You’ve signed up for your first yoga class, and you are a mixed bag of excitement and nerves. You hear breathing is important, but how do you breathe properly while doing yoga?
Breathing sounds simple, but you’ve heard so much about its importance during yoga that you’re starting to overthink it.
While, yes, breathing is important in the practice of yoga, the secret may be simpler than you think.
Read on to learn how to breathe during yoga as well as five practical tips on improving your breathing during yoga practice.
The answer may be a lot simpler than you thought: Breathe comfortably.
While there has been a lot of attention on breathing in and out through the nose during yoga, nasal breathing may cause tension and stress.
Nasal breathing during yoga requires diaphragmatic and abdominal muscle work. Just like any muscle, these muscles require warm up too. If these muscles aren't properly warmed up or if you aren’t familiar with using these muscles in that way, you may have difficulty breathing comfortably.
To start out breathing comfortably, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You can slowly warm up your diaphragm and abdominal muscles.
At Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi, our instructors focus on breathing techniques that facilitate natural and comfortable breathing. Our in-person and online classes are more personalized than your average yoga and tai chi class, giving your instructor a chance to help you learn how to use different breathing styles.
Mindfulness is important in every facet of yoga practice, from balancing on one leg to the cleaning of yoga mats. Attention to your breathing is a natural way to increase mindfulness.
By being aware of each inhalation and exhalation, you can use your breath to manage stress and awareness during challenging poses and throughout the yoga class. This control of your breathing has several mental, physical, and spiritual benefits.
Intentional breathing helps calm the parasympathetic nervous system, which may have mental benefits.
If you have taken a yoga class before, you may have noticed that you leave feeling calmer. A recent study found that intentional breathing was associated with decreased stress levels and mental discomfort.
Studies have found a link between yoga and several important respiratory measurements, including:
The results also suggest improved performance in overall physical fitness levels, including increased muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.
Yoga is unique in that it also has a spiritual element. In addition to the benefits of the mind and body, breathing intentionally can also have spiritual benefits, including:
Just like any muscle in your body, our breathing muscles may require a warm-up before starting exercise. Nasal breathing and diaphragmatic breathing require more active engagement of the breathing muscles, so be sure to give yourself time to warm up.
If those muscles aren’t fully active, you may feel like you’re not getting enough oxygen, which is never a good feeling!
At Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi, our instructors will often guide practitioners to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth to start. This allows people to gently activate breathing muscles and release tension before progressing to a deeper level. If you’re feeling comfortable, you can slowly progress towards nasal or abdominal breathing after warming up.
Ideally, abdominal breathing should be practiced with a relaxed chest. The goal is to not hold your breath or force movement of the abdomen. Instead, by focusing on naturally deepening your breathing, you can more effectively keep your chest, abdomen, and back relaxed.
There’s a time and a place for loud and forceful breathing, which may be invigorating and energizing. As a general practice, however, remembering to breathe quietly can help to reduce tension and stress, allowing for the natural deepening and relaxation of your breath.
A comfortable and quiet breath will allow you the mental space to observe your body and mind during practice, which can help deepen your self-awareness and ability to relax. Not to mention, in a classroom full of students, loud breathing can be very distracting to others.
Breathing involves several muscles in your abdomen that help support your posture.
In a recent study, it was found that breathing patterns and posture can impact abdominal muscle strength and tension. When your posture is constricted, you may not be able to activate your diaphragm completely. This can result in shortness of breath and a feeling like you’re not getting enough oxygen.
By focusing on maintaining proper posture, you can breathe more comfortably and effectively during yoga and daily activities.
Core strength and control are essential to abdominal breathing. With each deep breath, feel the movement of your rib cage. Then focus on the forward and backward expansion of your lower abdomen and the lengthening of your oblique (side) abdominal muscles.
While lying down, it will be helpful to use your hands to feel your abdomen moving with each breath. Wherever you put your hands, you may notice you have more awareness, which helps strengthen the mind-body connection. The goal is to engage your deep core muscles with each breath comfortably.
Practice makes perfect.
While you might not traditionally think of practicing breathing, you should consider refining your breathing technique as a valuable investment to help improve your yoga practice and all your daily activities.
Intentionally breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth is a good way to warm up your breathing muscles and increase your mind-body connection. Ultimately, the goal is to increase your energy and centeredness through deep abdominal breathing.
Consider each yoga session as money in the bank to help improve your overall vitality and get you breathing deeply and more comfortably.
One of the best ways to learn yoga and breathing techniques is with a trained instructor. While there are many resources out there to improve your yoga practice, the fastest and most effective way to make improvements will be through a class or private session with an experienced yoga instructor.
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi offers classes in cities across the country and online. Our trained instructors can help you learn effective breathing techniques and provide useful feedback to help you on your journey.
By following the suggestions discussed above, breathing comfortably can enhance your yoga practice and can bring many mental, physical, and spiritual benefits in your daily life.
Body & Brain Yoga and Tai Chi can help you upgrade your breathing through our in-studio and online classes. For over 25 years, Body & Brain instructors have guided thousands of students like you on how to breathe properly and build their mind-body connection. We offer four types of group classes, including:
We also offer a 50-minute private introductory session with one of our yoga instructors. Contact us today to get started.