Ujjayi Breathing, a practice that has been neglected by modern styles of yoga
- flowerchen77
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
There is one essence in the practice of yoga postures, Ujjayi Breathing, which, if the practitioner is vague about it, will make the practice mechanical and lacking in vitality, i.e. tamas (ignorance, inertia) . If the instructor does not practice it himself/herself, the teaching will be limited to external formalizations, i.e. rajas (activity), and unfortunately, without leading the practitioner to the tranquility of the unity of mind, body, and spirit, which comes naturally from the inner bliss of the heart, ie. sattva (calmness).
The reason for writing this article is that we have observed that modern yoga styles tend to flow dynamically, rather than staying in the postures, and without focusing on the quality of Ujjayi Breathing, which results both in failure to develop physical capacity and mental calm.
We will quote from the texts of several yoga teachers who were pupils of T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1898). They include Srivatsa Ramaswami, who studied with him for the longest duration (33 years); A.G. Mohan, one of the devoted pupils; T. Krishnamacharya's son, TKV Desikachar... and many others. etc.
Modern day yoga asana practice follows two different streams. There are old schools which teach different asanas and require the participants to stay in the pose for a long time, no appreciable movements or breathing but just stay in the pose for a long time. They emphasis the steadiness definition of yoga even though many find long stay in the poses painful and boring. There is no 'sukha' in it. Then there is another stream, more modern, in which the asana practice is a continuous flow of movements like a train going at breakneck speed not stopping and looking at any of the beautiful stations and places called asanas in between. A set of regimented routines on a graded scale of difficulty is done at a hurried pace without coordination with slow breathing day in and day out. ( - - Srivatsa Ramaswami)
We will explore Ujjayi Breathing from the following perspectives
(1) How is it done?
(2) Should the volume be loud?
(3) Is there a specified length of breath in seconds?
(4) Where is said at the texts? Ujjayi breathing should be combined with the asana practice?
(5) Ujjayi breathing should be combined with the asana practice?
(1) How is it done?
In Ujjayi, we breathe as though there air has to pass through a narrowing passage in the throat region of the respiratory system. In view of this constriction, movement of air during breath produces a hissing sound.
For a beginner who wants to learn Ujjayi, It would be easier to start by practicing it during exhalation. After a period of practice when Ujjayi becomes effortless during exhalation, focus can be shifted to inhalation also.
Initially the Ujjayi sound produced in throat will be hoarse and with variations in breath flow. With practice, Ujjayi will become a natural part of breathing at all times. The practitioner will be able to sense the depth and extent of breath. ( - - Dr.Latha Satish, Ph.D.)
(2) Should the volume be loud?
Ideally the hissing sound has to be subtle and audible only to the practitioner. If it is too loud or lasting only for a short time, it signifies that the comfort of breath is being compromised.
How do we find that out is through the sound and through the sensation of the breath? Ujjayi breathing produces a sound when we do the breathing through the throat, there is a mild sound. This sound should always be maintained. A mild sound that is produced through the rubbing sensation, which should not be forceful, or it should not be silent follow absence of control. Neither totally silent nor a loud sound. (- - A.G. Mohan)
To regulate the breath during the practice of asanas, the technique of Ujjayi breathing is important. In Ujjayi breathing you constrict your vocal cords slightly as you breathe so that you can feel the air as it flows past. A slight hissing sound often results - the more you constrict your throat and force your breath, the louder the sound. Conversely, the more finely the breathing is done, the softer the sound. The goal is not to create a lot of sound but rather less sound. With practice and greater control, you should will diminish and you can direct your attention to more subtle indictor: the internal sensation of your breath flowing. Krishnamacharya used to give the standard instruction, ‘ Feel rubbing sensation in throat.’ (- - A.G. Mohan)
(3) Is there a specified length of breath in seconds?
Ujjayi Breathing
‘Ujjayi’ means ‘to win over’ or ‘victorious’. Literally indicates absolute mastery over breath. Ujjayi helps the practitioner in further fortifying the attention on breath while engaged in asana practice.
The practice of vinyasas itself is made very interesting by my Guru Krishnamacharya. Each expansive vinyasa would be done on slow ujjayi inhalation and every contraction movement would be done on slow smooth exhalation. What should be the length of the inhalation and exhalation as compared to our normal breathing of about 2 seconds of inhalation and 2 seconds of exhalation? He would ask us to take a slow inhalation, say about 5 seconds and another 5 seconds for exhalation. It is the minimum. One could slowly increase the time for inhalation from 5 to 6 and even up to 10 or twelve seconds. The vinyasas were never done at the breakneck speed with which they are done these days. The slower the movements the better and more beneficial it is. A rate of five to six breaths per minute in Vinyasa Krama is in order. By studying Yoga with Krishnamacharya one could realize how different Yoga is from workouts, aerobics, outdoor sport activities and even fast paced Yoga where the slow, mindful breathing is compromised. ( - - Srivatsa Ramaswami)
I started studying asanas with Krishnamacharya in 1973. Initially, he taught me long, deep, smooth breathing along with movement. (- - A.G. Mohan)
Krishnamacharya emphasizes that Ujjayi breathing is an essential and important breath comment in asana practice. His emphasis on Ujjayi is in accordance with the principle expounded in the ‘Yoga Rahasya’ Chapter One verse 33:
abhyāsa-samaye nityaṃ reca-pūraka-kumbhakān |
yathā-śakti prakuḥ vīta rītya-ujyāyvā vilambataḥ ||
During the practice one must constantly engage in regulating the exhale, inhale and retention.
Ujjāyī is to be smooth and slow, according to the strength or capability of the practitioner.
