More on Krishnamacharya's

breath, two students 30

years apart, Indra Devi
1930s and Yyvonne
Millerand 1960s

Thank you to Enrique for sending through these pages

from two of Krishnamacharya's students thirty years
apart, Indra Devi in the 1930s and Yyvonne Millerand in
the 1960s. Also, two pages from Krishnamacharya's son
TKV Desikachar's book 'Heart of Yoga'. The selection is
followed by Simon Borg-Olivier discussion of the benefits
of abdominal breathing from his book Applied Anatomy
and Physiology of
Yoga http://anatomy.yogasynergy.com/book
The selections relate to my earlier post on
Krishnamacharya's explicit instruction for the breath in
Yogasanagalu (1941)

Friday, 6 March 2015

The breath: Simon Borg-Olivier made me fall in love with
asana all over again.

In that post we looked at the explicit instructions for the

breath given by krishnamacharya in his early Mysore work
Yogasanagalu (1941)

from Krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu

1. In yoganga sadhana we don’t see these (above

mentioned) irregularities and with regular practice all
organs will become strong.  How is that?  When practicing
asanas, we need to maintain deep inhalation and
exhalation to normalise the uneven respiration through
nasal passages.

 2. In yoga positions where eyes, head and forehead are

raised, inhalation must be performed slowly through the
nostrils until the lungs are filled.  Then the chest is pushed
forward and puffed up, abdomen tightly tucked in,
focusing the eyes on the tip of the nose, and straighten
the back bones tightly as much as possible.  This type of
inhalation which fills the lungs signifies Puraka.

3. In yoga positions where eyes, head, forehead, chest

and the hip are lowered, we have to slowly exhale the
filled air.  Tucking in tightly the upper abdomen, the eyes
must be closed.  This type of exhalation is called Rechaka.

4. Holding the breath is called Kumbhaka.

On reading those instructions Enrique was reminded of

some of the instructions for the breath found in several of
Krishnamacharya's students, Indra Devi, Yvonne Millerand
and also those found in TKV Desikachar's Heart of Yoga. 

It's important to remember that although indra Devi and

YYvonne Millerand  were Krishnamacharya's students
their writing and own instructions for the breath may well
be influenced by later teachers. however One thing we do
find in all these descriptions is the employment of
kumbhaka (breath retention). Kumbhaka in asana is very
much a feature of Krishnamacharya's early Mysore writing
and may suggest that the instructions given do closely
resemble those instructions given by Krishnsmacharya
while they were studying with him.

In the notes section at the end of the post I've included

the selection on the benefits of abdominal breathing from
Simon Borg-Olivier's Book that I'm currently exploring and
trying to square with Krishnamacharya's own
Yogasanagalu instructions

The first two selections Enrique passed along are from

Indra Devi's 'Yoga For You'.

Indra Devi famously studied with Krishnamacharya  for a

short period in the 1930s, is this how Krishnamacharya
taught her to breath or an approach she embraced later
based on other sources.

An earlier post on Indria Devi which includes 'In the shala',

a chapter from one of her books on her experience
studying with Krishnamacharya.

Friday, 8 November 2013

Photo: Indra Devi teaching Marilyn Monroe Yoga 1960
ALSO Indra Devi in Mysore
*

The second two pages are from are from an Italian

edition of Yvonne's Millerand Guide pratique de
HathaYoga. 
Including  a much appreciated translation from the Italian
by Chiara Ghiron 

Thank you to Chiara Ghiron  for the speedy translation

below

First picture

Same working position: laying on the back, with bent legs,

feet on the floor.

Rest your fingers on the top of your chest; elbows and

shoulders rest on the floor, relaxed.

Having inhaled into the thoracic cage, we exhale relaxing

until a respiratory equilibrium and then continue the
exhale by 'blowing' tthanks to contraction of the
abdominal muscles.

Retention with empty lungs: during this retention,

gradually release abdominal contraction.

