Prāṇāyāma for Daily Practice — Six Breaths to Know

Q: What materials we use?

We work with three fabrics. Three. Not thirty.Brushed Organic Cotton Jersey (220g, made in Portugal) soft, slightly thick, with a peach-skin touch. Our flagship. The Sohang, Yamala and Mahan are knitted from this.Mercerized Organic Cotton Jersey (180g, made in Portugal) lighter, smoother, with a subtle natural sheen. Our new Essence Collection uses this for models like Ankaa, Nashira, Maia.Bamboo Viscose blended with Organic Cotton (made in Turkey) cool, breathable, fluid. Used for the Lilii pants and the Mizar Kimono. Bamboo regrows in three to five years, without replanting and without irrigation.Most pieces include around 8% certified elastane, enough to hold shape over years of wear, without losing breath.We use every meter of yarn we knit. What we don't sew, we save for repairs and samples. Nothing goes to waste.

Q: Three generations of women to design

Three generations of women.My grandmother Johanna sewed evening dresses by hand. Long, careful, beautiful work, a kind of patience that has all but disappeared.My mother, Cornelia, learned from her. In 2009, she founded Breath of Fire. The very first piece she designed, the Sohang, was created on the floor of her living room in Switzerland, with a yoga teacher friend named Christina. It is still our flagship today, seventeen years later.Today, I ( Pernelle) run the brand. I do not redesign what works. I extend it. The Essence Collection, launched in 2025, sits beside the Evergreen line. New silhouettes, same intention.We do not design for trends. We design for the body in practice, for the moment when the breath deepens, when the posture lengthens, when you forget what you are wearing.That is the test of a piece. Forgetting it on. Returning to it.

"To awaken, sit calmly, letting each breath clear your mind and open your heart."
— Gautama Buddha

Prāṇāyāma. Two sanskrit words. Prāṇa — life force, the breath of being. Āyāma — to extend, to regulate, to ride. Together: the conscious practice of breath.

Without breath, no asana. Without breath, no meditation. Without breath, no yoga at all. Of the eight limbs of yoga described by Patañjali, prāṇāyāma is the bridge — between body and mind, between movement and stillness.

Here are six pranayama practices to know, with a personal note at the end on what we have rediscovered.

1. Breath of Fire — Agni Prāṇ

The breath our brand is named after. A rhythmic, equal-emphasis breath — inhale and exhale of equal length, no pause between them, around two to three cycles per second, no deeper than sniffing. Practiced through the nostrils with mouth and eyes closed, pumping the navel toward the spine on the exhale, releasing on the inhale.

Benefits:

Releases toxins from lungs, blood vessels, and cellular tissue.
Expands lung capacity and increases vital strength.
Strengthens the nervous system against stress.
Balances the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
Strengthens the navel chakra and physical endurance.
Increases oxygen delivery to the brain — focus, clarity, neutrality.
Boosts the immune system.
Reduces addictive impulses for drugs, smoking, and unhealthy foods.

Note: avoid during pregnancy and menstruation.

2. Alternate Nostril Breathing — Anuloma Viloma

Hold one nostril closed, breathe through the other. Reverse. Continue in cycles. The mind balances as the breath alternates between left and right channels (ida and pingala in yogic anatomy).

Benefits: calms anger, stabilises mood, improves focus, supports respiratory and cardiovascular health.

3. Bhrāmarī — Humming bee breath

Named after the black Indian bee whose hum it imitates. Inhale through the nose. On the exhale, close the ears gently with thumbs, make a long, soft "mmm" sound. Feel the vibration in the throat, the jaw, the skull.

Benefits: lowers blood pressure, calms the nervous system, releases tension, brings the mind into stillness quickly. One of the most accessible practices for stress relief.

4. Ujjāyī — Ocean breath

The breath of Vinyasa and Ashtanga. A soft hissing sound at the back of the throat on both inhale and exhale, as if fogging up a mirror with closed mouth. The breath becomes audible, regulated, anchoring.

Benefits: sharpens focus, supports thyroid function, reduces snoring, allows the mind to follow the breath in a moving practice.

5. Kapālabhātī — Skull shining breath

Passive inhale, active exhale. Forceful exhalations through the nose with quick navel contractions. The inhale happens by itself, naturally, between exhales.

