Excerpts from 'Refining the Breath':

An Initial Practice of Ujjayi Pranayama

Ujjayi breathing is the foundation of pranayama, and is practice in nearly every form of pranayama. Ujjayi itself literally means 'victoriously uprising,' which refers to the expansion and movement upward of the energy of the breath -- the prana -- through the central channel of the body (located just in front of the spine) known as the 'sushumna nadi.' (for more on the 'nadis' see p. 46)

Ujjayi breathing has two distinctive characteristics:

1. the Ujjayi 'sound'

2. the effort to maintain evenness of flow of breath from beginning to end of each breath -- both on the inhalation and exhalation.

The Ujjayi sound is made by toning the throat and epiglottis -- the vocal diaphragm -- as if you were whispering the sound of 'haaaa' in the throat -- a breathy sound like the one made when you fog a mirror with your breath. The purpose of this is to tune you into the sound and sensation of the breath, putting you in immediate touch with the quality and texture of your breath.

The breathing itself is done through the nose on both the inbreath and outbreath. This warms and filters the air, and further allows you to delicately regulate the breath, making it smooth and even to produce a calming and relaxing effect that ultimately draws you into meditation. In more esoteric terms, the Ujjayi breath enhances your ability to assimilate the prana from the air, generating greater pranic energy within your body. With a subtle, relaxed practice of Ujjayi breath you can feel soothing currents of energy moving through your head, along your spine and throughout your body.

Principles of Ujjayi Breathing

In Ujjayi breathing, you breathe into the three parts of the torso as you do in the Full Yogic Breath; but the emphasis is upon regulating your breath to maintain an evenness of flow in which the quantity of air inhaled and exhaled is constant through each increment of time.

Normally our breath begins fast and then tapers off toward the top of the inhalation or bottom of the exhalation. The Ujjayi breath, on the other hand, is continuous and without fluctuation; it feels steady, like pulling silk through your fingertips, and focuses your attention like a laser beam so that you're not disturbed or distracted by the fluctuations of your mind. The clear, steady quality of the Ujjayi breath is described in the yoga tradition as being like a steady, unbroken flow of light clear oil or ghee (clarified butter), so steady that although in motion, it seems motionless.

Ujjayi breathing can be practiced either reclining or in a sitting position. Although it is an even more active and effortful form than the Full Yogic Breath, requiring greater attention and refinement in the actions of breathing, your attitude or intention is to make yourself fully receptive to the breath; with each breath, you're not 'taking' a breath, but rather receiving it -- and appreciating it fully, as if taking in the fine and delicate fragrance of a flower.

Begin with a relaxed and relaxing exhalation, emptying yourself to receive the breath with full consciousness and appreciation. Breathing through your nose, tone the back of your throat as you begin to inhale to begin the Ujjayi sound. Fill yourself with the breath just as you do with the Full Yogic Breath, and attend to making the pace, texture and depth of your breath absolutely constant and even throughout each moment of the inbreath and outbreath. Initially make the inbreath as deep and the outbreath as long as is comfortable to you without producing any strain. Let your outbreath be a bit longer than your inbreath so that your practice will be soothing and relaxing.

Throughout your practice:

- Relax your mind, your eyes, your nostrils and the root of your tongue, keeping all of these organs of action soft, passive and receptive.

- Gently tone or firm your lower abdomen (below your navel); your lower abdomen should be supple enough to move with the breath, but not so soft that the breath 'drops' into your lower belly, distending it. A gentle muscular tone encourages the breath to expand and draw upwards through the action of the diaphragm in the solar plexus, chest and so on. This marks an important distinction between Ujjayi breathing and 'belly breathing,' and is a quality of Ujjayi breathing that is developed through a practice of the bandhas. (for more on the bandhas on p. 33)

- Fill your lungs from bottom to top, and fill the back body (the diaphragm at the area of the kidneys) before the front. This maximizes the inbreath, centers your body in a steady posture, and fosters the experience of expansiveness, quiet and inward focus.

- With each inhalation or exhalation, the volume of air breathed over each increment of time is the same throughout the entire breath. The duration of the outbreath at first may be slightly longer than the inbreath, but the rate of flow remains steady throughout each inbreath or outbreath.

- Regulating the pace of each breath requires greater restraint at the beginning of each breath because we tend to move more quickly at the beginning. By the same token, this demands greater effort toward the end of each breath -- when we tend to slow down -- especially at the top of the inhalation.

- Keep the sound of both the exhalation and inhalation steady and even from beginning to end, and loud enough for you to hear refinements in your breath -- but not so loud as to cause tension or pressure in your throat or head.

- A pause naturally occurs at the top of each inhalation and the bottom of each exhalation. Allow that pause to happen, and enjoy it the quietness and emptiness of that moment of peace.

Kumbhak

'Kumbhak' is a Sanskrit word that describes the natural retention of the breath. The word literally means 'empty pot.' It describes a moment of suspension of the breath in which the prana pauses, whether inside the body or out, before 'turning around' and continuing its movement as the breath.

The 'place' where the breath pauses is known as the dvadashanta;' the inner dvadashanta is located in the heart, measured twelve finger-breadths from the tip of the nose; the outer dvadashanta is located twelve finger-breadths beyond the tip of your nose in front of you. When the breath pauses in each of these two spaces, the activity of prana -- and thus the mind -- ceases for a moment, and your breath may seem to have vanished.

The breath is retained on the inhalation, not by a hard closing of the throat or 'holding' of the breath, but rather by making of yourself a spacious and empty vessel for the breath, in which the breath is quiet, suspended and motionless, like air in an empty pot. When Kumbhak takes place at the top of the inhalation, your body is able to absorb the energy of the breath, letting it 'percolate' inside, while giving you an experience of your awareness as strongly indrawn and concentrated within. At the bottom of the outbreath, you can also experience the breath pausing outside of you before coming back in, giving you an experience of emptiness, silence and expanded awareness.

This moment of Kumbhak is the reward for your practice of pranayama, and is the ultimate object of your focus or attention -- so don't miss it by being overly absorbed in technique! In this moment when the activities of your mind are suspended along with your breath, your mind naturally enters a state of meditation, and in that inner stillness you lose the sense of duality, of self and other. As you become keenly interested in this experience, you become established in your own natural inner silence. This silence is the unchanging, abiding background to the breath, and is an experience of your own innermost nature as the Witness of the mind. Once you taste the silence and fullness of Kumbhak, you gradually come to be established in that experience throughout the process of breathing, and achieve a state of equipoise in your meditation that is not disturbed by the fluctuations of your mind...