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The Eight Classical Pranayama Breaths

A course with Laurent Roure

  Started Sat 25 Mar 2023

  Studio

Laurent brings his extensive experience to explain and revisit these practices to suit our modern world.
For teachers (and interested students).

Sat 25th Mar 2023 ~ 1pm to 6pm (5hrs)
Sun 26th Mar 2023 ~ 10am to 3pm (5hrs)

- £120 -

About the class

Laurent brings his extensive experience of eight traditional yoga breathing techniques and shows how he adapts them to our modern context and lifestyle.

His unique and updated approach to those ancient techniques will be introduced and explained safely and securely, and gradually to understand their subtlety, benefits, and ‘true’ effects on our body and being.

A vital component of a complete classical yogic practice is learning and studying the eight classical pranayama breaths.

According to the Hatha Pradipika (one of the three ancient manuals on hatha yoga), pranayama techniques are divided into three categories: balancing, tranquilising and vitalising.

Within those categories come the eight classical breaths, which affect different areas of the brain and body. Some activate and create heat in the physical and subtle body (the koshas), whilst others have a cool, calm, and pacifying effect.

These ancient techniques have traditionally been kept secret from the outside world. Still, fortunately, today, we are beginning to understand how we can harness the powerful benefits of the eight breaths for our health, vitality, and well-being.

Laurent’s approach to those classical techniques comes from years of trying and teaching them, receiving feedback and changing them slightly to transform them into an accessible practice to all, whether you are a yogi or not. They are allowing transform of our yoga practice and daily life.

Please note that even if you did not get the opportunity to attend the previous workshop, you are still more than welcome to participate in this one. We will briefly revisit the key points before we jump into the eight classical breaths.

The Eight Classical Pranayama Breaths:

Bhastrika and Kapalbhati – cleansing, stimulating, awakening breath.

Ujjayi – A warming, calming and focused breath.

Surya Bhedana/ Nadi Shodana – A relaxing, balancing, cleansing breath.

Sitkari- A ‘cooling’, calming breath.

Sheetali- A ‘cooling’, calming breath.

Bhramari- calming, soothing breath, meditative.

Murcha- breath which expands consciousness by stopping brain activity.

Plavani- A breath which increases the supply of energy in the body.

Please note that we will mention murcha and plavani during the workshop, but we won’t practice them as these techniques are no longer relevant in a modern context.

Before the course, a handout will be supplied to outline the subjects that have been covered. In the handout, you will find valuable exercises and sequences to help you build your practice and gain the most possible from this introductory workshop.

During these two days, Laurent will be available to answer questions and support your self-practice by providing advice from his long years of teaching breathwork.

About Laurent :

Laurent Roure has been practicing and studying pranayama in the style of Dr Gitananda Saraswati Sri’s yoga system for many years. He advocates for the Gitananda system due to its strong emphasis on physical therapeutics. Laurent’s refreshed and revisited approach to pranayama also utilises breathing techniques outside the traditional yogic system and seamlessly embeds them into his practice and teaching.

Laurent’s approach is thus finely tuned to be relevant and applicable to our twenty-first-century lives.

He trained and mentored many teachers, therapists, coaches, and health carers for several years with his 60-hour Breathwork and Pranayama CPD course.

This course has already begun.