नासिकयोर्-वायुस्तिष्ठतु।
(nāsikayor vāyu: tishThatu)
In the nose is established vāyu (element Air)!
The picture tells us everything – our breath talks directly to the mid-brain, which in turn controls our emotions. it’s the breath rhythms actually. The olfactory nerve provides a direct, privileged pathway into the limbic system, meaning smell signals reach the amygdala without needing to pass through the thalamus. Also notice the nerves going from the lower palate and throat to the brain stem. Doesn’t take much to relate the breath rhythm and mantra chanting to instinctual part of the our brain, the unconscious!
Please google keywords – Breathing and Rhythm – and you will find a lot of links reflecting the current state of art in Breath Research. Here’ some information from Prof. Zelano’s research at Northwestern.
The need to breathe links the mammalian olfactory system inextricably to the respiratory rhythms that draw air through the nose… Our results reveal that natural breathing synchronizes electrical activity in human piriform (olfactory) cortex, as well as in limbic-related brain areas, including amygdala and hippocampus. Notably, oscillatory power peaked during inspiration and dissipated when breathing was diverted from nose to mouth. Parallel behavioral experiments showed that breathing phase enhances fear discrimination and memory retrieval. Our findings provide a unique framework for understanding the pivotal role of nasal breathing in coordinating neuronal oscillations to support stimulus processing and behavior.
The rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the human brain that enhances emotional judgments and memory recall, scientists have discovered for the first time. These effects on behavior depend critically on whether you inhale or exhale and whether you breathe through the nose or mouth.
It’s nice to see the modern research aligning with what the old realized – who knows how they got there. But they were very clear in summarizing it for us:
नासिकयोर्-वायुस्तिष्ठतु ।
(nāsikayor vāyu: tishThatu |)
In the nose resides vāyu!
वा॒युर्मे॓ प्रा॒णे श्रि॒तः ।
(vāyurmE” prāNE SritaH |)
In vāyu is established prāna!
– Taittariya Aranyaka of Krishna Yajurveda
Who knows the age of these texts, which are transferred through memory. But, these are such profound statements… They are also embedded in Laghunyāsa Rudram, which is chanted even today. Element Vayu (air) is firmly established in the nose – the nerves or the nadis take the breath pattern and equilibrate with the emotional part of the brain – the mid-brain – and vice versa. As the air flows over the nerves, they set electrical oscillations of certain frequencies in the mid-brain where our memories and emotions reside (hippocampus and amygdala-thalamus complex, respectively). The pranayama (4th limb of yoga) is the application of these principles.
Here’s a bonus: inducing oscillations in the nasal passages (again vibrations) produces extra nitric oxide, which is the molecule that is responsible for vasodilation – in lungs to genitals (viagra!).
For example: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/rccm.200202-138BC
“The paranasal sinuses are major producers of nitric oxide (NO). We hypothesized that oscillating airflow produced by humming would enhance sinus ventilation and thereby increase nasal NO levels. Ten healthy subjects took part in the study. Nasal NO was measured with a chemiluminescence technique during humming and quiet single-breath exhalations at a fixed flow rate. NO increased 15-fold during humming compared with quiet exhalation. In a two-compartment model of the nose and sinus, oscillating airflow caused a dramatic increase in gas exchange between the cavities. Obstruction of the sinus ostium is a central event in the pathogenesis of sinusitis. Nasal NO measurements during humming may be a useful noninvasive test of sinus NO production and ostial patency. In addition, any therapeutic effects of the improved sinus ventilation caused by humming should be investigated.”
We have stated this a few times, but breath is an important marker for emotional states. That is, when we are feeling certain emotions, the breath pattern aligns with it. Now, the question is whether this can be reversed – that is, if we used a specific breath pattern, can we access specific emotional states, like anger or bliss, however long that breathing pattern is imposed? Pranayama says yes, and at least yes to disposition to those states, while the modern science is in the early stages of this research. Below diagram shows the correspondence between breathing rate and the emotional state, as measured by breath rates when that subject is in that emotional state.
[From Jerath & Beveridge]. A spectrum of emotions. Affective states are shown here alongside the dimension of respiratory rhythm. The respiratory tracings shown have time on the X-axis and displacement on the Y-axis. See how the breath slows down and evens out as we go towards meditative states. Downward direction reflects the uncontrolled automatic controlled breathing., while the upward direction shows controlled breathing. We need both, but having control is the most important part.
We will get into concepts that are an integral part of this frequency-domain description of human functions – breath patterns and brain waves. We briefly touched upon these while talking about the “sleep trigger” under the Sivaratri blurb also.
Finally, the health of the lungs is not very different from the health of the brain/mind: mind-body connection! For example, asthma is apparently a positive indicator for mental issues such as depression and anxiety!
