A special feature of yoga is the consideration of breathing patterns and breath awareness. That includes breathing patterns independent of and connected to movement.

I’ve written before about how breathing patterns can affect your body physiologically and that can help with stress.

Yoga, like other forms of movement such as Tai Chi, can also influence your body by combining breathing patterns with movement.

Connecting breathing with movement:

  • Helps with breath AND body awareness – sometimes we discover patterns we didn’t know we had like holding our breath or tensing our shoulders
  • Helps with micromovements – sometimes focusing on your breathing can help you think about making small movement changes or activating muscle groups
  • Helps move muscles of the core AND relax muscles of the core – the abdominal sheath of muscles that surrounds your core are involved in the breathing process – when you contract these muscles you can restrict breathing, when you relax them you can make breathing easier, and so much more.

To see what I mean stand in a comfortable position and raise your arms as far as you can without pain. Then try to inhale and notice what it feels like – how easy is it to breathe, what parts of your chest move?

tree pose

Now with your arms still raised, relax your shoulders down until you can breathe comfortably. This is not only a better position for you to breathe, but a safer position for your shoulder joints.

The experiment shows how your breath can help you assess the position of your body. If you find it difficult or hard to breathe in a particular position, then something is wrong. You need to adjust until you find a position that allows you to breathe freely without restriction or limitation.

moving from cat and cow poses

Now try connecting your breath with movement. Move between cow and cat poses thinking about:

  • No focus on your breathe, just see what happens
  • Inhale when you lift your chest and exhale when you round your back
  • The opposite, inhale when you round your back and exhale when you lift your chest

Here are some general tips to think about when connecting your breath to your movement:

  • If you feel tension in your body or breathe, back off
  • Don’t force or over-breathe, just breath naturally
  • When you move try inhaling as you move one way, exhaling as you move the other way
  • Think of inhaling when your body is expanding and exhaling when contracting (e.g. inhale when you sit up, exhale when you lean forward).
Connecting breath to movement

You might also like:

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