Over time this elastic recoil will create a rigidity in the rib cage anatomically constricting the heart and lungs. If the lower lobes are not regularly activated then the breathing will stay shallow and the nervous system will trigger an emergency sympathetic response with each breath - 28,000 per day. Most people breath small shallow breaths during their daily routine and never get enough air in to reactivate the lower lobes which house the majority of the parasympathetic nervous system. In Ayurveda, the heart is understood to be more then just a pump that feeds the organs and cells. It is the seat of the intellect and senses and the reservoir of consciousness according to Caraka and the faculty of thought according to the Yoga Vasistha .
Life known by the sense perception is located in the heart.
It is also the seat of excellent Ojas and the reservoir of consciousness. From the heart as root, ten great vessels carrying Ojas pulsate all over the body. The Ojas, which maintains the living beings by its saturation, without which no life of creatures exists. According to Ayurveda, the substance which is called Ojas is arguably the most precious in the human body. Prana owes it's existence to it.