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Here are a few beginner yoga breathing exercises

These next couple exercises will get your started, they are a set of 3 and I would advise you to start with the first one for a day they go on to the second on for a day and then the last.

I know you think they are easy, and they are in a way, however it is not about just breathing in and out, it is about being AWARE of our breath and its effects on our body's, this is where the challenge come in. Even if you are aware I can guarantee you that there is always another level to that awareness, so please take your time and try to find it.

Breathing Exercise 1 (Breath from the stomach)

This is the first step to understanding your breath and how to use it. I know we all think we know this already and to a degree we do. However if you follow these 3 exercises then you will see what I mean on how they work together. In other words you will gain more from doing all three then from just skipping down to the 3rd.

1. Lie on you back, on your bed is fine or sofa. Rest your arms and hands to your sides. Now close your eyes
2. Watch your breath (be aware of it without trying to control it). This is hard because when we think of our breath we usually make it go the way we want (not making our stomach come out for example), but just observe you NATURAL breath. Do this for a couple minutes.
3. Now I want to you start to change your breathing. Begin to deepen your breathing, imagine your breath moving in and out, each time in going a little deeper. DO not control you stomach muscles, just let it rise and fall naturally with your breath.
4. Keep your chest still during this exercise; let the breath only move your abdomen. After 20 breaths of the deepening exercise relax and return your breath to normal. Open your eyes and watch your breathing again for a couple minutes without trying to control it again.

Breathing Exercise 2 (Breath from the Chest)

This should be very easy for almost everyone out there since 90% of us out there are chest breathers anyway. But this is part of how to develop your Pranayama breathing so here it is.

1. Lie on you back, on your bed is fine or sofa. Rest your arms and hands to your sides. Now close your eyes
2. Watch your breathing same as above (be aware of it without trying to control it). As you do this, observe the NATURAL motion of your chest. Do this for a couple minutes.
3. As with exercise 1 we are going to now deepen your breath. The difference here is as you breath in I want you to expand your rib cage. As for the abdomen, for this exercise I want you to keep it as still as you can.
4. Do this like the first exercise for about 20 full breaths then relax and observe your natural breathing again for a couple minutes (make a not of what you observe, for example was your natural breathing different after this exercise then the first??? You will see It is very easy to change your natural breathing habits.

Breathing Exercise 3 (Yoga Breathing)

Now we will take what we have already done in the first 2 exercises and put it all together for your first full yoga breathing exercise. Be sure to do the first 2 exercises, it will improve the effectiveness of this full yoga breathing exercise.

For this you will put together what we have been doing above.

1. On inhalation you will first fill the abdomen like in exercise 1 then continue to fill the chest like in exercise 2.
2. On Exhalation you will first release the breath from your chest and as it begins to empty then release the breath from the abdomen. Breath all the way out till the abdomen draws inward.

I would like to Thank Kru Nui for teaching me this very basic yoga breathing exercise. There will be more breathing exercises coming soon to this section. Please sign up for our Newsletter and RSS feed to be informed of all additions to the site.

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