DEEP BREATHING EXERCISES: THE YOGIC WALK
Variety is the spice of life. If you want to vary your breathing exercise routine, you can do the yogic walk. The advantage here is that you can combine your breathing exercise with a gentle walk. Don’t take the dog on a lead though, it will break your rhythm. The yogic walk can be done on the beach (hard sand only), through the park or on a country lane. Avoid traffic where possible as you don’t want to be drawing in fumes. It can be clone in the company of other yogic walkers. Like the standing and sitting breathing exercises, it’s not to be done after a meal. Do the yogic walk on the flat or downhill only.
1. Empty the lungs by tightening the abdomen muscles. As you commence the walk, breathe in deeply to the count of your steps. As a beginner it may pay to breathe in to the first six to eight steps. Walk and breathe slowly.
2. When the diaphragm is fully descended and your rib cage full, hold your breath for the next three steps.
3. Breathe out, using the abdomen muscles for the next six to eight steps and when your abdomen is concave, hold your breath out for three steps.
4. Commence the inhalation again and continue for the duration of the walk. Results are disappointing if you walk too quickly.
Don’t walk briskly—walk slowly and easily, letting your arms swing gently to the rhythm of your stride. As time goes by you will be easily breathing to ten, twelve, or more, steps. Don’t raise the breath-holding time frame beyond three steps. The yogic walk has the advantage of gently moving the inhaled oxygen around the body, taking it to the peripheral tissues more quickly.
Walking encourages upright posture (jogging doesn’t) by strengthening the back muscles. It draws oxygen into the major joints without straining them. It has all the advantages of vigorous exercise without placing strain on the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands can rest during a slow relaxing walk and take up lots of oxygen to prepare them for the rigours of the working day. Being a full weight-bearing exercise, walking is excellent for retaining calcium in the bones of the legs, pelvis and spine—preventing osteoporosis. Being a gentle exercise, it doesn’t fill the muscles with lactic acid (the major waste product of muscle contraction). Lactic acid irritates the muscles causing spasms, aches, pains and stiffness. It is lactic acid build-up that causes the pain experienced after a hard game, heavy workout or long run. Lactic acid needs calcium to neutralise it and facilitate its removal from the muscles and elimination from the body. This puts demands on the body’s calcium reserves and can cause calcium deficiencies which in turn can cause nervousness, irritability, lack of confidence and anxiety. Hard exercise is often a stress as most people engaging in it don’t supplement their diet with adequate calcium. Hard-chargers produce the same amount of lactic acid by being overly busy. Carbon dioxide build-up is also a muscle irritant.
Yogic walking draws more oxygen into the body than jogging, yet doesn’t raise the levels of carbon dioxide, lactic acid, adrenalin, cortisone and testosterone which cause metabolic imbalances.
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