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How you breathe as you enter, hold, and exit a hatha yoga position contributes to how deeply you can work in the posture. In general, the body opens when you inhale and contracts when you exhale. Try to feel the breath flowing into the area of the body on which you are focusing in hatha yoga postures. The body moves in four directions: Forward bends (flexion), backward bends (extension), sideways bends (lateral extension) and twists (rotation).
Keep this breathing pattern in mind for these four natural motions when you move through hatha yoga positions:
-Inhale when moving into back bends.
-Exhale when moving into forward bends.
-Exhale when moving into side bends.
-Exhale when moving into twists.