What are the types of breathing in yoga

This discipline has become popular due to the great benefits it provides to our body and mind.

Yoga arose to develop the spiritual consciousness of the human being . Thus, the soul is in a state of peace and harmony. However, we must also highlight its advantages on a physical level.

There are different modalities and all of them improve our flexibility, delay the aging of the body and even help us strengthen our muscles .

Types of breathing in Yoga

Before practicing this activity, you should know that breathing plays a fundamental role in yoga.

Pranayama is the set of techniques that exist within yoga . The term "Prana" refers to "air" and "yama" means "control". Said techniques make it possible to control the entry and exit of air .

In general, we can say that we differentiate between 3 types of breathing:

1. Belly breathing

This type of breathing is what we usually do normally. As you inhale air, the lower part of the lungs fills, the diaphragm descends, and the abdomen swells.

The key to abdominal breathing is to control the entry and exit of air to prevent the process from occurring in an accelerated manner.

2. Chest breathing

The ribcage expands and the thorax swells. This is because in this case the air does not pass through the abdominal area.

Clavicular breathing

It occurs when the lungs fill with air. If you want to carry out this type of breathing, you have to raise the clavicles when taking a breath. Normally, it is considered the least efficient of the three.

Benefits of maintaining good breathing in yoga

The main benefits of correct yoga breathing are:

  • There is an increase in lung capacity.
  • It provides us with a state of calm and peace of mind.
  • Our body will recover more efficiently.
  • Increases resistance.
  • Fight high blood pressure.
  • Improve concentration.
  • It intervenes positively in the digestion processes.

Breathing exercises

We provide several breathing exercises for you to put into practice:

bhamari

This pranayama will give you greater calm. To do so, follow the steps below:

  • Cover your ears and close your eyes.
  • Inhale the air deeply.
  • Release the air little by little through the nose.
  • Repeat the sequence 3 to 5 times.

kapalabhati

Its purpose is to clean the nasal passages:

  • Sit on a mat.
  • Exhale all the air from the lungs.
  • Begin to inhale gradually.
  • Exhale through the nose again. At the same time, close your mouth and tighten your stomach.

full yogic breathing

This exercise consists of combining the 3 types of breathing that we have mentioned before: abdominal, thoracic and clavicular. For it:

  • Place your hand below your belly button and breathe in to feel the air entering your abdomen. Hold it for a few seconds and exhale.
  • Next, perform chest breathing preventing the air from passing through the abdomen.
  • Finally, practice clavicular breathing by raising the clavicles.

Go ahead and try each of these exercises to learn the types of breathing in yoga. Also, don't forget to use one of our sports outfits to feel completely comfortable during the practice of this activity.