Tag: wellness

The Dangers of Chronic Mouth-Breathing

by subincontinentia


It is astonishing to me how many people have gone through their entire adult lives breathing primarily through their mouths. The harm that chronic mouth-breathing causes the body and mind is so extensive and well-documented that correcting this one single issue can lead to a dramatic improvement in overall well-being.

Within the Path of Yoga, we find a vast system of Breath Control, called Pranayama in Sanskrit. Pranayama is a comprehensive and elaborate system of breathing techniques aimed at bringing about various changes in our nervous system state. There are restorative techniques to calm us down and harmonize our stress levels and other techniques to fire us up and prepare for physical challenges. There are techniques to quieten the mind, to improve sleep, as well as those that stimulate digestion, hone the attention and improve memory. And yet the entire system of Pranayama assumes, as a general rule, that the person is breathing through their nose, and not through their mouth. In yoga you will often hear the nose is for breathing; the mouth is for eating. And for very good reasons as you will see.

As a Certified Breath Coach, one of the most satisfying interventions is when I can help my clients to break the habit of chronic mouth-breathing, because the improvements that people see are so startling. Some of the problems associated with chronic mouth breathing include:

  • Lowered immune defense                     
  • Dental cavities and over-crowded teeth
  • Erectile dyfunction
  • Bad breath
  • Dry cough
  • Asthma
  • Slack jaw
  • Baggy eyes
  • Poor sleep
  • Sleep apnea (breathing that stops and starts during sleep)
  • Poor digestion
  • Reduced cognitive function
  • Concentration and memory problems
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Fatigue

Our nose is an extraordinary and under-appreciated organ. Rhinology is a fast-growing scientific discipline which has exploded in recent years through a deeper understanding of the complex functions of the nose and the paranasal sinuses and their impact on our health. The nose is our first line of defense against infection, colds, flu, allergies and hay fever since our nasal passages filter out coarse particles including bacteria, viruses and fungal spores. It is worth noting that 96% of all chronic rhinosinusitis is believed to be fungal.

The nose also acts as an air sterilizer, neutralizing pathogens though the release of Nitric Oxide (NO) that is stimulated through nasal breathing, particularly the inhalation. We are only just beginning to understand the benefits of Nitric Oxide. We know that it dilates the blood vessels and helps the heart to function properly by lowering blood pressure. But NO has also been discovered to be the main signalling molecule in penile erection and its deficiency can lead to erectile dysfunction.

Our nose also helps our lungs to function properly. Nose breathing stimulates the movement of lung cilia which protect our lungs against intruder cells, and reducing mucous and pathogens. The lungs function best when the air is at body temperature and 100% humidity, so the nasal passages help to moisturize and warm the air that we breathe. There is a lot more that I could add and if you’re interested I encourage you to look into it further.

In time, chronic mouth breathing shuts down the proper function of the nose so that it becomes ‘blocked’. What often surprises people is that when they begin to use their nose again, it starts to open up. It is really a case of ‘use it or lose it’.

The good news is that even if you have been mouth-breathing for decades it is possible to ‘wake up’ the nose and learn to breathe as nature intended. It won’t happen overnight, but with proper guidance and practice most people find significant improvement in as little as one week.

To learn more and for information on private and group yoga sessions/breath coaching contact me at: lavieenyoga@gmail.com

Respect yourself, explore yourself.

Rebecca

How to create your own yoga sequence

by subincontinentia

In our more recent classes, we have been working on creating our own personal mini yoga sequences. It has been a lot of fun and it’s always so interesting to see the different choices that people make and how different we all are. For one person, the downward dog pose feels like an easy-going pal – a posture they happily hang out with – but for someone else, downward dog feels like their ‘bête noire’ – a posture they would rather not hang out with at all!  

I thought I would share some of the things that we have learned during these sessions so that you can put together your own yoga sequence at home. If you’re a yoga teacher doing this in a class setting then I highly recommend that you have your clients/ students do this exercise in pairs, with each person developing their own sequence but collaborating on the process itself. For one thing, having an extra person there helps when it comes to weighing the options as to which pose to do next. It also helps in memorizing the sequences. One person might forget their second posture, for example, but their partner might well remember it. It also makes it a more dynamically creative process because people can bounce ideas and thoughts off one another. When it comes to planning and performing your sequence in front of the class, it’s also less pressure and more lighthearted when there are two of you.

No matter whether you are creating a sequence with a partner or on your own, I suggest that you begin with 4 postures. This may not sound like many, but bear in mind that Salute to the Sun (Surya Namaskar) constitutes of only 4 main poses. The rest are simply repetitions, either repeated on the same side, or on the other. You can always expand on your sequence later on by adding transitional postures and movements in between the key postures or by adding extra poses at the beginning and end.

So, what criteria should you use to decide on your postures since there are so many to choose from?

One way to categorize yoga postures is by your orientation to the ground. We have standing postures; mid-level postures, seated postures, front to ground postures, back to ground postures and four points postures (hands and knees/feet).

Standing postures include: Warrior Pose (I,II & III), Triangle Pose, Palm Tree Pose, Tree Pose, Forward Bend, Goddess Pose

Mid-way postures include: Low Lunge, Lizard Pose, Camel Pose, Patient Crane Pose, Bird Dog

Seated postures include: Boat Pose, Seated Spinal Twist, Staff Pose, Butterfly Pose, Churning the Butter

Four-Points Postures include: Plank, Table, Downward Dog, Frog Pose

Front to ground postures include: Sphinx Pose, Cobra, Crocodile Pose, Bow Pose, Hare Pose, Threading the Needle

Back to ground postures include: Shoulder Stand, Universal Spinal Twist, Bridge Pose, Rocking the Baby, Fish Pose, Corpse Pose


Here are 9 tips to building your own bespoke yoga sequence.

  1. .Create a sequence with postures from at least 3 of the levels listed above, moving from a standing pose downwards. For example, you could choose two standing poses, one four-point pose and one front ground pose.
  2. Begin by choosing postures that are the most familiar to your body. You can always add postures that feel more advance to you later on.
  3. Choose one posture in your sequence that is a bit of a bête noire for you. The reason for this is that the postures we find the most demanding are almost always the postures that we learn from the most. You don’t want to overdo this and have all the postures be ones your body struggles with or else practicing your sequence won’t be much fun, but 1 in 4 should be manageable.
  4. Create as much fluidity and conservation of movement as possible between one posture and the next. For example, shifting from Warrior Pose directly into Hare Pose is cumbersome unless you include a transitional pose such as Downward Dog.
  5. The length of time you stay in any posture is up to you but try to stay in each posture for at least 10 and up to 20 seconds.
  6. Once you have chosen your 4 postures, begin to practice them every day.
  7. People often struggle to remember their sequence. A good memory trick is to create a ‘story’ with your postures. For example, Tree Pose to Warrior II to Downward Dog to Hare Pose could become The Tree shaded The Warrior while his trusted companion Downward Dog chased a Hare through the woods.
  8. Once you have become familiar with your sequence, begin to repeat the ‘double-sided’ postures, meaning that allow for the same postures on the other side. Take the above sequence, for example. You can do Tree Pose starting with the left leg up, then shift into Warrior II with left leg behind you, then into Downward Dog and lastly into Hare Pose. You could then return to Downward Dog, move back up into Warrior II except this time with the right leg behind you (perhaps first transitioning from Downward Dog through high lunge) and then back into Tree Pose with the right leg up.
  9. Feel free to get creative and make your practice truly your own!