The amazing benefits of Pranayama (breathing exercises)

This wonderful practice of Pranayama (breathing exercises) helps clear the physical and emotional obstacles in your body and mind. So you can live open and free of stress and enjoy life even more.

Regular practice of pranayamas can change your whole body and create a positive mind 🤗. Do you want to live with a free, have more clarity mind?

Most of you don’t know how the way you are breathing influences how you feel.

How would you live your life if you know how to change your negative emotions into positive emotions. By just changing the way you breathe. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

In breathing, you try to raise or increase our life force, and as a result, you nourish every cell of your body.

So it’s no surprise that research shows that a regular practice of controlled breathing can decrease stress on the body and increase overall physical and mental health. Wim Hoff uses old methods from the Indian / Tibetan Yoga traditions to control his immunity and well being. So now it is called the Wim Hoff method, but it is a variation on the Maha Yogi breath.

There are different kinds of Pranayamas, and the ones I use during the lessons come from Indian Yoga traditions and Tibetan yoga.

Pranayama and stress

How you breathe is depending on your lifestyle. Experience of stress in life can influence your breath. By breathing correctly, you can decrease the feeling of anxiety 😄.

Stress and anxiety are repetitive thoughts the moment you recognise that in yourself. You can change it by doing different Pranayamas and meditation.

Meditation can help you to recognise your stress or anxiety at the level of the root or seed. Thus, giving yourself more time to help yourself and clear your mind of clutter.

Pranayama as a preparation for meditation 

I use Pranayama as a preparation for meditation and Nidra yoga. It helps to soften the fluctuations of your mind, and it clears negative emotions like, for instance, anger, sadness, anxiety, pride etc. And it fast way of getting rid of work-related stress and too much thinking 😄.

I use more soft Pranayamas in the evening classes to ensure you can sleep very well after class. And you can roll into it so that you can sleep like a baby.

I use stronger Pranayamas like Kapalbhati, Bastrika and full yogi breathing in my morning classes and at the Tuesday evening class at 6:00 PM Amsterdam time.

Different kinds of Pranayamas

Some of the Pranayamas I may use during the classes

• Kapalbhati
• Bastrika
• Maha yogi Pranayama
• Savitra Pranayama
• Kaki mudra pranayama
• Nadhi shodana
• Ujjayi Pranayama
• Awaken the body Pranayama
• Nine purification breaths
• Uddiyana Banda (not Pranayama but a fantastic practice to clear your mind of cluttery)  

Benefits of Pranayama

Some general benefits of daily Pranayama practice:

• Decrease the effects of stress
• Decreases the effects of anxiety
• Improves the quality of your sleep
• Increase mental clarity
• Increase of lung capacity
• Growth of feeling energized.
• Increase your immunity 
• Increase your sense of wellbeing