Ramayana, the Divine Loophole

Ramayana – the Divine Loophole, by Sanjay Patel

Ramayana – the Divine Loophole, by Sanjay Patel is the new favourite bedtime story in my house.  This 2,500 year old Yoga Epic has all the elements to make it my three year olds favourite: Nine headed monsters, bad guys, swords, bows and arrows, massive battles, kidnappings, flying monkeys, friendly bears, courageous eagles, loyal friends, noble princes, beautiful princesses, weddings and a happy ending too.

Patel is an animator for Pixar and his graphic novel adaption of the ancient Hindu epic is utterly captivating.  The Ramayana is one of two great Indian epics, the other being the Mahabarata.  In its entirety, the Ramayana is over 24,000 verses long, (too long for this mama to read at bedtime) so 100 pages of witty text and cool graphics is a much better option.  Even in its greatly condensed version, the most valued characteristics of virtue, purity and loyalty are proudly displayed by the main characters Rama, Sita and Hanuman in this great Indian legend.  The illustrations are so sweet!  Every page is a visual masterpiece full of color, extraordinary detail and humour. 

If you are interested in deepening your knowledge of the ancient roots of yoga, then the Ramayana is an absolute must read.  I wish someone had given me this version a few months ago when I was buried in Ramayana literature for my Yoga Philosophy course!   And if you are fortunate enough to have little people in your life, then I highly recommend it for some bedtime reading.

Basic Breathing Anatomy

To begin our series on breathing, let’s have a look at what actually goes on inside of you 22,000 times a day.

Your torso comprises two cavities, the thoracic cavity (upper) and the abdominal cavity (lower). The thoracic cavity contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity houses the stomach, gall bladder, pancreas and small intenstines (which all help to control digestion), the large intestine (managing elimination) kidneys (the bodies filter) and bladder, the liver (which breaks down toxins and stores nutrients)  and our reproductive organs. 

Separating these two cavities is the diaphragm.  Each time the diaphragm moves, all your internal organs are massaged, squeezed and saturated with fluids and oxygen.  Any restriction of the diaphragm (whether it be conscious or unconscious)  not only impacts our breath quality, but also the vitality and optimal functioning of all of our internal organs.

The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that looks somewhat like a jellyfish or an opened parachute.  At the top of the dome is a tendon above which sits the heart.  The fibres of the diaphragm muscle radiate outwards from this central tendon like panels on an opened umbrella.    The edges attach to the ribs and lower spine, fanning it out to literally form a roof-like structure to the abdominal cavity. Its rhythmic contraction and expansion occurs 24 hours a day and it is responsible for 75 % of all of our respiratory effort.

When the diaphragm is stimulated by the phrenic nerve it drops downwards from its domed shape, causing an enlargement of the lung capactiy and volume.  This causes a pressure imbalance; pressure outside the body is then greater than the pressure inside the lungs, so air is drawn into the body in a vacuum like effect.  This is the action we experience as an inhalation.   As the air is drawn into the lungs it comes into contact with a hundred million alveoli, located at the base of the lungs which allows the oxygen to dissolve and pass into the bloodstream, and the carbon dioxide to be eliminated.

When the diaphragm has finished contracting it relaxes upwards in the torso, compressing the air inside the lungs, forcing it to be expelled through the nostrils. The lungs are elastic by design and they don’t collapse inwards even after most of the air has been emptied.  This is due to the space surrounding the outer part of the lungs and the chest wall – the pleural cavity, which contains no air, only a vacuum which holds the lungs tightly against the inner surface of the chest wall.

 Apart from the diaphragm, there are other muscles used in breathing.   The intercostal muscles are short muscles found woven between the ribs which work to expand contract the chest, and draw the ribs closer together.  The abdominal muscles are generally used in forced and deep exhalations when the abdominal wall is pressed inwards, and the organs are forced up agains the diaphragm which decreases the size of the chest cavity and pushes air out of the lungs.  The secondary breathing muscles include any other muscles which assist in changing the shape of the torso as we breathe.  They are generally smaller and tend to tire more easily.  But they do give us more adaptability in the manner in which we breathe.  These muscles include the pectoralis (in the front of the chest) and the trapezius (across the upper back) to name just a few, and are generally located higher up in the body.

This is a very simple (I know that may be a matter of opinion – but our bodies are complex things!)  explanation of the breath from an anatomical point of view.  If this is a topic that interests you and you want to deepen your understanding of it, I recommend finding the following books.

• Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff has an excellent introductory chapter on the anatomy of breathing. This book is being re-released and expanded in the Fall so if you don't own this already, I would wait until the second edition has been released. This book contains great diagrams to help aid your understanding if you are a visual learner. You can find this on the 889 bookshelf in the tea garden.

