The Sanskrit word pranayama means to release life energy from its bounds. When practiced correctly, this powerful form of yogic breathwork has the ability to reveal the intricate web of your thoughts, physiology, and energetic patterns, to quiet your mind and heighten receptivity, and to open you to the intrinsic radiance of Being.

On Yoga Breathing, Richard Freeman, director of the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, Colorado, invites you to learn the essential principles and techniques of pranayama, including:

Every breath you take, teaches Freeman, can serve as a guiding thread into the depths of yoga, a place of freedom and immediacy of awareness that begins on the practice mat and gradually extends into each moment of your life. Yoga Breathing distills the secrets of this essential inner work into two complete home practice sessions designed to guide you, breath by breath, to greater vitality and health.

Note: excerpted from the full-length audio course Yoga Matrix.