Hot Yoga Pose Forums > Chapter: Pranayama
If you don't breathe, you pass out! But seriously, setting up the breathing right at the beginning, ensures that all your students have a beautiful and safe class.
My question is actually about the elbow tips. How do I get them to frame my face? They seem to only get so high, then stop. Is there some musculature that's stopping them? Like not pulling my shoulders down far enough?
KristinaS
opposite actually - if you pull your shoulders down too hard your elbows go down with it - they will naturally rise when you lift your arms. Tight shoulders, lats, and upper back muscles will keep your elbows down, it's very common. Only people with super flexible shoulders will get their forearms to actually frame the face. Instead of pulling your shoulders down, think of relaxing your shoulder blades down and away from each other.
CarlyM
That's good to know - because I definitely notice that when I drop my shoulders, my elbow height drops tremendously as a result. I'll try to think of it as should blades down and away.
Also - I'm still a little confused about the wrist placement. I know it's called for in class to remove the bend in the wrists while pulling the elbows up - but if there's any degree of height difference between the elbows and hands, aren't the wrists where that bend/connection happens? This wasn't really described in the MasterClass book....
Melina
Melina, not to remove the bend from the wrists.... Of course you're right the wrists are what allow that bend... What we say is to remove the roundedness of the hands under the chin by pulling the elbows til you get a straight line from elbows to wrists.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I've wondered about the shoulders and wrists also. I've been intentionally pulling my shoulders down instead of simply relaxing them and can feel the tension. Thanks, Carly!
I somehow grabbed on to the concept that the wrists should remain straight and parallel to the floor. But, the bend is ok, as long as palms remain parallel?
The reading helped me think more about legs and feet as well. I've noticed that it is
much easier to keep my legs locked on the exhale and read that for new students it isn't possible or energetically realistic to the lock legs 100% of the time.
I'm going to try to be more mindful of my foot changing on the inhale and exhale in Pranayama--from firm grounding to leaning weight into the heels and even allowing the toes up with the balls still in contact with the floor. Good to know that this strengthens and tones the muscles in front of the body.
Mallory Maier
I personally enjoy pulling my shoulders down and can't do it often enough! But I get that it can also feel wonderful to relax the shoulders down in order to let the elbows rise higher. As long as your shoulders dont end up around your ears, you're doing fine.
Locking the legs in Pranayama was an AHA moment for me, Aimee. For me, it was pressing together the inner edges of the ankle bones that did it: this locked my thighs in a way that made my legs feel strong and light and put the energy into my upper body so I could really lift my ribcage and upper body and feel my lungs expand.
It's interesting how using the legs, feet and shoulders are all parts of taking an expansive breath.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
In the beginning I was very wobbly during Pranayama. Reading the chapter has made me think about my stance and what I am doing during the posture. My hope is that one day I can get to the picture on page 61, forearms framing the face with little to no space between the two. I have seen great improvement from class to class and still no matter how many classes I do feel that my shoulders get quite a workout. Relaxing my shoulders down has helped a great deal, kind of a rolling back and away effect. Also I find that for me standing with my feet together, ankle bones touching just doesn't work. I do not feel stable at all in my feet or ankles and I just wobble. I have to stand a 1/2"-1" apart and not let the ankles touch. Then I can pull up in my legs and obtain a stable base.
GabbyL
Feet together, inner edges of toes and inner edges of heels pressing, ankle bones touching, is more than a stable base: it is the beginning of the lightness you can feel when properly locked in this pose. From the base you also contract/pull up the thighs muscles and you will no longer feel ANY pressure in the legs - that's because the right lock will create a faster, fuller blood-pump up and down the legs rather than blood fighting the pull of gravity into the lower legs. When the blood is pumping, that is when the wobbling stops for good. Let me guide you though this in your next class. Toes and heels touching is the key
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I have never tried to get ankle bones touching but it's definitely something I will try. One thing I never gave much thought to was where my eyes go and this statement about moving them slowly backward as opposed to just looking back. I don't know what I do so I realize that I am not consciously aware of what my eyes are doing so again it's something I am going to focus on next time in pranayama.
