9 -> Yogawheel

I am totally in love with the yogawheel.

I teach yogaflow classes with the wheel, using it as a prop, to massage your body, to relax, to restore, to open the front and the side body, to assist in inversions and to shape up your core.

Having a yogawheel at home is also amazing, to massage your spine or to open shoulders and chest.

What more can the yogawheel give you =>

*The yoga wheel will immediately stretch your entire front & side body, hip flexors, abdomen, chest, and shoulders. It’s a serious heart opener!

*It will massage the entire length of your spine in a safe (it gives a lot of support) but deep way.

*The wheel helps yoga practitioners move deeper into postures, specifically heart opening postures like backbends and forearm balances.

* The magic wheel will give you the best support in deep backbends. A backbent will not be scary anymore. 

*You can also use the wheel to access deeper variations of backbends in poses like forearm balance or Pincha Mayurasana -> my favorite asana. Thanks to the BIG support from the yogawheel you will feel safer and you will have much more balance.

Note =>  This is an advanced posture that should be practiced with caution and experience – please be safe!

*Aside from the stretching and heart opening aspects, the wheel can also double as a flexibility tool. Let's "roll" yourself deeper in your stretches (breathing & moving slowly). 

*Because you always need to look for balance, you can use the wheel to strengthen your core. There are a lot of funny ways to make that core stronger, using the wheel!

*And lastly, the yoga wheel can help challenge and strengthen your balance. 

Note => It is not easy so please try with care! :-) 

If you are interested => Look at my webshop to order one or let me know if you have questions.

000 HAVE FUN OOO :-)

Yin Yang Yogawheel Workshop at Bocadero.

DEEPER VERSION OF THE CAMEL POSE.

RELAXED VERSION OF A LOVELY HEARTOPENER.

SIDE PLANK => TRY TO LIFT ON LEG & GIVE THE SIDES OF YOUR LEGS A YOGAWHEEL-MASSAGE.

I LOVE THIS ONE :-) ... WATCH YOUR CHIN!!!

LOOK AT MY SUPER DAD!!! HE REALLY ROCKS!!!

HOW BEAUTIFUL CAN A GROUP OF YOGI'S BE! :-)

8 -> Ujjayi breath

It took me 5 years of practice before i thought i could do the ujjayi breathing... And another few years of practicing to control my breath in my yoga practice. It is hard and you have to practice the ujjayi breath not only on your mat, but also on the toilet, in your car, in bed,... to really get everything in control.

The first time i was able to control my breath in my full ashtanga practice i felt so good, so energized, so calm and so in balance. 

Now, after years and years of practice i know that, because of my controlled breath, i am a better person, a nicer teacher and so much more in balance than i ever used to be.

I use the words of ekhartyoga because her english is so much better. :-)

 

Defining moments

In simple terms Ujjayi breath is a 'breath regulating technique where the inhale and exhale are the same’. Below are the Sanskrit terms key to Ujjayi breathing:

Ujjayi: Victory over

Pranayama: 

• Prana – life force, breath; 

• Yama – control, restraint, regulation

• (opposite: ayama* – lack of control, restraint or regulation - the prefix “a” negates the following word)

Sama Vritti: 

• Sama – same; 

• Vritti – whirlings, fluctuations, modifications

Ujjayi breath and the nervous system

From our very first breath until our final exhale we are, without any deliberate effort, continuously breathed by our Autonomic Nervous system (ANS). Unlike other ANS actions in the body (like pupil dilation) we are able to take voluntary control over our breathing and thus, critically, can influence our Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous system. 

When we breathe Ujjayi breath we transform the automatic into the deliberate and thereby become the master of our internal landscape; we can positively affect how we feel by regulating the length, air volume and sound of our inhales and exhales.

Ujjayi Pranayama is another tool to add to our box, another practice which encourages the mind to rest its awareness on the present moment, and identify with our immediate experience.

Yoga is a practice of integration and deliberate identification. Ujjayi Pranayama is another tool to add to our box, another practice which encourages the mind to rest its awareness on the present moment, and identify with our immediate experience. This process of mindfulness can be one of our biggest conquests. Mastery of the conscious mind. We become absorbed as we synchronise our movement with our breath. Our level of agitation settles, the fluctuations of our mind (chitta vritti) decelerate and for glimpses of a moment we are 'all in'. As we learn to regulate the gross body through different yogic practices including pranayama, we can access and influence our subtle bodies.

Alchemy of Breath

Many of us never learned Ujjayi breath formally before rocking up to class, rolling out our mats and being instructed to use the breath throughout our practice. We heard fellow students around us making a funny noise and felt slightly awkward when trying to copy them, feeling sure that we would get it wrong, which would expose us as newbies and imposters – oh the shame!

