Do you know the most important aspect of yoga? Breathing.
Breathing is the key of yoga
Of course, flexibility and muscle strength, meditative spaciousness and spirituality, stamina and emotional clearing are all important facets as well to the 5,000-year-old practice called yoga.
Nonetheless, to get to the truth of who you are inside as found in your yoga, you must breathe. Deep inhale. Deep exhale. It's your mantra. Keep doing it.
Whenever you are in doubt or overwhelmed about anything, the answer is to just breathe. Whenever you are depressed, the answer is to just breathe. Whenever you are overly excited about something to a point where you can't be productive, just breathe.
Yoga on your mat is the best place to breathe
It's easiest to practice this deepest meditative breathing while on your yoga mat—a place to emulate colors of fire and feeling of whatever guides you. The prana (your life force) moves through you in poses. On your mat, you are most dedicated to yourself which makes it easiest to focus inward to the soul of who you are.
Yoga teachers who understands this
While being led by a yoga instructor—and you are especially stressed out—hopefully this teacher will continually remind you to breathe. It is during our most stressful times (when we need yoga most), that we forget to breathe.
We can go through our days with short inhales and never truly exhale. Quick life-giving breaths will only create more stress. The air we breathe infiltrates us and oxygenates our blood. It brings nutrients and oxygen to our cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those cells. Clearing out these toxins positively affects us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Breathe like Darth Vader
Ujjayi breath is the technique employed in yoga, also called "the ocean of breath", whereby you inhale and exhale in equal duration through the nose, allowing the breath to move smoothly through the back of the throat (making the sound of Darth Vader). Part of a dynamic yoga asana practice, the breaths envigorate you to become victorious (the Sanskrit meaning of ujjayi).
Be victorious. Breathe.
Namaste.
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