Vayu, Humming and Depression
Now, let’s connect the dots; for people suffering from mild depression and or anxiety disorder, this may help. Practice what is called Bramari breath, or even simpler, just hum for a few minutes, a couple of times a day! The extra nitric oxide, the happy molecule, produced by paranasal sinuses from humming can only help! With no side-effects! Always start small, and titrate the durations based on the need. Will cover different breaths and their benefits while talking about pranayama. NOTE: this is not a medical advice, and people of medication should alter anything without consulting their doctor/s.
pranayama Breathing techniques and mechanics
Let us consider the airflow through the nose: it follows a path dictated by the turbinates and walls of the skull base, transitioning from a vertical ascent to a horizontal channel, and finally diving vertically down toward your lungs. Along the way, it activates certain rhythms in various anatomical regions.
These turbinates play a critical part in our narrative – superior, middle and inferior turbinates. You can google these – but the airflow partitioning between these three channels change – with breathing type, age, emotions and maladies.
The nasal turbinates and the amygdala are connected by two distinct cranial nerve systems: the Olfactory Nerve (CN I) and the Trigeminal Nerve (CN V). We have direct access to these cranial nerves! Let’s look at some common yogic breathing techniques:
There are several other breathing techniques, but the yoga and pranayama cleverly use such techniques to activate various cranial nerves, and other parts of the body/brain to affect the state of mind and awareness (lokas).
These breathing techniques also shift the airflow through the nose, which is main factor driving some of the benefits. The more you experiment, the more knobs to your own mental health that you can realize. No magic. All in your hands, through awareness – D.I.Y all the way!
It becomes fascinating. As we said before, once the air passes through the nostrils, and make that great 90 degree turn, the airflow distributes itself between three horizontal channels or turbinates to enter the backside of the throat. Thes turbinates are about 5 to 7 cm long. See the notional schematic below (from the Web)
The airflow distribution seem to change with age, and the breathing technique… Just to get an idea, let’s summarize how the distribution changes with age, and breathing technique. The important thingis to notice how the total flow increases with kapalabhati and bhastrika, and how the flow fraction through the Superior Turbinate also increases – you are talking to your brain! Again, thanks to AI, you can google-gemini this searches.
Not that we need proof or anything like that because the ultimate judge is you for yourself. We know we feel better after breath-of-fire. The guidance as usual is to start slow, see how feel, and adjust the routine.
You can immediately tell that the flow shifts towards the superior turbinate in deep breathing (including during aerobic physical activity), and yogic breathing techniques. This apparently has three benefits, most important of which is the nitric oxide transport from the sinuses into the lungs. Remember this is the happy molecule, that relaxes the blood vessels and increases blood flow. The other two benefits are that the increased flow through the superior turbinate improves the 1. sense of smell, and 2. improved brain cooling.
PRANAYAMA PRACTICE:
If you can voluntarily impress the following breath pattern, it is better to inhale more through superior turbinate and exhale more through the inferior turbinate? So, through iterative process, during your pranayama session, pull the inhale high up through the nostrils, all the way up to the brow point, and exhale low. You will get feel for it after a few rounds, but you need to really focus on this at the beginning.
Notice that this is almost the same as the yogic breathing style of fast inhale/slow exhale. This is known to increase the heart rate variability, which is a sign of a relaxed heart, and lower blood pressure. This breathing style is also closely associated with a technique call physiological Sigh. This is a member of the more generalized group of pranayama techniques call visama vritti (Unequal Ratio Breathing). This is also closely related to two other techniques – Anuloma pranayama and Chandra bedhana.
[Google Gemini suggestion below on how-to do the fast inhale/slow exhale]
- To Inhale High: Lift your chest, keep your neck long, and imagine drawing the breath from the very bridge of your nose (between your eyes) rather than pulling it aggressively through the rims of your nostrils. A gentle, steady upward “sniffing” posture automatically shifts fluid dynamics to the superior turbinate.
- To Exhale Low: Relax your soft palate and imagine dropping the breath down to exit along the floor of your nose, right above your upper lip. Keeping the exhale slow, soft, and passive naturally guides the air mass through the broader, heat-trapping inferior pathways.
Finally, let’s look at how the age alters this… (the schematic is ai-generated based on publicly available information). The important thing to notice here is how the flow fractions (as %) changes with age, due to structural changes. With age it looks like the flow fraction through the superior turbinate is recovering, but it’s apparently due to “erratic” widening of cavities. How do you stop this “erratic” widening? That’s left to us as an exercise. Interestingly, good hydration is one of the factors that can help through slowing down the decay of the mucosal barrier. As we will discuss later, chronic dehydration and breath shortage are key factors in physical body deterioration. Suddenly the dry skin we experience means a lot more now, doesn’t it? This is only for our own research,and it’s left to the practitioner to use this information depending upon what the practitioner’s current state of affairs is, with regard to the air flow through the nose.
In the yogic theory, and in Ayurveda, Vayu is all about movement and signal transduction, i.e., information transport. Rishis routinely pray to Vayu to be blessed with speedy communication, particularly when “soma” is flowing … Kundalini experience counts on such high speed information showers.
Will continue….
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