Ashtanga yoga is a breath-based movement practice. The shape isn't really the thing, the shapes have benefits for our musculoskeletal system and our organs, but to truly experience the life-changing benefits of the practice we need to unify steady breath and movement.
In Ashtanga Yoga our breath has several aspects:-
- We breathe in and out through the nose directing the breath high in the nasaal cavity and to the open back of the throat, giving us the quiet meditative ujjayi sound.
- We try to maintain a steady even rhythm of breath throughout the practice. The inhales and exhales stay the same duration as each other throughout the practice.
- Each movement starts with the breath, we start an inhale or exhale and then we start to move.
- Each movement is the duration of the breath. In practice this means that we must quicken or slow down our speed of movement throughout the practice so that we end each movement at the same time as the breath action. This is most easily experienced in Trini and Pancha in the sun salutations where we must slow the movement right down so that we aren't hanging still while we continue the inhalation.
Unifying body
When we breathe the body responds in many ways, we can feel the body rise on the inhale and descend on the exhale. We might feel our ribs expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale. Our chest diaphragm and our pelvic floor rise and fall with the breath and we might feel this in the belly and pelvic floor.
In Ashtanga yoga when we move more of the body with the breath, for the duration of the breath, we are expanding this response of the body to the breath to the whole of our body. Our limbs and spine are also expanded and contracted with the breath. This helps to bring our whole body together, to truly unify it.
This unifying of the whole body to the breath helps us to feel centred and calm. It brings a grace to our movements and a sense of meditative flow to the body & mind.
The respiratory benefits
Many of us have become habitual fast and shallow breathers. Sitting hunched for long periods and experiencing chronic stress shortens our breath and focuses it high in our chest, which weakens some respiratory muscles and overworks others.
By engaging in ujjayi breathing for our entire class we are undoing these imbalances and rebuilding the ability to breathe slowly and deeply. By also opening and folding the body with the assistance of the limbs and spine in response to the breath we are assisting this ability to breathe more fully by releasing constricted muscles and strengthening weak ones.
Asana benefits
Focusing on maintaining a steady even breath and posture helps us to maintain a steady and safe yoga asana practice. If the breath becomes jagged or short or we are wobbling we know we've gone too far and need to pull back. This is also a great check for our ego!
We also use the breath to help us to find space in the body, by directing the breath to parts of the body that we are trying to release we can find more depth in an asana, we are able to use the breath to release the parts of the body that we are habitually hold more tightly.
Amplifying the effects of the breath - the nervous system & mind
The body and mind are a feedback loop. When we move the body in response to a steady even slow breath we are amplifying the effects of that steady even breath.
Steady movement and breath benefits the mind in a few ways. On the mat focusing on steady breath and body helps us to stay focused on the moment and not on the Citta Vriti, the thoughts that clutter the mind. This calming of the mind is the main focus of yoga and we can take this off the mat into our daily lives.
There is a feedback loop from body to mind, when the breath and body are steady and calm the brain receives signals of safety and calm and the mind becomes less jumpy, the mind follows the steadiness of the breath and body. Many students who experience ADHD and anxiety tell me that they find their mind clears during their Ashtanga practice. I find that even if I am thinking through life stuff while practicing (confession - I do this sometimes) the steadiness of the breath brings a clarity and calm to those thought processes so that I can find resolve, which is why I sometimes use the practice this way.
The second way that the steady unified movement of breath and body benefits the mind is that the breath and body are always in the present moment, if we are focused on feeling the breath and body we are in the present moment. Many thoughts that bring us distress or discomfort are about the future, past or what someone else is thinking - none of this is present reality. By cultivating the skill to be in the moment with our breath and body we can start to learn to bring ourselves back to the present moment and reality.
Digestion, sleep and pain management
I'm especially passionate about this as I lived with painful IBS for years which massively restricted my diet before committing to an Ashtanga yoga practice; the steady rhythmic squeezing actions of the Ashtanga practice combined with the ujjayi breath has cured me of IBS. Many of you know that my Popsie lived with severe chronic pain and that I have endometriosis, ujjayi breathing brought both of us relief. It didn't get rid of our pain, but dialed it down.
The Vagus nerve runs through the throat and vocal cords to the heart, lungs and digestive organs. It's a part of our parasympathetic nervous system which is the rest and digest function of the body. Ujjayi breathing is picked up by the vagus nerve which recognises the cues of safety and sends that information to the brain and other parts of the body. This can relax a body holding onto wakefulness, release muscles contracted in response to pain or fear, smooth the action of our digestive muscles, increase gut peristalsis and help us to feel safe.
For me ujjayi breathing helps me to not layer suffering onto the suffering of pain and that can make all the difference.
Feeling safe and connected
In a led Ashtanga Yoga class we are breathing and moving together in synchronicity and our nervous systems love this! Compared with other mammals, humans are pretty slow and weak, we are vulnerable on our own, but when we cooperate we are pretty amazing - our nervous systems know this. So, when we are moving and breathing in synchronicity with others we feel safe which is crucial to our mental and physical health - which is after all one interconnected system.
So, that's the tip of the iceberg as to why we focus on the breath in Ashtanga Yoga.