Stress management and relaxation are just two of the benefits you will find with yoga as it bleeds over into daily life. Even when I am not actively practicing yoga, I use yoga breathing to relax during my day. This is to be expected since deep breathing relaxation methods are used to manage stress.
The In Breath
You should breathe in through your nose. Rather than belly breathing, you want to expand your chest to fill your lungs. In yoga you are trying to keep your core engaged, so this does not play well with belly breathing. Yoga breathing is coordinated with the movements (in vinyasa yoga). Often when a pose is particularly challenging, the instinct is to hold your breath. It is important to keep breathing well at all times, and you will find this true in life.
The Out Breath
In yoga you learn to breathe out audibly through the nose (not through the mouth). A newcomer to yoga must think it is very strange that everyone is breathing so heavy. This forceful exhalation is called ouija breathing, and it helps to warm the body and increase oxygen consumption.
This breath helps push more air out of the lungs. This really allows a dramatic release of tension. It feels a bit like ‘blowing off steam’, and it is an amazing breathing relaxation technique.
Yoga class usually includes a few cleansing breaths as well. In this case the exhalation does come through the mouth with a sigh. Typically these are used right after a more challenging sequence. In life it is important to incorporate these sighs during or after some of your more intense challenges.
Without realizing it, I find myself naturally using deep breathing relaxation in my typical day. Through yoga this has become an instinctive behavior. Though I am not consciously doing it, I find I take deeper breaths when tense. Sometimes when I am stressed, I will catch myself holding my breath, which allows me to initiate deeper breathing.
I’ve heard yoga instructors say that a single, conscious breath makes a yoga practice. This allows the stress management benefits from yoga to bleed over into life. You will enjoy the fact that relaxation with yoga breathing becomes automatic over time. Yoga just may be the only breathing relaxation technique you need.
Leave a comment