How to Breath Properly in Integral Yoga

Change your mood, lower your stress and relax ... just by breathing.

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Most of us use 3 or 4 kinds of breathing, alternating depending upon our activity or stress level. In Integral Yoga, these types of breathing are named and analyzed, as breathing is one of the most important principals of the practice.Breathing (whose yogic name is pranayama) is the only means of supplying our bodies and its various organs with oxygen, which is vital for our lives. It is therefore worth the study and practice it takes to learn the different methods. You’ll attain better relaxation from your yoga sessions, and your body will thank you.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A quiet room

How to Breathe Properly in Integral Yoga

Step 1

High Breathing: high breathing takes place in the upper part of the chest and lungs and is otherwise called clavicular breathing or collarbone breathing.
Step 2

As you inhale, raise the ribs, collarbone and shoulders. Draw in your abdomen and force it upward against your diaphragm and into the chest cavity.
Step 3

High breathing is naturally shallow and the least desired form of breathing because it uses the upper lobes of the lungs which have a small capacity for air. It is also a more common form of breathing amongst women because more form fitting clothes around the waist prevent abdominal breathing and force high breathing.

How To Perform Low Breathing

Step 1

Low breathing, also called diaphragmic breathing, takes place mostly in the lower part of the chest and lungs and is much more effective than high breathing.
Step 2

As you breathe in, push the abdomen out.
Step 3

As you exhale, allow the stomach to return to its normal position.
Step 4

People who sit a lot or slump their shoulders often slip into abdominal breathing.

How to Perform Middle Breathing

Step 1

Middle breathing is breathing in which mainly the middle parts of the lungs are filled with air and is also called rib breathing. It exhibits some of the characteristics of both high breathing, since the ribs rise and the chest expands somewhat, and low breathing, since the diaphragm moves up and down and the abdomen in and out a little.
Step 2

Breathe in, gently moving the diaphragm up.
Step 3

Exhale, expanding the ribs and chest sideways.
Step 4

This form of breathing is much better than high breathing, but far inferior to low breathing.

How to Perform the Complete Breath

Step 1

The complete breath is the deepest possible breathing. It’s a combination of high breathing, mid breathing and low breathing. This form involves the entire respiratory system and not only includes the portions of the lungs used in high, low and middle breathing, but expands the lungs so as to take in more air than the amounts inhaled by all of these three kinds of breathing.
Step 2

As you inhale, raise his shoulders, collarbone and ribs, as in high breathing, and also extend your abdomen and lower your diaphragm, as in low breathing, allowing you to take in as much breath as possible.
Step 3

As you exhale, just allow the stomach to fall back to its original position.