Why have a daily breath practice.... I mean why bother....right?

After 24 years of Yoga practice and 16 years of a daily breath work practice the changes I have witnessed in myself and the strongest coping tool I have ever been grateful to have found...... this is why I teach this practice ...... eternally grateful to my Breath master Sri.O.P.Tiwari.  Siobhan

Pranayama – what it is?  It is a way of exercising control over the breath or vital force in our body (Prana) and working with it through different practices that have been around for thousands of years, which is proof in itself that it must still be doing something very good for us today. Once we master the breath control
  
What’s it about?  It is the fourth limb of the 8 limb Yoga system.  We begin slowly and gradually tame our breath to bring it more and more under our own control.  We make it longer on in and exhales, we make it stop for a period of time and we create a new inner and far more profound deeper connection with our self.  This in turn has its benefits especially in todays society.  If we can get a better strength in our lungs and our nerves.  We can ultimately master our thoughts or become much more positive and grounded and much less reactive.  Life changes as a result and we feel a subtle rise above the things we once got upset about.  We learn to master our emotions. Our new found energy and happiness is infectious and we touch the hearts of those we surround ourselves by too.
 
What can students expect?  Immediately what we feel is calm and reduced chatter in our heads…. Enough to make us feel clear in our thoughts….we feel very happy or we may feel other emotions that are usually buried deep inside …. When we practice even a little everyday we start our day on the right foot , in a positive frame of mind and it stays with us all day long…. Over time we become much more resilient to the drama of life around us, our heartrate lowers and our lung capacity increases.  We become happier inside and our biorhythms start to gradually synch making hormones and nerve response enhanced and the toxins in our cells destroyed.  It is a fast track to our mental and physiological wellbeing.
 
Talk about your experience… I was taught Pranayama 24 years ago in my first ever Yoga class, I will never forget how those first years of Yoga changed how I felt about myself.  Coming from a very erratic and quite dysfunctional family life (albeit a comfortable childhood home-wise) these events produced trauma in my system at a very deep level, in my teens it was buried and ignored and in doing so , ignoring my own needs and putting others first.  It was destructive in many ways I was not aware of.  I thought I was surviving and doing well.  When Pranayama really got deep into my system through my Guru, now of the past 16 years my whole body became one that was purified, which enhanced how my mind worked, my mind encouraged my systems to synchronise and bad habits vanished.  Insomnia, Eating problems, Low moods, Anxiety and hormonal problems, all gone.  I knew I was never going back to who I was because I loved who I had become.  That is priceless and that is the beauty of having Pranayama in my life.  Why would I ever want to give up something that makes me feel alive, feel and touch inner Joy and reward me with such a great life.  It has not been without its struggles, but they have made me accept them as part of my own journey rather than allowing them to pull me down.  It is just a beautiful thing and the health benefits are infinite.
 
Maybe think about some of the common questions you’re asked.  We start slowly and we increase what we do in our practice in stages…. Safely taming our inner emotions and bring ourselves into a better state of being.  We can have a long practice or a short one.  We can focus on a health issue, like HBP or anxiety.  It has so many uses that help in every person a unique way that is personal to them.
 
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