The Art Of Breath - For Beginners

In this foundational Pranayama class, I will guide you through a number of breathing patterns, allowing you to connect to the conscious breath, and learn to use the breath as a tool to restore balance in the mind and body.

Transcript

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the art of breath.

In today's class I'll be guiding you through a breathwork class where we will learn about the fundamentals of pranayama.

We'll also be focusing on becoming aware of our breath,

Learning the difference between voluntary and involuntary breathing,

And learning how to connect with our diaphragm,

The main muscle involved in pranayama.

So you might be wondering,

What is pranayama?

Simply put,

Pranayama is the practice of controlling our breath,

And is a wonderful set of breathing techniques that has a tremendous benefit for our mental,

Emotional and physical health.

There are many types of pranayama that we can use as tools.

There are some to strengthen or stimulate our nervous system while bringing toxins out of the body,

And others that are more slow,

Slowing everything down,

Making the breath calm,

Subtle and slow,

Making the mind more focused,

Slowing the nervous system down,

And to bring more awareness and attention at finding our meditative state.

Today we'll be using a breathing technique called the ujjayi breath,

Also known as the victorious breath or the darth veda breath,

And it's the foundational breath used in yoga.

It is an audible breath,

An internal sound that we can use to anchor the busy mind in on.

It's a beautiful breathing technique,

As it's both energising and calming at the same time.

I'll explain this in more detail before we begin our first breathing pattern.

So now just take a comfortable laying down position,

Either on a yoga mat or on the floor,

Whatever's comfortable,

Placing a pillow under your head,

Making sure you're wearing comfortable,

Loose fitting clothes,

And place your hands by your side facing up,

Relaxing your shoulders.

While you begin to relax,

Just observe your natural breath.

Notice the way you are breathing and where your breath goes in your body.

Is it in your chest or is it in your belly?

And how does it feel?

Is it calm,

Relaxed,

Or is it tight,

Anxious,

Or heavy?

While you're doing this,

Just scan your body,

Starting with your toes,

Up your legs to your hips,

To the belly,

Chest,

Down your arms to your fingers,

Then up to your neck,

To your shoulders,

To your back,

All the way up to your face,

Relaxing your mouth,

Your eyes,

And your forehead.

Let go of anything that doesn't belong to this practice.

Forget about perfection.

There is no right and there is no wrong.

Allow yourself to be in this moment,

In this practice today.

You may want to stand at intention for this practice.

It could be for yourself or it could be to someone else.

It could be a word,

A feeling,

Or it could be an image.

So now keeping your eyes closed,

Finding ease,

Keep your attention with your natural breath.

We'll begin to deepen the breath by taking a nice inhale into the nose and out through the nose.

Here we are gently contracting our throat while we breathe.

So we make a sound like.

As I said,

It does sound like Darth Vader.

This is what we call wu jai breathing.

And with this breathing,

It really helps to breathe very mindfully,

Becoming fully aware of how the breath flows in and how it flows out.

Here we are contracting our throat muscles and stimulating our thyroid glands,

Which makes the breath flow in and flow out slowly and calmly.

So now just try breathing in and out using an audible wu jai breathing and hear the air coming in and the air coming out of the nose.

Try this on your own.

Three inhales and three exhales,

Counting to three on the inhale and three on the exhale.

We are now going to begin with the first breathing pattern utilizing an audible wu jai breath.

So inhaling into your nose for the count of five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One and exhaling through the nose for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhaling for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One and exhaling for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Let's continue with this breathing pattern of five in and five out,

Keeping your awareness on the breath and focus on finding that consistency on the inhale and the exhale.

If you want to extend and move up to ten in,

Ten out,

Feel free to do so.

Keep this up and remain curious about where you are breathing into the body.

Is it in the belly?

Is it in the chest?

And is it a fluid breathing pattern or is there something in the way?

If there is something there,

Just keep breathing and see if you can find that consistency on the next inhale and exhale.

Keep the mind clear and just be a witness to any thoughts that might come up and just come back to the breath.

Be seated.

You you you you If you're up to 10 in 10 out let's bring our count back to 5 in and 5 out so coming back to a neutral breath we're going to do two more rounds together before we move into our next breathing pattern so inhaling to the nose for 5,

4,

3,

2,

1 exhaling for 5,

4,

3,

2,

1 inhaling for 5,

4,

3,

2,

1 and exhaling all the way down 5,

4,

3 and holding our breath all the way at the bottom 3,

2,

1 and slight inhale and come back to a neutral breath so for the next breathing pattern we're going to place our right hand on our belly and the left hand on our chest and when you're ready we're going to breathe 3 seconds into the belly 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 and inhale into the chest for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 inhale into the belly for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 inhale into the chest for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 now let's continue this into our belly for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 all the way up into the chest for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 and continue along this rhythm for the count of 3 utilizing an audible breath and just noticing your hands rising on the inhale and lowering on the exhale and just continue keeping your attention on the breath,

Pushing your belly out,

Expanding your lungs,

Breathing into all areas of your lungs from the sides to the front and all the way up to your shoulders,

Creating space in the body and in the mind coming back to a neutral breath,

Do 2 rounds together inhale into the belly for 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 inhale into the chest 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 inhale into the belly all the way up 3,

2,

1 and exhale for 3,

2,

1 inhale into the chest 3,

2,

1 and exhale all the way down for 3,

2 and holding at the bottom slide inhale coming back to a neutral breath,

We're going to move into our final breathing pattern we're going to breathe into the belly for 3,

2,

1 and all the way into the chest for 3,

2,

1 and strong exhale for 6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1 into the belly for 3,

2,

1 into the chest for 3,

2,

1 and a strong exhale for 6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1 into the belly for 3,

2,

1 all the way up to the chest for 3,

2,

1 and a strong exhale for 6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1 and let's continue along this count at your own pace,

Find your rhythm and just focus on the breath,

Keep that curiosity just find that smooth transformation from the inhale into the belly to the chest just imagine a wave coming over you and flowing from your belly to the chest all the way up with a strong exhale all the way down just find that rhythm thoughts may arise but just come back to the breath,

3 into the belly,

3 into the chest with a strong exhale for the count of 6 all the way down just repeating that pattern,

Find that fluid motion,

We're almost there just coming back to a neutral breath,

We'll do the last two breathing patterns together before we move into our meditation so when you're ready,

3 into the belly all the way up,

3 into the chest,

A strong exhale for the count of 6 into the belly for 3,

Into the chest for 3,

A strong exhale all the way down and holding our breath at the bottom 3,

2,

1,

Slight inhale bringing the breath back to a neutral position,

Nice shallow breathing while we move into our meditation just let your breath relax,

Just notice that moving in and moving out just allow yourself to really engage yourself in this moment letting everything go,

Coming back to your intention that you made at the beginning of this class,

The image,

The feeling,

The sound just relaxing into meditation,

This is your breath,

This is your moment,

This is your life,

Enjoy you

Reviews

Loved this practise very much. Well guided and particularly liked the final breathing pattern. A great practise for those used to yoga as the breathing technique is familiar also :)