Breathing.. is a hot topic in yoga. Pranayama is the fourth limb of eight-limbed path (Ashtanga) in Patanjali’s yoga sutra. Pranayama itself can be translated as “extension of the lifeforce” with prana referring to the life force and ayama referring to lengthening or extending.
There are different forms of breathing, with different purposes, but all of these are related to the concept of gaining control over the breathing and so connecting the mind and feelings with breathing. Keeping control over your breath can help enormously when in a posture but keeping control over the breath can help just as much off the mat.
How does it feel to get stuck in traffic or on a slow-moving bus when you have a meeting to get to? Those moments give rise to ideal opportunities in which to bring your attention to your breathing and to focus on steadying your breath, equalising your in- and your out-breath, perhaps counting as you inhale and then exhale.
Another short breathing exercise for when you start your yoga practice but also maybe when you get home at the end of a busy day is to simply lie down or take a comfortable seated pose, then exhale deeply and – as you do this – imagine that you are blowing away any stress or anger that you have accumulated during your day. As you breathe in, imagine you are breathing in new energy, new strength, rejuvenating your life force.
It can also be interesting to add a visualisation to this and imagine that you are breathing out black or grey clouds and then breathing in clear air and light.
Try doing this for either a fixed number of breaths or even for a few minutes and see you feel!