096 – Are you a snorer

Swami Satyananda has a very different view of snorers. We all know people who snore and we can laugh at them, or get mad at them, but they continue to snore unrelentlessly. Once I was travelling in the night train and two compartments away there was a man snoring. He was so loud, we could hear him over the chugging and whistling of the train. My teenage son was with me. We started imitating him, but it had no effect. My son, shouted and said bro please stop. It had no effect. We passed the night sleepless and our neighbor woke up bright eyed.

Swamiji studied the philosophy of snoring for many years. He found that dogs never snored, only old dogs did. Tense people do not snore, because their brain remains active. Snoring is a symptom when our body needs more oxygen during sleep. Those who wish to give up snoring should practice more pranayama. The practice of pranayama trains the entire system to restore balance to itself. When one goes to bed, one should first sleep on the left side, and then after sometime on the right on the right side. If one lies flat on one’s back then there is a higher chance of snoring.

Swamiji’s advice when snoring

Some friendly and heartening advice given by Swamiji: Snoring is not a disease if one’s partner is snoring, then one can practice Yoga on the sound. Snoring is of many kinds. One sound can sound like a baby’s or a puppy’s breath, it can sound like trumpeting, or like an engine whistle. If one witnesses someone snoring, then one after a while starts relaxing. What has happened is that one is not angry, one is synchronizing one’s breath with the snorer. It means that the sympathetic and parasympathetic influxes are quiet and the autonomic system is functioning. It is during snoring that dreams come. That is why meditation must be practiced in an erect posture. If meditation is practiced in Shavasana, one starts snoring.

Now I will give a simple technique. Before sleeping, sit up and with closed eyes visualize your breath with prana going in and out of your nostrils. Count backwards from 108. Make no errors.

Aim Hrim Klim

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *