More Yoga Breathing

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Ujjayi breathing is not difficult to learn. It involves narrowing

the aperture in your throat by gently tightening the epiglottis,

which is done like this: Softly whisper the syllable " ha " with

your mouth open. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Stretch it out. Feel the air

vibrating softly in the back of your throat. Listen to the clean,

hollow sound; it's similar to the sound of the ocean you can hear

in a shell. Produce this sound as you are inhaling and exhaling.

Try it. Take a number of breaths this way. Now close your mouth

and continue making the same soft, smooth, deep, and hollow

sound. This is easiest as you exhale, but it is also possible as

you inhale. You are now breathing through your nostrils with your

mouth closed, and yet the suction is coming from the back of your

throat. The nostrils are relaxed and passive, and you will

therefore feel the air in your nostrils only very lightly. You

are not sniffing the air in. You are gently drawing the air in

from the back of your throat. Breathe like this in all the

postures.

 

Many people can do the ujjayi breath immediately. Others take

longer. If you have trouble, I can only encourage you to keep

trying. It is well worth learning and will have an immediate

impact on your yoga. Once you get it, use as little effort as

possible. Eliminate every trace of strain. Make a clean, even

sound without any lumps or surges in it. Breathe as though you

were drinking the air through a long, slim straw. Do not gulp the

air. Draw in long, sure, thin breaths. At first it will be

erratic, especially if you are new to a posture. Eventually you

are looking for a smooth, deep breath.

 

There are several advantages to breathing in this fashion. First,

narrowing the valve in the throat

enables you to develop a very fine control over the amount of air

flow. This will lengthen and deepen your breath considerably.

 

Secondly, the lungs and diaphragm are strengthened since they

have to pull harder against the

resistance in the throat. With the added push and pull, the lungs

work more as a bellows, creating

additional energy that can be focused and channeled into

different parts of your body. You will not tire as easily. Once

you get a feeling for the ujjayi breath, you will not want to

breathe any other way

 

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