Tips for matching yoga movements with breathing
Breathing is our life, and without breathing, there will be no signs of life. Putting the sentence in yoga asana is also very accurate. In other words, if you don't breathe well or smoothly, no matter how beautiful the movements are, the effect will be discounted.
Why do you say that? Let me give you an example. If you are doing a reclining movement, your breathing will become difficult because your neck is tight. If you stay in this position for a long time, you will feel unable to breathe and your head will feel a little dizzy. This is a natural reaction to physical discomfort caused by poor breathing.
However, have you noticed that some movements, even if you thought it was difficult, can become a little easier to perform because of the good coordination of breathing and breathing? For example, it will be easier to do it if you can bend forward when you exhale. On the contrary, if you inhale or hold your breath and do the same, you will feel like you are stuck.
Principles of coordinating breathing and movement
Although I know that breathing must be coordinated with my movements, what should I do to make it smoother? Here are a few simple principles:
1. Exhale by folding your body (bending forward).
2. It is better to inhale by opening your chest (represented by leaning back).
3. Torsion movements are also done by exhaling out.
4. Don't do anything when holding your breath briefly.
However, yoga does not only have a single pause pose, but also includes preparation and departure poses, so breathing and spitting are done in one go. For example: when doing a forward bend, inhale first to lengthen the spine and open the chest (preparation stance), exhale and bend forward. You can stay here and do a few breaths and ventilation, and wait until you want to go up and return to your original standing posture (leave stance), use inhale to cooperate. This set is the complete forward bend, and the whole suction and exhalation work well. Another important point is that if we stay in a certain place, we must never hold our breath. We must breathe smoothly, and we can let our body work deeper by exhaling. Take the twist pose as an example. We stop with our hands and feet stuck, and after turning our body back, we use natural breathing. But when we exhale, we can turn our abdomen tighter, open our chest a little more, and inhale. Stay in place, just stretch our back. In this way, you can turn your body back more when you exhale several times.
Why can I do it deeper when I exhale?
That's because when we exhale, our bodies can relax, so we can do more when we exhale. A sharp-eyed friend who adheres to the principle of nature may find that I mentioned that it is better to inhale when leaning back, but when I answered similar questions from netizens, I said,"Inhale and do a preparatory gesture to expand your chest and lengthen your spine. When exhaling, lean back and then stop in place and breathe naturally. Doesn't this contradict the principle I mentioned? In fact, I considered that if you lean back when inhaling, many people will easily shrug their shoulders, which will not be conducive to smooth breathing (you can try it), so I suggested that it is better to lean back when exhaling. In other words, the four breathing principles I have mentioned above must be natural breathing with smooth breathing as the highest principle. Don't memorize these principles, which will make your movements difficult. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)