One of the great aspects of yoga is paying attention to how you breath and connecting your breath to movement in your body. I often give cues in class to inhale or exhale. This isn’t a cue to take the biggest breath you can, it’s simply to move with your breath in and out. So how do you take a slow breath that isn’t a really big deep breath?
Try this breathing practice and see if it helps you slow down your breath. It also can be a great way to relax. It only takes a few minutes. If your breath feels strained or you feel dizzy, stop the practice and let your breath return to normal.
This practice involves counting to yourself while you breath with the goal of getting the inhale and exhale to be the same length and slower. Read these directions before you start and then set them aside.
- Sit somewhere comfortable where you can have good posture. This could be on the floor on pillows with your back up against the wall, or in a comfortable chair with your feet on the floor.
- Close your eyes to help you not be distracted. Relax your shoulders, your jaw and your belly.
- First just notice how you are breathing. Are you breathing through your nose or mouth? Is your chest or belly moving? Is it fast, short, long, slow? Are the inhale and exhale at the same pace?
- Close your mouth gently and breath through your nose. On an inhale, count to 3 silently, followed by the tiniest pause, then count to 3 as you exhale, tiny pause and start again.
- Do this for 4 to 5 rounds. Then lengthen your count to 4 for both the inhale and exhale. Do this for 4-5 rounds.
- Then lengthen to a count of 5, then a count of 6 as long as that feels comfortable. After a few rounds counting to 6, return to a count of 4. After a few rounds, stop counting.
- Let your breath find it’s own rhythm and just observe whether it’s changed.
