Enhance Your Yoga Practice with Ujjayi Breath

You may have been to yoga classes where the teacher has encouraged you to use ujjayi breath if it’s in your practice, and you might find yourself wondering ‘well if I knew what the heck it was I might be able to!’

Ujjayi Pranayama (breath regulation) is a soft, whispering breath which you’ll also hear called victorious breath, or perhaps ocean breath. It’s compared to the sound of the wind through the trees or the waves coming to shore, or sometimes referred to Darth Vader breath!

With Ujjayi breath you breathe in and out of the nose with the lips sealed – no breath passes the lips. This also serves to build heat in the body, which is not a bad thing during winter! The lips gently close and although the breath is passing through the nostrils the emphasis is in your throat.

Ujjayi is thought to stimulate the Nadis (energy channels in the body) bringing mental clarity and focus. It diminishes distractions and allows the practitioner to remain self aware and grounded in their practice.

So let’s practice:

• Sit on a block or folded blanket (this lifts the spine), against a wall or in a chair.
• Bring your awareness to your breath without changing anything – a lot of people breathe in the chest and shoulders, this is totally normal.
• Focus on bringing your breath down into your belly.  Place your hands on your belly and feel the rise and fall as you breathe.
• Try to lengthen your inhale and exhale, keeping them both equal in length. Aim to do around 4-5 complete rounds.
• We’re now going to introduce ujjayi breath – it’s a energising warming breath so don’t practice late at night unless you’re planning on pulling an all-nighter!
• Hold your palm up in front of your mouth. Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth as if you are fogging a mirror.  Do this a few times so you get the hang of the sensation of the slight restriction in your throat.
• Now we are going to do this through the nose only…
• It’s generally easier to get the exhale first. You may snore or snort to begin with and that is perfectly okay, we’ve all done it, and still do!
• Breathe from your throat, as if you have a straw in the back of your throat.
• It takes a little time to get it right, keep practising!

But why do it?

Well, becoming consciously aware of your breath is always a good thing. We can move through our day barely noticing our breathing. We tend to breathe high into our chest and this can keep us in our sympathetic nervous system, our fight, flight or freeze response. But too much time spent here might not be good for our stress levels. So any activity that helps us take conscious breaths is good. When you slow the breath down this is likely to help switch to your parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest system this tells our body and mind that there are no threats, we are safe and we can properly relax.

On top of all this good stuff about the nervous system, it’s like a mini meditation. While you are so focused on getting the breath right, your brain can’t think of anything else, therefore helping you stay focused on your body and breath and less so on your to-do list, for a short while anyway.

Let me know how you get on!

Rachel xx

Subscribe to my newsletter: