The Last Breath Out
Breathing in, breathing out. Eventually there will just be that last exhalation and we'll expire. We all know this in some sense, but rarely do we behave as if we were all going to die. It's guaranteed, no one escapes it, but we mostly act like teenagers, warned we'll be useless tomorrow if we stay up all night.
Eventually the teen can learn, and determine how they want to experience their tomorrows, but this life's end is linear and one-way. Rarely do people get a second chance to consciously experience death, and rebirth, in this body.
How do you want to cross that threshold?
Yogic and Buddhist teachings say that we can and should prepare for this inevitable expiration of our corporeal form. If you've taken an āsana class, you've practiced śavāsana, the corpse pose. This is a purposeful time and space to practice death.
What differentiates a living body from a cadaver? We could say it's prāna, chi, qi, or life force. The body continues to change as it decays, but no new cells are generated, the big batteries of brain and heart are switched into their off positions.
What else is different from the living being?
The individual sense of self, or ego, leaves the body at some point. Maybe it's gradual, maybe instantaneous, but it's palpable. There is no longer a sense that "I" am in control. An instant aversion typically arises to a corpse, which has become a "thing" rather than a being.
Certain prānāyāma practices can help us attune the nervous system to utilize our breath more purposefully. These death-preparing disciplines focus on exhalation, slowing breath way down, and pausing in that emptied-out state.
When you need to face life, you take in a deep breath, and say those difficult words or proceed with the next step forward. When facing death, we go the other direction, taking baby steps towards leaving this body and this planet, altogether.
Viloma Prānāyāma means "against the hair", or against the grain, or unnatural. This is because we manipulate the breath by holding it at various stages of inhalation or exhalation.
To interrupt and hold the breath while inhaling is stimulating and up-regulating to the nervous system. This is a great practice for days when you're lethargic or depressed, and want to feel more full of life force.
Viloma on the exhalation is just the opposite: it down-regulates our sympathetic nervous system, reducing the impulse to fight, flee, freeze, or collapse. This may seem counterintuitive, because we're putting the body in a state of having no breath, or as little as possible, in the lungs, a condition that might make you anxious just by reading these words.
So, we approach these deeper, more subtle prānāyāmas gingerly, gradually, with lots of relaxing and preparing. We start with śavāsana. I like to say in śavāsana that we're emptying the body of ego, imitating a corpse. Most of us can't practice the pose of death until we've exhausted the body and mind with a challenging āsana practice. If you're already an expert at corpse pose, you probably don't need āsana!
How can we slow down enough to appreciate these subtle practices? The yogis say that our lives are measured in breaths, that all creatures are given the same number. If we breathe quickly, like a hummingbird, life will pass quickly. Should we slow down breath's pace to that of an elephant or a tortoise, we can stretch it out.
Āsana is a means of learning to connect body and mind, and can lead to subtle, more inner-focused attention. The yoga sutras offer many means to "purify...body, mind and intelligence" so as to "surrender totally". Sutra 1.34 refers to "the pensive state felt at the time of soft and steady exhalation and during the passive retention after exhalation". Sutra 1.32 names "adherence to a single-minded effort".
Prānāyāma includes both of these. It gives the mind a place to land, to relieve its restless nature. Consider taking a private prānāyāma lesson with me.
Look for recorded prānāyāma practices on Insight Timer and my website.