🍃 Breathing is Practicing

Elodie Abadie • 26 mai 2025

🍃 Breathing is Practicing ✨

In a world that’s always rushing forward, the simple act of conscious breathing becomes revolutionary.
Before we speak of aligned postures or dynamic flows, there is the breath.
Always there. Quiet. Often ignored — yet essential.

In the yogic tradition, Pranayama is one of the foundational pillars, along with asanas (postures) and meditation.

But what exactly is Pranayama?
Why is it so powerful?

And how can we truly integrate it into our practice and teaching?
In this article, let’s explore the art of breath, its benefits, techniques, and its central role in the yoga path.

🕉 What is Pranayama?

The Sanskrit word Pranayama is composed of:

  • Prana – the vital life force, the breath of life, what flows in and around us.
  • Ayama – to extend, to expand, to direct.


👉 So Pranayama isn’t just about “breathing deeply.”
It’s the art of observing, extending, and refining the breath to shift our inner state.
It’s not about controlling — but rather about inhabiting the breath with awareness and respect.


🌬 Why is breath so central in yoga?

The breath is the bridge between the conscious and unconscious functions of the body.
We don’t have to think to breathe — but we can decide to change how we breathe. That’s what makes it such a powerful tool.


Here’s what breath impacts:

  • 🧠 Autonomic nervous system:
  • Slow, steady breathing activates the parasympathetic system (calm, regeneration).
  • Fast or shallow breathing stimulates the sympathetic system (alertness, action).
  • 💓 Heart rate & cardiac coherence
  • 🧘‍♀️ Mental & emotional state: clarity, focus, calm
  • 🌀 Energy flow (prana) through the nadis (subtle energy channels)


To breathe is to return to presence, create inner space, and regulate your internal landscape.
It’s a tool for grounding, cleansing, and awakening.


✨ The Benefits of Pranayama

Both ancient yogic wisdom and modern science agree:
 Pranayama works deeply on the body, mind, and energy.


🧠 Mental & emotional benefits:

  • Reduces stress and anxiety
  • Enhances concentration and memory
  • Increases emotional stability and self-regulation
  • Prepares the mind for meditation


💪 Physical benefits:

  • Improves lung capacity
  • Enhances oxygenation of the tissues
  • Regulates heart rate and blood pressure
  • Strengthens the diaphragm


🔮 Energetic & spiritual benefits:

  • Purifies the nadis (energy channels)
  • Balances solar and lunar energies
  • Cultivates inner awareness
  • Deepens access to meditative states


🌱 Key Pranayama Techniques

Here are 4 essential breathing practices to explore:


1. Abdominal (belly) breathing – grounding & calming
Perfect for beginners. This breath roots you in your body, slows the heart rate, and soothes the mind.
 When to use it: At the beginning of a class, during relaxation, or in stressful moments.


2. Nadi Shodhana – alternate nostril breathing
Purifies the energy channels (nadis), centers the mind, and balances the system.
 Benefits: Calms the mind, improves focus, balances left/right brain activity.
 When to use it: Before meditation, or anytime you need clarity and balance.


3. Kapalabhati – breath of fire / purification
A dynamic breath with abdominal pumping. Energizing and clearing.
 Benefits: Boosts energy, stimulates digestion, sharpens the mind.
 When to use it: In the morning or before dynamic practices (⚠️ avoid if pregnant, hypertensive, or with heart conditions).


4. Cardiac coherence – rhythmic breathing (5-5-5)
Inhale 5 sec – exhale 5 sec – repeat for 5 minutes. A go-to for emotional balance.
 Benefits: Soothes the nervous system, reduces stress, improves sleep.
 When to use it: At the end of a session, before sleep, or during emotional tension.


🧘‍♀️ How to integrate Pranayama into your practice (and teaching)

🌟 In your personal practice:

  • Start with 5 minutes of mindful breathing each morning.
  • Adapt your technique to your current state (tired, tense, scattered, needing energy).
  • Observe. Feel. Adjust. The breath is a living being.


🌟 In your classes:

  • Begin with a short guided breath to center your students.
  • Offer simple techniques with clear explanations and time to feel.
  • Don’t jump into intense breathwork without preparation (e.g. Kapalabhati, Bhastrika).
  • Always allow a moment of integration after any Pranayama.
    🗝     Pro tip: Link breath to movement in your cues.
     Ex: “Inhale, gently lengthen your spine. Exhale, soften your shoulders.”


💬 In Summary

  • Pranayama is not a bonus — it’s the heart of yoga, the bridge between body, mind, and energy.
  • It works deeply on our physiology, mental state, and emotions.
  • A regular breath practice soothes, energizes, balances, and awakens.
  • Integrating Pranayama into your practice or your classes opens the door to real transformation.


🔗 Want to go deeper?

At YogaDanse.eu, we place breath at the center of every training —
not as a rigid technique, but as a living art, subtle, embodied, and powerful.


🌬 In our teacher trainings, you’ll learn how to:

  • Use breath as a tool for grounding, cueing, and energy regulation
  • Design sessions that flow from breath
  • Teach accessible yet transformative techniques to all types of students


📖 Explore our programs: www.yogadanse.eu


And you — what’s your favorite breathing technique?
💬 Share it in the comments or join the conversation with us on Instagram!


