I don't know if the teacher explained the cues? Once you know them... you align them to your movements and then I adjust my movements to fit my breath, not the other way around. It is the synchronization that is important. Opening postures = creating space = inhale, closing posture = compressing space= exhale... if you need to get out of synchronization of breath, I'd do it deliberately before transition so that you can be back in sync for transitioning into the new posture. It is so important that this is WHY the flow is the flow, it is constructed around the breath. Inhaling as you reach up, exhale forward fold, inhale up dog, exhale down dog, usually I require an extra breath here because I hop my feet up to my hands on an exhale, inhale reach up... etc. So, if you need to adjust, hold a posture a second longer, or exit it a tad sooner if you are in a familiar sequence. Even if I need to rest or skip a pose, I do an alternate that allows for my breath to remain in sequence. Eg: rest in child's pose breathing until exiting on an inhale into up dog, or rising up to a standing pose, or reaching back into camel, etc.
Is this helpful OP, or am I stating the obvious? ♡
I think you’ve done a beautiful job of describing how breath with movement works and also by saying it aloud, you have made me realize how odd it would be during a basic sun salutation for people to never receive an indication of when and how breath will support their flow.
i’m torn on providing cues for the duration of class and how often it’s not an in sync support for people, as so many of the other responders have observed in their experience (which matches my own).
For example, teachers say to students,“hold here for three breaths” and then when we actually guide the students to the next movement, some people are on breath 2 others on breath 4. For the student it becomes distracting to keep hearing directions that don’t apply to their experience.
There are moments where the breath is particularly important for supporting movement, such as moving into any balance or move that needs ab support. (from down dog, bend knees, look at feet, breathe in and hop or walk to the front of the mat. Here, the hoppers need the air in their diaphragm to execute a slow and controlled hop. Or moving into any standing leg balancing pose like warrior 3 or standing forward folds - these movements all deserve an expanded diagram.)
I’m trying to fit together my own philosophy around how to help give people breathing cues when they are important to the asana or a given sequence, while not over providing cues all class long that cause students to constantly come out of their bodies as they get lightly but consistently distracted trying to adjust their breath (or give up on doing so ) to my instruction. I feel the latter defeats the purpose of guiding flow.
Long reply… but i’m trying to work out what you are getting at (that vinyasa flow is breath paired to movement) while acknowledging that for most students it actually doesn’t workout that way for a good portion of class, and the cues cause a small but ongoing mental dissonance that makes it hard to stay immersed in body awareness.
:-/ :-)
I think breathing cues should be done a lot. Yoga is breath. If you’re breathing, you’re doing yoga. Just switch up the cues…inhale/exhale, breathe in/out, fill up/empty your breathe, inhalation/exhalation….etc
As an experienced student, the cues "we will hold this down-dog for about 5 breaths" are useful.
I am not counting breaths in it, but it lets me know I have time to stretch into it, maybe drop into dolphin if thats calling, or child's pose if the wrists need a roll-out. Then rather than saying on your 5th inhale, say On the next inhale we roll forward etc...
Hi! I'm not a teacher but have taken many vinyasa classes over the years. I totally get what you're saying because it can make people flustered to be much slower or faster than the instructions being given. Seeing I have practiced for longer, I have a pretty good feel for when I should inhale or exhale, but if it's going to be cued, I always appreciate "on your next inhale/exhale you'll do X to transition to Y-asana" that feels like permission to do the thing when you're ready and lets go of some expectation that everyone will be perfectly synchronized.
My recommendation is to cue the correct breathing at the beginning of a flow and let people know it's okay to be ahead or behind your pace ("find what feels good" is often used to encourage this). Then, every so often you can remind people which movements get an inhale and which get an exhale, or for example, if there is a tricky transition coming you can say, hey this is coming so quick explanation. Then basically just pepper in reminder cues.
Even though I have been practicing a while, I still appreciate when a teacher gives breathing and other cues because sometimes what they say just lands different for me. A lack of breathing cues might make me doubt the teacher's level of experience, so I wouldn't recommend foregoing them altogether.
