Asthmatics

Dirgha Pranayama

� This pranayama teaches how to fill the three chambers of the lungs with a good supply of oxygen.
� It is called the three-part breath because you are breathing into three parts of the abdomen.
� Sit with your spine erect and inhale slowly. Draw air deep into the low belly by drawing air deep into the lower lungs. Then you exhale and allow the belly drop and deflate like a balloon. Repeat this several times.
� In the second part of breathing, inhale into your belly as done before, but expand the mid- chest region by allowing the rib cage to open outward to the sides. After this, exhale and repeat it many times.
� In the third part of breathing, when you inhale air into lower lungs, then mid-chest region, continue to inhale till the clavicular region or the upper chest opens. Then exhale and repeat.
� Then inhale into all the three chambers of lungs as one continuous flow.
� We can feel the breath rising and falling through each position.
� Slowly one can breathe into the three positions gently, feeling a wave of breath moving up and down the body.

Benefits

� It helps in calming and relaxing the nerves.