Remember How to Breathe
at Northaven
I’ll never forget what my teacher Sharath Jois shared with me when I went to study in Mysore India in 2015. He said:
“India taught the world how to breathe. Before that, the world didn’t know how.”
Sharath Jois
This blog post will highlight some of the most important and necessary components required to breathe deep, and how Northaven can support you in coming home using your breath to re-wild your mind in the most nourishing and supportive way.
Why Northaven is the Best Place on Earth To Breathe Deep
Anyone can change their body’s breath pattern to calm their mind, and when you being to practice Ashtanga Yoga, you'll learn quite quickly the right methodology.
In the Ashtanga system the breath is a mantra repeated over and over with each movement of your body. The first thing we learn is how to control the breath—through the nose, mouth gently closed, with each inhalation and exhalation held in perfect balance.
While this is an easy and accessible practice to take on, one must also consider the quality of the air in which they’re breathing. Is the air you’re taking in comparable to the air in Shanghai China? Because if yes, you may actually be doing more harm than good.
On the other hand, consider a sanctuary nestled amidst the forest and mountains right next to us in the Canadian Rockies. Banff, Alberta – a place so pristine that the air is literally bottled and sold as a precious commodity (no I’m not making this up.)
Needless to say, the second option is the more desirable one here. Air quality is the first to consider when it comes to breathing optimally. And when you’re stuck in an overpopulated city that’s ridden with pollutants, it can be less than ideal.
The place I grew up and built Northaven it is right at the edge of Jasper National Park, which doesn’t allow any new developments. As a result, you won’t find the pollution like you would in a city, and the air quality is astronomically better. This is truly a space like no other—one where you can reconnect to the natural world in its’ most unpolluted state.
Our Capacity to Breathe
When it comes to breathing optimally, there’s another important factor to consider: our capacity to breathe.
Even if we know how and have clean air to breathe, do we have a body that has the ability to breathe deeply?
The Breath and the Blood
Sharathji gave me one piece of information for this story. The next came from his Grandfather who taught everyone Ashtanga Yoga, Pattahbi Jois.
He said that the practice “boils the blood”, which most teachers say means to remove toxins. They just can’t tell you which toxin. (I will in a future post)
As it turns out, heating the blood has an entirely different effect that almost no one knows about yet.
Now, this is where I come in.
For most of my life, I’ve been researching and experimenting on my body.
As a curious seeker, I am someone who needs to know how things work first. From there, I’ll start to see if I can improve on it by experimenting. It was through this process that I discovered people who are changing the way we view health and the root cause of disease. And this new paradigm has the capacity to redefine the causes behind chronic disease, and the foundation of health as a whole.
From this new perspective, everything the yogis discovered, and the practices that nourish us (clean water, grounding, red light, breathwork, sunbathing, and yoga) start to make a lot more sense.
It places the environment, our habitat, as central in our ability to receive, store, and use energy.
The Hawaiians called the energy from nature Mana. Meaning that either your habitat has mana and is filling you up or it is polluted and depleting you.
Why Yoga Used to Work
The Westerner goes into his church and talks about God
The yogi goes into his cave and hears God
Shiva lives in the mountains and forests and is a God.
My take on another quote
In the West, Yoga gets lumped in with exercise but it belongs in an entirely different category.
Does it have some similar effects as the recent invention of exercise? Sure. But it is an ancient system that was created for a different purpose—one that far surpasses your classic hit of just endorphins.
Because of this Western yoga students are only experiencing the surface effects at this point. But in fact, it is possible to go much deeper and experience its most powerful results once all the right ingredients are there (and you don’t have to be a contortionist to get there).
Here’s the “recipe” for a deep experience of yoga in its simplest form
1. Your skin is touching the earth (aka grounding)
2. There’s heat and sweat (aka red light)
3. Spring water in your body (aka structured water)
4, We use the breath control, bandhas (internal locks) , drishti (gazing points) in silence aka Mysore style yoga
5. Asanas (postures) - not stretching, not mobility, not weight lifting
6. Sacraments - plants and mushrooms
7. Repetition - Sun Salutations as a daily ritual
8. This one might surprise you - nature’s meal plan, a local seasonal diet
What's next?
How to Rewild Your Body and Mind For Insight and Vitality by Combining Nature with Yoga
If you want to learn more about the power of yoga and rewilding practices, there are two options:
ONLINE
Receive part 2 of this series when you sign up to the email list. The next post will go into depth on how to boil the blood and why that matters for your heart. You will also future list only content through posts, videos, and podcasts.
IN PERSON
You can come to Northaven at Folding Mountain Alberta, which is right next to Jasper National Park from August to September. Fill out the form below
This is where I'm putting this all into practice, and I haven’t even touched on the spiritual significance of this area yet.
I have a special offer for yoga students only for the 2024 opening season.
You will never be able to see Jasper again at this price.
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