Chapter 16 Chapter Fourteen Reconnecting with the Body—Yoga and Breathing

Under the recommendation of a friend, Ruo Ling came to a yoga cabin on the edge of the East Fourth Ring Road, and wanted to consult about practicing yoga. When she was in the old man's hut, before parting, the old man specifically asked her to choose some activities to reconnect her with her body, and yoga was one of them. "Basically, any exercise that allows you to concentrate and live in the moment can help you reconnect with your body, so the exercise itself is not important, what matters is your state of mind and condition when you are doing it. So whether it is running, Brisk walking, swimming, tai chi, qigong, yoga, as long as you can focus on your body, these exercises can become a kind of meditation."

Among them, the best way to talk to and connect with the body is actually to sit and meditate. Ruo Ling really couldn't imagine what it would be like to sit there motionless, she couldn't sit still for more than five minutes.The sports she likes, like badminton and table tennis, don't seem to meet the requirements of the elderly.The old man said: "This kind of competitive sport is ego against ego, not a sport that allows you to be with yourself." In the end, Ruo Ling chose yoga.She also tried yoga before, but felt that it was too slow, and she really didn't have the patience to follow the teacher "one, two, three, four, five" to keep a posture and stop.But since the old man explained it, Ruo Ling decided to give it a try.

As soon as Ruo Ling entered the yoga cabin, she felt comfortable physically and mentally.The layout and atmosphere of the house reminded her of the studio of the Taiwanese hostess.With the gentle lighting, the flickering candlelight, some beautiful decorations and spiritual music, Ruo Ling immediately relaxed.The owner of the yoga cabin came out to meet Ruo Ling, she is a beautiful yoga teacher.Needless to say, she has a good figure, and her fair skin sets off a round face full of smiles, which makes people feel comfortable. "Hi! Hello! Welcome. I'm the yoga teacher here. I heard you have a question and want to ask me?"

The teacher’s voice was very sweet, and there was a smile on the corner of his mouth when he spoke, which made Ruo Ling open the conversation immediately: “Yes, um, I want to ask, why yoga can help us connect with our body?” The teacher was a little surprised by Ruo Ling's question. Most people don't seem to reach this depth at the beginning, but she is still very happy that someone is so insightful. "Yes, I personally feel that yoga is one of the most effective and fastest ways to reconnect us with our bodies." "Why don't you experience it yourself!" said the teacher, "Come with me."

*************** The teacher took Ruo Ling to a room next door and asked her to sit down. "You straighten your legs, straighten your back, take a breath in, bend from your crotch as you exhale, stretch your body forward and see if you can touch your feet with your hands?" Ruo Ling tried it, but unfortunately, she was so stiff that her fingertips could only touch her ankle. "It's okay." The teacher has long been used to these hard bodies at work, "Now tell me, what do you think is blocking you from moving forward?" "The rear hamstring, especially the place above the back of the knee..." Ruo Ling struggled.

"Okay, focus your attention, bring your awareness to the most tense place, take a deep breath, and every time you exhale, you communicate with that place with your mind, let it relax a little bit." The teacher slowly guided. Ruo Ling concentrated on "communicating" with her hamstrings, and after a while she was able to move forward and hold the soles of her feet with both hands. "Wow! It's amazing!" Ruo Ling exclaimed excitedly. "Yes!" The teacher looked at her approvingly, "As long as you pay attention to your body, it will respond to you in the same way."

She stopped for a while, watching Ruo Ling kneading the hamstring she had just stretched, and continued: "There is another big difference between yoga and other exercises, and that is its breathing method. Like just now, you use breathing to communicate with you. The body communicates. Breathing is a school of its own in yoga, and its importance is even more important than the various postures we do!" "Breathing?" Ruo Ling asked puzzled, "Isn't everyone able to breathe?" "Yes," the teacher smiled, "but people who breathe well and those who don't breathe well have a much different life expectancy!"

Ruo Ling looked at her suspiciously. "There is a saying about breathing in yoga, that is, in a person's life, the number of breathing is fixed. Therefore, people who breathe slower and longer live longer." Seeing Ruo Ling's surprise, the teacher smiled and said, "Look at dogs and monkeys, whose breathing is fast and turbulent, so their lifespan is much shorter than that of humans. But look at tortoises, they only breathe once every few minutes, so they can live for a long time, because they Can hold a lot of energy." Ruo Ling thought, when she is angry and nervous, her breathing speeds up involuntarily. It turns out that it not only consumes energy, but also consumes life!

"Then how can we slow down our breathing?" Ruo Ling wholeheartedly wanted to reduce her daily breathing times and live a few years longer. "There are many methods. For office workers, abdominal breathing is the most useful." While talking, the teacher taught Ruoling to protrude her abdomen when inhaling, and retract her abdomen when exhaling.Ruo Ling tried it several times, and when she inhaled, she either raised her chest or raised her shoulders, but she still couldn't see any signs of her abdomen protruding.The teacher asked her to lie down and try, but she didn't expect to be able to do it once she lay down.

"I see! It's a bit like a baby, huh?" "Yes," the teacher said, "look at how your little baby breathes, and you will know that abdominal breathing should be the correct and healthy breathing method for human beings." Ruo Ling really wanted to tell her that she didn't have children, but the words came out Bian swallowed it back again. The teacher said again: "Look at the big bosses in your company, they must all breathe in the chest or even the shoulder style! It's short and shallow, what a waste of life!" The teacher smiled with round eyes.

"Why can abdominal breathing slow down our breathing speed and make it deeper?" Ruo Ling asked. "Because when we breathe, our abdomen protrudes, and the diaphragm can descend at this time, massaging many organs in your abdominal cavity, and leaving a lot of space for the lungs to expand, so a large amount of air can enter the lung lobes .And when you exhale, the abdomen tightens, the diaphragm is squeezed upward, massaging the heart, and compressing the lungs, forcing the dirty air in the lungs out of the body." "Wow, so knowledgeable!" Ruo Ling admired. "Yes!" said the teacher, "after you have learned simple abdominal breathing, you can secretly practice it when you are riding a car, in a meeting, or even talking with people, and you will feel that your chest is getting more and more open , and even colds and other respiratory diseases will be reduced! It is very simple to practice, just bring your attention to your breathing without any trace, pay attention to the ups and downs of the abdomen, after the abdominal breathing is naturally driven, you don’t need much to take care of it.” "Ha! Then when the company holds those boring meetings in the future, I will have something to do!" Ruo Ling thought happily.She was a full member when she left the yoga shack. (to be continued)