I’ve been doing yoga videos with one of my teachers, Seane Corn, recently and noticed something very interesting…
I was moving faster than everyone in her class. Like by a lot.
And what this means is that I was BREATHING faster than everyone in the class.
This surprised me because I’ve always tried to put my breath first and encourage my students to to the same.
So the next time I took a studio class I decided to follow my own breath and breath as deeply as I could instead of following the teacher’s instruction.
And you know what I discovered??
I moved SLOWER than every one in the class. By a lot.
This got me thinking about Vinyasa yoga and the way yoga teachers (including myself) teach the breath.
One of the things about Vinyasa is that it’s a flow and so you want to feel like you are moving fluidly this can cause teachers to speed up the cues.
And while instructing, most teachers aren’t actually moving with their students, they are walking around the room so it’s really easy to move faster than the breath.
And while this leads to a fun, vigorous and sweaty yoga practice there is one huge problem with this…
When your breath is short and sharp then it tends to live only in the chest and as a result, this can drive the nervous system into fight or flight response.
In other words, this can make you feel STRESSED OUT and ANXIOUS.
Because when your breath isn’t full and rich it throws everything out of whack.
Then this can affect your mood, your sleep and your ability to truly drop into your practice because the Parasympathetic Nervous System isn’t being accessed.
This is the place where rest, digestion, healing and even intuition takes place.
And recently I’ve noticed I’ve been a lot more anxious. I haven’t been able to take a deep breath and I’ve had a lot of sensation in my chest.
I’ve also noticed I haven’t been able to get very deep in my practice. To drop in.
Now I’m not saying this is the only reason but it definitely isn’t helping.
So this week in my yoga classes I committed to teaching the breath and slowing the hell down!
And I hope you will join me.
Yoga teachers…
Check in to how fast you are cuing your inhales and exhales. Do they connect with your own breath? Do they allow for time and space and actual deep breaths??
Yoga practitioners…
Make sure you are breathing as deeply as you can. Slow, deep breaths. If you feel super hype or stressed in your practice then chances are you are breathing too fast. Slow down.
Ok now let me know your thoughts! How are you breathing? Leave them in the comments below!!
And if you want to slow all the way down and get grounded then check out my FREE meditation course.
2 comments
Brittany: This is very interesting because I have found two things occurring lately that fit right into this post. I have been feeling that I am having to breath faster than I want in order to keep up with the class, and I have been very frustrated and disenchanted with yoga lately. I will be much more aware of this in the future. I am going to print this post and give it to my yoga instructors. Thanks
Firstly, I never write any posts about Yoga. But, you have succeeded in touching ( in a good way )……a nerve. The word flow is a dangerous word in the Yoga world, because it has turned Asanas into something they never were. All at the expense of doing things properly, in healthy alignment, while truly connecting the Mind, Body and Breath. This fast paced group is commonly known as “The Flow and Glow ” crowd………smile. This is not something that was introduced to us by the Yogis that brought Yoga to the West…..ever. It is a western influence and they believe, that if you are moving faster that the practice is more vigorous , which is not true. As you move from one Asana to another in any class you are technically flowing. The question is, how fast and at what expense. I never found it fun and certainly it was never vigorous. As a very experienced athlete with twenty years or so around elite Yogis, I can assure you that quicker Asana movements does not correlate to a more vigorous practice. “Working hard” (er) is what correlates to a more vigorous practice, which is of course a relative term depending upon who is saying it. I´ve been told so many times about how hard we have been working in a class, all while waiting for the “vigorous ” part of the practice to start. Remember, there are plenty of people that go to the gym and then there are the people who go to workout. Hatha———-Forceful——-not just the Sun and Moon.
Breath- One does not have to be a Yogi to be connected to the breath. Marathon runners are as connected to their breath as one can be and also happen to be some of the best Meditators on the planet. They breath how their body asks them to breath. They don´t have someone running beside them telling how to breath and at what pace. We all have a different cadence to our breath and when we are taken out of that cadence, we become uncomfortable, which can easily build anxiety. I for one stopped listening long ago to any Yoga teacher telling me how to breath and that was when my practice became deeper, stronger and more vigorous. It is my practice. When everyone is moving at the same speed with the same breath, the individuality of the practice is gone, at the practitioners expense. These are just a few of the things that have led me to begin to withdraw from public classes.
Hope I have explained this well. Peace
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