Breathing in Yoga and why you need to get used to it

If you’re a complete beginner to yoga, or you’ve been to a few lessons and wondering why does the teacher keep talking on and on about breathing.

Well breathing is a really important part of yoga and life actually. Without breathing we’d be dead, so that’s pretty amazing and obvious. 

The thing about your breath is that it can help you in real life situations. 

If you’re stressed take a moment to breathe, if your angry take a moment to breathe, if you’re sad take a moment to breathe and you’ll find that in seconds you’ll be feeling a little lighter. 

Realising this glorious, whole breathing thing. 

I remember driving, on a sunny day, overlooking the rice paddies in the Japanese countryside where I live, suddenly I hit something a little bumpy, it freaked me out and my breath stopped in shock.

Nothing bad had happened but it freaked me out in this moment of awe of life, that’s when I noticed, how quickly we let what is around us affect us. 

However with self awareness built from a yoga practice and learning more about the breath through pranayama and now meditating more. 

I’ve been in some situations where I parked in stupid places and the police was called (Japan has a very low crime rate people) and I used my breath to stay calm. Instead of panicking and getting really stressed.

Of course I still get pissed off, I still get angry, snappy, hangry, bitchy so I’m not saying you’ll become perfect, I’m just saying you’ll feel a little more understanding towards these behaviours.

Also breath awareness, can be your new best friend!

If you like me, suffer from a lot of overthinking and anxiety. Breathing helps you to be present, in the moment, not in the past or the future but brings your awareness to the now. 

The benefits of breathing, like pranayama Ujayi breath, are pretty amazing, considering its something that everybody has and it’s free! Bargain!

Benefits of breathing:

• Warms up the body by building energy within the body
• Regulates blood pressure
• Aids to relieve tension and stress
• Helps to maintain a sense of rhythm in your yoga practice
• Increases self awareness, so if you’d like to start meditating, this can help!

There is also the fact that breathing in and out deeply will help your body to relax. This can be used while in a yoga pose, asana, to deepen the stretch if you’re wanting to go further. If your body is tense, your body won’t let you go that bit further. 

So here’s how you “breathe” in a yoga class, using the Ujayi breath:

• Sit or lie down comfortably.
• Close your eyes
• Make sure to breathe through your nose rather than in and out of your mouth.
• Inhale your breath through the nostrils
• Then exhale the breath through the nostrils
• Let your breathing be slow and deep
• Repeat this 5 times or more if you need a bit relaxation.
• Then take a moment to see how you feel.

This week’s video, I talk about the breath, while also showing you Ujayi breath, the breath that kind of makes you sound like Darth Vader or a wave (if you’re more of a poetic type person).

Then I show you how the breath is used with the asanas, yoga poses through a slow gentle Sun Salutation. 

Next time you practice yoga, don’t be too hard on yourself and obsess over the breath while your teacher tells you the queue of when to inhale or exhale. 

As you keep practicing, you’ll notice that you’ll be able to have more of an awareness of your breath, you’ll also be able to breathe longer and more slowly. 

Let me know if this helps to clears up your questions about breathing and let me know in the comments below if you have any more questions! 

If you’ve scrolled all the way down here first, hi you cheeky scroller. Check the video out for a quick how to breath class for your next yoga lesson.

Later on this August 2019, I’m doing my first ever yoga challenge! They’ll be a prize involved and it’s going to be exciting (I’m a little nervous in a good way). Hope you’ll join me!