Breath is an important part of a yoga practice, and is getting more and more publicity in physical health care and mental health care. I came across the term “disciplined breath” in a meditation book, in reference to ujjayi breath in particular, but it got me thinking about how profoundly simple this can be in a yoga practice, and outside of a yoga practice.
A disciplined breath is subtle breath control, more for mind than physical well-being. Without the fanciness of a pranayama practice, I see it as simply applying some sort of discipline to your breath and marveling at yourself for deciding to do it, following through and, in a small way, building confidence. It focuses you, it gives you just an element of control in a dicey situation, it practices mind-over-matter in simple terms.
A disciplined breath can be any one or more of the following:
1) decide intentionally if nasal-breath only, or nasal-inhale + mouth-exhale and shift your breath accordingly, and/or
2) slow the breath, and/or
3) even-out or decide to elongate one of exhale/inhale, and/or
4) apply ujjayi breath, the audible breath.
In practice, try this in a held tree pose or another balance—to calm, to take back some of that control when, in reality, balance can somedays feel quite out-of-control. Practice this calm when foot keeps falling and you adjust to a simpler balance, when frustration is creeping up. Or practice when you are nailing-it, and want to add-in another juicy yoga element.
In every day, you can apply just one, or more, of the breath control options when, once again, things are quite out of your control. When something is falling apart, when frustration is creeping up. Or practice when you are feeling great-vibes, and you want to really take-pause. This is another variation of “take a deep breath”, or “count to ten”; it all helps and serves the same purpose, pick from the menu.