Starting from the 1960's, yoga books and nearly all yoga teachers started to promote the deep-breathing myth: one should breathe more air (even at rest) and expel "toxic" CO2. However, hundreds of clinical studies showed and proved that hyperventilation reduces oxygen levels in cells, while CO2 is crucial for health. Deep breathing, as during pranayama, only looks deep. In reality, as ancient yoga texts teach, pranayama should be done with maximum breath holds and accumulation of CO2 in order to have slower breathing after the practice and 24/7. Only with progress in pranayama (extension of all stages), one can get main yoga benefits, weight loss and other effects. Millions of people believe in a myth that gaining health improvements from practicing yoga is about performing progressively more difficult poses. However, you can practice poses for months or years, but this does not provide any guarantee that your health is going to improve. Yoga benefits and true yoga spirit, as ancient yoga Sanskrit books teach, are in breathing less air 24/7, even less than the tiny medical respiratory norm. Then one can expect more oxygen in the brain and other organs, normal body weight, short natural sleep, and experience real measurable yoga benefits. Here are general ideas that are confirmed by hundreds of clinical studies quoted in this book: Severely sick and hospitalized people * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: >25 breaths/min * Body oxygenation (result for the CP test): * Common effects: Sleep is often more than 10 hours (very poor quality), very low energy levels (chronic desire to lie down), numerous symptoms, and a need for medication. Majority of modern people * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 15-25 breaths/min * Body oxygen levels (result for the CP test): 10-25 s * Common effects: Sleep is often more than 7 hours (poor quality), low energy levels (chronic desire to sit), and some symptoms. Healthy people (medical norms for breathing) * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 10-12 breaths/min * Body O2 levels (result for the CP test): 40 s * Common effects: Sleep is about 6 hours naturally (good quality), normal energy levels, absence of chronic diseases and their symptoms, natural desire to have correct posture and stay throughout the day. Real yoga masters * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 3-5 breaths/min * Body oxygenation (result for the CP test): 2-3 minutes; maximum breath holding: 7-9 minutes * Common effects: Sleep is 2-3 hours naturally and without trying (excellent quality), very high energy levels (natural joy and craving for physical exercise), and natural desire to eat raw foods. You can eat tons of supplements and superfoods, drink canisters of herbal drinks, have hundreds of colonic irrigations, and practice yoga for many hours every day, but if your breathing (and body oxygen level) remains the same, you will suffer from the same symptoms and require the same dosage of medication.

Yoga benefits, as ancient yoga books teach, are in breathing less air automatically and 24/7, even less than the tiny medical respiratory norm. Then one can expect more oxygen in the brain and other organs, and experience true benefits from yoga. Millions of people think and believe in a myth that yoga progress is about more and more difficult asanas or spiritual enlightenment. However, one can start yoga for beginners and can practice asanas for months or years, but this does not provide any guarantee that your health is going to improve. You can eat tons of supplements and super-foods, drink canisters of herbal drinks, have hundreds of colonic irrigations, and practice yoga for many hours every day, but if your body oxygen level remains the same, you will suffer from the same symptoms and require the same dosage of medication. You can also have years of spiritual practices while getting sicker and sicker with cancer, diabetes, weight gain and some other conditions. Only 2-3 generations ago, yoga did cure chronic diseases. Old American health journals and yoga books from the 1920's and 30's were full of advertisements of yoga courses with money back guarantees. Those yoga courses were for people with asthma, hypertension, chronic fatigue, weight loss, insomnia and other common conditions who successfully restored their health with old, traditional yoga. The main yoga benefit relates to better body oxygenation or correct automatic breathing. If you get this yoga benefit, all other benefits will follow. Then you can get an astonishing level of energy, perfect digestion, excellent sleep, and greatly improved physical fitness. Why could modern yoga teachers not replicate the same success? What is wrong or different in contemporary yoga leaders and their teaching of yoga for beginners and masters? Why most yoga courses provide almost no benefits to yoga students for weight loss and other conditions? Modern yoga teachers cannot explain, in exact numbers, the ideal breathing pattern that provides maximum body O2 levels. What do they say? Most yoga teachers claim that we need to breathe more air (even at rest) and expel "toxic" CO2. Modern science testify about solid physiological foundation of ancient yoga: when we breathe more air at rest (hyperventilation), we have less O2 in body cells. Breathing more air does not increase blood oxygenation to any significant degree. A person can breathe twice less or several times more than the medical norm, but blood oxygenation will be about the same, or about 97-99 %. But CO2 is the crucial factor for O2 transport. The book explains why slow and small breathing (with more CO2) provides more O2 for the cells. Thousands of recent research studies have proven beyond all doubts that chronic health problems, on a cell level, are based on low O2 levels. This relates to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, inflammatory conditions, cystic fibrosis, HIV-AIDS and many other conditions. You cannot have normal body oxygenation and a lifestyle disease. Therefore, freedom from diseases is among main yoga health benefits. There are also hundreds of research studies that measured breathing of healthy people, ordinary people and people with chronic diseases. Dozens of these studies and their exact results are quoted in this book. These studies testify about the triumph of ancient yoga and its benefits. Deep breathing, as during pranayama, only looks deep. In reality, pranayama should be done with maximum breath holds and accumulation of CO2 in order to have slower breathing after the practice and 24/7. Only with progress in pranayama, one can get main yoga benefits. Progress in yoga for beginners and masters can be measured using a simple DIY body-oxygen test that is described in this book. If you get over 40 seconds of O2 for this easy test, then you will be astonished with changes in your health and real yoga benefits.

