Course to Learn More about the Breath in Life, Yoga and Pranayama
Introduction to Pranayama Workshop
Date: To be confirmed
Time: To be confirmed
Location: Tula
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Four-Week Pranayama and Breathing in Yoga Course
Date: To be confirmed
Time: To be confirmed
Location: Tula
Investment: €150
"Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body." - Thich Nhat Hanh
Breath awareness in yoga is one of the key ingredients of all yoga practice, and what makes yoga different to other forms of physical exercise.
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This course focuses on three elements of breathing: (1) in everyday life; (2) within your yoga practice and; (3) pranayama, formal breathing exercises.
You don't need to have prior experience in pranayama to join, just an interest in breathing and yoga.
Our Yoga and Mindfulness teacher Irene will teach you techniques to become more aware of your breath in everyday life, how to link your breath to movement and stillness in your yoga practice, and develop your own personalised pranayama sequence for home practice.
What Will You Learn in the Breath in Life, Yoga and Pranayama Course?
The course will be split into four 2,5-hour sessions where we will cover some theory, but mostly focus on practical and hands-on practices. Each session will include breath awareness, movement with the breath and breathing techniques, progressively building on your understanding and practice each week.
(1) Breathing in Everyday Life
We will take the time for you to explore and get familiar with your natural breath. Learning to observe and experience the finer details of your breath and how this can vary from one day to the next.
You will learn about different commonly occurring breathing patterns, how these can be affected by your emotions, and how to recognize them through short breathing inquiries.
We will introduce and work with the three-stage breathing technique to bring awareness to the breath in different areas of the body. We will also cover the anatomy related to breathing.
You will learn which tools you can use to unlock your natural full breath and how you can use your breath to help deal with difficult situations and emotions.
(2) Breathing in Yoga
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You will learn how to bring more awareness to your breath within your yoga practice.
There will be the opportunity to focus on linking each movement in yoga to your breath.
We will also explore why some specific movements in yoga are guided to take place on an inhale and others on an exhale.
You will also learn about the importance of breathing to get the most benefits out of static yoga poses.
We will experiment with different types of yoga poses, and experience how easy or challenging it is to breath freely in these poses.
(3) Pranayama, Formal Breathing Exercises
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After creating a steady foundation for the natural breath in stillness and movement, we will deep dive into the most common and effective pranayama techniques.
All of these techniques are accessible for beginners and can be made progressively more challenging as your breath capacity increases.
You will learn a series of pranayama practices and develop your own personalised sequence for home practice.
We will be covering the following breathing practices:
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Ujjayi, Victorious breath
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Sama Vritti, Equal counted breathing
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Viloma, Building a series of pauses between each inhale and exhale
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Nadi Shodhana, Alternate nostril breathing
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Kapalabati, Cleansing breathing technique
Materials
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Handout with theory and main concepts covered during the course
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Practice sheet of breath inquiries, yoga poses and pranayamas covered during the course
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Book recommendation: The Breathing Book, Donna Farhi. We will be covering some of the key concepts covered in this book during the course. You don’t necessarily have to read this this book before the course, but it can be a helpful reference for those interested.
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Metronome free app to help count during pranayama practice