Tag Archives: Pranayamas

Alessandra Policreti teaching in Dzamlingar

The Breath in Movement: optimising breathing performance, training for health and setting the foundation for contemplation practice.

AMSTERDAM OCT 30TH – NOV 1TH

Moving from Functional Breathing Towards a Deeper Experience of Rhythmic Breathing and Kumbhaka

Integrating the science of the Buteyko, Oxygen Advantage, and Respira Evolution methods with the ancient tradition of Yantra Yoga, Pranayamas and Rhythmic Breathing, to understand and experience deeply an improved breathing performance, greater mental and physical health, and stability in presence and awareness.

REGISTER HERE

PROGRAMME

scroll down for a more detailed version of the daily contents

The programme is offered in 2 parts – a public one, and one dedicated exclusively to those who have received Dzogchen Transmission.

Open part (Friday and Saturday): an exploration of functional breathing and the principles of Complete and Fluid Breathing, integrating elements from the Buteyko and Oxygen Advantage Methods, Respira Evolution and Yantra Yoga. Through awareness, diaphragmatic work, ribcage mobility and rhythmic breathing, participants will develop a smoother, more efficient and more integrated way of breathing.

Reserved part (Sunday): For practitioners who have received the Dzogchen transmission. A dedicated day for deepening our understanding of Kumbhaka and Barlung through the practice of Rhythmic Breathing.

FOR WHAT AND FOR WHOM

The course is adapt for beginners as well as advanced practitioners who want to deepen their understanding and practice:

HEALTH: individuals wanting to improve their health and professionals helping individuals improving their health. Learn to adopt effectively breathing practice to improve mental health (anxiety, mental fog, depletion, agitation) and physical health (physiologic, metabolic, cognitive, muscular). The course will cater also for seniors, people with reduced mobility and their specific condition.

SPORT AND PERFORMANCE: for those who wish to enhance their clarity and breathing awareness and efficiency to increase their performance (in every day life or in sports); adapt for both athletes and trainers.

MINDFULNNESS, CONTEMPLATION AND PRACTICE WITH PRESENCE: for more experienced practitioners who want to deepen their experience in meditative practice through the foundation of breath. This stream will develop all the way to the Sunday’s reserved session, dedicated exclusively to practitioners of Dzogchen who have received transmission from the lineage. The teachings that will be shared (Kumbhaka and understanding of Barlung) are very specific and require handling with care, both by the instructor and the students.

The Teacher

Alessandra Policreti has been practicing Yantra Yoga for over 25 years. She trained with direct students of the Tibetan master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, who granted her teaching authorization. Developing her practice through 15 years of teaching, today she is a second-level Yantra Yoga Teacher. She is an an advanced Oxygen Advantage® instructor and developing her training in the Buteyko Method.

She is a mindfulness facilitator and was among the first teachers and instructor trainers of the Respira Evolution Method. For years, she has been guiding people to improve their health, energy, and well-being through mindful breathing.

Her approach is characterized by calmness, clarity, and precision, offering practical and accessible tools that can be easily integrated into daily life, fostering greater awareness, presence, and the quality of relationships.

DETAILED DAILY PROGRAMME

Friday evening — Awareness and Release. Introduction to functional and complete breathing, open to all: assessing our natural breathing pattern, releasing habitual tension, and a first taste of Complete and Fluid Breathing as taught through Yantra Yoga.

Contents:      

  • Introduction: what do we mean by functional breathing?
  • A simple assessment of our natural breathing pattern
  • Becoming aware of habitual patterns of tension and restriction
  • Introduction to Complete and Fluid Breathing, as taught through Yantra Yoga and the Respira Evolution Method
  • Exploring the movement of the diaphragm
  • Exercises to release unnecessary tension and improve diaphragmatic movement
  • Experiencing the breath as a three-dimensional, continuous movement
  • Short practice and integration

Saturday — From the Diaphragm to Fluid Breathing. Diaphragm and ribcage work in the morning; functional and rhythmic breathing in the afternoon, including an introduction to Rhythmic Breathing, the pranayama of Yantra Yoga.

Contents:

Morning: Diaphragm, ribcage and the movement of the breath

  • Revisiting the natural diaphragmatic movement
  • Understanding the relationship between diaphragm, abdomen and ribcage
  • Exercises for ribcage mobility and flexibility
  • Exploring the lateral and posterior movement of the ribs
  • Understanding how the breath can expand horizontally into the chest
  • Developing a smooth, continuous and fluid breathing pattern
  • Practising Complete and Fluid Breathing
  • Integration and relaxation

Afternoon | Functional breathing and rhythmic breathing

  • What makes breathing functional?
  • Nasal breathing and breathing volume
  • Exploring the relationship between breathing and the nervous system
  • Simple exercises from the Oxygen Advantage and Buteyko methods
  • Breathe Light
  • gentle, comfortable breath holds
  • developing awareness of air hunger
  • Bringing functional breathing principles into Complete and Fluid Breathing
  • Introduction to Rhythmic Breathing, the pranayama of Yantra Yoga
  • Practising the rhythm while maintaining a smooth, continuous breath
  • Understanding the relationship between movement, rhythm, breath and attention

Sunday — From Rhythmic Breathing to Kumbhaka. A dedicated day on Kumbhaka and understanding of Barlung through Rhythmic Breathing. As many of you will know, given the nature and power of these practices, this day is only for those who have received direct introduction from a Dzogchen lineage holder. If you haven’t yet had this transmission and would like to know more about receiving it, please reach out — we’re glad to help you find the way there.

