Home Ancient Structures & History Living Like the Tortoise: Doubling Your Life Span with One

Simple Breathing...

Living Like the Tortoise: Doubling Your

Life Span with One Simple Breathing
Technique

Ancient Structures & History

Consciousness

Paradigm Shift

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Spirituality
Jul 31, 2015
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Is it possible for humans to live for 200 years, or even more? It seems improbable without some kind
of freakish genetic modification, but this isnt necessary according to ancient wisdom in
theBhagavad Gita, and the Tirukkural.
Among vertebrates, the tortoise is one of the longest living animals on our planet. Unconfirmed
reports talk of the tortoise living for as many as 400 years, and it is not unusual to find a tortoise like
Jonathan, that is 182 years old.

How Do You Breathe?

Much of the science of yoga was gained from watching nature and her creatures. Ancient saints and
sages noticed that animals with low respiratory rates, like the tortoise, but also like the elephant, and
the other animals listed in the chart below lived longer life spans with a controlled, long breath. You
will also notice, though, that as the speed of respiration increases, the life span of the animal
shortens.

Animal
Giant Tortoise
Whale
Elephant
Horse
Chimpanzee
Monkeys
Dogs

Breathing rate,
breaths/min
4
6
4-5 (lying down)
8-15
14
32
20-30

Life span, years

150
111
70
50
40
18-23
10-20

Though there are animals on our planet that live even longer, like sponges and sea clams, that can
live for more than 400 years, humans are often thought to be relegated to a lifespan of around 70
years and thats when all key indicators of life or life force are excellent.
Poets and sages knew better. For example, in a sloka (verse) from the Bhagavad Gita we learn:
When, like the tortoise which withdraws its limbs on all sides, he (a sage) withdraws his senses
from the sense-objects, then his wisdom becomes steady (Chapter 2-58)

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Additionally, here is a couplet from Tirukkural:

If a man learns to control his five senses in one birth as the tortoise, that power will stand by him in
his seven future births. (Kural 126)
Part of this control of the senses refers to the control of the breath.
Though there are many practices in yoga from meditation to yogic postures or asana, which can
help to keep the body well and vital for many years, perhaps non among the yogic practices is as
important for the extension of life as learning to control the life force through pranayama.

Pranayama Defined
Pranayama is a Sanskrit word that means literally life force, or an unseen energy, which runs like
currents through the body prana, and ayama which means control, or extension of the life force.
Just having an increased life force, without knowing how to control it, is rather useless, according to
yogic wisdom.
It can take an entire lifetime to master all the breathing techniques or control of life-force
techniques offered through yogic science, from Samavrtti, Ujjayi, Kumbhaka, Anuloma
Viloma,Kapalabhati, and Sithali, and more, but alternate nostril breathing, or Nadi Shodhana also
calledAnuloma Viloma, has been scientifically proven to increase life span.
Heres why:
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When the respiratory rate decreases the heart doesnt have to work as hard to pump blood throughout
the body. Our nervous system then calms down and takes a much-needed break, also. You can think
of it like the conservation of energy in physics, or putting fewer miles on your car so it will last
longer.
Furthermore, one of the absolute key indicators of life span is the resting heart rate. Alternate nostril
breathing has been proven to lower the resting heart rate, and thereby expand life span of course
allowing for unexpected events like getting hit by lightening or falling from a ten story building. The

natural life-span as we know it, however, does indeed increase when we practice this simple
breathing technique.
These facts are corroborated by several scientific studies.
A Danish study, for example, published in Heart, suggests that a higher resting heart rate is an
independent predictor of mortality even in healthy people that are in great physical condition.
Danish researchers gave physical exams to 5,249 healthy middle-aged and elderly men beginning in
1971. In 1985 and 1986, they tracked survivors, of whom there were 3,354. Of these, 2,798 had
sufficient data on heart rate and oxygen consumption for the analysis. Researchers followed them
through 2011.
After controlling for physical fitness and many other health and behavioral factors, they found that
the higher the resting heart rate, the greater the risk for death.
The numbers were quite telling:
Men with a resting heart rate of 50 beats per minute or less compared to those with 71 to 80 beats per
minute has a 51 percent greater risk of mortality. At over 90 beats per minute the risk tripled.
The lead author and researcher at Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte, Dr. Magnus Thorsten
Jensen explains:
If you have two healthy people, exactly the same in physical fitness, age, blood pressure and so on,
the person with the highest resting heart rate is more likely to have a shorter life span.
Thats where pranayama comes in, and specifically alternate nostril breathing.
Not only does this breathing practice increase cardiac autonomous modulation (a long-winded way
of saying, help out the heart and sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems) but it
also lowers the resting heart rate. It gives profound rest to the entire physical and energetic system,
while also invigorating it.
How to Practice Nadi Shodhana

1.

Sit comfortably with your spine erect and shoulders relaxed. If you can, sit unassisted, but the
most important thing is to keep your spine long so the energy you create through your breath can
move up and down your spinal column, called the sushumna in yoga. It may help to do some
simple yoga asana before sitting to breathe. Swamij.com has a great lesson on thesushumna for
those who want to learn more.

2.

Place your left hand on the left knee, palms open to the sky or in Chin Mudra (thumb and
index finger gently touching at the tips).

3.

Place the tip of the index finger and middle finger of the right hand in between the eyebrows,
the ring finger and little finger on the left nostril, and the thumb on the right nostril. The last two
fingers (ring finger and little finger) are used to open or close the left nostril and thumb for the
right nostril throughout the practice.

4.

Press your thumb against the right nostril and breathe out gently through the left nostril.

5.

Now breathe in from the left nostril and then press the left nostril gently with the ring finger
and little finger. Removing the right thumb from the right nostril, breathe out from the right.

6.

Breathe in from the right nostril and exhale from the left. You have now completed one round
of Nadi Shodhan pranayama. Continue inhaling and exhaling from alternate nostrils.

7.

Complete as many rounds as you can by alternately breathing through both the nostrils. After
every exhalation, remember to breathe in from the same nostril from which you exhaled. Keep
your eyes closed throughout and continue taking long, deep, smooth breaths without any force or
effort. I find it helpful to envision I am breathing in the shape of a rainbow to make the in-breath
and out-breath consistent.

You can also watch this video on how to practice Alternate Nostril Breathing and start enjoying a
longer life.
Featured image: Galpagos giant tortoise (Geochelone nigra). Photo: M Kegl/Azote