning when the instructor, after observing me doing it for a couple of minutes, commented that I shouldn't move my body so much. Oh well, it was too good to be true anyways.
Then he showed us how to say Om. Om consists of three sounds - a, u and m. I remember from an old Marathi devotional song that 'a' stands for Brahma who is the Creator, 'u' for Vishnu who is the Sustainer and 'm' for Mahesh i.e. Shiva, who is the Destroyer. As per our instructor, the middle 'u', when written in Devnagari, looks like letter 3 and indicates that the 'o' in Om should go on for 3/4th of the time - the 'm' part occupying the rest i.e. the quarter. So we practiced saying it a couple of times. This was followed by chanting of Gayatri Mantra and MahaMrutyunjay Mantra.
Coming to MahaMrutyunjay Mantra, the instructor told us about the time a powerful political personality in Maharashtra was on his deathbed. His followers arranged for the chanting of this Mantra at different places in the state and the leader miraculously recovered. But a few years later he was sick again and the mass chanting of the Mantra couldn't save him. The instructor also commented that when you are done breathing your allocated quota, even the Mantra cannot save you. That set me thinking. Does that mean that on the first occasion it was not the leader's time to go? Then it wasn't the chanting that did the trick, was it?
And then there is the tortoise. Apparently it breathes very few times and that's the secret of its longevity. So if we want a good long life we should do the same. Of course, our brain needs oxygen and so we need to make sure that we take long deep breaths so we don't deprive the brain and rest of the body of oxygen even if we breathe a few times. That's the logic behind the breathing exercise of Bhastrika. 2.5 seconds of long deep inhale and 2.5 seconds of exhale - all the while chanting Om in your mind. 5 seconds per breath so 12 breaths a minute. Totally doable. Plus I like to think (or rather wish!) that when the stomach is pulled in on every inhale, it is doing all that it can to become flatter :-)
But for the record, I don't want to live as long as the tortoise. No fun being the oldest gal in the room :-)
P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.
'God has designed our body to last for 300 years but since we use only a quarter of our lung capacity, we live to be only 75' he continued. I found it hard to digest this one but let it go. I was in no mood to argue this early in the morning.
The instructor was explaining why he had taught us the Kapaalbhaati breathing exercise (which is the 2nd one in the course) on the very first day. That is because it apparently cures 80% of physical problems. Speaking of Kapaalbhaati, my bubble of happiness at being able to do it correctly yesterday burst first thing today morning when the instructor, after observing me doing it for a couple of minutes, commented that I shouldn't move my body so much. Oh well, it was too good to be true anyways.
Then he showed us how to say Om. Om consists of three sounds - a, u and m. I remember from an old Marathi devotional song that 'a' stands for Brahma who is the Creator, 'u' for Vishnu who is the Sustainer and 'm' for Mahesh i.e. Shiva, who is the Destroyer. As per our instructor, the middle 'u', when written in Devnagari, looks like letter 3 and indicates that the 'o' in Om should go on for 3/4th of the time - the 'm' part occupying the rest i.e. the quarter. So we practiced saying it a couple of times. This was followed by chanting of Gayatri Mantra and MahaMrutyunjay Mantra.
Coming to MahaMrutyunjay Mantra, the instructor told us about the time a powerful political personality in Maharashtra was on his deathbed. His followers arranged for the chanting of this Mantra at different places in the state and the leader miraculously recovered. But a few years later he was sick again and the mass chanting of the Mantra couldn't save him. The instructor also commented that when you are done breathing your allocated quota, even the Mantra cannot save you. That set me thinking. Does that mean that on the first occasion it was not the leader's time to go? Then it wasn't the chanting that did the trick, was it?
And then there is the tortoise. Apparently it breathes very few times and that's the secret of its longevity. So if we want a good long life we should do the same. Of course, our brain needs oxygen and so we need to make sure that we take long deep breaths so we don't deprive the brain and rest of the body of oxygen even if we breathe a few times. That's the logic behind the breathing exercise of Bhastrika. 2.5 seconds of long deep inhale and 2.5 seconds of exhale - all the while chanting Om in your mind. 5 seconds per breath so 12 breaths a minute. Totally doable. Plus I like to think (or rather wish!) that when the stomach is pulled in on every inhale, it is doing all that it can to become flatter :-)
But for the record, I don't want to live as long as the tortoise. No fun being the oldest gal in the room :-)
P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.
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