Teaching Pranayama: The Basics

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OM Yoga

725 Gomez Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA

Santa Fe, NM

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Purpose

Cyndi Lee's Teaching Pranayama: The Basics will give yoga practitioners and teachers, bodyworkers, and health professionals the tools to enrich their own pranayama practice and learn how to effectively share it with their students, clients, and patients.

What to expect

This three-day training will include practicing and teaching breath awareness and breath manipulation techniques, such as sama vritti, ujjayi, nadi shodanam, viloma, and kapalabhati. Sessions will include simple stretching, dharma talks, practicing pranayama techniques in reclined and seated positions, and designing pranayama classes.

In this course, you’ll:

Study the benefits of various pranayama techniques.

Learn how to integrate pranayama techniques into yoga classes and private sessions.

Gain the confidence to lead pranayama classes.

Understand how breathwork relates to yoga philosophy.

Explore breathing’s relationship to effort, holding, sustainability, resiliency, and the unknown.

Learn how to take refuge in your breath to create inner stability.

The full schedule is:

Session 1:

Introduction to pranayama: The unexpected value of this practice in our real life

Practice: Breath awareness and nadi shodanam

Contemplative writing exercise

Deconstructing the format of a pranayama class

Homework assignment

Session 2:

Practice

Discuss homework assignment

Benefits of pranayama

Breath movements and practice tools: breath awareness, breath manipulation and regulation, winds, and chakras

How to use props

Homework assignment

Session 3:

Pranayama vs Restorative Yoga vs Meditation

Postures

Practice: Exploring retention and exertion

Feedback

Teaching pranayama in a yoga class

Style/Lineage

Pranayama is a practice of getting familiar with your life force energy through the vehicle of the breath. Through various techniques, which range from manipulating the breath to simply observing the natural breath, pranayama can help us feel more physically and mentally integrated.

Core competencies

By the end of this program, graduates will be able to…

Yoga History & Theory	Identify the pranayama techniques covered in the training: breath awareness, sama vritti (equal breathing), ujjayi (victorious breath), nadi shodhana (alternate nostril), viloma (interrupted breath), and kapalabhati (skull-shining breath). Discuss the structural elements of a pranayama teaching session as modeled in the training opening stretching, dharma talk framing, breath awareness practice, technique instruction, and closing integration. Describe the role of dharma talks in framing a pranayama session — how a brief philosophical context (e.g., prana as life force, the relationship of breath to mind) enriches students' relationship to the practice.
Anatomy, Physiology, Biomechanics	Explain the physiological and energetic mechanisms of each technique how sama vritti creates balance, ujjayi generates internal heat, nadi shodhana purifies energy channels, viloma develops breath control, and kapalabhati cleanses. Assess the effectiveness and safety of a pranayama session — observing students for signs of strain, lightheadedness, or disconnection — and evaluate one's own instruction for clarity, pacing, and dharma integration.
Practice Skills	Practice each technique in both reclined and seated positions demonstrating correct technique, appropriate breath ratios, and safe entry and exit
Teaching Skills	Evaluate students' pranayama practice for correct technique, breath quality, and physical ease providing feedback that refines without overwhelming, particularly for students new to breath manipulation. Design a complete pranayama class — including simple stretching, introducing dharma context, reclined and seated practice, and a logical progression through awareness to manipulation — tailored to a specific student population. Facilitate a complete pranayama teaching session for yoga practitioners, bodyworkers, or health professionals using clear verbal guidance, safe sequencing, and appropriate pacing between techniques. Develop a multi-session pranayama curriculum for a specific audience (e.g., healthcare professionals, yoga teachers, stressed beginners), sequencing techniques from simple awareness to more refined manipulation with clear pedagogical rationale.
Lifestyle & Ethics	Discuss how pranayama serves as a bridge between asana and meditation analyzing how specific techniques prepare the nervous system and attention for deeper stillness or more energized practice.