Pranayama Program Level 1

This short video should be watched before you begin any of the practical classes. It gives you important information about how to get the best out of your practice.

Watch the information video at the start of each week, then repeat the class video on as many days as you can that week.

Contraindications are highlighted so that you can practise safely and at the right time.

We begin by finding relaxation. Pranayama works with our nervous system, and the first step is to find some peace and calm in the mind and the body.

The breath is the most vital part of our life, but very few of us connect with it consciously. This week we start to form a relationship with the breath.

You will work on diaphragmatic, or belly, breathing and on a double length exhale.

There is not so much technique this week. It is foundational work, preparing the ground and bringing us to calm and balance so that we can start to work with prana.

A free breath is essential for pranayama: no tension around the belly, which is what happens with stress. We work on this.

We use a double length exhale, because a long exhale engages the parasympathetic nervous system, the calming part of the nervous system.

The relaxation phase ends, and we introduce our first classical pranayama techniques: Nadi Shodhana and Bhramari.

Nadi Shodhana, alternate nostril breathing, translates as clearing of the channels. In the yoga tradition it balances the nervous system and the major nadis, the energy channels of the body.

The class closes with Bhramari, the humming bee breath, which calms the mind.

We try a preparation for Uddiyana Bandha Kriya. It is a more intricate technique, and this week we start to learn how to work with it.

Nadi Shodhana and Bhramari bring the mind to a calmer, quieter place.

We are preparing a solid foundation for the start of our pranayama practice.

Last week we began with a preparatory exercise for Uddiyana Bandha Kriya. This week we try the real thing. It can be a little tricky, and this is where we start.

The other new technique this week is Kapalabhati, activating and energising. It is also a bit tricky, so we take plenty of time to explain it and get used to it.

It is a challenging week for technique, but with practice it gets easier.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

We build on the relaxation from the first two weeks. Now we begin to work with prana more directly through the stimulating practice of kapalabhati.

Technique matters more now, and this week asks for some experimenting and learning. The new methods are two of the most important in Hatha yoga and central to growing the practice.

The real work is beginning.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

Three new techniques this week: Agni Sara, Sitali and Ujjayi. Agni means fire, and Agni Sara stokes the digestive fire of the yoga tradition.

Sitali is the one that cools. In Ayurveda it is used to balance pitta, the fire element.

Third, Ujjayi, the victorious pranayama. In most yoga practice Ujjayi has become associated with breathing with sound, but it is also a classical pranayama technique that involves more than the sound.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

We are building a more complete practice, now with the two most important preparatory techniques together: Uddiyana Bandha Kriya and Agni Sara.

With Uddiyana Bandha Kriya we compress and massage the belly. With Agni Sara we give it space.

Sitali and Ujjayi take this further. They are two of the most foundational pranayama practices, preparing the body for the channelling of prana.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

This week we introduce the rest of the preparatory practices: Simha Mudra, Jivha Bandha and Brahma Mudra.

With these three techniques we release tension around the neck, jaw, face, eyes and mouth, areas where many of us hold stress.

Once again we calm the nervous system and prepare the way for centralising prana.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

This is quite a full class. We now practise all five preparatory techniques, three of them new, to release tension.

We continue to work with Sitali and Ujjayi, two calming, soothing pranayamas.

You should be getting deep into the practice now.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

No new pranayamas this week, but lots of refining technique work. We change focus and put the emphasis on connecting with the bandhas: Mula Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha (which is different from Uddiyana Bandha Kriya).

To grow in pranayama, you learn to control and use these bandhas to direct prana. In pranayama it looks as if we work with the breath, but in the yoga tradition we work with prana. The bandhas are key for this.

The class starts with breathing on our back, learning to tell the different parts of the abdomen apart and to find more subtle muscular control.

Then we take this bandha work to our seated posture, with instruction on when and how to engage the bandhas.

Now we are really learning pranayama.

This week goes back to a more traditional practice. We do all of the preparatory techniques and some of the classic foundational pranayamas.

From here, the classes move towards a self-practice format. The pranayamas are introduced with some instruction, but there is more time for silence and practice.

Well done for coming this far. Remember to look for the bandhas.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

Relaxed concentration is the aim now. You know all of the techniques, and this week you gently bring in the bandha work and find out what it feels like in your body.

Hopefully you are starting to feel the effects of practice and to find some confidence with the different techniques. Some of them are tricky and can be a project to work on for a long time.

Do not practise Uddiyana Bandha Kriya, Agni Sara and Kapalabhati if you are pregnant or on your menstrual cycle.

This is an exciting week. Not only should you feel good about completing the program, you also get a new secret pranayama.

Surya Bhedana, sun channel activation, is introduced this week. In the yoga tradition it is the first pranayama we learn with a more activating effect on Kundalini.

We also develop the technique in Kapalabhati, with more bandha control.

The last seven weeks have been about balancing and nourishing the nervous system and the mind. Now, in the language of the yoga tradition, we move to a more direct activation of Kundalini.

Surya Bhedana and the more refined control we bring into Kapalabhati begin this process.

Exciting times. Keep practising.

You have completed the eight weeks. Well done.

We have built a great foundation and you have a strong practice, but pranayama needs repetition over a long period of time, and that takes patience.

This video tells you how to keep going. Practise in this way for another couple of months with these pranayama breathing exercises, and then start the Pranayama Program Level Two.