Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. We all know that yoga should be practiced breath to breath. I am probably the worst of breath to breath practice. I do breathe in yoga, but allergies and not paying much attention to my vinyasa flow, I tend to get a little lazy. On Thursday, we had a substitute instructor, and she changed my view.
Class started at 6:30 am, usual for me, and I knew there was a substitute. I had heard great things about her, so I was excited to practice. We did our warm up, and then started to go into Sun Salutation B. If you are not familiar with Sun Salutation B, click here.
Now, usually in Sun Salutation B, I breathe a lot. This is because of the flow from Warrior I to Chaturanga can be brutal on my lungs. Today, however, our new instructor really pushed us to try breath to breath. What was the worst that would happen? I would breathe an extra breath. I gave my all to breath to breath, and you know what? My practice was a lot more fulfilling. It was very meditative! Not going to lie it was challenging, but I got my mind into a clear space, which I desperately need most of the time.
So, this leads me to my pic above for the week. The Complete Yoga Book by James Hewitt. I have had this book for a few weeks now, but I didn’t start reading it until after my breath to breath class.
I have made the commitment to myself to start to learn more about yoga to enhance my practice, but also to learn how to breathe.
Readers, what are your favorite yoga books? I would love to know!
~Namaste
Scrappy Yogi
Scrappy Yoga 