OCEAN SOUNDING BREATH (Ujjai Pranayama)

This breath is as good as gold, or even better. It is definitely one of the magical gifts of breathing. This breath will have an effect on you physically, mentally and spiritually, even after a short practice. It makes you immediately stronger when practicing; increases your concentration mentally, and spiritually; draws

you into meditation which opens you to states not immediately received through your other senses. Practice without it, leaves a lot to be desired. This breath unites mental time and space with your physical time and space, with the immediate result of increased concentration and what is experienced as increased strength. Named for both the sound this breath makes and for the rhythmic waves of energy created by its practice, the OCEAN SOUNDING BREATH is the fundamental breathing exercise which accompanies almost all forms and movement.

The pranayama is performed by taking long, slow and deep breaths while slightly contracting the back of the throat in the area of the glottis, and allowing your tongue to rest on the upper palate, just behind your front teeth. Making this subtle muscular contraction creates the whooshing sound in the back of the throat which sounds like the rising and falling of an ocean tide. The tongue being placed on the palate in this way, also assists a direct energetic alignment conduit from the Xià Dāntián/Lower Dantian to the Shàng Dāntián/Upper Dantian.

PRACTICE

• Begin in a comfortable seated position, starting with the COMPLETE 3-PART BREATH. (Dhurga Pranayama)

• Notice how bringing attention to the long, slow breathing through your nose begins to relax your body and calm your mind.

• Listen to the sound of the breath as it enters and leaves through the nostrils.

• Bring your focus to the back of your throat and observe how it is possible to exaggerate the whooshing sound as you breathe. Slightly contract the back of the throat and make the whooshing sound as though

you are fogging a window or a pair of eyeglasses-- on both the inhaling and exhaling breath. (While learning the technique of this breath, you may want to

begin first breathing through your mouth to making the whooshing sound, then closing your mouth and continuing the same sound by keeping the back of the throat slightly contracted.)

This pranayama allows you to lengthen the inhalations and exhalations by giving you more conscious control of your respiratory muscles.

• Focus your awareness on the continuous audible sound you are making with the breath.

• Add this breath to your form/practice, being gentle with yourself when you forget, and simply start again. Very soon this breath will become automatic and

you might even find yourself breathing this way while practicing Kung Fu, driving, hiking, dancing, reading, calming down from a stressful moment, weight lifting, etc. This breath will come in handy at any time that you need increase concentration or whenever you desire to come into the present.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS

• This form of restraining and controlling the breath provides a deep focus for mental concentration.

•Calms the mind and relaxes the body. Quickly induces a meditative state of awareness as the mind becomes absorbed in the sound and the sensation.

•The ocean whooshing sound allows you to regulate the flow of breath, elongating and prolonging both inhalations and exhalations. By contracting the glottis, the same amount of air passes through a smaller

opening, increasing an internal pressure which stimulates circulation, metabolism and the suction of venous blood.

• In a physical practice, Ujjai pranayama allows you to synchronize your breath and movements inducing a trance like state of increased awareness, sensitivity,

and concentration. While holding postures in stillness this pranayama increases the stretchability of muscles by relaxing your mind and allowing a settling to occur. The increased concentration always present with Ujjai pranayama brings you into the moment. This moment holds the balance between strength and relaxation, effort and non effort, and allows the intelligence of the organism to dance.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

• Be careful when overdoing it when you have a cold or congestion.

OCEAN SOUNDING BREATH TIPS

• Fog a mirror (pretend your hand is a mirror, and pretend to fog it up.) The sensation in the back of your throat is similar to the sensation while doing ocean sounding breath.

• Breathe as if you are breathing from your ears (you obviously breathe through your nose, but try to imagine and feel as if you are breathing from your ears 🤓👂🏽 .)

• Breathe from the tip of your nose (like a sniff) and then switch to breathing from the back of your nose. Almost as if you didn’t have the appendage of a nose.

• Breathe like Darth Vader from Star Wars🤓 Making a similar sound like he made. Hooooo Buuuuuur ( Also sounds like Soooo Huuuum (more on that later) if you happen to be fortunate enough to hear your internal voice)

• Another way to practice utilizing the glottis may be breathing with a slight snoring sound.

• Though the sound of Ujjai is meditative and cathartic….Once practiced enough, one can release the ocean sound to discover the silent ease of breathing through the glottis. This will eventually aide in heightened aerobic abilities, and maximization of lung capacity. It doesn’t have to make a sound if silence makes it easier to breathe😉

Just like a conch shell 🐚 We have the sound of Moana and Tangaroa naturally within us all! 🌊

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