The one breathing instruction you will hear in every class at Sora, what it does to your nervous system, and a two-minute way to try it at your desk.
If you have been to one class at Sora you have heard it: breathe in for four, out for six. It sounds like a small thing. It is the most useful thing I teach.
What a long exhale does
Your heart speeds up a little as you breathe in and slows a little as you breathe out. Make the out-breath longer than the in-breath and you spend more of every minute in the slowing half. The body reads that as safety.
You cannot think your way into calm, but you can breathe your way there.
Inés
Try it now
Sit back
Let the chair hold you. Feet flat, hands on your thighs.Breathe in through the nose for four
Not a big breath. Just enough to fill the lower ribs.Breathe out through the nose for six
Slow, like fogging a cold window with your mouth closed.Repeat for two minutes
If six feels like a strain, use three in and five out. The ratio matters more than the count.
Do not hold your breath
Some breathing methods add long holds. We do not use them in group classes: they can make anxious people more anxious and are not safe in pregnancy or with high blood pressure.
Hands on the belly in Breath and Meditation, so you can feel the out-breath finish.
Where we use it in class
In every hold. When a pose gets hard, the first thing to go is the out-breath. Keep it long and you can stay; lose it and it is time to come out.
Written by
Inés Varela
Inés has taught for fifteen years, first in Lisbon and now in her eight-mat studio in Ruzafa. She writes the journal between the morning and evening classes.
