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few months ago, we discussed in this column the diaphragmatic breathing practice, which is essentially a natural deep breathing technique to introduce you to the more intense practice of Pranayama or breathing science.

We all tend to breathe too quickly as a symptom of the breathless pace of our life. It is said that on average we breathe 15 to 20 times a minute.

Yogic science teaches that we could live a healthier life - physically, mentally and emotionally - if we could slow our breathing down to 10 to 12 breaths a minute.

Pranayama practice is a good way to do this. When you slow your breathing down, it automatically smoothes its texture.

One of the practices to slow down our breathing is the Ujjayi or the victorious or conqueror breath. This warming breath is also commonly used in asana or the physical practice of yoga.

It got its name because in this technique, the breath is kept high up in the chest, causing the chest to puff up. It has also been said that the word Ujjayi comes from the word Ujjapi, which means "pronounced aloud".

The sound that characterizes this exercise is essentially an amplification of the natural sound of your breath.

You do this by channeling your inhalation and exhalation over the back of your throat, technically by narrowing your glottis or the space between your vocal chords.

Narrowing the glottis helps slow down your breathing further. It also helps you monitor the breath's texture.

It is actually as easy as making an aspirate sound on the inhalation and exhalation, like creating a gentle "S" or "saaa" sound as you inhale, and an "H" or "haa" sound as you exhale.

As in most other forms of pranayama, the mouth is kept closed and breathing is done only through the nose.

Do this a few times before you go into the full practice and, while doing it, notice the quality of your breath. You might sense very slightly that there are still some rough patches here and there, and that you can feel quivers as you breathe. Work to try to smooth the breath from the beginning to the end.

When you succeed in doing this, you'll transform the sound of your breathing into a natural and effortless white noise, which helps block out ambient sounds that might distract your attention.

This helps you to focus on your asana practice, as well as to begin your meditation practice.

Ujjayi breathing practice

1. Sit comfortably on a chair or cross-legged on a mat on the floor. If you're sitting cross-legged, try to sit at the edge of a cushion or blanket so that you are sitting with a straight spine slightly in front of your sitz bones.

2. As with any other breathing practice, it is best to begin by attending to your breath for a while without making any effort to alter it. Just watch your breathing in a general way, or zero in on one of its qualities such as its speed or time or its texture.

The act of watching itself transforms what is being watched. While watching your breathing, you realize that the speed of your breathing slows down.

3. Now start to employ the Ujjayi breath, listening to the gentle sound of the inhalation and exhalation at the back of your throat as a cue to the texture of your breath.

4. Feel the sensations in your body. As you inhale, the spine naturally lengthens slightly; as you exhale, it shortens. We want to encourage the lengthening, to make the torso bigger to make space for more air, and discourage the shortening.

So inhale slowly and feel your spine lengthen. Pause briefly at the top of the inhalation and actively firm your shoulder blades against your back to lift the sternum toward the ceiling. Then slowly exhale, maintaining as much of the length in your spine as you can. Continue in this fashion for a while.

After a while, you might notice a dilemma as you do this. As you inhale, the rising energy tends to pull your bony anchors, your thighbones and tail away from the floor.

You will lose some of your contact with the earth, which destabilizes your seat and interferes with your breathing. To avoid this, as you inhale, draw your breath up along with your spine, and, at the same time, sink your thighbones and root your tail deep into the floor.

5. Next, begin to apply the samavritti pranayama or equal breathing technique. Start timing your breath to a count of four. So inhale and begin to count: one, two, three, four; then exhale, and count: one, two, three four. Continue this cycle for a while, but if you feel comfortable enough, you can increase the number to five on the inhalation and five on the exhalation or even more. If you feel out of breath at the count of four, drop the count to to three.

6. Now start to pay attention to the rest between inhaling, exhaling and inhaling again. This is a precursor to breath retention or the kumbaka. Begin to focus on the silences in between. Rest a little longer than usual, maybe two to three counts, or until you feel ready to inhale again or exhale again. Do not struggle while doing this.

7. After a while, begin to return to your everyday breathing and watch it passively without trying to alter or control it, just like you did in the beginning. Then slowly release yourself from the sitting posture and lie down on your back into corpse pose or savasana for a few minutes of total relaxation.

The one thing to remember while practicing this technique is to never force your breathing, especially in pranayama. Sometimes, less is better than more. Namaste.