Ujjāyī, the victorious breath

The name

Ujjāyī is usually traced to the verb uj-ji (ud + √ji), "to win, to conquer", which the Monier-Williams dictionary attests from the Vedic texts on. It is translated "the victorious" or "the one that conquers upward". The texts themselves do not explain the name. In English classes you will also hear "ocean breath" or "the whispering breath", for its sound.

What the texts say

Ujjāyī is the second of the eight kumbhakas listed by the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2.44). It is a retention practice, and the text describes it in three verses:

मुखं संयम्य नाडीभ्यामाकृष्य पवनं शनैः । यथा लगति कण्ठात्तु हृदयावधि सस्वनम् ॥

mukhaṃ saṃyamya nāḍībhyām ākṛṣya pavanaṃ śanaiḥ | yathā lagati kaṇṭhāt tu hṛdayāvadhi sa-svanam ||

Closing the mouth, draw the air in slowly through both channels, so that it is felt from the throat to the heart, with a sound.

The breath is then held "as before" and let out through the left nostril (2.52). The text says it removes phlegm from the throat and kindles the fire of the body, and adds a practical note that is unusual for a kumbhaka: ujjāyī "should be performed in all conditions of life, even while walking or sitting" (2.53, Pancham Sinh, 1914).

The ujjayi of yoga classes

In vinyasa and ashtanga classes, "ujjayi" usually means something simpler: a continuous, audible breath through the nose, without retention, used to keep a steady rhythm through the postures. It is a twentieth-century use of the word. Within the ashtanga tradition itself, teachers have disagreed: Manju Jois recommends ujjāyī during the postures, while Sharath Jois said in 2011 and again in 2013 that the postures call for deep breathing with sound, not ujjāyī as such, which he kept for pranayama. See ashtanga yoga for the method.

Both uses are legitimate. This page teaches the continuous form first, then the classical kumbhaka.

Steps: the simple form

1. Sit upright, shoulders soft. Open the mouth and breathe out with a whispered "haaa", as if fogging a mirror. Feel the slight narrowing at the back of the throat.
2. Make the same whispered sound as you breathe in.
3. Close the mouth. Keep the same narrowing and breathe through the nose. The sound now comes from the throat: soft, even, like distant waves.
4. Make the inhalation and exhalation equal and slow, for example four counts and four counts.
5. When it is easy, lengthen the exhalation to six, then eight counts.
6. Continue three to five minutes, then let the throat relax and breathe naturally.

Steps: the classical kumbhaka (after several weeks)

1. Breathe in slowly with the ujjāyī sound through both nostrils, feeling the breath from the throat to the chest.
2. Lower the chin gently towards the breastbone (jalandhara bandha) and hold the breath for a few comfortable counts.
3. Lift the head first. Close the right nostril with the thumb and breathe out slowly through the left.
4. Five to ten rounds, with natural breaths in between if you need them.

If the next inhalation rushes in, the hold was too long. The bandhas page explains the throat lock in detail.

Rhythm for beginners and progression

What research shows

Ujjāyī has been studied very little on its own. One careful experiment compared slow breathing at six breaths a minute with and without ujjāyī in seventeen healthy young people who had never done yoga (Mason and colleagues, 2013). Slow breathing improved a marker of blood pressure regulation (baroreflex sensitivity) in every pattern except one, ujjāyī on both the inhalation and the exhalation; the largest gain, with a drop in blood pressure, came with plain slow breathing and equal inhalation and exhalation. Ujjāyī raised oxygen saturation as much, but improved the marker slightly less and did not lower blood pressure; the authors link this to the extra effort of breathing against a narrowed throat.

The practical lesson: the slowness does most of the work. If ujjāyī makes you strain, a quiet slow breath through the nose is a perfectly good alternative.

Common mistakes

• Squeezing the throat until the breath rasps or snores. It should never scratch or make you cough.
• Making the sound with the nose instead of the throat.
• Breathing loudly to be heard. The texts ask for a sound, not a performance.
• Tensing the jaw and face. Teeth slightly apart, tongue resting, lips closed.
• Holding the breath with the chin still down when you breathe out. Lift the head first.

Where it fits in a practice

The continuous form can accompany postures or open a breathing session; the classical form belongs to the session itself, after nadi shodhana and before bhramari. The pranayama page gives the order of a full practice, and types of pranayama compares ujjāyī with the other kumbhakas.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Pancham Sinh, Sacred Books of the Hindus vol. XV part 3 (1914), Internet Archive checked October 17, 2026
2. Svātmārāma, Haṭhayogapradīpikā, Sanskrit text, 2.51-2.53 (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 17, 2026
3. Srisa Chandra Vasu (tr.), The Gheranda Samhita, Sacred Books of the Hindus vol. XV (1914-1915), lesson 5, verses 69-72, Internet Archive checked October 17, 2026
4. Mason H et al. Cardiovascular and respiratory effect of yogic slow breathing in the yoga beginner: what is the best approach? Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013 DOI 10.1155/2013/743504 PMID 23710236 checked October 17, 2026
5. Ashtanga vinyasa yoga, Wikipedia (breathing in the asana practice: Manju Jois, Sharath Jois in 2011 and 2013) checked October 17, 2026
6. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), entry uj-ji (ud-√ji), Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries checked October 17, 2026

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