Breathing with the Bowspring 01-04-2016 M mmmmm April 1st!! Get out, open the windows, get rid of your coat or your shoes and take some full breaths of fresh air! Feel it in your nose, in your lungs, a shot of pure energy for each of your body-mind-soul cells. This brings me to the point of telling you that when we officially started the Sridaiva program at Zunray, several students asked me if with this new system we were also going to do conscious breathing and meditation exercises. Of course, yes!!! Moreover, if there is something in which you feel the super positive benefits of the Bowspring is precisely in this. The traditional term in yoga for the conscious breathing practices is pranayama, which means the expansion of vital force and the first thing that needs to be worked on for a successful pranayama experience is the posture. Here is where most people fail and many times I see that the capacity for delight in this kind of exercises is diminished because the student's posture is limiting it. I am not only talking about beginner students but also about people that have been practicing yoga for a long time, meditating and that are even teaching.

1. The Bowspring expands the vessel

We can think about our body-mind-heart as a vessel that holds cosmic consciousness and channels it as an offering to the world. -The Bowspring algorithm affects the three main domes in the body (diaphragm, pelvic floor and head) increasing their broadness, elasticity and tone. It aligns them in a dynamic way along the vertical central axis and allows for greater availability of energy. -"Radiant Heart" expands the ribcage circumferentially which enhances your breathing capacity. This is fantastic because most people breaths at a much smaller capacity than what they could. -The long and curvy shape positions all parts of the body in a way that you feel light and peacefully alert. The physical body is present, relaxed and it doesn't feel any pain making the conscious breathing exercises so pleasurable that you never want to stop. -Since it is not an static practice anymore, you can allow the body to sway and move gently. The reality is that energy flows in spirals and curves throughout your entire body, just like the Bowspring.

2. Open your channels

If you have practiced traditional pranayama before or you have some knowledge of modern postural yoga literature, you have probably learned that the energy channels create a complex web of conduits. This is right, but there is an interpretation error because such channels (nadis) are presented as if they were very thin cables, unnoticeable for the human eye and parallel to the nervous system network. I believe that the yogins described them this way with the intention of helping us understand that energy is subtle. Personally, when I think about the great universal energy flowing through my body, I feel the channels being broad, powerful and luminous. The more like this, the better! The first step in the Bowspring activation is called "Radiant Channel" and it awakens the awareness that our central energetic channel runs through our body vertically and it is tubular, curvy, broad as the neck and is formed by light walls in the shape of a tube like a macaroni where universal energy flows. Even though we can not see it with human eyes, we can feel it and perceive its vibration in the body.

3. Breathes

Another question that people often ask is how they should breathe during a Sridaiva class. Well, breathing happens through the nose, soft and deep, adjusting the speed to the tempo of the exercises performed. It is true that there is a novelty getting people's attention: there is also breathing through the mouth because it frees a lot of psychosomatic tension. When you combine the mouth breaths with the proper alignment in the heart, neck and head, they are incredibly liberating. Furthermore, it is normal in a Sridaiva class to guide the students to open the jaw by separating the teeth a smidgen because frequently we bite too hard creating rigidity in the area of the mouth, lips and first vertebrae. The result of this excessive tension is a rigid neck and energetic block between the head and the torso. It also hardens the attitude and when this happens sensitivity is lost. As you have heard before "breathe, relax and let go..." now with the proper alignment. Sridaiva physical forms improve our posture significantly, therefore, they are the perfect tool to prepare the physical body for seated conscious breathing exercises and meditation. Whatever your favorite pose in this kind of practices, take it using the Bowspring technique and you will see the difference. Then, write me and tell me all about it, pleaseeee.  

Full hearteadly breathe and live with the Bowspring!