Istace - Rage Yoga: Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Books . Change . Lives .

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Books . Change . Lives .

LET THAT

SHIT GO

A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.

LAO TZU

No matter how outrageous or awe-inspiring, every journey begins the same way. Eventually, each journey grows in its own direction, developing chapters and characteristics unique to itself, but in their infancy, they all look the same. They start out small and simple. They begin with a single step.

We often forget this when we start looking around at what everyone else seems to be doing. Although sometimes it might be inspiring, the success stories of others can be really intimidating, especially when we see them online! Social media is full of success stories, curated by those who share them. People frequently leave out the awkward first steps of their journey and jump straight to the end, where there are pretty pictures and polished results. Its easy to fall into the trap of thinking, They can do all these things because theyre special, and I cant because Im not. But thats bullshit. For example, Lady Gaga wasnt just suddenly Lady Gaga. Sure, she was born this way, but to grow into herself and accomplish the things she has accomplished, she went on a journey. This is true of anyone who has ever done anything worth talking about! I promise that all those journeys started out small and simple. They began with a single step.

Unless your plan is to run an actual marathon or something, then try not to take this too literally. A step isnt just the simple moving forward of a foot. This step consists of two parts, one part direction and one part momentum.

For the journey that youre about to embark on through this book, the direction is obvious. Its in the freakin title! If you thought this book would guide you toward being a master mechanic or culinary genius, then youre shit out of luck. Were headed for the land of unfuckwithable badasses. Were becoming Zen as fuck. That is our direction. Now all we need is a little momentum to get us started.

This is where your epic journey begins. Right. Here.

It begins with a breath.

Theres a good chance that right now, youre staring at this page like youve just smelled a fart, like Say whaaaat?!

Its anticlimactic, I know. Here I am, just casually dropping words like epic, and the big reveal is breathing. But hey, I did say that all epic journeys start out small and simple, and I meant it! No, its not as grand as a popular #yoga photo on social media or as flashy as an inspirational quote scrawled across your yoga mat in a loopy font, yet breath is the cornerstone of a yoga practice. Breath will be the mother of momentum on your journey. It will be the wind in your sails, the deciding factor in where you can go and how quickly you get there.

You might be thinking, Its not that hard. Ive been breathing since I was born. Im breathing right now, dammit!

Its true! Assuming you were a healthy baby, when you were born, you knew how to breathe. It was a natural rhythm, your personal metronome. You breathed deep into your belly and used your lungs to their full capacity. You did all this without a thought and without an instruction manual. But eventually, this all changed.

Shallow Breathing

Perhaps this is because of how complicated things seem to get as we get older. Suddenly, we have social responsibilities and need to find our own way to make a living. There are countless decisions we must make every day that affect our lives and the lives of the people around us. There is no shortage of opportunities to get caught up in stress and anxiety! Just in case the mental overload wasnt enough to make it difficult to breathe, our societal script also says we should have flat stomachs. This causes a lot of people to retrain themselves, consciously or subconsciously, to take shallow breaths into their chests and to avoid letting their stomachs expand.

Everyone develops unhealthy breathing patterns at some point in their lives. Well, maybe I shouldnt say everyone. Im sure those who were raised in an ashram or monastery with daily breath exercises didnt, but Im going to go out on a limb and say that doesnt apply to you. For whatever reasons, internal or external, we end up adopting shallow breathing. This becomes an irregular rhythm, our own personal broken metronome. We take short breaths and barely use our lungs to their full capacity. We do this all without realizing how inefficient and awkward it is. Its a hell of a lot more than just awkward though. It has a huge negative impact on our mental and physical health!

Shallow breathing creates a stress response in our bodies, which can then turn into panic attacks, dry mouth, and fatigue. Even worse than just creating a stress response, shallow breathing can actually reinforce stress as a habit in our bodies. That means that in the same way a person can develop a habit of cracking their knuckles all the time or saying like every two seconds, the body makes a habit of being stressed out. This can wreak havoc on the bodys immune system, leaving the body susceptible to disease and possibly aggravating preexisting medical conditions. It can also mess with sleep cycles, cause further fatigue, and raise blood pressure.

Shallow breathing can even create problems for our muscles. This is because shallow breathing bypasses the stomach and brings the breath into the chest, which uses different muscles to expand the lungs. Instead of using the muscles that are meant to help us breathe, we end up relying on different muscles in the chest, neck, and shoulders. Its like bringing your car to your local barista for an oil change instead of going to a mechanic. These muscles can get the job done, but theyre not great at it. The extra workload can make the muscles tired and tense, often resulting in pain and headaches. This can eventually affect the bodys posture, which can lead to yet another world of problems.

Shallow breathing can cause a lot of issues, you see, and the opposite is also true. Many different health conditions, like asthma, blood clots, or physical injury, can cause shallow breathing. It can be a bit of a chicken-or-egg scenario, and it may not be clear exactly which came first. One thing is sure though: weve all got ninety-nine problems, but shallow breathing doesnt chronically have to be one!

But what exactly does a healthy breath look like?

CYCLICAL BREATH EXERCISE

The cyclical breath is made up of three parts that all work together to make one super badass whole-body breath. The three parts include your stomach, ribs, and chest. Before you can get a cyclical breath going, you gotta get a solid feel for all these parts individually. Before a lasagna becomes lasagna, all the layers are separate. The cheese, sauce, and noodles are individual parts that unite in making a multilayered culinary delight (that I am definitely craving in this moment). Lets get in touch with those breathing layers before we bring them together.

Start by lying on your back and placing your fingertips over your belly. On your inhale, focus on bringing the air into your belly and feeling your fingers rise. On the exhale, feel your fingers lower. During this part of the exercise, focus on bringing your breath into just your stomach.