Energetics

This simple technique will help you finally master lengthening your inhalations and exhalations.

“Going deeper” into your pose has nothing to do with how it looks.

We trust our breath to keep us alive, to help us through panic or pain, and support our meditation and yoga practices. But that’s not all it can do. Here's how your body moves with your breath.

Practicing this form of breathwork made me aware of how much we’re all holding onto—and how important it is to release stuck emotions.

Need a way to clear your mind? Try Trinity Breath set to this track created by KYMÅ, a DJ, sonic wellness consultant, and meditation teacher. Plus, get a behind-the-scenes look at her production process.

Ease back pain and refresh your energy with this sequence to help you feel more spacious and breathe deeper.

Pranayama can be a simple way to find balance and beat the summer heat.

When we push too hard, we're prone to stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. But when we fail to apply ourselves, we may never realize our potential. In his new book, The Practice is the Path, yoga teacher Tias Little describes how to find middle ground. Plus, a pranayama practice to embody balance.

Mudras are ancient symbolic seals that may hold the key to deepening your connection to your yoga practice. Yoga mudra has a deep history within the practice.

Try these easy pranayama practices to access mental clarity and release tension and stress.

This advanced pranayama can help you and a friend or family member share feedback in a constructive way. Who doesn't need help with that?

Bogged down by the headlines or the way Marriage Story ended with that awkward, sad song? Here's an easy way to get an energetic jolt of joy so you can reset your day.

Try Sama Vritti Pranayama (Box Breathing) when you’re stressed, anxious, or upset.

This gentle way of accessing the six bandhas (energetic locks) during your practice will help you experience more freedom in your body and bliss in your life.

Release tension with this restorative sequence from Rodney Yee for encouraging the flow of breath and prana.

Learn how master teacher Rodney Yee discovered the power of pranayama to quiet the mind and why it's a focus of every asana class he teaches.

Use this mudra anytime you need to detach from daily life, anchor yourself, and plug in to your untamable feminine power.

Come into Kali Mudra, named after the fierce goddess Durga.

This mudra represents unshakeable self-confidence, inner strength, and faith in something greater.

Connect to higher consciousness and reach your full potential with this heart- and mind-opening asana and pranayama practice.

Often used in meditation, pranayama, and asana, this mudra helps lift dull energy, creates a more receptive state, calms the mind, and brightens the overall mood.

This mudra connects us to our higher Self, helps lift dull energy, creates a more receptive state, calms the mind, and brightens the overall mood. It is often used in meditation, pranayama, and asana.

Garuda Mudra is named after the eagle that Vishnu—the lord of preservation—rides. It can help you cultivate the discipline you need to stick with your daily yoga practice when life gets busy.

Tattva Mudra reminds us that the true nature 
of the Self, or our fundamental essence, is transcendent, unchanging, pure, and whole.

Master teacher Sianna Sherman takes us step by step through Padma Mudra.

Prana Mudra is great if you need a quick pick-me-up, as it elicits the vitality that resides within our prana, or life force.

Bring your hands to the contemplative gesture of Dhyana Mudra by resting them, upturned, at your navel with the right hand on top.

Draw inspiration from this hand gesture representing the purity and perseverance of the lotus flower floating above the muddy waters of desire, fear, and attachment.

Representing a continuous flow of energy, use this mudra to calm and focus your mind and improve your attitude.

Master teacher Sianna Sherman takes us step by step through Abhaya Hrdaya (Fearless Heart) Mudra.

Ganesha Mudra is named after the Hindu deity who removes obstacles. Use it relieve stress and tension and lift your spirits.

Fire up your passion for a sacred life with Lingam Mudra.

Use this mudra to find the courage to keep your heart open and loving, especially during those difficult times in your life when fear, hate, or anger pull you away

Once you know how to breathe mindfully, you can use the practice to help you through challenging times.

You probably know that your diet should change with the seasons, but according to Ayurveda, even your pranayama should be tweaked three times a year. Here's how to do it.

Coral Brown, a licensed mental-health counselor and senior Prana Vinyasa Flow teacher, shares four great mudras for this time of year.