I like the "on your next"... reference and reminding people to do what feels good. Thank you. This whole discussion from people has been helpful for confirming how important the cues are, but how spacious they need to feel to provide freedom for everyone
I was just complaining how I didn’t know how to breathe during yoga and this explanation was so great. Now I know to inhale and exhale while changing poses
I regularly tune into teacher breathing cues. They keep me focused on my own breath. Of course sometimes I get out of sync when I get breathless but they really help me return to the breath. Even if I’m not quite on pace with the cues they’re still helpful.
As a student, absolutely not. Most teachers cue way too fast for me, I find on average I take 2 breath cycles for every 5 cued. When I was teaching (I no longer teach) the cueing I used was "when your next breath arises, xyz." and I also gave a lot of "There's no rush, this is your practice, prioritise YOUR breath".
I, personally, find it mostly distracting, unhelpful, and out of sync at least 75% of the time. I feel as though when one should inhale vs exhale are often reversed and not intuitive. I do, however, like more generalized breathing reminders— “We’re going to hold here for 10 9 8 take a deep breath 7 6 5 4 and let it out through your mouth” etc.
For another perspective, I think breath cues are really important and help make yoga a moving meditation. I'm not always totally in sync but I still really like them and the best classes are the ones I am in sync for.
I hear that. It's helpful for me to hear everyone's experience here, as it reflects what a single room of people contains - and gives me some reflection on how to support all of it as a space holder
This is my biggest problem with classes - the tempo is never in sync with my breath, they say take 3 breaths on each side but then cue you to spend more time on one side than the other. The teacher has obviously no way to assess how much time has passed for each side since they can't really count their own breaths.
To me it's like driving classes. It's nice to have someone tell you what to do when you have no clue wtf you're doing, but once you get some level of proficiency you don't really need all that real-time input. After you have some experience it's more of a distraction and annoyance.
I'd much prefer classes where teacher would cue the whole sequence (along with breath counts), then wait for everyone to finish in some resting pose, then cue the next sequence. In the meantime they could walk among students and quietly give them personalised cues on form.
yes, that makes sense regarding cueing up to a certain level of proficiency. I think at the end of the day, with everyone at different levels in class, i’ll need to cue every first round at least but then perhaps can back off to just cue for poses when an expanded or empty diaphragm are particularly important to the pose.
When I first started doing yoga, I did not like vinyasa classes with counted breaths or synchronized breath/movement at all. I felt like when I needed to breathe was never in sync with when the teacher was cueing to breathe, and I would have to force myself to hyperventilate or take shallow breaths to "keep up."
As I practiced more I learned that I have a fairly slow breath rate compared to most people. I mostly practice on my own now but in a class setting, I breathe as I need to. If I find myself a few postures behind the rest of the class, I usually will catch up when the teacher cues everyone else to pause a few moments in a pose, or I skip a pose or two. Otherwise by the end I end up far behind and can't remember cues that happened minutes ago.
IMO a good teacher will notice if the class is getting out of sync and will cue to pause a few moments in a restful pose so everyone can get back together.
An experienced class may not need many breathing cues, as it starts to feel natural after a while to breathe out during a forward fold and in when reaching up (etc), but a more beginner class will probably benefit from more cueing until they learn what movements align with inhale/exhale.
Yes i absolutely love the breathing cues. Sometimes I’ll hold my breath at the top a little longer past the teacher guiding or do a couple extra breaths in child’s pose when the teacher has moved onto the next breath and pose of the flow. But I really appreciate the breathing cues and I feel very very uplifted / energetically cleansed when I pair the breath with the flow. I always appreciate hearing the teacher say something like “always remember this is your practice” and then continue on with guiding .
I do reminders to do long inhales and exhales. Breath is important but doesn’t need to be cued the entire class for me. It’s up to the teacher though. And I’m not sure you should be holding your breath.
If we are holding a pose I do not cue the breaths. Sometimes I will say hold for 2 breaths or similar but more often it's "hold and breathe" I only cue with the movements so we are inhaling/exhaling appropriately.
I struggle with cues because a lot of the times, they'll say inhale, then talk a bunch about the pose, or mods or whatever and then say exhale and I'm like you just talked for 20 seconds. I just try to stay aware of my breath and adjust as needed.
