One of many pillars of our Vinyasa Yoga lessons is our breath.
The facility our breath has over our physique, thoughts and spirit is inspiring; it’s additionally important to our yoga follow. It helps us create that lovely state of stream as we transfer by means of our follow. 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 chill out a stressed thoughts and permit one to ease right into a calmer state of being. The consequence 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 extensively 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 follow of yoga, (asana). Sutra 2.46 states that our bodily postures ought to stability effort and ease. How do we all know if we’ve discovered that stability? The state of our breath may give us an enormous clue!
The pranayama breath follow of Ujjayi ought to have two qualities: It needs to be lengthy, and it needs to be easy. Ujjayi is also called 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 power!
In our Vinyasa lessons, you’ll fairly often hear our academics encourage you to search out your Ujjayi breath firstly of sophistication. So! How one can discover this unbelievable breath method to boost your asana follow.
This breath entails 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 as a result of 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 attempting to fog up a mirror with out opening your mouth. These are two easy methods to really feel this slight constriction. Holding that, merely begin to breathe by means of your nostril a 4-count inhale, and a 4-count exhale. You could have discovered Ujjayi.
The tough half will be staying dedicated to Ujjayi all through your complete follow, particularly in moments of problem like aspect plank or after your twentieth chaturanga! However the stunning factor about your breath is it could possibly act as a gauge all through your follow to find if you’re pushing your self an excessive amount of, or not sufficient!
In the event you can preserve a gradual cadence of Ujjayi breath simply all through your follow, it is likely to be an indication that you could discover your edge and problem your self slightly extra! In case you are consistently dropping your breath, gasping for air or solely respiratory very shallowly, you possibly can be pushing your self too onerous. We should always should work to maintain our breath regular, however we shouldn’t be pushing our our bodies on the expense of our internal peace. Holding 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 follow, Ujjayi helps us go away with that equanimous, balanced, easeful vitality. It additionally offers us one thing to concentrate on as we transfer by means of the follow. When the thoughts wanders, recommit to that lengthy, easy Ujjayi high quality of your breath. It should aid you 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 in case you solely follow this breath for just a few moments, it’ll aid you discover slightly extra presence, and change into calmer.
“The rhythm of the breath occurs 22,000 instances a day. While you spend only a few of those instances in delight and surprise, it begins to remodel the opposite 99.999% that you simply take as a right.“
– Radiance Sutras
Written by Katie Tetz
Studio Enterprise Supervisor | Ever Inspiring Author & Yoga Instructor for Energy Residing Australia