Readers share their favorite mudras (hand gestures).

The mudras and the Reiki hand positions can be used in tandem with the Yees’ asana sequence or separately to help you find calm.

By integrating simple, two-minute embodiment tools several times daily, you’ll see profound changes in your health and wellbeing.

Dana Trixie Flynn, creator of Lotus Flow Yoga and director of Laughing Lotus Yoga Centers in New York City, offers 3 fun body mudras for a fresh start to the year.

The best remedy for the fast pace of parenthood? Simply taking a deep breath and seeing where it goes.

Discover the science behind your urge to overeat and how the breath can counter it. Here’s your holiday-party, Thanksgiving-table, home-alone-with-the-pie pranayama practice.

Master Baptiste Yoga teacher Leah Cullis explains how learning how to breathe helped her tap into her power on and off the mat.

Looking for the courage to open your heart? Power everything you do with love using these mudras from Dana Trixie Flynn.

These three mudras will bring you back home to your source, connect you with your heart, and plug you back into your deeper power.

Yoga poses inspired by the warrior goddess Durga will help you enhance every part of your life.

These 3 hand mudras will help you keep yoga, learning, and inspiration at the top of your list. Try them with the following mantra: "Magic takes guts."

Yoga’s hand expressions, mudras, are said to shift energies from what we might be experiencing to how we want to feel. Learn three you can use today.

Shiva Rea offers five hand mudras to cultivate heart consciousness in celebration of the Summer Solstice and the First International Yoga Day.

In part three of this three-part series on The Science of Breathing, discover a few of the ways focusing on the breath in yoga—and in everyday life—can improve your overall well-being.

In part two of this three-part series on The Science of Breathing, learn how to take advantage of the power of the breath on the mat in various types of poses and with five different pranayama techniques.

Western research is now proving what yogis have known all along: Breathwork can deliver powerful mind and body benefits. In this three-part series, learn how and why to take better advantage of it both in practice and in life.

Turn to this pranayama practice in times of transformation to invoke Kali and free yourself from anything that's holding you back.

Prana Vinyasa founder Shiva Rea has an Earth Day eco-challenge for you: 10 body mudras and eco-actions to help you connect to the Earth.

Pranayama, the formal practice of controlling the breath, is essential to good health.

Ujjayi breath is achieved by breathing in and out through the nose while constricting the glottis at the back of the throat. Here's how to do it:

Different styles of yoga engage different breathing techniques. The one we use at my studio and in the Baptiste Yoga methodology is called Ujjayi breath.

Bo Forbes teaches how to release tension, increase prana, and promote physical and emotional digestion in the belly.

Use these classic yogic breathing techniques before winter workouts, snow sports, or Sun Salutes to beat cold and dry winter air.

Have you been wondering if you're engaging your root lock—correctly? Shiva Rea gets real and breaks down the how.

Check out YJ Editors's author page.

Stretching sideways can 
activate core muscles, expand breathing, and bring 
feelings of spaciousness and levity.

You'll feel calmer and more centered after these practices.

Try this pranayama technique, sometimes called Bee Breath, to soothe anxiety.

You’re probably used to belly breathing, which is an excellent introduction to breath awareness for beginner yogis. Yet diaphragmatic rib cage breathing is a skill you’ll need if you really want to advance your practice. Here’s how to do it.

Discover the power of mudras (hand gestures) for cultivating inner peace, courage, and confidence.

Yogic breathwork can transform your performance and the experience of your favorite sport.

The following pranayama techniques will bring balance.

Practicing pranayama is essential if you hope to experience samadhi, yoga's true purpose.

Use these breathing techniques to induce relaxation during your restorative yoga and meditation practice.

Sometimes considered a preparation for pranayama, other times a formal practice in itself.

Ujjayi is the beginner-friendly springboard for all other formal pranayama.

Learn one of three important "bonds," key for pranayama breath retention.

Learn the two versions of Single Nostril Pranayama: Surya Bhedana (Sun-Piercing Breath) and Chandra Bhedana (Moon-Piercing Breath).