HeatherS
Yes, eyes down the back wall in Pranayama will help with maximum heck release Heather...just dont do a backbend; keep the upper back straight and lifting and just let the EYES go way down the back wall. Feel that!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
On the pages describing the many errors new students often make, a few rang true for me. The head jerking, not moving smoothly forward and back, I remember that happening and not knowing why. A result of not tracing along the wall with the eyes! I have also had trouble with foot placement now and then. My feet are boney so I cant get them completely touching at the heel. Once in a while that causes me to sort of rock or sway a little, rather than have a solid base.
KimA
While I find that the instructions in the book are very good, I still have a challenge with fitting my wrists, forearms and elbows together in front of my well endowed anatomy. Watching Carly finish the exhale gave me the idea of concentrating on bringing the shoulder blades down. I find that lifting up at the ribs actually gives me so much more space to work with.
Marguerite
Ample anatomy (lucky gal - I used to have this!) boney feet, these are things you will feel and hear from your own mind and from the mouths of students too - these are what I call "arguments for your limitations" - and no one wins that argument. So let it go. Don't engage the Peanut Gallery anymore. No longer notice your bunions and bruises and simply follow the pose instructions to the best of your ability on every given day.
And, one fine day, those limitations will lose the argument for good.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I have recorded my Pranayama Standing Deep Breathing this week and the word that came to my mind while I was recording it is Responsibility. I am responsible for every student in my class because they trust me.
Breathing is living - another thought that came to me this week. Pranayama sets you up for a beautiful practice. Ayama of Prana - Regulation of Prana, forever improvable :). You life depends on breathing,therefore, be very attentive to the process, draw air in deeply and create the life and energy you want finding boundless reserve within yourself. You are in charge of it. Inhale, loud ha sound, shoulders down, stomach in, thigh muscles up, tail bone down, inhale more, exhale, head back, mouth open, eyes open, loud ha sound, exhale all the staler of the day, of the past, of anything that does not serve your well being any more out, be thirsty for your next breath, there is a happy life ahead of you - Inhale.....
Alfia
Breathing is poetry, yes Alfia? Nicely said
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I like the concept of being thirsty for your next breath.....Its only in the last year or so that I've really started to be thirsty for water....before that all I drank was soda and if I wanted to be healthy a Snapple....
It wasn't until I began practicing Hot Yoga on a semi-regular basis that I really began to crave water throughout the day. Now I can't start my day without it and need those 8 glasses per day I was told I needed growing up....
In the Pranayama description it talks about "Being thirsty for your breath" and as of lately especially since I have been more aware of my breathing in class, I have become super aware of my breaths during the day...
When I feel frustrated with a situation or have to deal with some kind of situation its the deep inhale and exhale that starts my process to deal with it and its the deep inhale and exhale that gets me through it....
I haven't done the pose yet but I'm sure at one point in the middle of class that I'm teaching or in the middle of Guest Services at Grounds I will stop whatever I'm doing put my knuckles under my chin and lift my elbows....
Mark
Pranayama Breathing, the first pose of the series. I should be the "freshest" in this pose, right? Then why is it that EVERY TIME I do it i find myself yawning? Somethings 2 or 3 times! I even try the count of six in my head to distract the yawn and keep me forcused but it still happens!
When fingers are interlaced and knuckles under the chin are the wrist forearms and elblows suppose to be pressed together prior to the inhale?
What a great way to say it and help make an adjustment by "Walking the eyes back" instead of tilting the head as i sometimes have a tendency to back bend! Im going to think about this next class!
TinaA
Mark, I too like the way Gabrielle puts it: "You are a completely empty cup and you are so thirsty for your next breath you can hardly wait another moment."
Ayana of Prama is a 'warm-up', but it's freakin' tough. You can't sit pretty through these cycles. You must engage all of your body, every last cell that makes tup the tissues of your lungs, you must expand your diaphragm beyond expansion, you must lift and find height and stay grounded and lengthen and push...and you must be THIRSTY...so thirsty you can hardly wait another moment for air.
It's intense!
Grace
I brought my brother to class once - and today, when he walked into my apartment to eat dinner, he say my Master Book lying out on the table. "Oh man," he points to the image of Pranayama, "I remember that one. I hated that one!"
"Why?" I asked him.
"Because it sucks and I can't do it. And everyone breathes super loud and it's annoying."
Oh, to be 20 again. I explain to him the forceful nature of each breath, and why this breathing technique/warm-up is so wonderful. Maybe he got it, maybe he didn't...time will tell. But I found the readings in both the Hot Yoga Master Class and the Yoga eBook shed much needed light and love on this Breathing Regulator for me.
