Continuing the theme of the previous article, I would like to note that adequate yoga practice should form a new bodily stereotype. Therefore, the main requirement for the complex is the constant formation of novelty (Andrii Safronov «Yoga: Physiology, Psychosomatics, Bioenergetics»). Asanas and pranayama should maintain a degree of unfamiliarity and discomfort for the practitioner — this will create an opportunity to go beyond ineffective psycho-emotional stereotypes and form more harmonious ones.
Let me illustrate.
In the course of our research, we found that practitioners’ reactions to performing pranayama varied (pranayama is already familiar and does not need to be relearned). The reaction has its own stages, which can be described as follows:
1. The stage of establishing a breathing stereotype and initial performance of pranayama — the practitioner aligns the body according to the stereotype specified in pranayama and begins to breathe quite effectively and easily.
This stage lasts about 1 minute. In athletes and physically trained people, this stage can last 1.5-2 minutes.
2. The stage of actualization of psychosomatic alignment (constitution) — after 1-2 minutes, paradoxical reactions begin to be observed. Muscle tension may occur both in the area involved in pranayama and in the mirrored areas (pathogenic arcs); the established breathing rhythm is disrupted; emotional reactions (irritation, aggression, satisfaction, etc.) intensify.
This reaction can be described as a psychosomatic crisis.
Practitioners independently note a state of discomfort associated with the inability to control the physical and emotional reactions that arise. There is a need to stop the exercise, change its course (in the form of an «irresistible» desire to scratch, laugh, talk, change position).
In essence, this desire is a manifestation of the psyche’s defense mechanisms. At this stage, a certain emotional and muscular reserve is exhausted; current, already existing muscle tensions, clamps, unexpressed emotions, etc. are revealed. A person seems to open the door to a closet with their «skeletons» — unresolved problems that they will have to face and begin to solve. On the threshold of discovery, a certain inertia of the body and psyche kicks in; the desire to leave things «as they are» kicks in.
If we talk about the psychophysiological mechanisms of this phenomenon, we can assume the depletion of the resource of the tissue itself (muscle, organ), weakened by a disharmonious state, and the manifestation of the inability of nervous regulation in a mode of increased and calibrated load, which is pranayama.
3. The restructuring stage – if the proposed breathing algorithm is maintained, there is a significant relaxation of tense muscles, sometimes with a feeling of warmth in the area of relaxation. The necessary breathing rhythm is formed, finely calibrated and maintained with a certain ease. The practitioner gains confidence in performing pranayama, «a second breath opens up».
4. The stage of consolidating a new stereotype – after the stage of restructuring, in essence, the actual performance of pranayama takes place, with the formation of bodily memory of the new constitution and new functional neural connections.
With sufficiently long-term practice of pranayama, the stages described (formation of a stereotype, psychosomatic crisis, restructuring, and consolidation of a stereotype) can be repeated several times in a row, revealing increasingly subtle nuances of the physical and mental constitution.
Therefore, we can say that a properly selected pranayama is similar to a meditative question for the practitioner — it is unusual, incomprehensible, and forces one to focus on one’s decision. At the same time, the pranayama technique itself already contains a hint—a new stereotype that forms a more harmonious physical structure and, along with it, the prerequisites for the formation of new behavioral patterns.
Olena Akhrameeva
yoga therapist at the Ukrainian Institute of Yoga and Yoga Therapy
yoga instructor at the Ukrainian Yoga Federation
Kharkiv, 2013