One of many pillars of our Vinyasa Yoga lessons is our breath.
The ability our breath has over our physique, thoughts and spirit is inspiring; it’s additionally very important to our yoga apply. It helps us create that stunning state of circulation as we transfer via our apply. Even in essentially the most difficult energy vinyasa lessons breath is the undercurrent that guides us. It additionally helps us faucet into our parasympathetic nervous system which calms our physique’s physiology. Linking breath with motion will calm down a stressed thoughts and permit one to ease right into a calmer state of being. The outcome on the finish of sophistication is a harmonious, balanced vitality.
In our vinyasa lessons, we use a respiratory approach known as Ujjayi breath (pronounced oo-jai). You’ll have heard of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This textual content is extensively thought to be the authoritative textual content on the 8 limbs of yoga. In his 196 brief sutras or ‘threads’, there are 3 which reference the bodily apply of yoga, (asana). Sutra 2.46 states that our bodily postures ought to steadiness effort and ease. How do we all know if we’ve discovered that steadiness? The state of our breath may give us an enormous clue!
The pranayama breath apply of Ujjayi ought to have two qualities: It ought to be lengthy, and it ought to be easy. Ujjayi is often known as the ‘victorious breath’ and has a sound much like ocean waves. The advantages vary from calming our our bodies to cleaning our vitality channels (nadis) to selling psychological readability and focus. It’s stated to refresh our pranic vitality, or in different phrases, our life drive!
In our Vinyasa lessons, you’ll fairly often hear our lecturers encourage you to search out your Ujjayi breath originally of sophistication. So! discover this implausible breath approach to boost your asana apply.
This breath includes constricting your vocal cords partially and it’ll really feel much like whispering. When practising Ujjayi our throat muscle groups of the glottis barely constrict, in order we breathe via our nostril, there’s a delicate whispering sound attributable to this slight constriction on the base of our throat.
Think about whispering to somebody, however with out really talking the phrases out loud. Or equally, think about making an attempt to fog up a mirror with out opening your mouth. These are two easy methods to really feel this slight constriction. Preserving that, merely begin to breathe via your nostril a 4-count inhale, and a 4-count exhale. You may have discovered Ujjayi.
The difficult half will be staying dedicated to Ujjayi all through your complete apply, particularly in moments of problem like aspect plank or after your twentieth chaturanga! However the stunning factor about your breath is it might act as a gauge all through your apply to find in case you are pushing your self an excessive amount of, or not sufficient!
In case you can maintain a gentle cadence of Ujjayi breath simply all through your apply, it is likely to be an indication you could discover your edge and problem your self slightly extra! In case you are consistently shedding your breath, gasping for air or solely respiratory very shallowly, you possibly can be pushing your self too laborious. We must always should work to maintain our breath regular, however we shouldn’t be pushing our our bodies on the expense of our internal peace. Preserving our Ujjayi breath lengthy and easy helps us keep in our parasympathetic nervous system which accesses the a part of ourselves that’s calm, regular, and peaceable.
On the finish of our apply, Ujjayi helps us depart with that equanimous, balanced, easeful vitality. It additionally offers us one thing to deal with as we transfer via the apply. When the thoughts wanders, recommit to that lengthy, easy Ujjayi high quality of your breath. It is going to show you how to anchor your thoughts again into your physique and the current second.
One other stunning lesson that the traditional knowledge of yoga presents us is that no effort in yoga is ever wasted. Even should you solely apply this breath for a number of moments, it’s going to show you how to discover slightly extra presence, and change into calmer.
“The rhythm of the breath occurs 22,000 instances a day. If you spend only a few of those instances in delight and surprise, it begins to remodel the opposite 99.999% that you simply take without any consideration.“
– Radiance Sutras
Written by Katie Tetz
Studio Enterprise Supervisor | Ever Inspiring Author & Yoga Instructor for Energy Dwelling Australia
