Ujjayi Pranayama, Victorious Breath

Ujjayi pranayama, aptly translated as ‘victorious’, is the most important breath in my practice and is through my teachings of vinyasa flow.  It is the breath that leads you through the sequence; everything rides on its rhythm and it can be practised in any asana.  It ignites agni, building heat and enabling you to go deeper into postures. 

Also described as psychic breath ujjayi has a multitude of benefits, it calms the mind, soothes the nervous system, slows down the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, induces meditative states and increases connection to psychic ability.  Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati explains that in ujjayi we are going back to the innate way of breathing as a child, “when a healthy child sleeps, he always breathes by contracting the glottis, so that the sound of the breath comes from the throat.  This kind of breathing is replicated in ujjayi.” (p251 Prana and Pranayama). 

Tips to engaging Ujjayi

• Remember the breath is the practice and the asanas (physical yoga postures) are merely an extension of the breath, if you stop breathing you have gone to deep. 
• It can be helpful to start inhaling deeply through the nose and then exhaling sighing out making a noise through the mouth with a soft whispering “hhhaaa” sound or lions breath, then close the mouth while maintaining the sound on the exhalation and feeling the air moving in the back of the throat. 
• Imagine the sensation that you are breathing through the throat and gently constricting the glottis; creating a comforting sound which is audible and will inspire you and those around. 
• Focus on the sensation of the air warming in the throat by the friction as it passes through the glottis to the lungs.
• Allow the sound of ujjayi to act as a mantra to keep you connected to the present through the practice, preventing distractions and acting as a link between body and mind to come into a moving meditation.
• Allow the sounds of ujjayi to be like the waves of the ocean washing in and washing out, cleansing the mind and washing away any unwanted thoughts.  
• Keep the face relaxed; smiling gently with a small gap between the lips.  
• Count the breath so that the inhale and exhale are equal in length, to come into samavriti pranayama

200hrs of yoga teacher training complete, A lifetime of practice to go...

On Sunday 19 September 2010 I wrote the following after the first weekend on my TT course:

Weekend One 'Foundation of Flow'

Super tired and inspired from the first weekend immersing myself in the course but this is the start of a wonderful and profound journey.  Explaining and hearing explanations of why we are on the course reaffirmed the powerful positive impact that yoga has on my own and others' lives and I am extremely grateful to have found yoga, my teachers and have this opportunity. 

Asked to set my intention, sankalpana, for the year ahead  is hard to define but I  think it comes down to contentment, santosha, it sounds so simple but unfortunately the modern money making world thrives on people's discontentment.  Through conscious thought and action and following the limbs of yoga to the best of my abilty I hope to come to a state of being comfortable with who I am and who I'm not, what I have and do not have and embrace all experiences as chance to learn and grow.  Namaste

Looking back I recall how unsure I felt in my own skin and voice.  I enjoyed brief glimpses of samadhi, bliss and light through yoga, in between a general feeling of discontentment and unease; a greyness which pervaded my mind.  I struggled to bring the feelings of joy, calmness and union I had on the mat into life.  Reflecting makes me realise how far I have come and how much closer I am to achieving my sankalpa of true contentment. 

There has been countless changes, positive changes of course.  For example my diet - a year ago I didn't give what I ate much thought. I ate pretty healthily and I'd learnt to accept the IBS symptoms I suffered as countless Dr's visits had left me thinking nothing would help. But the more I read the ancient yogi texts the more conscious I became of what I was eating.  Then sometime shifted and I was repulsed by the idea of eating animal flesh.  It happened on an unconscious level and I've now been a vegetarian for 6 months and not craved meat or fish once.  Going deeper into diet I am starting to learn more about and try to follow a ayurvedic diet (too much to cover hear so a seperate blog to follow) main thing to say is I'm gladly saying goodbye to the nasty IBS symptoms I thought I had to live with!

I no longer fear bedtime incase the horrific hand of insomnia takes hold of my mind with a torrent of thoughts as I can now sink peacefully into the joy of sleep.  Its a cliche to say you dont miss it till its gone but this couldnt be more true of sleep!  Again another blog to come on tranquilising yoga for natural sleep...

My daily routine is changing incorporating more of the 8 limbs of yoga. I find it much easier to get up to enjoy my morning self practice, I meditate in some shape or form everyday (not necessarily sat bolt upright in lotus), I feel a deep connection to the Divine, I spend more time on pranayama/breath awareness, I enjoy chanting, some cleansing kriyas are as natural as brushing my teeth; in sum yoga is my life not just a part of it. 

And the best change of all is that I have begun teaching yoga and I LOVE it! Sharing the transformative and healing practice of yoga, something I feel so deeply passionate about, is amazing. It feels so natural, like I'm in my element and found my calling in life and I'm blessed to be around people who agree.  Claire's last words to me on the course where "I think you should go for this Martha" and I replied "I don't have a choice, it's happening" :-)