1. Inhalation: the top part of the thoracic cage lifts gently

as air gets in. After the top part of the lungs have filled,
the middle part also expands, then ribs remain relaxed or
floating. Towards the end, a gentle expansion of the
abdominal area is perceived, due to completion of
diaphragmatic contraction, expansion and lowering, to
ensure maximal room to the entering air
2. Retention: short, with no movement whatsoever

3. Exhalation: attention is directed to the abdomen. From

the start of the exhalation, the abdomen wall flattens and
gradually gets closer to the back wall with a slow
voluntary action that allows dosage of rate and amount of
exhaled air

4. Retention: short. The abdominal wall is kept contracted

for a few seconds then released, to allow for the following
inhalation that restarts movement in the thoracic cage

Thank you to Chiara Ghiron for the speedy translation

below

Mechanical deep breathing exercise

- Seated, with straight, slightly open, legs, rest on the

straight arms behind the back, hands on the floor. Inhale
into the thoracic cage.

- Exhalation is helped by movement. While keeping

exhaling, the body curls, the head lowers towards the
sternum, ribs contract, the back bends sustained by the
arms. The maximal air volume is expelled when the
abdominal muscles contract by squeezing the internal
organs: 'you blow'
- Retention: observe the abdominal surface below the
midline, perceiving the tonic contraction of the abdominal
muscles under the elastic skin; it is an effort which is very
precisely located. With empty lungs and no other
movement, this contraction is gently released and the
lower abdomen rounds up a little

- Inhalation: making lever on the arms, the upper part of

the spin lifts to start inhalation, opening the shoulders
which move away from each other, raising the sternum. Air
enters with an uninterrupted flux in a totally natural way
into the top of the lungs, then into their middle portion as
the thoracic cage expands and the back stretches. Lastly,
the head lifts and bends backwards slowly. Resting on the
arms allows for the abdominal muscles to become
completely relaxed; the belly rounds up under the
expanded ribs, which is a sign that the diaphragm has
lowered and the inhalation has happened from top to
bottom

- Retention without movement for a few seconds;

exhalation is then guided again by movement of the body

This exercise will be repeated at the beginning of each

class to ventilate the lungs and verify the tone of the
abdominal muscles. They need to be able to contract to
ensure exhalation and relax to allow lowering of the
diaphragm at the end of the inhalation.
*

See also My earlier post on Yvonne Millerand

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Yvonne Millerand student of Krishnamacharya in the
1960's inc. some excellent pictures.

Two pages on breathing from Krishnamacharya's son

TKV Desikachar's 1999 book 
'Heart of Yoga'
NOTES

My earlier notes from Simon Bog-Olivier and another

selection from Yyvonne Millerand

This section from Simon and Bianca's's book gives us lots

to think about and work with perhaps as well as their
concepts of related ha and tha bandhas..

"8.2.8.3 Abdominal and thoracic breathing

Abdominal breathing and thoracic breathing are terms

sometimes used by people who teach breathing to
indicate where on the body an expansion of the trunk
should occur reÀecting the primary activation of either
the diaphragm (abdominal breathing) or the intercostal
muscles (thoracic breathing). It is incorrect to think that
air is actually coming into the abdomen during abdominal
breathing. In both types of breathing, the air will only go
into the lungs.

Abdominal breathing is seen as an outward movement of

the abdomen on inhalation and an inward movement of
the abdomen on exhalation. Abdominal breathing mainly
uses the diaphragm muscle, which moves downwards
(distally) as it generates tension. If the abdomen is
relaxed, pressure from the diaphragm will move the
abdominal contents downwards (distally) and also
outwards (anteriorly).

Thoracic breathing is seen as an outward and upward

movement of the rib cage on inhalation and an inward and
downward movement of the rib cage and chest wall on
exhalation. Thoracic breathing mainly uses the intercostal
muscles.

Intercostal muscle expansion of the rib cage and chest

wall in thoracic breathing is essentially the same as the
muscular activation used in the yogic internal lock
uddiyana bandha [Section 7.4.1.3]". p227

8.4.3 The Effects of Breathing Rate on Various Body

Systems

Some types of pranayama (yogic breathing exercises)

require slow breathing that ¿lls and empties the entire
lungs. This is sometimes referred to by other authors as
complete breathing. Complete breathing requires full use
of the diaphragm, the thoracic intercostal muscles and
the abdominal muscles:

• The diaphragm [Table 7.4] is the main muscle used in

what is referred to as abdominal breathing [Section
8.2.8]. On inhalation the abdomen gets larger as the
diaphragm is activated (tenses and shortens), and on
exhalation the abdomen gets smaller as the diaphragm
relaxes (lengthens) and returns to its original position.

