How to start a guided breathing practice with Svayam Yoga
Choose a breathing practice, set how you want to be guided, and complete one guided round.
When this is useful
When you want a practice that asks very little of the body - after work, before sleep, or on a day when a physical session is not going to happen.
Before you start
- Somewhere you can sit upright and be undisturbed for the length of the practice.
- Headphones if you want voice guidance and are not alone.
- An empty-ish stomach. Breathing practice sits badly on a large meal.
Steps
Step 1
Open Svayam Prana
Svayam Prana in the sidebar is where the breathing practices live. The label is the module name; the practices inside it are traditional pranayama and guided breathing.
Step 2
Filter by what you want to feel
The practices are filtered by purpose as well as by type, so you can start from calm or focus rather than from a Sanskrit name you do not know yet. If it is your first time, choose a natural breath awareness or deep breathing practice over anything involving retention or alternate nostrils.
Step 3
Read the practice page
Each practice has its own page explaining what it is, the seat it suggests, and its cautions - including where working with a teacher is advisable. Read the cautions before you read anything else.
Step 4
Choose a programme and a guidance mode
A practice offers one or more programmes, which are different lengths and depths of the same thing. Then choose how you want to be guided: voice with the animation, tone, visual only, audio only, or silent. Your choice is remembered next time.
Step 5
Sit, start, and follow the shape
Sit upright with your spine long and your shoulders soft. When you start, a shape expands and contracts to mark each phase, with a cue telling you what to do and, in alternate nostril practices, which side. Follow the pacing rather than leading it.
Step 6
Stop if it stops being comfortable
Breathing practice should feel like effort, not strain. If you become dizzy, breathless or uneasy, stop, let the breath return to normal, and come back to a shorter programme another day.
What happens next
The session is recorded against that practice, so the practice page shows what you have done and where you left off. Your breathing totals appear on your progress page, separately from your physical practice.
An example
You want to sleep better and have no idea where to start. You filter by calm, pick an extended exhalation practice, take the five-minute programme with voice guidance, and sit through it before bed. After a fortnight, that five minutes is the part of the evening you do not skip.
Tips
- Short and regular beats long and occasional. Five minutes daily does more than half an hour once a week.
- Silent or visual-only guidance suits a shared room better than a voice does.
- The same practice inside a course plays exactly as it does here - you are not learning a separate thing.
Safety and limitations
- This is general wellbeing guidance, not medical advice or treatment.
- Stop if you feel dizzy, unwell or breathless. Never force the breath or hold past comfort.
- If you are pregnant, or have a heart, blood pressure or respiratory condition, ask a clinician before starting - and prefer working with a teacher for anything involving retention.
Svayam supports a general wellbeing practice. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it is not a substitute for medical advice, physiotherapy, or an in-person assessment by a qualified yoga teacher.
Related how-to guides
How to follow a yoga course with Svayam Yoga
Enrol on a course and complete its first session in the guided player.
How to ask a yoga teacher a question with Svayam Yoga
Write a question, send it to a teacher of your choice, and find their answer when it arrives.