There’s a moment in many people’s yoga journey where the practice begins to shift. At first, yoga can feel very external. Where do my feet go? Is my back straight? Am I doing this “right”? We spend so much time learning alignment, engaging muscles, remembering sequences, and trying to hold everything together. And of course, alignment matters — there are benefits to becoming stronger, steadier and more mobile in the body eg. a deeper Triangle Pose might improve flexibility, balance or core strength.
But this week in the cabin, we explored something different: what happens when the breath becomes the centre of the practice. I decided I would hardly give any alignment cues at all, instead focusing almost entirely on reminding people to keep the breath flowing continuously and allowing the body to follow. Less thinking about where the hands and feet should be and more attention on the rhythm of the breath moving through the body.
When the breath becomes the anchor, the practice often becomes calmer, steadier and surprisingly stronger too. Movements feel less forced and more fluid, there’s less frantic energy and less ‘performing’. The challenge though — especially when you’re newer to yoga — is that trying to think about alignment and strength and breathing all at once can feel overwhelming. There’s simply too much happening in your head.
But over time, as the postures become more familiar, the body begins to know what it’s doing. You don’t have to consciously think about every little detail anymore and that creates space to turn inward — to start paying attention to the breath in a deeper way.
Learning Ujjayi breath
At the beginning of every class this week, we learned Ujjayi breath. I actually didn’t even discover Ujjayi until a couple of years into my own yoga journey. Not one teacher had taught it to me in all that time. Eventually someone did, but even then I remember thinking, this feels like a lot of hard work. I couldn’t quite grasp it, it felt awkward and unnatural, so I more or less ignored it. It was only later, during online classes, when teachers would casually invite everyone to “use your Ujjayi breath” (still without really explaining how to do it!) that I became curious enough to keep experimenting with it in my own practice. And slowly, it clicked and genuinely helped take my practice to another level.
So what is Ujjayi breath?
Ujjayi is a slow, controlled breath done through the nose with a very gentle constriction at the back of the throat. It creates a soft ocean-like sound — sometimes described as sounding like waves or whispering. It’s also known as the Darth Vader breath and sometimes in a class you can hear the person next to you doing it.
We learned it first with open mouths, pretending we were fogging up a mirror on the exhale and then “un-fogging” it on the inhale. Once that feeling in the throat was familiar, we closed the mouth and tried to keep the same sensation.
I’ll be honest, it’s not the most comfortable thing to teach. People often look a bit self-conscious learning it, some look a bit confused, some look completely blank afterwards as if they’re thinking, what on earth was that and why are we doing it?! It can feel awkward and effortful.
As a teacher, you don’t necessarily get loads of enthusiastic feedback in the moment. In fact, it would honestly be much easier not to teach it. But that isn’t a reason not to. Sometimes the most valuable parts of yoga are not the most instantly gratifying parts. So I decided to teach it in every class this week regardless — and I said to everyone: You might leave today feeling exactly as I did the first time I learned it: this feels hard and like a lot of effort and if that’s how it feels, that’s completely fine. Or it might click straight away and you immediately feel the benefits. If that happens, amazing! Either way, my job as a teacher is to let you know about it and whether it resonates now, later, or maybe never at all, is up to you.
Some of the benefits of Ujjayi breath
- Helps down-regulate the nervous system (great for allowing deeper stretching)
- Creates a steadier, more focused practice
- Encourages smoother, more mindful movement
- Helps you stay present rather than rushing through postures
- Can build heat in the body (also allows for deeper stretching)
- Gives the mind something to anchor to
So why don’t teachers teach it more often?
Honestly, probably for the same reasons I haven’t taught it very much until now. It takes a bit of time, it can feel awkward, you worry people aren’t enjoying it. It’s easier to move straight into the postures and keep the class flowing. But none of those are good reasons to leave out something that is actually such a central part of the practice.
What did people think?
Some of the comments people shared at the end of class this week were really interesting. Several people said their practice felt steadier and less frantic. Others said their nervous system felt completely reset. Some said they almost forgot about what their bodies were doing because they were so absorbed in the breathing (I’d love to hear any other comments below if you did attend class).
But one comment in particular stayed with me. One lady said that for the first time, she didn’t have the usual feeling of failure about not being able to do every posture. Her mind had been so focused on the breath that the constant self-judgement about the poses had fallen away.
And that comment alone made the whole week of teaching it completely worthwhile 🥰
So we’ll definitely be doing more breath-focused practices in the cabin moving forward. Less worrying about where our hands and feet are, more turning our attention inwards and reminding ourselves that the breath isn’t just something happening during the practice – in many ways, it is the practice.
Practice at home or on a walk
It’s great to practice the breath on a walk in time to the beat of your footsteps eg. breathe in for 4 steps, breathe out for 4 steps (then over time you can work up to 5/6/7/8 breaths even!) And that also means your walk becomes a yoga practice too – the practice is never confined to the mat.
If you missed class this week and would like a really clear explanation of Ujjayi breath, this short video is great. And if you want me to show you the breath next time you’re in the cabin, just grab me before or after class.
Michelle x
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