• The thoracic intercostal muscles (intercostals) [Table

7.4] are used in what is referred to as thoracic breathing
[Section 8.2.8]. On inhalation the thorax (chest and upper
back) gets larger as the intercostals are activated (tensing
and shortening), and on exhalation the thorax gets
smaller as the intercostals relax (lengthen) and return to
their original position.

• The abdominal muscles [Table 7.4] are used to make a

forced exhalation or a complete exhalation. 

By maintaining the grip (tension and shortness) of the

abdominal muscles after the exhalation it makes it easier
to expand the chest on a subsequent inhalation.

Many people have dif¿culty breathing with both the

diaphragm and the intercostal muscles and are unable to
expand their thorax unless they breathe quite forcefully
with relatively fast and deep breathing [Table 8.1]. Fast,
deep breathing forces the abdominal muscles to become
activated (tense) to get the air out quickly and fully and,
since the abdominal muscles have no time to relax after
the exhalation, the subsequent inhalation is done with the
abdomen ¿rm, thus forcing the thorax (chest and upper
back) to expand.

Similarly, there are many people who can not easily relax
their abdomen. Their abdominal muscles hold so much
tension that these people are unable to breathe into their
abdomen, and are hardly able to use their diaphragm at
all, unless they spend time focusing on relaxation and
slower breathing [Table 8.1]. These people tend to be
doing mainly thoracic breathing while doing any physical
activity.

In terms of the bandhas, the complete inhalation, i.e. the

maximum possible inhalation, can be done with a tha-
uddiyana bandha (chest expansion) followed and
supplemented by a tha-mula bandha (abdominal
expansion), while the maximum possible exhalation can
be done with a ha-mula bandha (abdominal contraction)
followed and supplemented by a ha-uddiyana bandha
(chest contraction).

Table 8.1 compares the effects of two extreme types of

breathing (fast deep breathing compared to slow shallow
or tidal breathing) on the various body systems. These are
only two of the many breathing possibilities that exist and
each have varying effects. There is no such thing as right
or wrong breathing but one must use the type of
breathing that is appropriate for the situation.
Both the thoracic breathing and abdominal breathing
confer possible bene¿ts and disadvantages. Ideal yogic
breathing is a combination of the most advantageous
aspects of both fast, deep breathing and slow, shallow
breathing [Table 8.1]. In ideal yogic breathing, the three
central bandhas (jalandhara, uddiyana, and mula)
[Section 7.4.1] are held throughout the breath cycle. To
initially learn to maintain a grip on the three bandhas, the
thorax should be kept expanded (tha-uddiyana bandha)
throughout the breath cycle as it would be during thoracic
breathing inhalation; the lower abdomen should be kept
¿rm and drawn inwards (ha-mula bandha), as in a forced
exhalation; while the back of the neck is kept long and the
chin kept slightly down and inwards (ha-jalandhara
bandha) [Section 7.4.1].

In optimal yogic breathing, slow relaxed diaphragmatic

breathing is used to respire only a small amount of air per
minute, but with the chest and abdomen held in such a
way that only a small volume of air is needed to ¿ll and
then empty the lung. In the most advanced stages of
pranayama the key emphasis should be not on increasing
lung volume from breath to breath but rather on
increasing the pressure in the chest with each inhale
without increasing the volume. p238

Applied Anatomy and Physiology of

Yoga http://anatomy.yogasynergy.com/book

Update 2
Yvonne Millerand studying with Krishnamacharya in 1964

"I arrived just in time. Giving me a few lessons a week, he

started with a simple asana practice. I was to establish a
link between breath and movement. Breathing should be
controlled hand movements, slower breathing, the slower
the movement. Each asana followed repeated at least four
times. After one hour lesson in a sitting position, I learned
the sound Udzhdzhayi and be able to distinguish it from
the nasal sound. He allowed me to begin the simplest
Pranayama - Udzhdzhayi Anuloma and Udzhdzhayi
Viloma.

Krishnamacharya used to tell me, "lift up your chest," for

the fact that, due to the rise of my chest, I could fill the air
flow based on my lungs. After that, he insisted on the
exhale with the abdominal muscles and the perineum.
Breathe in and out - of course, but with the insertion of
pauses, everything changes. Coached control is felt as an
affirmation of life and gives a sense of a better life, by
controlling breathing and blood circulation, which are
interrelated. This is what I felt." 

from this
post http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2012/10/yvonne-
millerand-student-of.html