THE MAGIC OF THE BREATH : A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO PRĀNĀYĀM
We speak about the breath in yogic terms as the grossest manifestation of prāna, but what does this mean?
Prāna is our vital essence, the energy that flows through us keeping our body moving, heart beating, and our human experience unfolding.
The breath is the most tangible form of that essence because it is how we move this energy around the body. The breath is the the wave that prāna rides. Have you ever heard a yoga teacher say “breathe into where you feel tension”? Well, this is an invitation to move your life-force energy to wherever your body, mind, or heart many need. Your mind, body, and emotions can all be affected by the breath; either soothing them by bringing prāna where it’s needed or exasperating them through lack of prāna. Take a moment to think about how stress or fear has affected your breath pattern?
Through consciously focusing on our breathing we can control our physical and energetic bodies and reach higher vibrational states of being. This is where the yogic practice of prānāyāma comes in. ‘Prāna’ as we know means life-force energy and ‘yāma’ translates from Sanskrit to mean restraint or control. So prānāyāma is controlling our prāna; we do this by controlling the breath.
“A yogi measures the span of life by the number of breaths, not by the number of years’ – Swami Sivananda
YOGIC BREATHING
In yoga we are predominantly breathing through our nose unless specifically instructed otherwise, for example you may hear a teacher say “take a deep sigh out the mouth”. Nasal breathing is beneficial on a biological level as it filters out microbes and allergens, humidifies the air we breathe in, and increases oxygenation by up to 20% compared to mouth breathing. Energetically nasal breathing also helps us to better balance and manage our energy, nervous system, thoughts, and emotional state.
In addition to breathing through the nose, we are also directing the breath down to the belly, or breathing diagphramatically. We tend to take shallow breaths into the chest and need to breathe more times because of this. Breathing fully with the diagphram will allow us to take less breaths protecting the body physically over time and take in more air, rleaxing our nervous system, mind, and energy body. In addition deeper breaths allow you to move with more ease through the physical practice of yoga asanas.
BREATHING RATIOS
Ratios of breath, ie. the length of your inhale, exhale, or any retentions will deeply influence the effects of your emotional, mental, and energetic states. For example, longer inhales will be energising for the mind and body. This energetic principle is referred to as Brahmana, or ‘expansion’ in Sanskrit. Longer exhales will be calming on the mind and body, Langhana in Sanskrit, meaning ‘reduction’.
When practicing yoga postures we tend to aim for a Sama Vritti, ‘equal’ breath ratio. Meaning if you inhale for 4 counts you would exhale for 4 counts. However during pranayama we work with a certain ratio depending on the exercise. Below are some examples of ratios.
1 : 1 (Inhale : Exhale)
1 : 4 : 2 (Inhale : Hold : Exhale)
1 : 1 : 1 : 1 (Inhale : Hold : Exhale : Hold)
The first number in the ratio is always the length of inhale. If there are just two numbers in the ratio it will represent inhale and exhale. If there are three numbers in the ratio it will be inhale , hold the breath, exhale. If there are four numbers in the ratio it will be inhale, hold the breath, exhale, hold the breath. The numbers written are not the number of breaths you have to count, but rather the ratio of counts. Below are some examples:
1 : 1
This ratio simply means the counts of your inhales and exhales match, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Exhale 1
- Inhale 4 : Exhale 4
- Inhale 6 : Exhale 6
- Inhale 8 : Exhale 8
1 : 4 : 2
This ratio means you hold the breath four times as long as you inhale, and exhale two times as long as you inhale, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Hold 4 : Exhale 2
- Inhale 2 : Hold 8 : Exhale 4
- Inhale 4 : Hold 16 : Exhale 8
1 : 1 : 1 : 1
This ratio means you would inhale, hold the breath, exhale, and hold the breath out for the same number of counts, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Hold 1: Exhale 1 : Hold 1
- Inhale 4 : Hold 4 : Exhale 4 : Hold 4
- Inhale 6 : Hold 6 : Exhale 6 : Hold 6
We hope this post has given you some real insight into how incredible the breath truly is, how to breathe during your yoga practice, and a little information into the beginnings of breathwork practice with ratios. Stay tuned for lots of specific prānāyāma techniques and tutorials, but for now keep taking those deep breaths in and out through the nose, they are the most tangible form of love notes for your nervous system!
