Breath Control

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Kassandra
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Breath Control

Post by Kassandra »

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRxNA6sc30U
Sage advice about breath, presented in a flashy, hip-hoppy kind of way, lol


Pranayama

Breath control is called pranayama in Sanskrit (prana, "life force," and yama, "discipline"). Notice how our breathing patterns always change depending on our emotional condition: heaving, beast-like breaths when we're really angry; constricted, barely-there catch-breaths when something is really frightening us; or long, life-giving, full breaths when we experience love toward others, spiritual expansiveness, serenity and peace.

In ancient India, where yoga practice was developed, a big part of the practice was meditation (Sanskrit, dhyana) and breath control, not just doing a bunch of physical postures (asana). Western culture has horribly dumbed-down the original essence of yoga practice into it being all about physicality. But it wasn't always that way. It used to be a lifestyle one chose to live, based on a constant awareness of and respect for the prana of all things, including one's self. The yogic greeting/salutation, "namaste," reflects this concept.



Siddhi

A siddha is someone who has brought themselves under control, has disciplined his/her body, mind...and most importantly, his/her breath. When MC Yogi says "Siddhi breath control" in the video above, he's referring to siddhi as meaning an "advanced ability." Our natural, innate psychic abilities which we all have (yes, you too) could become siddhis, with development. But for most people, they will lie dormant for that person's entire lifetime.

There are many distractions in this Matrix-designed-and-controlled world to keep people spiritually unfocused and unbalanced, so that the result is that the last thing folks are interested in is developing their spiritual potential (television is a great example of a dumb-down machine, video games an even better one). "Entertainment," panem et circenses, effectively accomplishes the goal of creating dissociated, hypnotized people who isolate themselves from their true life purpose here, their spiritual potential. People who value and develop their spiritual growth seem a direct threat to the Matrix control system, a virus, an infection...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oosh9AVSnbU



Living One's Yoga

A siddha is a spiritually-advanced person, and the truth is, any of us could be such by consistently utilizing two tools: a clear-cut spiritual path of some sort, and a clean heart whose goal is not egoistic gratification/self-aggrandizement and/or soley material gain. Any spiritual path could be one's "yoga"...yoga, just means "unity," as in uniting one's lower, Earth-bound self (that selfish, "meat suit mentality" we all have) with one's Higher Self, that sense of self we have that knows it is the All That Is. The Bhagavad Gita and many other Indian spiritual writings extensively develop this idea.

As the 20-the century yogi and author, Paramhansa Yogananda, wrote in his autobiography:

There are a number of great souls, living in American or European or other non-Hindu bodies today who, though they may never have heard the words "yogi" and "swami," are yet true exemplars of those terms. Yoga has been superficially misunderstood by certain Western writers...but its critics have never been its practitioners.

It is hard work for all of us to stay connected to our sense of Higher Self, this planet being so dumbed-down the way it is. But with discipline, it's still a do-able thing --difficult, but do-able. You know when you're connected to your Higher Self, and when you're not. You could feel the difference. No one has to tell you this.

Yoga isn't about twisting the body into a bunch of pretzel positions, impressing everybody with one's physical dexterity, which seems to be what most peoples' concept of a "yoga practice" is. Those physical exercises, as beneficial as they are, are but one limb of an ancient, enormous, 8-limbed tree, with very deep roots. Yet, Western "yoga practitioners" choose to focus on the one limb, I don't know, maybe it's to get tighter buns so they'll look great in their Lululemon yoga pants at the Whole Foods market, lol...beats me.

We could dedicate ourselves to our chosen paths, our yoga. We could bring our offering, our gift to the Earth while we have this lifetime in which to do it. Since breath is affected by the thoughts we choose to think, and our thoughts are a choice we make, not a given, and since, as the saying goes, "energy follows thought," let us think good thoughts!!! A good start would be breath control.

Namaste ~




Related article: Yoga for Singers





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