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YOGIC BREATHING
Yogic breathing combines the previous three techniques. It is used to maximise inhalation and exhalation. Its purpose is to gain control of the breath, correct poor breathing habits and increase oxygen intake.
It may be practised at any time and is especially useful in situations of high stress or anger for calming the nerves. However, while its inclusion in a daily yoga programme will correct and deepen natural breathing patterns, yogic breathing itself should not be performed continually.
Yogic breathing
Sit in a meditation posture or lie in shavasana and relax the whole body. Inhale slowly and deeply, allowing the abdomen to expand fully. Try to breathe so slowly that little or no sound of the breath can be heard. Feel the air reaching into the bottom of the lungs. At the end of abdominal expansion, start to expand the chest outward and upward. When the ribs are fully expanded, inhale a little more until expansion is felt in the upper portion of the lungs around the base of the neck. The shoulders and collar bone should also move up slightly. Some tension will be felt in the neck muscles. The rest of the body should be relaxed. Feel the air filling the upper lobes of the lungs. This completes one inhalation. The whole process should be one continuous movement, each phase of breathing merging into the next without any obvious transition point. There should be no jerks or unnecessary strain. The breathing should be like the swell of the sea. Now start to exhale.
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