Air in the Dynamic Yoga Method
AIR: THE ELEMENT OF RHYTHM
Air qualities are expansion, filling, lightness, rhythm, grace, mobility and thinking. The fundamental expression of air is rhythmic expansion, opening or exetension, and it is embodied in the technique of pranayama. The arena of air is the thorax, its source is the throat, its medium the joints, and its key the bones. Air is cultivated and expressed by creating space in the joints and organs, particularly the lungs, and creating lightness in action and movement.
The superficial application of air is to develop the capacity to overcome the effect of gravity on the physical body, especially through the practice of inversions and armbalances. The subtle application is to free the mind from rigidity by releasing the breath from all imposition and intention. This is the being or transformation state of pranayama, which results only from respiratory freedom, and never from control. Establishing air requires rhythm, the sign of its presence is its opposite, stillness. Without rhythm we become locked into deep dualistic patterns of physical, mental and spiritual tension.
When the integrating dynamics of the bandhas are applied in the whole body (sarvangabandha) it opens (sukham) all the joints while simultaneously stabilising (sthiram) them. Then the body also becomes light and graceful. At the heart of this grace is the effortless activity of the respiratory mechanism. The rhythm of diaphragm and accessory respiratory muscles must be allowed to be a natural expression of the intrinsic wisdom of the body. A wisdom developed through 3,500,000,000 years of trial and error since cellular respiration began in unicellular organisms.
To tamper with the breath from the mind is to meddle with our integrity at the organic roots of our being. Any attempt to directly control the breathing rhythm during yoga posture practice is not only an imposition, but a profound statement of mistrust in the integrity of the body and life. It not only wastes energy by unncecessarily increasing muscular and mental activity, but also generates the tension that always results from the application of intent.
The breath can only safely be released by recognising and realising the functional unity (yoga) of respiration and motion, that began when locomotion brought life and breathing out of the ocean. To release the body from structural distortion is to liberate the breath. This depends especially on the lengthening and releasing of the spine. This can not be established without releasing and integrating all the motor joints that support the spine directly or indirectly.
Because of the inherent integrity of the human body, free and full release of the spine depends upon the integrated activation of the whole body. This involves activating the structural dynamic of the bandhas in the hands and feet, the energetic dynamic in the arms and legs. Then the spine is supported and fulfilled and breathing takes place freely and fully through the agency of the whole body. Breathing is then transformed indirectly from the whole body.
