Upper back

Viloma: Interrupted Breathing

Pausing during your breath builds respiratory awareness and control, improving your breathing capacity and helping you develop a more conscious relationship with your breath.

How to do it

1. 1

   Sit or lie where the ribs can move freely

   Let the spine be long and the belly soft. If you are lying down, a small cushion under the head keeps the throat open.

2. 2

   Breathe in about a third of the way, then pause

   Keep the pause short, a second or two, and keep the throat and jaw relaxed while you wait.

3. 3

   Continue the breath in in two more steps

   Pause briefly between each one and notice the ribs widening a little more with each stage. Fill to a comfortable full breath, not to the maximum you can manage.

4. 4

   Let the breath out in one smooth exhale

   The pauses belong to the breath in only. Let the exhale be long and unforced.

5. 5

   Continue for 3 to 4 minutes

   Use two stages instead of three, or shorter pauses, if that keeps it comfortable. If the pauses feel uncomfortable at any point, drop them and just breathe.

What to watch for

Turning the staged breath in into a performance and straining for the last stage. The whole breath should stay comfortable from the first stage to the last, so fewer stages and shorter pauses is always the right answer if you find yourself working at it.

Ways to adjust it

• Inhale-only version
• Reduce segments
• Short holds

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits.

• Viloma: Hands

Before you try it

Move within a range that stays comfortable. Stop if this brings on sharp pain, dizziness, or symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.

From the clinically authored Vinys movement library.