Breath Series - Part 2

Because the breath is the integral foundation of yoga, it's enlightening to understand how the breath is no less the integral foundation of all life. In this part 2 of my Breath Series we'll be exploring how we breathe from an anatomical perspective.

Take a deep inhale...

We either inhale oxygen in through the nose or the mouth. Though there are separate cavities--the nasal and the oral--they are connected in the back of the throat and eventually the air molecules head in the same direction.

What difference does it make when we breathe through the nose versus the mouth?

Well, inside the nose there are lovely little hairs that are very helpful in gathering moisture, warming the air, as well as catching larger foreign particles of dust or germs as part of a natural filtering system. Along with the hairs there is also, as I'm sure all of us are well aware, the slimy coating of mucus--yes, you called it, it's snot--that also lines the nostrils. That mucus is excellent at catching even smaller particles in its sticky trap. I know, I know...you'll never think of boogers the same way. Isn't picking your nose just, metaphorically speaking, cleaning out the filter?  

So it's safe to say that oxygen, before we breathe it in, is cold and dry. When it's breathed in through the nose it's cleaner. Breathed into the mouth, it's a little dirtier. Either way, whether through the nose or mouth, the air is warmed and moistened. 

As it travels down the throat it comes to a crossroads. It can either go down the esophagus--which is really only recommended for food and water seeking digestion--or it can go down through the voice box into the trachea. The epiglottis is the little lid or flap that opens and closes over the larynx, or vocal cords. Air will travel through that trapdoor and flow down into the trachea. That's when things get really cool.

The air comes to a tee in the road, some of it going into the left bronchus and some going into the right bronchus. The bronchi then split into bronchioles, which divide and branch out a dozen or more times, until finally it reaches the alveoli. That's where the air flips a u-turn, of sorts, and begins to make it's way back out the way it came. But before it does that it swings by the gas station for a slurpee (a carbon dioxide slurpee?). It's there in the alveoli that the gas exchange happens. It transfers the oxygen into the blood stream and gathers up the carbon dioxide waste, which it ships out with the outgoing air.

And....exhale! One single breath accomplished.

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