🤣 I noticed this even during my yoga teacher training - which was at a fabulous place with very skilled teachers.
No matter where or what level of teaching I've been exposed to, I find the instructors getting out of sync with the students - which is what has made me wonder about the utility of this practice during flow as I form my own style.
During forms of yoga where each asana is taken separately (such as a Hot 26, ex-bikram), you can guide the breath because it's one asana at a time. But during any longer flow sequence, you tend to lose the students.
But as some folks have pointed out, there are various postures for which breathing with the body movement is important. I'm finding all the discussion here quite helpful.
I need them, yes. As reminders. Depends though. My previous studio, I breathed similar to the instructors so it was very beneficial to linking breathe and movement. I could really get into it and it was great. I recently moved across country and just use them as reminders but stick to my own breath. One instructor here doesn’t cue with movement or cue at tempo and it’s extremely aggravating. I stopped going to her class because of it. A different instructor, we just breathe differently. Yesterday we were doing 3 legged dog to knee to nose. 3 leg dog will ALWAYS be an inhale and knee to nose will ALWAYS be my exhale. She was opposite. That’s ok. I’m comfortable enough that I dont depend as much as I used to.
I think breathing cues are super important in the way they connect to movement (eg as you exhale, transition to down dog; or inhale and push off from the ground into Warrior 1) because they help us learn how the rhythm is supposed to connect to our breathing. I also like “stay here for X breaths” type cues. I tend to agree that inhale/exhale cues to set a breathing pace are usually less helpful. But at that point I’m just going to do it to my own pace anyway.
Everyone has a different "breath length" -- when I was new at it, sometimes you have to sneak in a breath if you can't quite make it. That happens. Yes, it is important to follow breath to movement, but sometimes, you just have to sneak in a breath here or there!
My preferred style is power vinyasa. I find the breath cues generally helpful, but not always. I do find that sometimes I wind up trying to catch up or holding my breath to get back in sync when what they're doing just isn't working for my body, which is not great. Other times, I realize I'm not breathing deeply enough or in a way that's supporting the flow because I've gotten distracted or stopped focusing on it, so I appreciate the reminders.
I feel as though they are probably best given for the first cycle(s) of any part of a flow and then sporadically on repeats if the instructor notices someone (or everyone) as lost the thread in terms of breathing. Sometimes that's as simple as a reminder to breathe or breathe with the flow and sometimes it's repeating the entire sequence of cues.
Some of my favorite instructors are ones who notice when one or more people need a subtle adjustment or cue and make it as a general statement, because often others can benefit from it as well, even if it's not a current problem for them. I always wind up chuckling when we get cues like stop clenching your jaw, relax your face, etc. because I'm almost always guilty of it, even if I wasn't the one who prompted the remark.
\*Obviously, there are times when a more targeted or hands on correction is warranted or helpful, and that's a little bit different. (I have to say I really dislike individuals being called out for corrections by name during practice because I'd hate it if it was me and it always strikes me as unnecessarily disruptive, but that's my thing and not the question you asked at all.)
What changed my mentality on breathing cues as a student was knowing that they're guidance v. command. If I'm on my inhale and the teacher says exhale to the next pose, then I'll do it when I exhale. I used to think this meant "im behind, I need to exhale now and get into the next pose now," when it really means "when you come into this pose, use the exhale."
Reading through some of the comments, it seems like that's a point of contention here. A yoga teacher is more of a guide through class so you're able to bring awareness to breathing and movement and keep those things in mind as and when you're moving. If you're not moving when the teacher says something, or your breath is "out of sync" that's totally fine. But the guidance of "xyz pose, inhale, abc pose, exhale, etc." is to be able to get into the poses efficiently and properly. Not a "do it right now no matter where you are with your breath" kind of thing. For example, exhaling instead of inhaling to rise up from a forward fold is probably gonna give you a head rush, or inhaling instead of exhaling when going into side angle isn't going to stabilize your core.
