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 important to our yoga apply. It helps us create that stunning state of stream as we transfer by means of 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 loosen up 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 method known as Ujjayi breath (pronounced oo-jai). You could have heard of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This textual content is broadly considered the authoritative textual content on the 8 limbs of yoga. In his 196 quick 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 needs to be lengthy, and it needs to be easy. Ujjayi is also referred to 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 mentioned to refresh our pranic vitality, or in different phrases, our life pressure!
In our Vinyasa lessons, you’ll fairly often hear our academics encourage you to seek out your Ujjayi breath initially of sophistication. So! Easy methods to discover this improbable breath method 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 tissue of the glottis barely constrict, in order we breathe by means of our nostril, there’s a refined whispering sound resulting from this slight constriction on the base of our throat.
Think about whispering to somebody, however with out truly talking the phrases out loud. Or equally, think about attempting to fog up a mirror with out opening your mouth. These are two easy methods to really feel this slight constriction. Retaining that, merely begin to breathe by means of your nostril a 4-count inhale, and a 4-count exhale. You may have discovered Ujjayi.
The difficult half may be staying dedicated to Ujjayi all through your complete apply, particularly in moments of problem like facet plank or after your twentieth chaturanga! However the stunning factor about your breath is it could actually act as a gauge all through your apply to find in case you are pushing your self an excessive amount of, or not sufficient!
For those who can hold a gentle cadence of Ujjayi breath simply all through your apply, it is perhaps an indication that you may discover your edge and problem your self slightly extra! If you’re consistently shedding your breath, gasping for air or solely respiratory very shallowly, you could possibly be pushing your self too arduous. 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. Retaining 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 go away with that equanimous, balanced, easeful vitality. It additionally offers us one thing to deal with as we transfer by means of the apply. When the thoughts wanders, recommit to that lengthy, easy Ujjayi high quality of your breath. It’ll enable you anchor your thoughts again into your physique and the current second.
One other stunning lesson that the traditional knowledge of yoga items us is that no effort in yoga is ever wasted. Even if you happen to solely apply this breath for a number of moments, it’ll enable you discover slightly extra presence, and turn into calmer.
“The rhythm of the breath occurs 22,000 occasions a day. Once you spend just some of those occasions 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 Trainer for Energy Residing Australia