Feeling Anxious? Ujjayi Breath Will Help Calm You Down.

Ujjayi breath, also known as “victorious” breath, may have been the first type of pranayama (breathwork) you were introduced to in yoga. Although it’s often framed by teachers as a beginner-friendly practice, Ujjayi still causes confusion.

Sometimes there’s not enough instruction provided, as when teachers simply offer the advice to “tap into your Ujjayi breath,” before Sun Salutations. Perhaps instructors assume students know it already…or it’s difficult to demonstrate Ujjayi’s subtle sound in a way that a roomful of students can hear.

Yet it’s beneficial to know how to do it. Ujjayi has powerful effects, says Sundar Balasubramanian, PhD, yoga therapist, associate professor at MUSC, and founder of Pranascience Institute. Those benefits—ranging from relaxation to connecting with the deepest parts of yourself—make Ujjayi a technique that can enhance not only your yoga practice but your life.

5 Reasons to Practice Ujjayi Breath

So why breathe this way at all? Some of Ujjayi’s effects are physical, whereas others are more subtle.

1. It Requires a *Just Right* Amount of Concentration

Some types of breathwork require breath counting or  mudras (sacred hand positions). But Ujjayi keeps it simple. This makes it possible to practice it while you’re moving through poses. Granted, it does require some level of concentration to create its unique sound, but not so much you feel like you’re going to fall out of Tree Pose.

2. It Allows You to Really Listen to Your Breath

Yoga teachers often encourage students to tune into their breathing. Ujjayi makes it easy to do that by making your breath audible. You can hear the soft, rushing sound of your inhalations and exhalations and notice if your breath is becoming interrupted in any way. It’s a DIY version of biofeedback, giving you real-time data about how much effort you’re putting into your poses and clueing you in about when you may need to ease up.

3. It Creates a Relaxing Effect

Whereas some types of pranayama are known for being energizing or balancing, Ujjayi’s effects are more relaxing and restorative. Focusing on a repeated sound—like the ebb and flow of the ocean—can be calming, and Ujjayi’s wave-like sound is a similarly meditative focal point.

“When you constrict the throat, you’re activating the vagal nerve endings in the neck region,” explains Balasubramanian. That, along with the deep, slow breathing that Ujjayi promotes, turns on the parasympathetic nervous system—the one in charge of relaxation, he says. With regular practice, it may even make you feel reduced stress and tension and increased peacefulness. For these reasons, Ujjayi’s relaxing effects make it ideal for meditation and sitting in stillness as well as calming yourself in any situation.

4. It Serves as Strength-Training for the Breath

The gentle constriction of the throat in Ujjayi functions as resistance training for the muscles of respiration, including the diaphragm and intercostals. They have to exert a little more pressure than usual to breathe in and out during Ujjayi, explains Balasubramanian. This work may make “normal” breathing feel easier.

5. It Activates the Throat Chakra

In yoga tradition, drawing the vocal folds toward each other as you do in Ujjayi is also believed to activate the throat chakra (Vishuddha chakra) and set the stage for clear, truthful speech and communication.

How to Do Ujjayi Breath

To find that wave-like sound, Balasubramanian recommends any of these go-to techniques:

• Hold your flat palm like a mirror a couple inches away from your mouth, and exhale through your mouth as if you’re trying to fog it up. Lower your hand, and on your next exhalation, try to make the same sound with your mouth closed. Then try breathing through your nose and making this sound on the inhalation and exhalation.
• Sigh through your mouth, making a soft, rushing sound. In the middle of that sigh, close your mouth and keep exhaling. You can even keep exhaling but switch to breathing through your nose. Inhale through your nose, trying to make the same noise as you made at the beginning of the sigh.
• Say the “h” sound as in “home” or “happy.” Keep making the “h” sound as you close your mouth. Make the same sound as you continue to breathe in and out through your nose.

To keep this pranayama low stress, remember that you don’t need to force it. Initially, Ujjayi is easier to find on the exhalations. As you grow more comfortable with it, you can practice it on the inhalations, too.

“Sometimes beginners create a sound like snoring when they inhale,” says Balasubramanian. To avoid this, he recommends relaxing the tongue and throat—and plenty of practice.

There’s also no need to waste energy making your Ujjayi breath loud enough for anyone else in the room to hear. “If you can hear the sound, that’s enough,” says Balasubramanian. It doesn’t matter how long each breath is, either. “Just practice, and then watch where the breath goes, and pay attention to the sound,” he says.

Although Ujjayi is subtle muscular work, it can still feel effortful, explains Balasubramanian. So it’s important not to overdo it. If your yoga practice becomes physically demanding, for instance, you might begin breathing more rapidly than Ujjayi allows. Even a slight constriction at the back of the throat slows air intake, and persisting in Ujjayi could cause feelings of tension or breathlessness. When in doubt, revert to breathing in a way that’s natural and easy. Or ease up on your yoga practice so you can keep Ujjayi going if that’s your priority.

When to Practice Ujjayi Breath 

You can turn to Ujjayi basically anytime, in yoga and in life.

Balasubramanian practices Ujjayi before bed to help him fall asleep easily. He also suggests it as a power nap equivalent. “If you’re a little bit tired, and you don’t have the time, or don’t want to take a nap for any reason, set the timer, sit down, do 10 minutes of Ujjayi, and you will get up refreshed,” he says.

He also encourages his yoga students to notice its effects on them. “To me, pranayama is not just a practice of breathing,” he says. “Pranayama is a practice of watching your breathing and its effects. That’s the most important part.”

Depending on how you respond to Ujjayi breathing, it can serve other purposes in your life—you might find, for instance, that in the morning, it clears your mind for the day ahead, or that practicing it in a stressful environment helps to ground you. It’s yours to use as you please.