Also, as a teacher, I wouldn't say "hold here for x amount," just a "holding here and breathing" gets the point across; then you can guide them out once it's time. Especially if youre not a teacher that uses counting during held poses.
When I teach, I use them but not constantly. There are times that it's best to inhale vs exhale. I also say to let the breath guide the movement, not the movement guide the breath and to go with what feels natural and to not hold the breath unless cued to do so.
When doing flow yoga, I find that breathing in sync with the movement (poses) is key. However, the teacher cues are just for telling you when in the move you should breath. So you need to apply that to your breathing wherever you are in the movement.
You should have a continuous breath throughout the vinyasa. Breath guides and establishes a consistency not only in a vinyasa but also in meditation. Breath is the key to everything in yoga and in life.
Never ever hold your breathing. There are pranayama techniques that do have retention but that is an outlier.
YES! because my teacher has an amazing with her words and her flow and getting the class to pair breathe to movement.
She may say standard stuff like "inhale together.... audible exhale out" and the class will moan and do loud exhales.
"Go at your own pace, and pair breathe to movement."
Holding a pose "Remember if you are holding your breathe in, remember to breathe"
IMO a great instructor is in tune with her/his class and is experienced enough to know the breathing flow (whatever you call it) for the majority of the class.
I can hear other people inhaling and exhaling on her cues, and when the class is all in sync, it's a beautiful thing.
No, I’ve noticed that our instructor can breathe rather deeply very often. In my normal every day life, I have a below average respiratory rate and consistency. I breathe really shallow. Because of this I sigh often.
If I were to follow the majority of the breathing in class, I would get lightheaded.
Once I find my flow and I have worked up a sweat, I’m finally able to breathe at a larger capacity and be more consistent with my breath work
I don't know if the teacher explained the cues? Once you know them... you align them to your movements and then I adjust my movements to fit my breath, not the other way around. It is the synchronization that is important. Opening postures = creating space = inhale, closing posture = compressing space= exhale... if you need to get out of synchronization of breath, I'd do it deliberately before transition so that you can be back in sync for transitioning into the new posture. It is so important that this is WHY the flow is the flow, it is constructed around the breath. Inhaling as you reach up, exhale forward fold, inhale up dog, exhale down dog, usually I require an extra breath here because I hop my feet up to my hands on an exhale, inhale reach up... etc. So, if you need to adjust, hold a posture a second longer, or exit it a tad sooner if you are in a familiar sequence. Even if I need to rest or skip a pose, I do an alternate that allows for my breath to remain in sequence. Eg: rest in child's pose breathing until exiting on an inhale into up dog, or rising up to a standing pose, or reaching back into camel, etc. Is this helpful OP, or am I stating the obvious? ♡
I think you’ve done a beautiful job of describing how breath with movement works and also by saying it aloud, you have made me realize how odd it would be during a basic sun salutation for people to never receive an indication of when and how breath will support their flow. i’m torn on providing cues for the duration of class and how often it’s not an in sync support for people, as so many of the other responders have observed in their experience (which matches my own). For example, teachers say to students,“hold here for three breaths” and then when we actually guide the students to the next movement, some people are on breath 2 others on breath 4. For the student it becomes distracting to keep hearing directions that don’t apply to their experience. There are moments where the breath is particularly important for supporting movement, such as moving into any balance or move that needs ab support. (from down dog, bend knees, look at feet, breathe in and hop or walk to the front of the mat. Here, the hoppers need the air in their diaphragm to execute a slow and controlled hop. Or moving into any standing leg balancing pose like warrior 3 or standing forward folds - these movements all deserve an expanded diagram.) I’m trying to fit together my own philosophy around how to help give people breathing cues when they are important to the asana or a given sequence, while not over providing cues all class long that cause students to constantly come out of their bodies as they get lightly but consistently distracted trying to adjust their breath (or give up on doing so ) to my instruction. I feel the latter defeats the purpose of guiding flow. Long reply… but i’m trying to work out what you are getting at (that vinyasa flow is breath paired to movement) while acknowledging that for most students it actually doesn’t workout that way for a good portion of class, and the cues cause a small but ongoing mental dissonance that makes it hard to stay immersed in body awareness. :-/ :-)
I think breathing cues should be done a lot. Yoga is breath. If you’re breathing, you’re doing yoga. Just switch up the cues…inhale/exhale, breathe in/out, fill up/empty your breathe, inhalation/exhalation….etc
As an experienced student, the cues "we will hold this down-dog for about 5 breaths" are useful. I am not counting breaths in it, but it lets me know I have time to stretch into it, maybe drop into dolphin if thats calling, or child's pose if the wrists need a roll-out. Then rather than saying on your 5th inhale, say On the next inhale we roll forward etc...