Love and light friends,
The Eye of Hatha Team
THE MAGIC OF THE BREATH : A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO PRĀNĀYĀM
We speak about the breath in yogic terms as the grossest manifestation of prāna, but what does this mean?
Prāna is our vital essence, the energy that flows through us keeping our body moving, heart beating, and our human experience unfolding.
The breath is the most tangible form of that essence because it is how we move this energy around the body. The breath is the the wave that prāna rides. Have you ever heard a yoga teacher say “breathe into where you feel tension”? Well, this is an invitation to move your life-force energy to wherever your body, mind, or heart many need. Your mind, body, and emotions can all be affected by the breath; either soothing them by bringing prāna where it’s needed or exasperating them through lack of prāna. Take a moment to think about how stress or fear has affected your breath pattern?
Through consciously focusing on our breathing we can control our physical and energetic bodies and reach higher vibrational states of being. This is where the yogic practice of prānāyāma comes in. ‘Prāna’ as we know means life-force energy and ‘yāma’ translates from Sanskrit to mean restraint or control. So prānāyāma is controlling our prāna; we do this by controlling the breath.
“A yogi measures the span of life by the number of breaths, not by the number of years’ – Swami Sivananda
YOGIC BREATHING
In yoga we are predominantly breathing through our nose unless specifically instructed otherwise, for example you may hear a teacher say “take a deep sigh out the mouth”. Nasal breathing is beneficial on a biological level as it filters out microbes and allergens, humidifies the air we breathe in, and increases oxygenation by up to 20% compared to mouth breathing. Energetically nasal breathing also helps us to better balance and manage our energy, nervous system, thoughts, and emotional state.
In addition to breathing through the nose, we are also directing the breath down to the belly, or breathing diagphramatically. We tend to take shallow breaths into the chest and need to breathe more times because of this. Breathing fully with the diagphram will allow us to take less breaths protecting the body physically over time and take in more air, rleaxing our nervous system, mind, and energy body. In addition deeper breaths allow you to move with more ease through the physical practice of yoga asanas.
BREATHING RATIOS
Ratios of breath, ie. the length of your inhale, exhale, or any retentions will deeply influence the effects of your emotional, mental, and energetic states. For example, longer inhales will be energising for the mind and body. This energetic principle is referred to as Brahmana, or ‘expansion’ in Sanskrit. Longer exhales will be calming on the mind and body, Langhana in Sanskrit, meaning ‘reduction’.
When practicing yoga postures we tend to aim for a Sama Vritti, ‘equal’ breath ratio. Meaning if you inhale for 4 counts you would exhale for 4 counts. However during pranayama we work with a certain ratio depending on the exercise. Below are some examples of ratios.
1 : 1 (Inhale : Exhale)
1 : 4 : 2 (Inhale : Hold : Exhale)
1 : 1 : 1 : 1 (Inhale : Hold : Exhale : Hold)
The first number in the ratio is always the length of inhale. If there are just two numbers in the ratio it will represent inhale and exhale. If there are three numbers in the ratio it will be inhale , hold the breath, exhale. If there are four numbers in the ratio it will be inhale, hold the breath, exhale, hold the breath. The numbers written are not the number of breaths you have to count, but rather the ratio of counts. Below are some examples:
1 : 1
This ratio simply means the counts of your inhales and exhales match, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Exhale 1
- Inhale 4 : Exhale 4
- Inhale 6 : Exhale 6
- Inhale 8 : Exhale 8
1 : 4 : 2
This ratio means you hold the breath four times as long as you inhale, and exhale two times as long as you inhale, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Hold 4 : Exhale 2
- Inhale 2 : Hold 8 : Exhale 4
- Inhale 4 : Hold 16 : Exhale 8
1 : 1 : 1 : 1
This ratio means you would inhale, hold the breath, exhale, and hold the breath out for the same number of counts, eg.
- Inhale 1 : Hold 1: Exhale 1 : Hold 1
- Inhale 4 : Hold 4 : Exhale 4 : Hold 4
- Inhale 6 : Hold 6 : Exhale 6 : Hold 6
We hope this post has given you some real insight into how incredible the breath truly is, how to breathe during your yoga practice, and a little information into the beginnings of breathwork practice with ratios. Stay tuned for lots of specific prānāyāma techniques and tutorials, but for now keep taking those deep breaths in and out through the nose, they are the most tangible form of love notes for your nervous system!
Love and light friends,
The Eye of Hatha Team
