We’ve been experimenting with this breath practice in our classes over the last few weeks. The humming bee breath (also knowns as Bhramari Pranayama) is simple and easy to learn - all you do is hum as you breathe out. Lower pitched sounds are generally more bee-like than high ones, but a comfortable pitch is the main thing. In most of the pranayama practices of yoga, we are trying to change the breath in some way. The great thing about this practice is we don’t need to consciously control or change the breath - or even to think about breathing. Humming automatically leads to a longer outbreath, which affects the nervous system: lengthening the exhalation relative to the inhalation activates the calming, parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, so we feel soothed and quieter.
If you are anxious, upset, angry, or in a state of distraction, this is a really useful practice. Having something to listen to - the buzzing sound, and the vibrations this sets up within the body - can help divert us from our thoughts, which are often the source of suffering. So it is also a useful starting point for those who want to meditate, but find their busy state of mind an obstacle. A quieter mind is generally clearer and more focused - like a bee, purposeful but calm. For a time, at least!
Another interesting thing about bhramari is to do with production of Nitric Oxide, a gaseous molecule produced in our bodies. One of its functions is regulating cardiovascular activity - by increasing dilation of blood vessels, thereby improving circulation and helping control blood pressure. It also relaxes smooth muscles in the trachea and bronchioles of the lungs, enabling us to breathe better. Sufficient levels of nitric oxide are also necessary for proper functioning of our immune systems.
When we breathe through our noses, cells and tissues in the nose continuously and reliably produce nitric oxide. Even better, humming greatly increases nitric oxide levels in the nose. So the science backs up what the yogis discovered through intuition, introspection and practice - that humming has profoundly beneficial effects on the human body and mind.
Two things to note here:
mouth breathing doesn’t have the same effect on nitric oxide levels as nasal breathing;
and
nitric oxide is not to be confused with nitrous oxide (used medically as an anaesthetic and recreationally) - as I did, recently, telling a student confidently that she was producing more nitrous oxide as she hummed. Woops!
One of my children used to hum himself to sleep - spontaneously, as a very young child, and for many months; one of my students recently said how much she learns from watching her bees - about patience, slowing down, taking time with a task or activity, rather than rushing in. We know too that honey bees operate as a community rather than as individuals, with the colony seen by some as a super organism. Remembering our interdependence, the vital importance of our connections with one another, can be another benefit of the practice.
As Thich Nhat says:
In our brain, a multitude of neurons are communicating with each other, interacting to produce thoughts, feelings and ideas but no one neuron is the director; it’s like an orchestra without a conductor, or a beehive with all the bees working together. The queen bee isn’t the leader, her only duty is to produce the next generation of bees. Looking into our body, we see a multitude of cells working together, but there’s no boss. A sangha, a community of people practising together, is like a beehive with everyone working together in harmony.
(from “How to Connect”)
Here’s the humming boy, job done!