Would you like to offer safer, more accessible breathing practices—so your students not only enjoy them but also start to see real progress?
I’m sharing an advanced idea that might challenge how you approach breathing in your classes—and even in your personal practice.
It’s a simple shift that makes breathwork feel safer, more intuitive, and more aligned with the natural path of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. This approach became clear to me during two decades of work with private clients as a yoga therapist. But when I observe how other yoga professionals are teaching, I often see a very different method making the rounds—and it’s raised some important questions about whether we’re introducing breathing practices in the safest, most productive way.
Let me explain.
When I ask teachers to demonstrate a class, nearly everyone begins with breathwork:
“Sit quietly on the ground, notice the breath, slow the breath, lengthen the exhalation…”
Sound familiar?
As many of you know, I can be a bit of a rebel—often challenging yoga “dogma” when it just doesn’t make sense. But I’m also a strong supporter of the sequence in the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Why? Because I’ve seen the system work—time and again—even with clients experiencing serious health issues.
And according to that system, Pranayama (breath control) follows Asana. Not the other way around.
This also makes perfect clinical sense.
When my clients arrive, they’re often tired, anxious, in pain, and mentally overloaded. Maybe you’ve felt this way too. Physically, I see rounded shoulders, clenched jaws, painful necks, tense bellies, collapsed chests. And if I had MRI-vision, I’d probably find their diaphragm and psoas tight as ropes.
So here’s the big question:
If their primary and supporting breathing muscles are tight, frozen from fear, or locked down by stress—how can we expect them to “breathe well” just because we tell them to?
Without realizing it, your students may be silently struggling to breathe, even hyperventilating, just waiting for the breathing practice to end so they can start their sun salutation.
This might explain why so many people avoid breathwork—and prefer to “just do the physical stuff.”
Here’s my proposal:
Start with movement.
Begin your sessions with gentle movements that release the spine, ribs, shoulders, chest, and abdomen. Let them move, shake, and create space before introducing any kind of breath control.
Some of my favorite techniques:
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Cat & Cow (on hands and knees or seated on a chair)
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Small head rotations
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Dynamic Twists
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Alternate Arm Lifts
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Self-Tapping and massage
You can see some of these in action in this VIDEO, where I’m guided beautifully by Caroline Kila, C-IAYT, in preparation for Pranayama.
Explore them also sitting on a chair, on the ground, or even lying down!
Try it for yourself. Move gently, then observe your breath. Once you feel the shift, offer it to your students before guiding them to “work with their breath.” You’ll be amazed by the results—and so will they.
