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DISPEL NEGATIVE THOUGHTSTry taking cleansing breaths every now and then

Have you noticed how you breathe after you a long day or after a stressful situation? You heave a sigh of relief. ‘Hmmm or Haaaaa”, thank god it’s over’ is the expression. A sigh of relief is characterised by a long exhalation of breath. This is the body’s natural release mechanism. We have a tendency to hold everything in and seldom get the space to release our tension or feelings. Hence everything gets bottled up to bursting point or to the point of disease and breakdown.

The rishis observed the natural mechanisms of the body and discovered ways of shifting imbalanced states back to ones of ease and balance. This was facilitated by consciously altering the body or breath to impact the emotions and thought processes.

The cleansing breath is a very simple technique that can be done at any time of day. Like a sigh of relief it brings us back to the awareness of letting go at a physical and emotional level. Instead of waiting for a crisis, we use this cleansing breath right through the day to release pent-up, suppressed anxiety.

The cleansing breath, as the name indicates, cleanses the system. It is useful to do this, especially when one’s feelings are overwhelming. It can be done at any point in time, when one is seated in front of the computer, stuck in the traffic, in between meetings or when one is just waiting for things to happen. Whenever you observe your mind going into a negative state, or is trapped in an unhealthy emotion for too long, use the cleansing breath to release it and dispel it from the system. It is a beautiful way of releasing excess baggage from the system. We get attached to the baggage even though it is old and not needed anymore. Sometimes it becomes like a garbage dump and we go through the garbage again and again trying to make sense of it by analysing and scrutinising it. It’s fine to do this when one is curious. However one soon realises that the ‘baggage’ is a permutation and combination of fear, anxiety and anger caused by various incidents. So once one gets a general idea why the problem is caused and where one needs to be vigilant one can move on. The cleansing breath helps release the old fears and anxieties stored in the nervous system and move on.

It also helps you be in touch with your emotions. Students in the West due to their conditioning are hesitant to make a noise in the beginning when taught the cleansing breath technique.

The technique is fairly simple. Pout your lips like a crow’s beak in the kaaki mudra. Breathe in through the nose deep into your lungs and breathe out through your pouted lips making a “whoosh” sound. Do 3, 6 or 9 rounds. You can also do multiples of nine. You can do this with your eyes open or closed depending on where you are. You can feel the calm even as you keep your eyes closed. Take breaks after every 9 rounds.

MAITREYI

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