Breath & Energy · “Breath Is the Bridge”
Diaphragmatic Breathing & the Crocodile
Re-train habitual shallow chest breathing into deep, smooth diaphragmatic breathing, using the crocodile posture (makarasana) to make the correct movement unmistakable.
Diaphragmatic breathing (Swami Rama): Lie on your back, one hand on chest, one on the upper belly. Breathe through the nose so the belly rises and the chest stays still — deep, even, silent, no jerk. If the belly won’t lead, lie face-down in the crocodile (forehead on crossed arms, chest off the floor) and feel the abdomen press the floor on each inhale. Make this your normal way of breathing.
What it is
For Swami Rama, the breath is the bridge between body and mind, and almost everyone crosses that bridge badly: they breathe high in the chest, shallowly and jerkily, using the wrong muscles.
His foundational re-training teaches the breath to drop into the diaphragm — the dome of muscle beneath the lungs — so that breathing becomes deep, smooth, even and silent. The signature teaching device is the crocodile posture (makarasana): lying face-down with the forehead resting on crossed arms, the chest is immobilised against the floor so that only diaphragmatic movement is possible.
You literally feel the abdomen press the floor on the inhale and release on the exhale. This is the first practice of the Himalayan tradition — the gateway on which 2:1 breathing, breath awareness, and meditation all rest.
The Method
A. Diaphragmatic breathing lying on the back (the diagnostic):
- Lie supine, legs slightly apart, arms a little away from the sides, eyes closed.
- Place one palm on the centre of the chest, the other on the lower edge of the rib cage where the abdomen begins.
- Breathe through the nose. As you inhale, “the lower edge of the rib cage should expand and the abdomen should rise; as you exhale, the opposite should occur.” The upper-chest hand should stay almost still.
- Make the breath deep, even and steady, with no sound and no strain. B. The Crocodile (makarasana) — for when the belly won’t lead:
- Lie face-down. Cross the forearms in front, and rest the forehead on the crossed arms (legs relaxed, heels falling outward). The chest must be lifted slightly off the floor by the arms.
- Breathe normally through the nose. Because the chest is pinned, “when you inhale you feel the abdomen pressing against the floor, and when you exhale you feel the abdominal muscles relaxing.”
- Rest here 5–10 minutes, simply feeling that movement. The body should reach “a sense of deep relaxation and rest — more restful even than the deepest sleep.” C. Carry it into upright sitting once the pattern is automatic, so all breathing — and eventually meditation — is diaphragmatic. (Sourcing note: hand placement, rib/abdomen movement, the crocodile mechanics and the “more restful than deepest sleep” phrasing are from Himalayan Institute / Swami Rama instruction; the diaphragm-and-breath framework is from Science of Breath.)
Source & Lineage
Swami Rama (1925–1996), of the Himalayan tradition and founder of the Himalayan Institute, made diaphragmatic breathing the literal first step of his whole curriculum.
Science of Breath (1979), co-written with physicians Rudolph Ballentine and Alan Hymes, was an early bridge between yogic breath training and Western physiology. Swami Rama himself became famous for demonstrating voluntary control of “involuntary” functions (heart rhythm, skin temperature) in laboratory studies at the Menninger Foundation in the early 1970s, lending credibility to the tradition’s claim that breath is a trainable lever on the nervous system. → (existing Voice).
The Traditions' versions
Generic “belly breathing” / clinical diaphragmatic breathing — same physiology, but Swami Rama frames it as the foundation of a graded path (→ 2:1, → breath awareness, → meditation), not a standalone relaxation trick.
- Pranayama (classical hatha) — diaphragmatic breath is the prerequisite before any pranayama proper.
- Coherent/resonance breathing — converges on slow diaphragmatic breath, but is rate-driven (~6/min); Swami Rama’s emphasis is quality (smoothness, no pause) and the crocodile teaching device.
- Towne’s solar-plexus breathing — a New Thought cousin focused on the abdomen.
Common refinements
Pushing the belly out with muscle instead of letting the diaphragm draw it. In the crocodile, let the floor show you the movement rather than forcing it.
- Lifting the chest/shoulders on inhale — the classic chest-breather’s reversal. The upper hand should barely move.
- Breathing through the mouth or with audible sound. Swami Rama: exhalation should be through the nostrils and “there should be no sound in the breath.”
- Treating it as a one-off. It is re-training a 24-hour habit; the point is for all breathing to become diaphragmatic.