It is common knowledge that taking a deep breath is relaxing – how about taking a few deep breaths?
For this practice you will need a place to sit, a few quiet minutes and familiarity with Ujjayi breathing:
- Find your quiet place and a comfortable seated position with your eyes closed.
- Sit quietly for a minute or two and observe your natural breathing.
- Gradually move into Ujjayi breathing – let it build until the length of your exhale is longer then (or at least equal to) the length of your inhale. Do this until you have a steady pace of breathing.
- Count 8 breaths.
- Count 8 more breaths adding a short pause after exhaling.
- Count 8 more breaths adding a short pause after inhaling (in addition to the pause after exhaling).
- Count 8 more breaths without any pauses (like the first 8).
- Resume natural breathing and stay for another minute or two to observe.
- Gently open your eyes.
- Resume life 🙂
If you have a tailored pranayama practice you can ask your teacher for a shorter variation you can use instead of this general sequence.