“By self-control over the maintenance of breath, one may radiate light.” - 3.39, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
One of the things I learned about during my yoga teacher course was prānāyāma or the regulation of the breath. I was aware of it before from it being taught in some of my yoga classes, but not in depth.
The general population has a shallow breath. If you monitor the way that you breath, it’s not very deep, and just enough to keep you alive. Shallow breathing limits your energy.
Your breath has everything to do with your energy. Your body has five kośa or five layers, prānāyāma being the second layer. When we inhale, we are taking things in (prāna), and when we exhale, we are eliminating (apāna). Which is why it’s important that we utilize our nose for this activity. It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people are mouth breathers, which can be detrimental to your health.
Being able to breathe properly is extremely important and can regulate your thoughts, pain, healing/recharging yourself, controlling emotions, and so on. It can also help you achieve those difficult poses over time.
There is an order to things. Generally, you begin with kriyā, these are cleansing techniques. Jala neti (cleansing the nose with a neti pot) and sūtra neti (cleansing the nose with a rubber string) would fall into this category. Next are preparatory exercises, such as simha mudrā or lion’s breath, as it’s more commonly known. Then, we get to the prānāyāma exercises. I won’t go into too much detail, but I’ll list my favorite ones.
This is probably the most well-known technique. Ujjāyī is generally used for building internal heat and increasing your energy. If you’ve been in a yoga class, you’ve probably heard the teacher say to have “ujjāyī breathing” while you’re performing your postures.
First of all, this is probably not the best way to breath during an asana practice. There is a method to this technique and it should be done before or after any physical activity, not during.
To do this, you inhale through both nostrils, retain the breath, then close off your right nostril and exhale through the left. That is one cycle. I usually inhale for 4 counts, retain for 4 counts, then exhale for 8 counts. This is more comfortable for me, but your time limits might be different.
Candabhedana is a cyclical breath. You start by inhaling through the left nostril, retain the breath, exhale through the right nostril, inhale through the right nostril, retain the breath, then exhale through the left. This is one round.
This is a nice calming breath and is a good follow-up after kapālabhāti or fire breathing. You should also count your breathing for this one. The general rule is for the amount of time you spend inhaling, you should double the amount of time you exhale.
Last, but not least, is śītalī. This is a breath that I really enjoy, especially for its calming and cooling effects. When I can’t stop the chattering in my mind or when I’m feeling a bit overheated, I like to do this one.
For śītalī, you must be able to roll your tongue. Then you inhale slowly through your tongue, retain the breathe, and exhale out of both your nostrils.
Obviously, this is not an in-depth resource, just a blog post. But, if this is something that interests you, I’d recommend reading The Science of Breathing by Yogi Ramacharaka. It’s a short read and he goes in-depth on breathing and how to regulate it, why it’s important, as well as some different techniques.
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