2 simple techniques to deepen your Yoga practice

Consistent Yoga practice produces a big change within the quality of our breathing. We start noticing that our breath becomes more smooth, unobstructed and deeper once we practice Yoga mindfully and with regularity. Although this is often generally true once we practice various of the normal limbs of Yoga, this alteration is most easily observed in our asana practice. The two techniques I might wish to suggest are associated with observing closely how we breathe. These techniques repose on the inspiration of breath awareness and on the advantages of using ujjayi breathing. The target of those techniques is to guide our attention inward and to focus our awareness to our present actions. As a result, the standard of our participation increases, leading us to immerse more fully in our Yoga practice. According to this facilitates our more present participation in our daily activities.

Focused Breathing

The first technique is to concentrate our attention on the sound of the breath. A simple thanks to direct our attention to the sound of our breath is by using ear plugs during our practice. Using ear plugs makes the sound of our breath more noticeable which also helps us focus our meditation inward. For many folks, noticing more the sound of our breath might not prevent our mind from wandering. However, it’ll be easier to note when the mind gets distracted and thus we will prefer to return our attention gently to the breath. In many cases, just feeling the ear plugs in will function a reminder to concentrate attentively to the breath. Eventually, consistent practice strengthens our capacity to focus, and then the ear plugs will have achieved its function and cannot be needed.

This technique is combination of pranayama and sense withdrawal (pratyahara).

Increased Sensitivity to Breath Movements

Once it becomes easier to watch the breath consistently, we will attempt to develop a greater sensitivity to the movement of the breath. The second technique further deepens our attention by that specializes in the subtle aspects of breathing, specifically by observing the transitions between inhalations and exhalations. As we observe with clear attention the continual movement of breath, we specialize in the brief pause between inhalations and exhalations and the other way around. Noticing and that specialize in this brief pauses often increases our breathing capacity. Most significantly, it also increases our awareness, thus bringing a meditative quality to our practice.

It is important to recollect that the breath in the least times continues to be smooth and unrestricted. As we practice this system we will explore the consequences of slightly lengthening these pauses.

Focused meditation on the pauses between inhalation and exhalation integrates aspects of pranayama, pratyahara, concentration (dharana) and sustained attention (dhyana).

Like with the other techniques, we observe our practice before and after using these techniques and that we notice how each technique works and if it’s any beneficial effects.

I hope and believe these techniques are useful to deepen your practice.