Why Is Breathing Important in Yoga?

Why is Breathing Important in Yoga?

When I first started yoga, while struggling with a pose, I would vaguely hear my yoga instructor reminding me to breathe.  At first, this would irritate me, because it took my attention away from standing on one leg while in tree pose.  "Of course I'm breathing," I'd tell myself, only to realize that she was right!  I would find myself holding my breath whilst in a challenging asana.

Physically, breathing is a necessity.  But, breathing while performing yoga has many benefits!  For one, it brings more oxygen to your brain, muscles, skin, and organs while at the same time eliminating toxins from your body.  If you don't get enough oxygen, you may feel mentally sluggish, have negative thoughts, or feel depressed or anxious.  Oxygen is a vital nutrient, and yoga can help to increase the consumption of oxygen into your body.  

Certain yoga postures squeeze out old blood and toxins from certain body parts such as, for example, your pancreas (the organ that makes insulin thus helping to stabilize blood sugars, it is the organ related to diabetes).  Remembering to breathe deeply and rhythmically during such a pose is beneficial to your pancreas by helping to bring fresh oxygen to that organ thus rejuvenating it, helping to prevent disease of the organ (diabetes), and helping to prevent premature aging of the pancreas.

Click here for a link to an article showing you various yoga postures to help those with diabetes.  

Once you have become more experience in the practice of yoga, you will find that you'll be more able to focus on your breath.  Being relaxed in an asana greatly aids with deep breathing or yoga breathing.  

In yoga, the Ujjayi breath is used.  Click here for a youtube video on how to breathe using Ujjayi breath.  Ujjayi means "victorious".  In short, it is a slow, deep, and even breath.  

No breath is perfect, and everybody breathes differently.  As a swimmer, I breathe differently than other people.  A general rule is to inhale while moving into a pose, and to exhale while coming out of a pose.  Inhale while expanding or opening in a pose, and exhale while twisting or folding into a pose.  The key is to be patient.  I have found that after my 6 years of dedicated yoga practice the breath is one of the most challenging aspects of yoga!