Breath of Joy a Pranayama Excercise

An important part of yoga lies with breath work.  Pranayama, or yogic breath techniques, are generally used within and throughout a yogic practice.  The word pranayama literally means to "restrain or master the life force." If we break the word down we learn that prana means life force, while ayama means to lengthen or restrain.  Just the word itself is an interesting lesson.  The breath, something that we exercise at all points of every day can be considered the fuel of life.  In yoga we learn to bring awareness to this source of life and energy and to channel our intentions and actions through simple occurrences such as breathing.  How one concentrates and can learn from the breath resides in how he or she restrains, deepens and alters it.  Through such exercises one will achieve greater awareness and perhaps mastery of the breath.

Throughout our daily lives, we tend to breath shallowly, hardly acknowledging that we have a breath.  This is my first challenge to you: spend a few moments out of your day to check in with your breath.  You could simply notice your natural breath or you could spend a few minutes concentrating on deepening the inhale and lengthening the exhale through the nose.  Simply be aware.  A good time to exercise the breath may be in your idle time; perhaps when you are laying in bed in the morning or at night, while you are driving, while in the shower, etc.  Whatever works for you!

A fun and energizing pranayama to practice is the "breath of joy."  This breath is great to use first thing in the morning to really wake you up or when you are feeling somewhat lethargic.

It goes like this:
Standing in mountain pose inhale the arms up above the head, inhale the arms out to the side, inhale the arms back above the head and then exhale drop the arms towards the floor.  You can add an energized "ha" to the exhale if you wish.

Each inhale is a small sip of air and the exhale can be long and loud.  Don't be afraid to move the arms energetically.
This exercise will get your blood pumping and your heart rate thumping.  If at any point you feel light headed or dizzy or if you know you have uncontrolled high blood pressure please refrain from practicing this breath.

Saturday April 2nd Class

Saturday April 2nd, Malia Werle, a fellow yoga teacher and old friend, will be filling in for the 10:30am class.

She is wonderful! 

Enjoy!