On day 3 we explored the ujjayi breath. For those of you who are fairly new to yoga and have not yet been taught proper ujjayi breathing, the ujjayi breath is used during yoga practice to focus the mind and flow more smoothly through the asanas. You engage the ujjayi breath by constricting your vocal cords. This renders an ocean sound in the back of your throat and adds a wonderful element to your flow. In this entry I will just touch on the basic aspects of the ujjayi breath that we learned from Ganesh.
PURPOSE & BENEFITS
The ujjayi breath helps us control our breathing during yoga practice. The slight constriction of the vocal cords as we breathe out (and in if you like to use the ujjayi breath on the inhale) helps us keep the rate and flow of the breath at the pace that we want. (Remember in general we breath in as we come up in various asanas, and we breath down as we come our torsos come down or forward). The ujjayi breath is not forceful. You're simply controlling the passage of air through the vocal cords and nostrils and in turn bringing more awareness to the way the abdomen and diaphragm are working in various asanas.
If done properly some of the benefits of the ujjayi breath are as follows:
1. The ujjayi helps support and stabilize the spine as you flow through your asanas. This is because you're engaging your chest and abdominal muscles as you breathe more fully. This is important because of how sensitive our nervous system is and everything feeds back to the spine.
2. It helps focus the mind, and in the long-run as you continue through the practice it brings relaxation to the body.
3. It is useful as a source of feedback. Because it helps focus the mind you become more attuned to how your body responds to the more controlled breathing. How your body responds can vary throughout the practice as you go through a sequence of asanas - some more challenging and others softer.
4. It prepares us for pranayama practice.
What's important to note that hadn't been brought to my attention before, is that the strength of the ujjayi breath does not need to be consistent throughout the practice and in fact it is better if it's not. It is useful to make the breath strong during the more challenging asanas, and softer during the lighter asanas.
While the ujjayi breath is an important tool and enhances our yoga practice for the above reasons, it is equally important to inquire into the state of our physical body as we breathe. Some questions we can be mindful of are: Do I have good mobility in my rib cage and thoracic spine? Am I able to fill my belly with breath and maintain belly breathing even subconsciously or do I hold the belly most of the day or most of the practice? Do I have shortness of breath? Am I able to hold my breath for at least 10-15 seconds? The answers to these questions will help you better understand the state of your physical body and lead you to bring awareness to the areas that need more attention. Further paying attention to various parts of the body such as the diaphragm, the abdomen, the rib cage, and you lower, mid, and upper back when breathing or engaging the ujjayi breath can be extremely restorative to our overall longterm health.
So remember to engage the ujjayi breath and become more connected to the feedback your bodies gives you as you breathe more fully and with a little more control.
[The photo is of the murti of Abhayankara Mahaganapati (Ganesh) at the Broome Street Hindu Temple, the studio where Ganesh Mohan is giving his workshop. For more information please take a look at their website: www.ayny.org)
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