Breathing

The importance of breath during a yoga practice is enormous! It is what will bring you the relaxation as well as the energy through an asana practice. It was not until I started taking the SmartYoga classes that I learned to breath in a rhythmic cycle. And it was a very important tool that helped me get it.

The greatest thing ever for my breathing during a yoga practice has been the breath cycle cd’s that my teacher created. The cd’s have a cycle of 3 or 4 second inhales and exhales (depending on the cd) with an Om to signal the inhale. This controls the length of my breaths as well as reminds me to breathe. It is a great partner to any practice. It also helps me to keep track of how long I hold each side of a pose. For my standing postures I will hold each side for 5 breaths. For seated work I like to hold things longer so I will go for 10 breaths or more.

The cd is 120 minutes long so it is a perfect length to get a good practice in.

When I first started studying with Jesse he was using the 4 second breath cycle and after a few months he switched to the 3 second breath cycle. I prefer the 3 second cycle because it keeps a good pace to my practice and doesn’t get lethargic.

3 seconds seems fast for an inhale and exhale at the beginning of a practice, so sometimes I switch to taking an inhale for 6 seconds and exhale for 6 seconds. This opens up my lungs and I find I have more powerful 3 second inhales and exhales during my practice. The 3 second cycle feels perfect without any straining or need for more breath.

My mind is so trained now that when I listen to music I will inhale and exhale based on the songs rhythms! So you could really use anything that has a regular rhythm to track your cyclical breathing. Or a metrohm! I found an online metrohm you can use. It sounds a little boring on its own, but with some other music in the background it will work great!

If you would like to purchase your own breath cycle cd there are a few options. The cost of the cd is $10. It is on sale on craigslist and ebay. Or of course you can contact him: jesse@smartyoga.ca.

Jesse is also offering some SmartYoga progressive courses and a workshop coming up soon. Check out the My Teacher page for more details!

Everyone has the time to do some yoga. The hard part is disciplining yourself and finding the motivation. It is hard when we all work day jobs and come home tired after work. Before I started yoga I would fall asleep on the couch in front of the tv, wake up to cook dinner, and then be too full to do anything for the rest of the night. The next day I would go to work again and do the whole thing over. The only way I would get out and do something would be if I had plans with friends or had signed up for a class or something like that.

Once I started a home yoga practice I found it hard to work into my weekday schedule. Honestly I still do. The weekend seemed easy to get a practice in at least. That’s good enough, right?

I started getting stricter with myself. I would come home from work, have a light snack, roll out my mat and put on the breath beats cd. The cd was really key for me (I’ll explain the cd in a blog soon). I would still find little things to do around the house like the dishes, or make the bed, or put on a load of laundry first, or maybe I’ll call that person I should call. I should do this, I should do that…etc. (Note: please don’t should yourself!) And then finally I would calm down and come to my mat.

You just have to do it. Set out your mat, whatever props you want, put on comfy yoga clothes and get to it! The cd was a constant reminder to me that my intention was to do yoga. And I would start to breath deeply along with it. Oh, and remember after practicing you will feel AMAZING! There is nothing else like it. The time spent in meditative movement is so incredible for your mind and body and you will feel it after! It may be hard to get going, but there is huge reward!