You can eat tons of supplements and superfoods, drink canisters of super drinks, have 100's of colonic irrigations, and practice yoga for hours every day, but, if your breathing remains unchanged, your symptoms, chronic insomnia, and other health problems will likely remain unchanged too. This is because breathing brings vital oxygen, and less than 95% of modern people have the right breathing. Modern people, including so-called "normal subjects", simply breathe too much air day and night. (Exact charts, graphs, studies, and numbers are inside the book). Overbreathing reduces O2 levels in cells. Starting from the 1960s, yoga books and nearly all yoga teachers started to promote the deep-breathing myth: one should breathe more air (even at rest) and expel "toxic" CO2. However, hundreds of clinical studies showed and proved that hyperventilation reduces oxygen levels in cells, while CO2 is crucial for health. Deep breathing, as during pranayama, only looks deep. In reality, as ancient yoga texts teach, pranayama should be done with maximum breath holds and accumulation of CO2 to have slower breathing after the practice and 24/7. Only with progress in pranayama (extension of all stages), one can get main yoga benefits, weight loss, and other effects.

You can eat tons of supplements and superfoods, drink canisters of super drinks, have 100's of colonic irrigations, and practice yoga for hours every day, but, if your breathing remains unchanged, your symptoms, chronic insomnia, and other health problems will likely remain unchanged too. This is because breathing brings vital oxygen, and less than 95% of modern people have the right breathing. Modern people, including so-called "normal subjects", simply breathe too much air day and night. (Exact charts, graphs, studies, and numbers are inside the book). Overbreathing reduces O2 levels in cells. Starting from the 1960s, yoga books and nearly all yoga teachers started to promote the deep-breathing myth: one should breathe more air (even at rest) and expel "toxic" CO2. However, hundreds of clinical studies showed and proved that hyperventilation reduces oxygen levels in cells, while CO2 is crucial for health. Deep breathing, as during pranayama, only looks deep. In reality, as ancient yoga texts teach, pranayama should be done with maximum breath holds and accumulation of CO2 to have slower breathing after the practice and 24/7. Only with progress in pranayama (extension of all stages), one can get main yoga benefits, weight loss, and other effects.

One of the most common issues clients face is lack of energy, vitality or prana and this book presents a simple yet revolutionary breathing approach to restore balance. Grounded in the yogic teachings, this text introduces the Buteyko breathing method as a more contemporary way of understanding the original intention of pranayama. Through extensive research, Robin Rothenberg establishes that as with Dr. Buteyko's breath retraining technique, the ancient yogis prescribed breathing less not more. Vedic science and physiology are broken down and explained in accessible ways. The book presents a new understanding and application of breathing to address a wide range of ailments, including COPD, asthma, hay-fever, autoimmune disorders, anxiety, sleep apnoea and neurological conditions.

Discover the basics and benefits of breath control—pranayama—and how to incorporate it into your yoga practice For several thousand years, yogis have drawn on the powerful practice of pranayama, a technique of controlling the breath to maximize prana or life energy. Pranayama has been practiced to rejuvenate the body and as a means of self-study and self-transformation. While most yoga practitioners today focus on asanas, or body postures, a growing number of people are learning the complementary practice of pranayama to deepen and enrich their practice. The Yoga of Breath is a guide to learning the fundamentals of pranayama and incorporating them into an existing yoga practice. Rosen's approach is easy to follow with step-by-step descriptions of breath and body awareness exercises accompanied by clear illustrations. The book also covers the history and philosophy of pranayama, offers useful practice tips, and teaches readers how to use props to enhance the exercises.

The Little Book of Yoga Breathing is a great little package that offers a lot. Pranayama, the practice of breath control, is detailed here in an easy-to-understand and even easier-to-practice format. Professional yoga instructor, Scott Shaw introduces 16 breathing exercises and how to get the best benefit from each of the forms by training, refining, and witnessing your breath. This book is for yoga practitioners and those who only consider themselves yoga admirers. Having trouble falling asleep? Try one of the calming breaths, Nadi Sudi, or the Nerve Purifying Breath. Have a long day ahead with no breaks until after dinner? Allow Ujjayi or the Hissing Breath to work its miracles. Also learn the Pranayama term in Sanskrit, how to pronounce it, what it means in English, and how to properly execute the breath to get the best results. And learn how to breathe while moving, standing, and leaning, and how each of these variations can affect your breathing practice.