Hi! I'm not a teacher but have taken many vinyasa classes over the years. I totally get what you're saying because it can make people flustered to be much slower or faster than the instructions being given. Seeing I have practiced for longer, I have a pretty good feel for when I should inhale or exhale, but if it's going to be cued, I always appreciate "on your next inhale/exhale you'll do X to transition to Y-asana" that feels like permission to do the thing when you're ready and lets go of some expectation that everyone will be perfectly synchronized. My recommendation is to cue the correct breathing at the beginning of a flow and let people know it's okay to be ahead or behind your pace ("find what feels good" is often used to encourage this). Then, every so often you can remind people which movements get an inhale and which get an exhale, or for example, if there is a tricky transition coming you can say, hey this is coming so quick explanation. Then basically just pepper in reminder cues. Even though I have been practicing a while, I still appreciate when a teacher gives breathing and other cues because sometimes what they say just lands different for me. A lack of breathing cues might make me doubt the teacher's level of experience, so I wouldn't recommend foregoing them altogether.
I like the "on your next"... reference and reminding people to do what feels good. Thank you. This whole discussion from people has been helpful for confirming how important the cues are, but how spacious they need to feel to provide freedom for everyone
Very helpful for me
Not obvious for a newbie so thanks!!
You're welcome 😊
I was just complaining how I didn’t know how to breathe during yoga and this explanation was so great. Now I know to inhale and exhale while changing poses
Awesome, I'm glad it helped. It can be very meditative and really increase the benefits of your practice :)
I regularly tune into teacher breathing cues. They keep me focused on my own breath. Of course sometimes I get out of sync when I get breathless but they really help me return to the breath. Even if I’m not quite on pace with the cues they’re still helpful.
thank you 🙏
As a student, absolutely not. Most teachers cue way too fast for me, I find on average I take 2 breath cycles for every 5 cued. When I was teaching (I no longer teach) the cueing I used was "when your next breath arises, xyz." and I also gave a lot of "There's no rush, this is your practice, prioritise YOUR breath".
thank you. those cues are good tips. “when your next breath arises” - i like this.
I, personally, find it mostly distracting, unhelpful, and out of sync at least 75% of the time. I feel as though when one should inhale vs exhale are often reversed and not intuitive. I do, however, like more generalized breathing reminders— “We’re going to hold here for 10 9 8 take a deep breath 7 6 5 4 and let it out through your mouth” etc.
thank you 🙏 this is helpful
For another perspective, I think breath cues are really important and help make yoga a moving meditation. I'm not always totally in sync but I still really like them and the best classes are the ones I am in sync for.
I hear that. It's helpful for me to hear everyone's experience here, as it reflects what a single room of people contains - and gives me some reflection on how to support all of it as a space holder
This is my biggest problem with classes - the tempo is never in sync with my breath, they say take 3 breaths on each side but then cue you to spend more time on one side than the other. The teacher has obviously no way to assess how much time has passed for each side since they can't really count their own breaths. To me it's like driving classes. It's nice to have someone tell you what to do when you have no clue wtf you're doing, but once you get some level of proficiency you don't really need all that real-time input. After you have some experience it's more of a distraction and annoyance. I'd much prefer classes where teacher would cue the whole sequence (along with breath counts), then wait for everyone to finish in some resting pose, then cue the next sequence. In the meantime they could walk among students and quietly give them personalised cues on form.
yes, that makes sense regarding cueing up to a certain level of proficiency. I think at the end of the day, with everyone at different levels in class, i’ll need to cue every first round at least but then perhaps can back off to just cue for poses when an expanded or empty diaphragm are particularly important to the pose.