It is not uncommon to feel self-conscious when first making sound with breath, and then you pluck up the courage to try and a big snorting sound comes out. Like all things Yoga it takes practice and a relinquishment of self-identified inhibition - which also takes practice!

Like all things Yoga, Ujjayi breath takes practice and a relinquishment of self-identified inhibition (which also takes practice!)...but it's a key that unlocks many doors and can transform your practice.

 

The mechanics of Ujjayi breath

With Ujjayi breath you breathe in and out of the nose with the lips sealed - no breath passes the lips. This also serves to build heat in the body. The lips gently close and although the breath is passing through the nostrils the emphasis is in your throat.

You create a constriction in the throat as if breathing in and out of a thin straw. Whilst maintaining a closed mouth position be mindful of held tension in the teeth, jaw, throat and/or neck – let it go.  You can feel the breath stroke the back of your throat as you inhale and exhale. This comes hand in hand with the audibility of the breath, compared often to the sound of waves, Darth Vader and my husband in deep sleep. The tone, the audibility is smooth and steady, continuous uninterrupted cycles of inhales and exhales, often you cannot tell the difference in sound between the exchange of in and out breath cycles.

You can feel the breath stroke the back of your throat as you inhale and exhale...the tone, the audibility is smooth and steady, continuous uninterrupted cycles of inhales and exhales...

Sama Vritti

Along with the even tone of breath, the length of the breath is the same on the inhale as it is on the exhale. You complete a full in-breath within the same time as you complete your out-breath. Using a metronome is a brilliant practice, if you are a musician you might have one already but if not there are some great online/phone applications that I've used with my students before. Set your metronome at 75 bpm, inhale for 4 beats, exhale for 4. An app that accents/ punctuates the beginning of each new cycle of breath is preferable.

With an even tone and length of breath, the last refinement is to breathe fully, deeply and completely (air volume of breath). Within each cycle you spend the entire inhale filling up and entire exhale releasing breath – at no point do you hold the breath - seamless and smooth, try not let the breath run out. 

A Beginners' Guide

I tend to instruct students who are beginners to breathe with their mouths open to get used to the physical sensation at their throats and sound of breath.

• Sit in a comfortable seat, where your sit bones are grounded and bearing even weight on both sides. Knees no higher than hips. Stacking head over neck, neck over shoulders, 4 corners of ribs stacking 4 corners of hips. Perceive equal length in both sides of your body, spine feels lifted and tall. Chin is parallel to earth.
• Rest one hand on your lap/ thigh, Palm facing up or down and the other hand at the same height and in front of your mouth, Palm facing towards you.
• With your mouth open exhale into your palm, imagining you are steaming up a mirror/ glass and feeling the warm breath on your palm. On your next inhale keep the hand where it is, breathe in making that same sound. Practice this for up to 10 cycles (4 count in, 4 count out, x10). Notice if you find the inhale or exhale more difficult.
• When you feel comfortable here move on to closing your mouth on the inhale but opening mouth on the exhale. See if you can maintain the sound even with the lips are sealed. Next inhale with mouth open and exhale with mouth closed, keeping sensation in your throat and the sound of breath the same. Do each for 5-10 cycles.
• When you feel you want to move on from here, relax your hand and begin Ujjayi Pranayama. You might time yourself with a stopwatch for 2 minutes or chose how many cycles of breath you want to aim for (feel free to use the metronome here).
• Again notice where resistance lies in the breath. Maybe you find the audibility awkward, equalising the volume of breath on both inhale and exhale difficult, or you notice the discrepancy of ease between in-breath and out-breath. Notice where you need to focus and what you need to practice on. I recommend that my students shorten the longer breath to meet the shorter breath if they are unable to stretch the breath evenly on both sides. You don't want to feel out of breath or gasping at any point. There is absolutely NO RETENTION, it's like a continuous sea of waves, no holding, totally fluid and seamless. Equanimous.

When to use Ujjayi breath

You can practice Ujjayi breath any time you wish. You don't have to be on your yoga mat. But if you are on your yoga mat, acknowledge that the breath creates heat in the body. If you are doing a Yin or Restorative yoga class you may not want to add this element of heat in the body. Instead you might want to maintain a soft and fluid breath without sound. There also might be times in your practice where adding heat is inappropriate (e.g some pregnant practitioners find Ujjayi breath too heating to maintain for an entire practice) or where breathing in and out of the nose is impossible (e.g. blocked sinuses). At times like this you might want to keep the intention of Ujjayi breath in mind without practicing it.

When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace – Anonymous

FACT - you cannot hyperventilate or even cry and breathe Ujjayi breath at the same time.

Source = https://www.ekhartyoga.com

Video => Yogic Breathing Exercises - Ujjayi Pranayama with Kino

https://youtu.be/oRb56apRa40

Watch the youtube intro from Kino => I think she is the best yogini in the world! :-)