The sound of Pranayama Breathing

Hi Martina

Thank you so much for your excitement about Hot Yoga MasterClass!!! Firstly if English is not your first language IT DOESN’T SHOW. Your English is beautiful. I do know however what you mean, the nuances of a second language may not be as easily or as instantly understood.

The hairdryer noise is a great description of the EXHALE. I know others like the term Darth Vader breathing. 😆

Just for the benefit of the people who have not yet seen the video Effective breathing in hot yoga I mention that you don’t need to make a singing or buzzing noise in the back of your throat.

But you do need a constriction of your throat to take advantage of a particular scientific principle that WILL help deepen your breath. There are diagrams in the video that explain this principle. In my experience I had to stop using my larynx and find a better way because my throat felt itchy and irritated often causing me to cough or stop my Pranayama exercise. This is when I started using proper Ujjayi breathing principles also described in the video.

The constriction of the throat doesn’t happen at the larynx it occurs higher up more accurately at the back of the mouth, or the top of the throat. So if you make noise through the larynx you are really just using energy that you could be using to deepen your breath. The noise you create is one of rushing air or that lovely sound of the sea.

I guess you could say it is like normal breathing but stronger – but in order to make it stronger you have to do something with your throat, and that is, constrict it!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