I taught movement for years before I understood breath

For most of my twenties I taught vinyasa the way I had been taught it: fast, hot, and set to music. People loved the classes and left them exhausted, which I mistook for a job well done.

What changed things was a shoulder injury that stopped me practising for eight months. All I could do was breathe, so I learned to do it properly — first from books, then badly, then from two teachers who corrected almost everything I thought I knew.

Vayusoma is what came out of that. The breath sets the pace and the movement fits around it. Classes are quiet. Nobody counts repetitions.

It works best for people who sleep badly, sit too long, or have been handed a breathing app and told to figure it out.

Nuno Aleixo
Pranayama & movement teacher