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4 Breathing Techniques That I Use To Enhance My Yoga Practice: Taken From The Blissful Breathing Card Deck

Blissful Breathing Card Deck

In this post, you’ll learn four powerful breathing techniques, from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck, that I use to enhance my yoga practice.

My name is George Watts.

I’m a BWY yoga teacher and have taught 800+ classes in the last 15 years.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the hundreds of free yoga class planning tips, ready-to-use yoga class plans, and yoga class handouts on my site. They are resources that I’ve personally used for my own yoga classes.

So, why are yogic breathing techniques so important to a yoga practice?

Yogic breathing immediately turns a student’s experience from an ordinary, run-of-the-mill exercise into a deeper spiritual, yogic practice.

To get you started, here are four yogi breathing techniques, taken from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck, to use when practicing yoga. This card deck is your go-to resource for mastering the art of pranayama (yogic breathing). With 41 beautifully designed cards, this deck guides you through a wide variety of breathing techniques to enhance relaxation, focus, and vitality.

1 – Abdominal Breathing Exercise

The “Abdominal Breath” is a breathing technique taken from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck.

Ask your students to practice abdominal breathing during each movement.

You can say something like this to your students:

Imagine your belly is a balloon that inflates on the in-breath and deflates on the out-breath. When you go into the pose inflate the balloon. When you transition to a new pose deflate the balloon.

2 – Breath Counting Exercise

“Breath Counting” is a breathing technique taken from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck.

Ask your students to “count their out-breath breath” during each movement.

You can say something like this to your students:

“Today we are going to count our out-breath during our yoga flow sequence. Keep the breath quiet and slow. It’s very simple. All you need to do is count to three (don’t count higher than five) as you exhale in the pose. The next time you exhale in the pose you can count higher (or lower), but remember not to count any higher than five and count only when you exhale.”

3 – Complete Breath Exercise

The “Complete Breath” is a breathing technique taken from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck.

Ask your students to practice “one complete breath” during each movement.

This has the effect of turning the movements into slow motion (almost as if they are performing the movements in water). For example if you were teaching Downward Facing Dog, you can say something like this to your students:

“From All Fours, inhale slowly through nose to a count of 4 into Downward Facing Dog, feel abdomen, mid-body (diaphragm area), and upper chest gently expand until you fill your lungs to capacity. When coming back down to All Fours, exhale slowly through your nose to a count of 6, gently engage abdomen, feel body and diaphragm coming back to centre as you empty your lungs.”

And the last one…

4 – Ujjayi Breath Exercise

The “Ujjayi Breath” is a breathing technique taken from the Blissful Breathing Card Deck.

Ask your students to practice one complete Ujjayi breath during each movement.

For example if you were teaching Downward Facing Dog, you can say something like this to your students:

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“From All Fours, inhale through your nose, and exhale slowly through a wide-open mouth. Direct the out-going breath slowly across the back of your throat with a drawn-out HA sound. When moving into Downward Facing Dog inhale through your nose, and when coming back down to All Fours exhale slowly through a wide-open mouth.”

It’s time for my conclusion, and why I love using yoga card decks as teaching aids in my classes.

George’s Conclusion: Using Yoga Card Decks As Fun, Easy-to-Use Teaching Aids

I hope this post gave you one or two new ideas on how to teach relaxation in your yoga classes.

If you’re a fellow yoga teacher, I’ve got a hunch you’re gonna love my Online Yoga Lesson Planner.

As a Yoga teacher, I’m always looking for fun, easy-to-use teaching aids to make your classes engaging, informative, and effective. That’s why I create yoga card decks. Each deck has been painstakingly crafted to serve as a quick-reference guide, teaching aid, or lesson-planning tool, designed with Yoga teachers, and serious students, in mind.

Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck: 52 Cards For Mind-Body Unity

The Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck is a transformative tool designed for yogis of all levels, especially those seeking a gentle, accessible practice. This beautifully illustrated 52-card deck combines the wisdom of the chakra system with the ease of chair yoga, offering a unique way to balance your energy centres while staying grounded and supported.

Chakra Chair Yoga Expansion Card Deck: 52 More Cards For Mind-Body Unity

The Chakra Chair Yoga Card Deck was so popular that I created the Chakra Chair Yoga Expansion Deck with another 52 chair yoga exercises.

Blissful Breathing Card Deck: Your Guide To Mastering Pranayama

The Blissful Breathing Card Deck is your go-to resource for mastering the art of pranayama (yogic breathing). With 41 beautifully designed cards, this Blissful Breathing Card Deck guides you through a wide variety of breathing techniques to enhance relaxation, focus, and vitality.

Face Yoga Card Deck: 50 Cards For Youthful Radiance

The Face Yoga Card Deck is a fun and effective way to tone, relax, and rejuvenate your facial muscles. This 50-card deck features simple, step-by-step exercises designed to improve circulation, boost skin elasticity, and promote a radiant, youthful glow.

101 Mini Yoga Cards: With 101 Asana Sanskrit Pronunciations

The 101 Mini Yoga Cards are a compact and versatile resource for yoga teachers and practitioners alike. Each card features an illustrated yoga pose, its English and Sanskrit names, and how to pronounce the Sanskrit name. This makes it easy to plan classes, create sequences, or inspire personal practice while deepening your connection to yoga’s roots.

Zen Of Blissful Boredom Card Deck: 52 Ways To Cultivate Calm

The Zen Of Blissful Boredom Card Deck offers a lighthearted yet profound approach to finding peace in the mundane. Featuring 52 cards filled with simple, humorous, and mindful activities, this deck encourages you to embrace boredom as a gateway to inner calm and creativity.

But don’t stop there. You’re on a roll. You’ll definitely want to look at my 10-step yoga sequencing formula. It’s got lots of infographics to make the learning visual and fun.

“Below are hundreds of yoga lesson planning tips on my blog…to help enlarge your yoga lesson planning brain.” – George Watts

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4 Breathing Techniques I Use To Enhance My Yoga Practice