Namaste 🪷

🌿 How to Find Your Path: A Journey Back to Yourself

par Elodie Abadie • 5 janvier 2026
Finding your path.
These words sound like a promise… and sometimes, like pressure. We’re constantly told to “find our purpose,” “follow our heart,” “live our passion.”
But in reality, it’s rarely a straight road. It’s more of a winding path — full of doubts, sparks, turns, and awakenings.
A deeply inner journey before anything else. So how do you find your path when you feel lost?
How do you know what’s truly right for you — without being influenced by others’ expectations?
And most importantly, how do you move forward even when the answers aren’t clear yet? This article is an invitation to come back to yourself — not to search harder, but to listen differently.

🧘‍♀️ How I Stay Organized as a Yoga Teacher & Entrepreneur

par Elodie Abadie • 29 décembre 2025
Between teaching, creating, managing projects, running trainings, and nurturing a personal life, being a yoga teacher and entrepreneur can easily feel like a balancing act.
You’re expected to inspire, teach, plan, organize, create — all while leaving space for yourself, your family, and your breath. People often ask me: “How do you manage it all without burning out?” So today, I’m opening the doors to my own routine — not a perfect or rigid system, but a living, breathing, adaptable rhythm that changes with my energy, priorities, and inspiration. If you’re a yoga teacher, a creative entrepreneur, or simply someone trying to find balance between structure and flow, this is for you.

🪷 Yoga: Spiritual, Physical or Political?

par Elodie Abadie • 15 décembre 2025
Yoga intrigues, fascinates, and sometimes even divides.
Some see it as a physical practice, others as a spiritual path, and some as a symbol of engagement or resistance. But deep down… what is yoga really?
Is it a lifestyle? A path of awareness? A way to connect with yourself and the world? In this article, we explore the many faces of yoga — physical, spiritual, and even political — to rediscover its essence: a living, embodied, and profoundly human practice.

🌿 Living Yoga Every Day

par Elodie Abadie • 1 décembre 2025
What if yoga wasn’t just about postures?
What if, beyond the mat, this ancient practice became a way of inhabiting your life — acting with awareness, breathing with presence, and connecting deeply to yourself and the world around you? Through its eight branches, yoga offers far more than a series of physical exercises.
It’s a complete philosophy of life, a daily art of living, and an inner compass to navigate with balance, authenticity, and serenity. In this article, you’ll rediscover the 8 limbs of yoga — known as Ashtanga Yoga — and learn how each one can transform your life, step by step, breath by breath.

Yoga Alignment: Beyond the Postures

par Elodie Abadie • 17 novembre 2025
You might think that alignment in yoga means placing your knee perfectly above your ankle, keeping your hips square, and your spine long and straight.
But what if it was so much more than that? In our culture of “doing things right,” alignment is often reduced to a technical cue — a matter of perfect lines and precision.
Yet in yoga, true alignment goes far beyond the body .
It extends into the breath, the energy, the emotions — and the way you connect to yourself. This article invites you to revisit this word we hear everywhere and rediscover its deeper meaning — on your mat and in your life.

Simple Yoga: Returning to What Really Matters

par Elodie Abadie • 3 novembre 2025
What if we practiced yoga to return to simplicity? 
Not to perform.
Not to master a thousand postures.
Not to impress.
But to come back to what truly matters: one breath, one presence, one body we truly listen to. Today, yoga is often seen as a performance discipline — associated with the image of the perfect body or the most advanced pose. 
Yet, in its essence, yoga is a practice of awareness and unity .
It’s not about doing more, but about being more present. This article invites you to drop the masks, let go of the “shoulds,” and rediscover yoga as a path back to yourself — to slowness, to simplicity, and to truth.

Emotional Release Through Movement

par Elodie Abadie • 20 octobre 2025
What if your body had messages that your mind can’t put into words?
What if free movement was a doorway to everything you feel deeply but don’t dare to express? The body remembers.
The body speaks.
And sometimes, all it takes is letting it move differently so it can finally set itself free. In this article, let’s explore the emotional intelligence of the body, the blocks that manifest through physical tension, and the power of spontaneous movement to bring back breath, clarity, and inner peace.

Dancing Your Yoga: Freedom and Expression

par Elodie Abadie • 6 octobre 2025
What if your yoga mat became more than just a space for postures?
Imagine it as an inner playground, a sacred space where you can move differently, breathe deeply, and express yourself freely. Dancing your yoga is a unique practice that blends free movement, breath awareness, and spontaneous creativity.
It’s a yoga that both grounds and liberates.
A yoga that isn’t limited to “doing it right,” but one that invites you to feel, create, and vibrate. In this article, discover what it means to dance your yoga, the benefits of this practice, and how to integrate it into your daily life.

How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

par Elodie Abadie • 29 septembre 2025
The fear of failure affects everyone, regardless of age, background, or life path. It often prevents us from taking action , seizing opportunities, or truly believing in ourselves. Combined with the fear of judgment from others, it can become paralyzing if we don’t learn how to understand and transform it. In this article, let’s explore why the fear of failure exists, what the signs are, what failure can teach us, and above all, how to overcome it to regain confidence, serenity, and motivation.

Yoga: Why and How to Set an Intention

par Elodie Abadie • 22 septembre 2025
I n yoga practice, every posture (asana) and every breath carries a deeper meaning. But there is one tool that makes your practice even more powerful: setting an intention. More than a simple ritual, an intention acts like an inner compass. It guides your energy, directs your mind, and transforms your yoga session into a true experience of awareness and alignment. 👉 In this article, you’ll discover why setting an intention in yoga is essential , how to formulate it effectively, when to use it, and the benefits it can bring both to your practice and to your daily life.