If you stopped breathing you’d die. You know that, of course, but did you also know that if you breath automatically you are not living to your fullest?

Your breath affects your health and your breath affects your mental state. You can increase your vitality by controlling your breath and you can master your emotions too.

According to Ayurveda (the ancient science of life) and Yoga, your breath contains more than oxygen, it also contains prana - vital energy.

When you are stressed, shocked, or anxious, you tense up and you hold your breath. You probably don’t even think about it, it’s a reaction that happens automatically and in an instant. That tension and held breath means that your brain and your muscles aren’t getting what they need: oxygen and vital energy.

Every emotion has it’s own unique breathing pattern: anger is ragged, fast and high in the chest; fear is frozen, anxiety is fast and shallow.

The breathing patterns related to negative negative emotions impede the transport of oxygen and prana to where they are most needed. But by changing your breath you can change disturbed breathing patterns and regain control…