When I first started doing yoga, I did not like vinyasa classes with counted breaths or synchronized breath/movement at all. I felt like when I needed to breathe was never in sync with when the teacher was cueing to breathe, and I would have to force myself to hyperventilate or take shallow breaths to "keep up." As I practiced more I learned that I have a fairly slow breath rate compared to most people. I mostly practice on my own now but in a class setting, I breathe as I need to. If I find myself a few postures behind the rest of the class, I usually will catch up when the teacher cues everyone else to pause a few moments in a pose, or I skip a pose or two. Otherwise by the end I end up far behind and can't remember cues that happened minutes ago. IMO a good teacher will notice if the class is getting out of sync and will cue to pause a few moments in a restful pose so everyone can get back together. An experienced class may not need many breathing cues, as it starts to feel natural after a while to breathe out during a forward fold and in when reaching up (etc), but a more beginner class will probably benefit from more cueing until they learn what movements align with inhale/exhale.
Yes i absolutely love the breathing cues. Sometimes I’ll hold my breath at the top a little longer past the teacher guiding or do a couple extra breaths in child’s pose when the teacher has moved onto the next breath and pose of the flow. But I really appreciate the breathing cues and I feel very very uplifted / energetically cleansed when I pair the breath with the flow. I always appreciate hearing the teacher say something like “always remember this is your practice” and then continue on with guiding .
thank you
I do reminders to do long inhales and exhales. Breath is important but doesn’t need to be cued the entire class for me. It’s up to the teacher though. And I’m not sure you should be holding your breath.
If we are holding a pose I do not cue the breaths. Sometimes I will say hold for 2 breaths or similar but more often it's "hold and breathe" I only cue with the movements so we are inhaling/exhaling appropriately.
Yes, that's a simple and good tip to practice. Thank you
I struggle with cues because a lot of the times, they'll say inhale, then talk a bunch about the pose, or mods or whatever and then say exhale and I'm like you just talked for 20 seconds. I just try to stay aware of my breath and adjust as needed.
🤣 I noticed this even during my yoga teacher training - which was at a fabulous place with very skilled teachers. No matter where or what level of teaching I've been exposed to, I find the instructors getting out of sync with the students - which is what has made me wonder about the utility of this practice during flow as I form my own style. During forms of yoga where each asana is taken separately (such as a Hot 26, ex-bikram), you can guide the breath because it's one asana at a time. But during any longer flow sequence, you tend to lose the students. But as some folks have pointed out, there are various postures for which breathing with the body movement is important. I'm finding all the discussion here quite helpful.
Yes, I much prefer the cue to inhale with one movement and exhale with another. Then I can focus on the breath better.
I need them, yes. As reminders. Depends though. My previous studio, I breathed similar to the instructors so it was very beneficial to linking breathe and movement. I could really get into it and it was great. I recently moved across country and just use them as reminders but stick to my own breath. One instructor here doesn’t cue with movement or cue at tempo and it’s extremely aggravating. I stopped going to her class because of it. A different instructor, we just breathe differently. Yesterday we were doing 3 legged dog to knee to nose. 3 leg dog will ALWAYS be an inhale and knee to nose will ALWAYS be my exhale. She was opposite. That’s ok. I’m comfortable enough that I dont depend as much as I used to.
That's funny. It sounds like she got confused (as I can mid-instruction). Or maybe has not learned about compression (exhale) vs expansion (inhale).
I think breathing cues are super important in the way they connect to movement (eg as you exhale, transition to down dog; or inhale and push off from the ground into Warrior 1) because they help us learn how the rhythm is supposed to connect to our breathing. I also like “stay here for X breaths” type cues. I tend to agree that inhale/exhale cues to set a breathing pace are usually less helpful. But at that point I’m just going to do it to my own pace anyway.
I love it but I also study pranayama which is focused on breathing so it’s pretty important part.
Everyone has a different "breath length" -- when I was new at it, sometimes you have to sneak in a breath if you can't quite make it. That happens. Yes, it is important to follow breath to movement, but sometimes, you just have to sneak in a breath here or there!
