(The following directives for cultivating Ujjayi -“victorious”- breathing are taken/inspired from Freeman’s The Art of Vinyasa)
1- Sit straight. Imagine a plumb line through your central axis that continues down to the earth’s core.
2 – Cultivate a happy belly – like Ganesha’s! It should be entirely free of constriction. Sitting up on something like a block will facilitate this: knees should be below the hips.
3 – Imagine the heart as a lotus floating upon a still pond.
4 – root into your base by becoming aware of the loose diamond formed by the two sitting bones, the coccyx, and the pubic bone. Allow the muscles of the pelvic floor within this diamond to tone.
5 – Breathe through the nose.
6 – Maintain a steady drshti. Drshti is gazing rather than gazing at something. Cultivate a soft, steady drshti.
7 – Release the soft palate; soften the tongue. This encourages a release of discursive thought.
8 – Let your attention rest on the stream of the breath. Let it be smooth and steady.
9 – Listen. Allow the breath to unfold.
10 – Close the vocal chords a tiny bit, as if you are whispering ahhh to your beloved.
11 – Feel the expansive pranic pattern on the inhalation.
12 – Feel the contractive apanic pattern on the exhalation.
13 – You may choose to superimpose a mantra on the breath cycle:
sā ham (translation: I am she); ham sa (translation: swan); so’ham (translation: I am he). The “he” and “she” refers to the paramātman , which is pure consciousness and which circulates in an open central channel. Sā/so are on the inhalation; ham is on the exhalation.
[…] “Ashtānga Vinyāsa yoga is just this: simple ujjāyī breathing with a little movement tossed in.” (p.13)
ashtangayogavrittanta 