“How
many times do you breathe in a minute?” The teacher asked the class of trps
students, a training course for income tax return filing. “When I say ‘START’,
begin counting your breathes and after one minute I will say ‘STOP’ then you
all have to stop counting and tell me the number of times you have breathed in
one minute.”
In February
2007, I was one of the students of this class. Every student stated the number of
breaths around 18 except me.
“It
can’t be 5!” He said surprisingly. “Chandrika, do not take long breaths like in
pranayama. Just breathe normally.”
I
counted again by taking short breaths as much as possible. This time it was 7! I
must be doing it incorrectly. Leave it. My mind went back to the teacher’s
voice.
“A
normal person breathes 12-25 times in a minute. I am breathing 32 times in a
minute and my doctor tells me that I will not be able to live a long life like
a tortoise.” He chuckled. “He asks to quit smoking, as I am chain smoker. I
drink heavily on weekends and I love nightlife. I have a girl friend, she is
C.A. like me. Tell me something about yourself, any student.”
The
students were as bore as the subject.
He
would then explain where they first met, what she liked, what were their future
plans. All of sudden he would then start teaching the subject matter again. He
used this trick to grasp the attention of students, as most of us were
non-commerce students with no knowledge of income as well as tax. Moreover, we
found it too difficult to focus on advance level of the subject matter without
any foundation of money matters. He must be the only teacher on earth to teach
income tax with a tinge of romance!
Now,
I stay in Delhi and NCR. In polluted air, my normal breathing rate is 2-3 times
per minute. If I am in a forest, sanctuary or in Himalayas then it drips. When
I am doing meditation or pranayama it drops further and sometimes stops for a
short period.
A
person with stressed mind will have shorter breaths and a person with peaceful
mind will have longer breaths that mean a tenses person will breathe more
number of times in a minute than a calm person. If a person is in deep thinking
or meditating then the breathing will be slow or suspended for some time. The
breathing becomes irregular and unsteady if the mind is filled with negative
emotions like anger, jealousy, envy and hatred. Mind and breathing are
interrelated if you control one the other will be controlled involuntarily.
The
easiest way to slow down your breaths is to exhale for longer time. Inhale
gently and exhale slowly and completely. One can also practice yogic breathing
with the proper use of diaphragm. Breathe in slowly; expand abdomen, then rib
cage and finally the upper portion of lungs. Make the maximum use of your lung
capacity. While inhaling imagines that, all the positive virtues like
happiness, joy, peace and calmness are moving in. Breathe out gently, contract
abdomen, then rib cage and finally relax upper portion of lungs. Concentrate on
the air going out and imagining that all the negative emotions like anger,
fear, hatred and stress are moving out.
How
many times do you breathe in a minute? Count it. With practice, slow down it to
experience happiness from within.
P.S.
1. Pic - Sketch is drawn by me.
