Pranayama : Your Practice

Pranayama Sequence

Once you get the feel for quality of breath and the bandhas you can practice this pranayama sequence.

Begin with 3 ujjayi breaths (3 full breaths with sound)

I. Baya kumbhaka - exhale retention

Take a deep breath in and then exhale fully. Hold the exhale. Engage mula bandha, uddiyana bandha and jalandara bandha. Begin with a 5 second hold and build from there. Repeat 3 times

3 ujjayi breaths

II. Antara kumbhaka - inhale retention

Take a full inhalation and hold. Engage the bandhas. Begin with 5 second hold. Repeat 3 times.

3 ujjayi breaths

III. Antara kumbhaka and baya kumbhaka

Inhale fully and hold 5 seconds. Exhale and hold 5 seconds. Engage all three bandhas. Repeat three times. As your abiliity to control your breathe improves, increase the

seconds of the holds. Lay down and rest at the end to integrate the pranayama practice.

Feel the effects on your body and mind.

your practice

Integration

The Challenge

The true challenge is not can you do a handstand, but can you apply yoga to your life?

Yoga truly begins when you leave the classroom.Yoga is a way of living.

Every posture reflects something about our internal state. Some days you may have trouble with the balancing postures and notice you are having trouble juggling all the different things in your life.

Another day you may discover you’re not as flexible as the day before, perhaps you’ve become a bit less fluid in your thinking or actions, resistant to stretching yourself a bit further.

Flexibility • strength • grounded • balance • centered • clarity • lightness • wholeness • peace – these are all directly applicable, translatable to our daily lives. Nothing is separate. The path of least effort is one of union, yoga.

Take the lessons of yoga and apply them to your life.

Helpful Hints

1. Listen to your body. Only through your own internal awareness will you come to understand when to work harder or deeper and when to move more slowly.

2. The breath should always be louder than your internal dialogue.

3. Never force yourself into a pose, no posture is worth injury.

4. Take the ambition out of it. You are competing with no one.

5. Less is more with yoga. Take your time and build your practice slowly, there is nowhere to “get” to.

6. Set up a regular practice for yourself. Practice is the key to the entire science of yoga.

7. Enjoy your practice. Acknowledge and receive the gift you are giving yourself.

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