Yoga with Elizabeth Silas

Practicing Equanimity:

Steady Ujjayi Breathing During

Postures

If you have been practicing a form of yoga

that links

movements to breathing, and your

teacher cues the breath

(inhale/exhale)

during class, then as a beginner, you

probably sometimes ignored those cues

when the going

got tough.

However, as the postures become familiar,

you may be

finding that you are able to

focus on your breathing much

consistently. Congratulations! A whole new

practice

is opening up for you.

The first step is sustaining the ujjayi

technique for longer

periods of your

practice. The friction created in the throat is

key to breathing slowly and evenly when

you are moving

vigorously. Work on creating

this sound on both the inhale

and the

exhale.

Then you're ready to really work on the

pace of your

breathing. One breathing

irregularity I often hear during

vigorous

classes comes from students who exhale

forcefully and for much longer than

they inhale. This can

lead to feeling

depleted and drained of energy. Make sure

you can sustain the ujjayi sound for

inhalations. All that

friction on the

exhalation slows it down, so you need some

friction on the inhalation to keep it equally

slow!

Here's a suggestion: Develop your

breathing rhythm on

your own as well as in

class. Count it out as you sit still.

Can you

make your inhale and exhale equally long?

You

need to be able to do this sitting still

before you can do it

in a standing twist or

forward bend.

Now you're ready to fine-tune your

breathing during class.

Here are some

suggestions:

Take responsibility for your own practice. You decide
when to breathe and when to move. You are having
a conversation with the teacher, not just listening to
her. Your breathing is your end of the conversation.
Find a rhythm that matches the cueing, and if the
teacher falters, continue with the same even pace.

What should you do if you need to breathe faster
than the teacher cues? Whatever you do, don’t hold
your breath, especially if you have high or low blood
pressure. Take a resting posture or a modified
version of a posture that allows you to slow down
your breathing. If even your slowest breathing is
faster than the teacher cues, take extra breaths
when you need them. It’s better to take an extra
breath and then be a little behind in the
movements—for instance, wait until your next exhale
to fold forward—than to take an extra breath and try
to predict where the teacher will ask you to move.
Remember that generally inhales open the front of
the body and help you lift and lengthen, while
exhales close the front of the body and help you
ground.

What should you do if you like to breathe slower
than the teacher cues? If your breathing is just a
little slower, it’s fine to be a little behind. Just
remember that it’s a conversation between you and
the teacher, so consider why you want to go slower
than s/he is cueing. Are you feeling stubborn or
resentful? Do you really just want to practice by
yourself, rather than have this conversation and
adapt to the pace of the class? Or is the teacher
cueing so quickly that you feel out of breath, rushed,
and agitated? There are two possible reasons for
this: a. The bulk of the class is breathing faster than
you, and the teacher is attempting to find a middle
ground. b. The teacher hasn’t thought about how
fast she is cueing. In either case, you can speak to
her about your breathing being slower and ask her
what you can do in her class to accommodate the
difference. This may bring her awareness to the pace
if she hasn’t been focusing on it. In the end, though,
you may decide to change classes or practice alone if
you want to develop the length of your breath and
the other students or the teacher isn’t ready to do
so.

When there is silence in a posture, no matter how
long it is, trust that the teacher is still with you.
Maintain your internal awareness instead of
impulsively looking around or giving up. Remain
attentive to your even breathing, whether you
remain in the posture, modify it, or move to a resting
posture.

In any yoga class, at any point, feel free to return to
Tadasana (Mountain)or Balasana (Child) to rest and
observe the state of your body, breath, and mind.