Contents:

Morning: Understanding Kumbhaka

  • What is kumbhaka?
  • Kumbhaka in the context of Yantra Yoga
  • Why holding the breath is not simply about “holding your breath”
  • Exploring the relationship between breath, prana and attention
  • Simple exercises from Yantra Yoga and the Respira Evolution Method to understand the sensation of directing and containing the prana below the navel
  • Developing stability and containment without unnecessary tension
  • Practice

Afternoon: Deepening Rhythmic Breathing

  • Revisiting the structure of Rhythmic Breathing
  • Understanding the different phases of the breathing cycle
  • Working with higher counts
  • How rhythm, breath and retention relate to one another
  • Can Kumbhaka arise naturally? Introduction to Barlung
  • Exploring the internal experience of the practiceA longer guided practice
  • Questions and integration

WHERE

onsite and online

COST

Attendance to the open section of the programme (Friday 30th, Saturday 31st):

  • Onsite: €135 for the entire weekend course, €120 Early Bird (register before Sept 30th) with discounts of30th) with additional discounts of 20%, 50% and 80% for members of IDC
  • Online: €100 for the entire weekend course, 10% discount for Early Bird (register before Sept 30th)

Attendance to the full programme (including Sunday 1st)

  • Onsite: €220 for the entire weekend course, €198 Early Bird (register before Sept 30th) with additional discounts of 20%, 50% and 80% for members of IDC
  • Online: €100 for the entire weekend course, 10% discount for Early Bird (register before Sept 30th)

REGISTER HERE

COMPLETE BREATHING & YANTRA YOGA
3-hour Introduction to Yantra Yoga & Breath Awareness

Next Session: May 31st

This workshop is built around one thing: the breath.
Not as a technique to perform — but as something your body already knows how to do, and has slowly forgotten.

Over three hours, we work through the anatomy of breathing, simple exercises to restore its natural completeness, and sequences from Yantra Yoga — an 8th-century Tibetan system that coordinates breath with precise, unhurried movement.

We close with the Nine Purification Breathings, a practice that precedes most formal Tibetan sitting practices. You’ll understand why.

No previous yoga experience needed.

You leave with a practice that belongs to you.

We will breathe together through:

  • Breath Perception. The anatomy of complete breathing. Simple exercises to release tension and restore the body’s natural respiratory pattern.
  • Body & Breath. Yantra Yoga movement sequences. The Nine Purification Breathings. Integration and rest.
  • Short breaks between blocks.

Lily Orlova

The instructor of the workshop

“I came to Yantra Yoga in 2010, when I met the Dzogchen master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. I had practised Hatha and Iyengar yoga for years before — but this was different. The precision of it. The way breath and movement were inseparable.
I trained with senior instructors Fabio Andrico and Laura Evangelisti over several years and began teaching in Amsterdam in 2018. What I teach now is what I wish someone had shown me earlier: that the breath is always available, and that learning to use it changes everything about how the body holds the day.”

Lily Orlova

About the Method

Yantra Yoga is one of the oldest documented yoga systems in the world. It arrived in the West in the 1970s, brought by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu — one of the foremost Dzogchen masters of the 20th century.
Where Hatha yoga works primarily with posture, Yantra Yoga works with the relationship between movement and breath. The positions are precise. The timing is precise. The result is a practice that works at the level of the nervous system — not just the body.
It was developed for this. The Tibetans knew, long before the term existed, what regulation feels like.

Practical Information

Location
Svaha Yoga (Downtown), Begijnensteeg 1, Amsterdam (city centre)

Timing 14:30 – 17:30
Please come at least 15 mins in advance to change, look around and prepare for the session.

What to wear — Comfortable, layered clothing. Warm socks. No shoes in the space.
What to bring — A mat and blanket if you have them; we have spares.

Price
€35 If finances are a barrier, write to us: yantrayoga@dzogchen.nl

Spots are limited. Reserve yours with a €15 deposit or full payment → bank link to secure a spot

This workshop is part of a series.

These workshops are not drop-in classes.

Each session builds on the last —
breath, movement, perception —
until you have a complete practice
you can return to independently.

We meet a few times a year, in small groups.
You leave with something that belongs to you.