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The Breath of Life

Yoga features prominently in our harried lives, especially in urban settings where we run out of breath often

If you are dazzled by the mean moves, age defying asanas and the enviable headstands your Facebook friends post regularly on their pages to make you turn green, first understand what it takes to pull off those amazing moves.

“Breathe right,” says acclaimed yoga expert Payal Gidwani (who tutors celebrities including Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, and has also authored books on yoga such as Own the Bumo (yoga for pregnant women) and Body Goddess (yoga for shaping up).

“In yoga, breathing correctly is very essential as the asanas are paired with the breath to create a synchronised effect. You need to perfectly synchronise the inhalation and exhalation to maximise the benefits of the asanas in your practice of yoga. Often people equate yoga to a form of aggressive aerobic exercise for weight loss: this is an incorrect perspective. Yoga is a lifestyle change, an overall wellness programme which has to be incorporated for life,” she explains.

Breathing from the abdomen as opposed to breathing only from your diaphragm is the biggest marker for correct breathing techniques. So how best can you make breathing work for you while performing the multitude of asanas?

Shilpi Madan for Asian Age

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