• The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi is one of my all time favourite yoga books, one that I refer to very regularly. Very simple for complete beginners to the subject, but still very informative for teachers too. Again, this one is in the library in the tea garden for you to read before or after class.

• Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by David Coulter is an academic and dense hard covered text and is a great reference for teachers, but not recommended for beginner students. Chapter Two on breathing is highly informative but intense reading.

Yogic themes in the Movie "The Kings Speech"

By Nicky Poole, Yoga Community Leader

Spoiler Alert:  If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t read this article! 

I just returned from watching ‘The Kings Speech’ for the second time.  It is a beautifully crafted film, a compelling true story and has a wonderful cast.  It traces the relationship between King George 6th(known as Bertie) and his ‘speech therapist’ and friend Lionel.  I was struck by just how much YOGA was in this movie, and how most of the issues presented (stuttering, anger management, lack of confidence, neglect, and fear) could be so brilliantly explained by a yogic understanding of the Chakras.  The personal development of Bertie in this movie is a clear example of a man with a major energy deficiency at the throat chakra, and the brave process he undertook to unblock this energy and restore himself to a state of balance.

The Chakras

Briefly, Chakras are energy centres in the body.  Most of the ancient yoga texts describe seven energy centres from the base of the spine, running upwards through the midline of the body to the crown of the head.  Each chakra is reflective of different aspects of our personality and spiritual development, and for the purpose of this article we shall focus on the 5th chakra, called Vissudha, which is found at the throat.

Visshuda Chakra, and the energy stored in this area is responsible for communication and creativity.  On a physiological level it covers the health and functioning of the Laryngeal nerve plexus, vocal chords, mouth, throat, ears, and thyroid.  Energetically, the spoken word come from this chakra and gives expression to the emotions felt within the heart.  The basic human rights associated with Visshuda Chakra is the right to speak and to be heard. 

If this chakra is balanced, you have a strong and clear voice, you can listen to others well, you have a good sense of timing, appropriateness and rhythm, and you can communicate your ideas clearly and creatively.  If you experience trauma in your early life (especially between the ages of 7 – 12) such as excessive criticism and verbal abuse, then you develop either an excess or deficiency in the throat chakra.  A person with an excess of Visshuda Chakra energy will talk too much, most likely have a loud and dominating voice, and will be a poor listener. 

King George 6th’s difficult childhood

In the case of King George 6th, we clearly saw that he had a major deficiency at the throat chakra: he was terrified of speaking, had a weak, timid voice with poor rhythm and a terrible stutter. His energy was blocked as it moved from the lower chakras upwards, and resulted in him having a great deal of fear around speaking and expressing himself.   Words literally got stuck in his throat.

The viewer learns that Bertie had indeed suffered terrible abuses as a child.  He was withheld food by his Nanny, and was starved of physical affection and love from his parents.  His parents, King  George 5th and Queen Mary were extremely strict, and set rules that could not be questioned.  He was also subjected to endless criticism, and his ‘faults’ of left handedness and knock knees were harshly corrected.  He had no freedom of choice in anything he did.  He grew up with no voice.

Lionels Speech Yoga Therapy Techniques

Lionels unorthodox speech therapy techniques could just as effectively be described as yoga therapy.     He bought Bertie into Savasana with the Queen sitting on his belly to practice deep diaphragmatic breathing.   Lionel instructed him to chant mantra (basically an OM) as another method of breath control and awareness.  He taught him Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and other simple rhythmic yoga kriyas, enabling him to find a greater sense of ‘flow’.   He gave him exercises to relax and soften the shoulders, throat, jaw and facial muscles.  I also appreciated how he encouraged deep verbal release through abundant  swearing, and made a note to try that when I am having a really bad day.

 He also explained to Bertie that  “Physical exercises and tricks will only fix the surface problems”.  Like any great teacher, Lionel was able to cut to the root of his physical problems when he said “You needn’t be governed by fear Bertie, you don’t need to be afraid of the things that frightened you when you were five years old”.  Lionel understood that the physical manifestation of his stutter came from a lack of empowerment and confidence in expressing himself that he suffered early on as a child.

Lionel as teacher

Lionel really embodied all the qualities that I would want in a yoga teacher; endlessly patient, unorthodox, compassionate, hard ass, hilarious, and wise.  We are shown an argument between the King and Lionel near the climax of the movie, and Bertie eventually yells in a frustrated rage “I HAVE A VOICE!”.  This seems to be the pivotal moment in the movie, when the blockage is finally released, and he is able to transform from the reluctant and nervous King with a crippling stutter, and step fully into his new role with confidence and grace.

Go and see this movie.  It is enjoyable however you choose to view it, whether it be through the lens of yoga or not.