During this uncertain time, more than ever, our yoga practice has a LOT to offer us. The challenges we’re facing are various and different people will, of course, be suffering in different ways and to different degrees.
But if you practice yoga, or are interested in it, now is a really good time to find new ways of taking your yoga off the mat and integrating it into your way of life. Really, that’s what yoga is — it’s never just postures on a mat. Sometimes, we need the motivation of new challenges to make us see that.
Sunday, April 7th, is World Health Day. The goal of this annual global campaign is to promote access to good health and healthcare for all people, all over the world.
Part of the campaign is focused on helping individuals and health care providers understand more about protective factors for good health, including nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and stress reduction.
Do you catch yourself humming absent-mindedly while you’re walking round a shop, or filling in paperwork? Studies show that the sounds in our environment have a direct impact on our stress levels — so it’s no surprise that lots of us make sounds to soothe our own stress, or aid our concentration.
Bhramari Pranayama is a breathing which does exactly that. It uses the creation of sound in the throat, combined with closing off the ears to external sounds, to calm the nervous system and settle the thoughts.
How Bhramari Could Help You
The steady, bee-like humming sound you create during bhramari pranayama has an instant soothing effect on the mind. It’s an ideal practice for you if you ever feel anxious or overwhelmed because its effects are so immediate.
You can use it to calm down at any time.
As well as this wonderful, speedy anxiety relief, the benefits of bhramari include:
Nadi Shodana is a traditional pranayama practice — a breathing technique — which promotes free and flowing movement of energy throughout the physical and subtle bodies.
The nadis are the energy channels that carry prana (our incredible life-force-energy) through and around the body all the time. There are a lot of them: around 72,000! And Shodana means ‘to cleanse’ or ‘to purify’.
So Nadi Shodana does exactly that; cleanses the energy channels to ease out any blockages or imbalances so that we can benefit from all of the energy available to us. It’s particularly effective at balancing two of the main nadis (energy channels) in the body, called Ida and Pingala.
