Dirga Pranayama Print E-mail
The 3 part breath or complete breath is nourishing, calming and relaxing.

Dirga Pranayama is called the three part breath because you are actively breathing into three parts of your abdomen. The first position is the low belly (on top of or just below the belly button), the second position is the low chest (lower half of the rib cage), and the third position is the low throat (just above the top of the sternum). The breath is continuous, inhaled and exhaled through the nose. The inhalation starts in the first position, the low belly; then moves to the second position, the low chest; then to the third position, the low throat. The exhalation starts in the low throat, moves to the low chest, and finishes in the low belly.Rest your hands on the individual positions to feel the breath rising and falling through each position. When you start practicing, you may want to individually isolate the movement in each position, using the hands. When you have a good feel for the breath moving in and out of each position, practice without the hands. Eventually relax the effort of the Pranayama and breathe into the three positions gently, feeling a wave of breath move up and down the torso.

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11 Comments
apii: ...
yoga is my life
1

March 27, 2010
wy2kewl: ...
that is very kewl
2

April 13, 2010
chirag72002: ...
nice one...
3

August 23, 2010
Udara (SL-Maharagama): ...
I m new commer to yoga
anyway this is so clear and nice article
4

January 05, 2011
eric_b: ...
Hi - I am logged in as a premium member, but this audio content is not available to me. Please help.
5

March 25, 2011
Timothy: ...
eric_b - please use our contact page to send a message to customer service. We need your email address to look up your account to see what the issue might be.
6

April 05, 2011
amy213: ...
I was dreaming how to learn yoga..thanks I found your website at least i can start how to practice by myself...I wish I could get more information in you...
7

May 14, 2011
dejesuscd: ...
How do I get the Audio? Im a premium member.thanks
8

July 23, 2011
Timothy: ...
dejesuscd - Please contact customer support for help.
9

July 28, 2011
rainer: ...
Ideally, how many seconds would each stage of the breath take if you were to break it down into inhaling and exhaling? Should exhalation take longer?
10

August 25, 2011
Timothy: ...
rainer - The time will vary depending on the person, try to breathe as slowly and deeply as possible without strain or discomfort. The inhale and exhale should be about the same length.
11

August 26, 2011

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