Deep breathing is fundamental to pranayama. One good way to understand how to breathe deeply properly when doing pranayama is to use the vertical (full yogic) breathing method.
Vertical breathing involves using the full capacity of your lungs when deep breathing.
This is achieved by focusing on three main areas as you inhale and exhale.
The first area is the abdomen, the second is the chest or thoracic region, and the third is the clavicle region.
Emphasis is given to the abdomen (60%), then the chest (30%), and finally the clavicle area (10%).
When inhaling, focus first on breathing to the abdomen (this should be for about 60% of the inhalation time), then to the chest (30% of the inhalation time), and finally to the clavicle region (10% of the inhalation time).
When exhaling, do the opposite. First focus on exhaling from the clavicle region (this should be about 10% of the exhalation time), then the chest (about 30% of the exhalation time), and finally the abdomen (about 60% of the total exhalation time).
In practice, and especially when inhalations and exhalations are quite short, it can be difficult dividing the time allocated in such a way.
In this case, focus primarily on the abdomen and chest and divide the count 50:50. If you are inhaling for 4 seconds, breathe to the abdomen for 2 seconds and 2 seconds to the chest.
If your inhalation/exhalation is 5 seconds, you can do 3 seconds for the abdomen and 2 seconds for the chest. The table below gives you an example of the breathing proportions.
Table1: Table showing inhalation and exhalation durations in abdomen, chest, and clavicle regions with inhalation/exhalation ratios of 4:4, 5:5, and 6:6.
| Abdomen 60% | Chest 30% | Clavicle 10% | ||
| 4:4 Inhalation/Exhalation ratio | ||||
| Inhalation/Exhalation | 2 secs | 2 secs | – | |
| 5:5 Inhalation/Exhalation ratio | ||||
| Inhalation/exhalation | 3 seconds | 2 seconds | – | |
| 6:6 Inhalation/exhalation ratio | ||||
| Exhalation/exhalation | 3 secs | 2 secs | 1 second | |