Breathe
Let the Breath Move You

The First Movement

From the moment of conception our bodies begin to breathe.  Each cell in the body expands, condenses, and rest in an internal rhythmic pattern, a pattern that will become amplified into full-body breathing at the moment of birth.  This first movement is the basic template for our existence.   The fundamental nature of the breath is that it is in a constant state of oscillation.  Just as the tide ebb and flow, we breathe in and out in an ongoing rhythm that ceases only when we take our last breath.  All other physical and psychological patterns build successively from this one motif.  For this reason, if the movement of the breath is restricted or distorted in some way, all other patterns of our movement and consciousness will also be restricted or distorted.  Every other process in the body community is reliant upon this one central process.

The oscillation of breathing is a perfect mirror of the fluctuations of life.  Life is like a swinging pendulum, some changes bringing with them difficulties and pain and other changes bringing with them ease and joy.  If we are open to this process, life will move us.  If we are unable to integrate life’s changes, we begin to resist by restricting our breath.  When we hold the breath and try to control life or stop changes from happening, we are saying that we do not want to be moved. In those moments our desire for certainty has become much stronger than our desire to be dynamically alive.  Breathing freely is a courageous act.  What we discover is that our desire for stasis, our clinging to the life we know, and our bending of every situation to the security of our mental constructs are the very things that destroy our creativity and ability to live freely.

The yogis developed sophisticated protocols for unleashing the power of the breath, called pranayama practices.  The root word pra denotes constancy, and na means movement.  Therefore prana is a force in constant motion.
 
Think of your body as a musical instrument, a wind instrument.  Your breath, accordingly, is the wind through the instrument.  As such, it is the single most important aspect of yoga technique, considered your life force.  Proper breathing brings the poses to life, inspires every subtle shift and movement in every yoga posture, and can help center your awareness in your conscious experience of the now.

Ujjayi Breathing

The main type of breathing we do in yoga is called ujjayi.  Ujjayi breathing, known as the “victory breath,” is characterized by an audibly hollow, deep, soft sound coming from your throat.  It involves a very slight closure of the vocal cords, or glottis, at the base of the throat.  When done sensitively, your breathing will sound like the echo of the ocean inside a seashell.  With ujjayi you can guide breath into the body in a fine, even spray that is deeply soothing to both the lungs and nervous system.  The sound of ujjayi gives the mind a more tangible way to adhere to the breath’s movements.  With ujjayi you can spread the breath and direct it so that it permeates every cell of the body.  The main idea is to coordinate your movements with your breathing.  This brings a graceful and sensuous quality to your practice and turns each yoga session into a fluid and creative meditation.  Proper use of the breath will enhance your ability to feel, to listen inwardly, to be guided from within, and thereby to learn from yourself.  It will also teach you to sustain a sharp, focused attention for longer periods of time.  In combination, these strengthen your mental stamina and help you be wholehearted.

HOW TO DO IT:
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.  Haaaaaaaaaaaaa.  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.  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.

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, 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 breath any other way during yoga. As you establish a smooth rhythm with the ujjayi breath, it will feel as though you have harnessed a strong, gentle power.

Finally, a sound in the throat naturally draws your attention to the breath.  This strengthens your concentration and makes it more difficult for your mind to wander, or at least more obvious when it does.  The sound lets you know whether the breath is flowing smoothly and evenly, or not.  And being aware of the breath helps you be aware of your whole body, for the breath is a direct reflection of your state of comfort or discomfort, ease or strain.  When you are unable to produce an even and pleasant ujjayi sound, it means you are straining, that the pose is perhaps too difficult for you, and that you should really be careful not to overstep your present level of skill or physical conditioning.   Breathing with the ujjayi throat sound is a built-in safety mechanism.

The proper use of breath acts as a very fine tool for creating and sustaining an energized relaxation, as well as for centering your awareness in the present moment.

Deborah York