Why is so much of yoga centred around breath? Here is my take.
There are several processes in your body. Some are conscious eg you moving your hand. Many more are unconscious...food being digested, or heart beating.
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There are several processes in your body. Some are conscious eg you moving your hand. Many more are unconscious...food being digested, or heart beating.
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+ one of the very few processes that straddle both the conscious and unconscious is breath. You can stop it for a time, speed it up, or slow it down at will.
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And if you ignore it goes on in the background. Moreover breath employs both the prana and apana vayus moving up and down.
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And if you ignore it goes on in the background. Moreover breath employs both the prana and apana vayus moving up and down.
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Focus on breath takes the practitioner towards controlling unconscious processes. Its like using a small thread to pull a slightly bigger and bigger thread till you reach the actual rope and pull that.
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Focus on breath takes the practitioner towards controlling unconscious processes. Its like using a small thread to pull a slightly bigger and bigger thread till you reach the actual rope and pull that.
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Accessing the unconscious allows you control over physiological processes but also ultimately allows access to your unconscious mind. You gain a sense of self awareness where you are able to see your actions, thoughts and even emotions in the context of cause and effect.
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Accessing the unconscious allows you control over physiological processes but also ultimately allows access to your unconscious mind. You gain a sense of self awareness where you are able to see your actions, thoughts and even emotions in the context of cause and effect.
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You become free of being controlled by the vicissitudes of your mind. You are no angry or insecure or sensitive... You are merely the effect of a cause. This allows you to change yourself the way you like.
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You become free of being controlled by the vicissitudes of your mind. You are no angry or insecure or sensitive... You are merely the effect of a cause. This allows you to change yourself the way you like.
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+ eventually you ask the question: who is this "you" that is being changed?