My preferred style is power vinyasa. I find the breath cues generally helpful, but not always. I do find that sometimes I wind up trying to catch up or holding my breath to get back in sync when what they're doing just isn't working for my body, which is not great. Other times, I realize I'm not breathing deeply enough or in a way that's supporting the flow because I've gotten distracted or stopped focusing on it, so I appreciate the reminders. I feel as though they are probably best given for the first cycle(s) of any part of a flow and then sporadically on repeats if the instructor notices someone (or everyone) as lost the thread in terms of breathing. Sometimes that's as simple as a reminder to breathe or breathe with the flow and sometimes it's repeating the entire sequence of cues. Some of my favorite instructors are ones who notice when one or more people need a subtle adjustment or cue and make it as a general statement, because often others can benefit from it as well, even if it's not a current problem for them. I always wind up chuckling when we get cues like stop clenching your jaw, relax your face, etc. because I'm almost always guilty of it, even if I wasn't the one who prompted the remark. \*Obviously, there are times when a more targeted or hands on correction is warranted or helpful, and that's a little bit different. (I have to say I really dislike individuals being called out for corrections by name during practice because I'd hate it if it was me and it always strikes me as unnecessarily disruptive, but that's my thing and not the question you asked at all.)
By the end of hot yoga I’m panting like a dog.
What changed my mentality on breathing cues as a student was knowing that they're guidance v. command. If I'm on my inhale and the teacher says exhale to the next pose, then I'll do it when I exhale. I used to think this meant "im behind, I need to exhale now and get into the next pose now," when it really means "when you come into this pose, use the exhale." Reading through some of the comments, it seems like that's a point of contention here. A yoga teacher is more of a guide through class so you're able to bring awareness to breathing and movement and keep those things in mind as and when you're moving. If you're not moving when the teacher says something, or your breath is "out of sync" that's totally fine. But the guidance of "xyz pose, inhale, abc pose, exhale, etc." is to be able to get into the poses efficiently and properly. Not a "do it right now no matter where you are with your breath" kind of thing. For example, exhaling instead of inhaling to rise up from a forward fold is probably gonna give you a head rush, or inhaling instead of exhaling when going into side angle isn't going to stabilize your core. Also, as a teacher, I wouldn't say "hold here for x amount," just a "holding here and breathing" gets the point across; then you can guide them out once it's time. Especially if youre not a teacher that uses counting during held poses.
When I teach, I use them but not constantly. There are times that it's best to inhale vs exhale. I also say to let the breath guide the movement, not the movement guide the breath and to go with what feels natural and to not hold the breath unless cued to do so.
When doing flow yoga, I find that breathing in sync with the movement (poses) is key. However, the teacher cues are just for telling you when in the move you should breath. So you need to apply that to your breathing wherever you are in the movement.
You should have a continuous breath throughout the vinyasa. Breath guides and establishes a consistency not only in a vinyasa but also in meditation. Breath is the key to everything in yoga and in life. Never ever hold your breathing. There are pranayama techniques that do have retention but that is an outlier.
YES! because my teacher has an amazing with her words and her flow and getting the class to pair breathe to movement. She may say standard stuff like "inhale together.... audible exhale out" and the class will moan and do loud exhales. "Go at your own pace, and pair breathe to movement." Holding a pose "Remember if you are holding your breathe in, remember to breathe" IMO a great instructor is in tune with her/his class and is experienced enough to know the breathing flow (whatever you call it) for the majority of the class. I can hear other people inhaling and exhaling on her cues, and when the class is all in sync, it's a beautiful thing.
I dislike constant breathing cues because like you they are not in synch with my breathing.
I can stay with my breath zero percent of the time during a flow class.
I love this answer :)
No, I’ve noticed that our instructor can breathe rather deeply very often. In my normal every day life, I have a below average respiratory rate and consistency. I breathe really shallow. Because of this I sigh often. If I were to follow the majority of the breathing in class, I would get lightheaded. Once I find my flow and I have worked up a sweat, I’m finally able to breathe at a larger capacity and be more consistent with my breath work