Aside from using your breath to play an instrument, the practice of yogic breathing is physically beneficial to a performer. If you learn to breathe deeply and slowly when you inhale, you're thoroughly oxygenating your blood and flooding your body with good fuel from outside, as long as the air is clean. This will result in greater health and energy as well as better relaxation.

Many people are oxygen-starved because they breathe too shallowly, resulting in fatigue and low resistance to disease. Often this arises from expanding the chest rather than the abdomen while breathing. When you do that, you can't get enough air into your lungs.

Abdominal breathing, or deep breathing, means letting your abdomen expand when you inhale, which lowers your diaphragm -- the muscle just below your lungs. The lower your diaphragm goes, the more room your lungs have to expand with air.

Proper yogic breathing is meant to help you breathe fully and rhythmically, making use of all, not just part of your lungs. All breathing in yoga is done through the nose, with the lips softly together. This way the air is filtered through the cilia in your nostrils.

To practice deep breathing at home, try the following exercise:

1. Sit or lie down faceup on the floor with your spine straight. You should be wearing loose clothing that won't restrict your waist or chest.
2. Place your hands gently over your abdomen, with the middle fingers touching directly over your navel.
3. Breathe in slowly. As you inhale, use your abdominal muscles to push your belly way up. This brings the diaphragm way down, opening up more room for air to fill your lungs. If you are inhaling correctly, your fingertips will separate over your navel as your abdomen rises. You should always breathe abdominally. That's the way babies breathe. It's the most efficient way to get the maximum amount of oxygen.
4. As you fill up your lungs, you can feel your rib cage start to open. As you fill the upper lobes of your lungs, you'll feel the pressure under your collarbone. This is the kind of deep, full breathing that you get by running around the block several times.
5. So, you're fully inflated. Now let the air out slowly, with control. You don't want any big gushes of air. As you exhale, your abdomen contracts. The tips of your fingers should slowly come together again and touch.
6. Empty your lungs completely, bringing your abdomen back in. Starting from the top and working down, gently push down and depress your abdominal muscles until you can't squeeze any more air out.
7. Repeat the process for several minutes.

One technique which most yoga clsses include is alternate nostril breathing. In Sanskrit, it's called analoma viloma. In analoma viloma, the air is held under pressure and then exhaled. Try the following:

1. Sit cross-legged or in a chair. Keep your head and spine straight.
2. Touch left index finger to left thumb in a circle, stretching out the other three fingers, resting the back of your left hand on your left knee. This is a classic yogic posture.
3. Curl the index and middle finger into the palm of the right hand, rest arm against side of body, bringing thumb of right hand up to cover the right nostril. Inhale through your left nostril and count to four.
4. Close off both nostrils, using the ring finger of the right hand against the left nostril, using only gentle pressure. Retain your breath for a count of 16.
5. At the end of the 16 count, lift the thumb exhale to a count of eight. Inhale on right to a count of four, retain, closing both nostrils. Hold to a count of 16, exhale left to a count of eight. You are exhaling more air than you brought in.
6. Return to a relaxed position to begin again. Do five rounds.

Slowly, as you practice these techniques and deepen your breathing over time, you'll rid yourself of stress and fatigue and boost your energy and focus.