Category: Breath

  • Energy – Prana

    This was a difficult post for me to write – I couldn’t find a clear way to express my experience of Prana. Prana is one of the Vedic concepts that I internalized (and continue to clarify) through years of practice. My initial attempts to collect my thoughts and express them in writing fell short of…

  • Viloma Ujjayi

    Viloma Ujjayi is in a way an “opposite” technique to Anuloma Ujjayi. The breathing cycle in Viloma Ujjayi is: Inhale through the left nostril (closing the right nostril by applying pressure to the thumb). Exhale with both nostrils open using Ujjayi (throat control). Inhale through the right nostril (closing the left nostril by applying pressure…

  • Anuloma Ujjayi

    Anuloma is a recommended technique for getting started with Pranayama breathing practices. Anuloma breathing combines Ujjayi breathing, timing and counting breaths, reading a Pranayama breathing practice and nostril control (this article assumes you are familiar with both) so it is an accessible step-forward from Ujjayi. The breathing cycle in Anuloma Ujjayi is: Inhale with both…

  • Pranayama – Nostril Control

    PLEASE NOTE: This article assumes that you are familiar with the prerequisites for practicing Pranayama: being able to sit effectively and comfortably,  familiarity with Ujjayi breathing and the four parts of the breath, the tools and knowledge for timing and counting your breathing and understanding a written breathing practice. What is Pranayama? Pranayama is a…

  • A Sample Breathing Practice

    Now that we can communicate breathing formulas and have the tools to time and count in a breathing practice let’s try a sample breathing practice. Here is the practice structure: 1   –   0   –   1   –   0  (x4) 1   –   0   – 1.5  –  0  (x4) 1   – 0.5 –…

  • Timing & Counting Breaths

    Breathing practices involve counting (which is also one of their meditative qualities – you need to focus on the counting to stay with the practice) of two things: Timing of each part of the breath – the number of seconds in each part of the breath. Counting a number of breaths. We are going to…

  • Yoga & Breath – Movement in Breath

    There is wonderful potential for refinement of the relationship breath and movement. One concept that opens up endless potential for refined practice is to place movement within the breath. Breath becomes a sheath, a kind of wrapping in which movement takes place. To demonstrate the idea we will use the simple posture that has brought…

  • Four Parts of Breath

    This series of articles is a preparation for a series on Pranayama – Yoga’s breathing practices. Before we delve into Pranayama we need to get acquainted with a few general qualities of breathing and a few personal qualities – things that are unique to every individual. This article assumes you are familiar and capable of…

  • Sitting in Yoga

    Having a good seated posture is very useful in Yoga. As your practice develops you may find yourself sitting for breathing and meditation practices. In this article we will work our way through a series of sitting variations – starting from a classic seated pose and then progress through more accessible variations. You may use…

  • Playing with Fire

    Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I did an asana (physical) yoga practice at night instead of in the morning. I was reminded, again, of how different my body is in the morning and at the end of a day – it is more supple, more responsive, softer, extended, light. These are…

  • Yoga & Breath – Directional Breathing

    Directional breathing is a more subtle refinement of locational breathing. This is actually a recurring theme in Yoga – a gradual transition from gross to subtle. If you feel well rooted in locational breathing (inhale=chest,  exhale=abdomen)then you may want to explore directional breathing, if not is may lead to unnecessary aggravation. So please proceed with…

  • Yoga & Breath – Locational Breathing & Movement

    Now that we have a familiar basic movement and some experience of locational ujjayi breathing, we can try to bring the two together and create a complete experience of breathing and movement. Revision We will be using the same movement we used when we first introduced movement – raising the hands above the head. A…

  • Energy – Fire

    My teachers often refer to a model of energy which describes a fire burning inside us, it is the combustion sub-system of our energy system (there are other sub-systems that play other roles). It is said to be located in the abdominal (apana-stana) area – it feeds on air that comes from the chest area…

  • Yoga & Breath – Locational Breathing

    Now that we have some sense of ujjayi breathing and established a preliminary relationship between breath and movement let’s move on to more refined breathing.  At this point I feel a need to clarify that these posts are not offered as a substitute for yoga instruction – this should be done with a teacher. If…

  • Yoga & Breath – Movement

    Now that we have a basic Ujjayi breath to work with – let’s try to make a simple connection with movement. We are going to be using a very simple exercise to demonstrate this. The simplicity of the exercise is leaves space to explore the subtle relationship between breath and movement – I invite you…

  • Yoga & Breath – Ujjayi Breathing

    Now that you have some familiarity with your natural breathing we can take another step forward into Ujjayi (u-jay-ee) breathing. The core idea with Ujjayi basic is to create a mechanism by which you can control and manipulate the structure of your own breathing. You can think of Ujjayi technique as a valve in the…

  • Yoga & Breath – Natural Breathing

    “A change in breath can diminish the experience of limits. A breathing pattern is usually committed to memory and the limits are associated with it. When the breathing is altered, the memory of the limit disappears and we can explore beyond.” Though I intended to explain why you should breathe systemically in your Yoga practice…