Pranayama is the converter that I go through no matter what state I am in when I enter class. It can be tough. So tough! It requires force, and eyes opened, a lengthened spine, an active stretching between chin and hands...and yet Pranayama's focus is to loosen, stretch, and gently expand the lungs. A push and a pull, just like life.
The readings are incredible informative. I especially like reading about the spine and traction during the inhales and exhales. Tucking the tailbone is so important! Tightening the thighs and shifting the weight into the heels during the exhale keeps the spine straight, then an inhale brings the feet back to a grounded, well-spaced footprint, an active relationship between the chin and the hands, elbows high, eyes walking back to meeting themselves in the mirror...traction in the straight spine again. What a beautiful lengthening and relaxing of the body, forceful exhalation of all stale air stuck in the lungs...forceful exhalation of all unnecessary thoughts and distractions...inhalation of the NOW, being there in class, being one thread in the woven fabric of the room, a beautiful tapestry, breathing all in together.
Grace
i, like grace's brother hated pranayama too. and for the same reasons...a sore neck and getting grossed out by the guy behind you stinky breath. but something changed in the just the first couple of classes. i noticed i could let go of all my worries and distractions and fall into the rythm of the breath like waves crashing on the beach. all i had to do was breathe, and match my body movements to the direction of the instructor.
now when i do my pranayama breathing i notice that in the release and savasana i have the habit of jiggling my neck and not letting savasana heal the tightness. this has been a hard habit to break, but following gabrielle's instructions to just roll shoulders down and back with palms faced forward has been noticeably more healing then shaking my head left to right, up and down.
the last couple of months i have been squeezing my body more in the beginning of the exercise. it has helped me not go into a back bend as much and has made me crave each inhale more and more. but sometimes i want the breath to be longer, so i can sip in or exhale more air even though it has been a count of 6. gabrielle talks of her 1st teacher with a 10 sec. in, 10 sec. out cycle. she didnt know anything different bc it was her first teacher, but it makes think how i would have felt i had that teacher as my first. not sure if i could have handled it then, but i know now the importance of each cycle to go to your max.
danielle bumber
Tina: yawning is just the asking for more oxygen. It's almost involuntary but try to control it by taking deeper pranayama breaths in
Yes to wrists, forearms and elbows presses together when you're getting ready for your next inhale
And yes to walking the eyes down the back wall- this will give you deeper neck release without the backbend!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Yes Grace pranayama is a tapestry of many threads... The beauty is that each thread is contained in your script which is why memorizing it word for word is so vital: you never know when you may leave out the one thread the holds it all together
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Danielle a count of 6 is where most people can feel an initial stretch of their lung capacity- for some it may create so much new oxygen intake as to cause dizziness. Later you will find your capacity at 10, 12, 15.. Some yogis can go a full minute. Then the count of 6 is not lung capacity for you but a rhythm of breathing that becomes an almost dance like flow in pranayama... And exercising your new lung capacity is left for savasana
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I like this idea that it becomes a rhythm of breathing. When I first started hot yoga, I struggled with the 6 seconds, but now I long for the long breaths. These breaths (although this should not be the case) are the best breaths I take all day. After the first breath or two, the six seconds seems to just help me focus on a rhythm for breathing. It becomes natural. It is almost like a realization that it feels great and it is pushing out all the stress from the day, so why didn't I breathe like this more that day? Something so simple, yet I don't make time to honor the power of deep breaths.
Like many people above, I too hated this pose. I would always think how am I going to get through class if my arms feel like they are going to fall off after the first pose? I learned to focus more on the breathing and the step by step instructions, and I began to stop thinking about my arms aching. Perhaps my arms got stronger; but I think with my expanding lung capacity, I was able to channel what I was feeling and let the breathe and the instructions allow me to focus on what I wanted from the pose.
Occasionally, if my mind is wandering at the start of class, this pose is very difficult for me. I find myself needing to sneak in additional micro breaths. This indicates I need to focus my mind and allow the breathing and directions control the direction of the pose. I liked that this was brought up in the chapter, as I felt like I was the only one this happens to.
Brittany Yard
Forever improvable, Pranayama is indeed a work in progress. And while there are only two breathing poses in the series, coordinating inhale/exhale with proper movements and cues makes all the difference for your practice and your students. How does breathing support the asanas? What progress do you see in your own breathing?