This is yet another distinguishing feature of the asana practice in Krishnamacharya teaching which is generally not present in other modern schools of yoga.( - - Dr.Latha Satish, Ph.D.)
When one exercises the body with deep breathing, one is able to squeeze as much of the venous blood as possible from the various tissues and thus enhance the muscle pump effect. Then the deep associated breathing used in Krishnamacharya’s system helps to enhance the respiratory suction pump effect on the heart thereby increasing the rakta sanchara or blood circulation especially the venous blood return to the heart. It helps to stretch the blood vessels as well keeping them more elastic. ( - - Srivatsa Ramaswami)
(4) Where is said at the texts?
The asana portion in the practice of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika(HYP) or Gheranda samhita, they do not explicitly say the use of breath. In the Ujjayi pranayama here, the HYP the Ujjayi Kumbhaka, ‘ghachchatā tiṣhṭhatā’ whether you are walking or whether you are standing, this ujjayi pranayama can be practiced. Krishnamacharya used to quote this is the authority if you want look into it. However, it is said that it has to be done without the bandhas.
HYP II-51, II-52, II-53
atha ujjāyī
mukhaṃ saṃyamya nāḍībhyāmākṝṣhya pavanaṃ śanaiḥ |
yathā laghati kaṇṭhāttu hṝdayāvadhi sa-svanam || 51 ||
Closing the mouth, inhale slowly through both nostrils from the throat to the heart [feeling a rubbing sensation in the throat].
(5) Ujjayi breathing should be combined with the asana practice?
The first step of our yoga practice is to consciously link breath and body. We do this by allowing every movement to be led by the breath as we practice the asanas. The correct linking of breath and movement is the basis for the whole asana practice.The simple exercise of raising the arms on an inhale and lowering them on an exhale helps us find the rhythm of combined breath and movement. (- - TKV Desikachar)
Ujjayi breathing is the bridge between asana and pranayama. The Yoga sutra says, as most of you know, the chapter 49th sutra.
tasmin-sati-śvāsa-praśvāsayoḥ gati-vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ ||49||
Remaining in yogic postures, mastering variously the movement of inhalation and exhalation, is called pranayama.
Ujjayi breathing should used in asanas. Body work is not a separate compartment, breath work is not a separate compartment. It is not you use the body in the asana practice, somehow push yourself into, tie yourself into some posture, and then try to do the breath work separately, it is never like that. Krishnamacharya has spoken about this. In fact, at least a dozen times, I would have heard this sutra ‘prayatna-śaithilya-ananta-samāpattibhyām ||47||’. (- - A.G. Mohan)
Ujjayi breathing servers as a constant tool in the hands of the practitioner to stay focused on breath while doing asana practice. By latching on to the sound produced in the throat during asana practice, the practitioner can increase his attention to the breath component in asana practice.
By watching the quality of sound produced by Ujjayi breathing, the practitioner can assess the quality of breath as well as the asana practice. Particularly, this provides a hint to the practitioner when the limits of inhalation or exhalation are exceeded.
There must not be any feeling of irritation or pressure in the throat. If the practitioner has any discomfort as revealed by irregular Ujjayi sound or feels any disturbances in the throat as a result of Ujjayi breathing, it is a signal to the practitioner to stop the asana practice and take a break.
Ujjayi breathing not only helps in maintaining the attention span in asana, but also gives the cautionary signal when we weed our limits. Whenever Ujjayi is not subtle and uniform, it gives us a definite clue that we are striving beyond our capacity. (- - Dr.Latha Satish, Ph.D.)
This practice of Ujjayi breathing is undertaken extensively in all the postures. The mastery of the posture includes a mastery of the breath. For example, Krishanamacharya he has deomonstrated Pinca mayurasana with the padmasana. You can see he was very steadily. To repeat the mastery of the posture is related to the mastery of the breath. Please remember, Asana practice is not a photoshoot practice, where you go to a particular posture and then wait for the photoshoot to be over or five seconds and then come out of it. It’s never like that. (- - A.G. Mohan)
Asana siddhi, refers to the mastery of the breath. Yogic mindfulness in Asana starts with focus on the breath, mindfulness of the breath is inbuilt in the practice or the asanas. These mindfulness of the components of the breath ‘dirgha/long’ and ‘sukshma/deep’ this mindfulness of the sound of the breathe, mindfulness of the sensation of the breath, these three aspects are very important. We call it Yogic mindfulness, because all these three aspects should lead to sattva/calmness because the practice of asana should reduce rajas/activity and then lead to sattva. So, therefore, long, deep breathing in the asana, with the focus on the sound with the focus on the sensation is very essential. And ujjayi breathing plays a very important role in this context. (- - A.G. Mohan)
How many asanas can one master? Krishnamacharaya used to say the maximum number of asanas, one can master is about 24 that is maximum. He said this he did too much effort that is mastery of the posture there he includes the mastery of the breath, that why he said 24 asana is maximum. That is the ability to master the breath is most important and not asana practice is not simply staying in the posture. (- - A.G. Mohan)
Conclusion
Throughout the inhalation and exhalation process, we closely listen to the breath and feel the breath. Through this we will gradually improve the quality of breathing. This is also conscious and not automatic. If we breathe through the nostrils quickly, we create a sound but no feeling of quality about the breath. This is true whether we are breathing uniformly or not. To give us this feeling of uniformity and smoothness when we breathe, we impose a restriction on the throat which produces a sound. It is as if we had a valve in the throat and we partially closed it to control the breath. We measure the done by the sound. This sound is produced uniformly during both inhalation and exhalation, allowing us to hear, as well as feel, the breath as we work toward deeper and longer cycles.
Comments