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| hello... probably a really hard question to answer in words. i'd like to hear of others' experiences of ujayyi breath, in particular, do you feel like you forcibly push the larynx down by tensing the muscles in the lower neck?
that's how i do it and although i get a gorgeous, roaring sound, it seems to set my larynx really high up after practise (and makes it feel tight and tense) which affects my voice (making it sound constrained, almost as though a hand was round my throat). so i guess i'm going wrong! would love to hear others' experiences of the mechanisms of ujayyi. |
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| Interested in hearing about this as well. I've had teachers who claimed ujjayi done correctly is actually inaudible and teachers who kept pushing me to be louder. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| In the Iyengar system we teach that there is never strain of any kind and the breath is not loud. Of course, this is an ashtanga board so perhaps my answer is not valid here. |
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| Sounds like you are over doing it.
Breath should sound like the wind or the waves on a beach, not roaring like a lion.
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| Ujjayi is audible but should not be disruptive either to your own concentration or to that of others in a class setting.
It should be a comfortable breath without strain. I personally do not feel as though I'm "forcibly pushing" anything at all. More so, it feels like a gentle constriction back in the throat. Many students generate the sound from the bottom of the nasal passages and yet still "feel" or believe they've located the breath in the throat. Which is where a teacher would intervene.
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| bobuboy - 2008-08-17 1:41 PM
hello... probably a really hard question to answer in words. i'd like to hear of others' experiences of ujayyi breath, in particular, do you feel like you forcibly push the larynx down by tensing the muscles in the lower neck?
Forcing and/or tensing anything is a bad idea for breathing. Breathing should be natural, free and relaxed. The point of Ujayi breathing is to extend the breath by gently closing the air passage a bit. The larynx is not pushed down and the lower neck should be relaxed. Since there is more resistance due to the air passage being narrower, the same amount of pressure (on inhale or exhale) will elongate the breath. Hearing a sound is only a by-product of this extension of breath. It is useful in that it keeps your attention more on your breath, but is not the purpose of Ujayi breathing. |
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Location: London, England | Hey,
I would agree with your intuition that you are contracting the muscles of the vocal cords too much. In my opinion, the contraction of the vocal cords should set up a chain reaction where the ribs fly up and out-'ujjayi.' Too much contraction and you don't get this reaction. It's like putting a valve on a pipe-the valve can reduce the flow through the pipe to a dribble. What you are trying to do instead, is to increase the flow of air-constricting the throat 'too much' makes no sense.
Nick |
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ujayyi breath