Benefits: strengthens abdominal organs, supports digestion, increases metabolic rate, clears the mind quickly.

6. Bhastrikā — Bellows breath

Rapid, forceful inhalations and exhalations through the nose, both equal in intensity. Like a blacksmith's bellows.

Benefits: strengthens the lungs, clears the airways, increases both physical and mental energy. A powerful warming practice.

What we have rediscovered

Lately, I returned to the basics of my own practice. Habits had crept in — I was repeating mantras a certain way, breathing in a certain rhythm, without paying full attention. So I began again, as a beginner. Here is what came back to me:

I begin every prāṇāyāma by exhaling completely. Emptying first, then receiving.
I consciously open the nostrils on the inhale. The breath becomes more regular, deeper, more receptive.
I bring attention to smells as I inhale, stimulating the olfactory zone at the top of the nose. The Tibetan tradition says: "smell opens the door to the deepest layers of the mind." It does.
I exhale slowly, almost imperceptibly. Sometimes with a long OM sound to extend the breath out.
I fill the belly first, then the ribs, then the upper lungs until the collarbones rise. Then I bring the energy and consciousness rising up along the spine.

These five small returns have changed my practice more than any new technique ever did.

Breath is the only function of the body that is both automatic and conscious. The bridge is always there. We just have to walk it.

– Love & Light, Pernelle

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What you wear matters. The texture against skin. The breath that moves freely. Pieces that soften with the years.

Our clothes are certified organic cotton, knitted and sewn in Portugal in small batches since 2009. Natural fibers. Slow craft. Clothing for those who pay attention to what touches the body.

Near Porto, in Portugal, two small family businesses work side by side for us. The first, in one village, knits our organic cotton from scratch and dyes it to our specifications. The second, in the next village, cuts and sews. We have been visiting both every year since 2009. We know the people by name. We share meals when we visit. They have watched our collections grow alongside their own children.

During the Covid years, when organic cotton and bamboo became briefly impossible to source in Portugal, we found a second family workshop in Turkey — also ethical, also certified, also personal. About 5% of what we make passes through their hands today. The Mizar Kimono and a few Lilac pieces from past collections come from there.

Most yoga brands buy fabric from a market — pre-made rolls, ready to cut. We don't. Every meter of jersey we use is knitted from scratch to our specifications. That is why the Sohang feels the way it does. That is why a five-year-old pair softens instead of wearing thin.

A slower way of making clothes. Sometimes inconvenient. Always worth it.

Sustainability for us is not a marketing department. It is a series of small, sometimes annoying choices we have made since 2009.

We chose certified organic cotton when it was 40% more expensive than conventional or plastic fabrics. We still pay that premium today. We grow without external capital which means we cannot afford to overstock, so we don't. We use every meter of yarn we order, even when it means smaller runs and longer waits. We are 100% self funded and all the money is placed in ethical funds in a local bank.

We focus on evergreen pieces, the Sohang, the Amrit, the Amba instead of seasonal collections. Some of these designs are over a decade old and still our bestsellers. A garment worn for ten years on a body is the most sustainable thing a fashion brand can make.

Our fabrics are dyed with processes gentle enough for a baby's skin. We package in either recycled or biodegradable bags. We ship from our small warehouse in Cully (Switzerland) or our partner in Germany, never overseas.

We don't tick every box. We are not perfect. But these are the choices we make, and we make them visible.

We work with three fabrics. Three. Not thirty.

Brushed Organic Cotton Jersey (220g, made in Portugal) soft, slightly thick, with a peach-skin touch. Our flagship. The Sohang, Yamala and Mahan are knitted from this.

Mercerized Organic Cotton Jersey (180g, made in Portugal) lighter, smoother, with a subtle natural sheen. Our new Essence Collection uses this for models like Ankaa, Nashira, Maia.

Bamboo Viscose blended with Organic Cotton (made in Turkey) cool, breathable, fluid. Used for the Lilii pants and the Mizar Kimono. Bamboo regrows in three to five years, without replanting and without irrigation.

Most pieces include around 8% certified elastane, enough to hold shape over years of wear, without losing breath.

We use every meter of yarn we knit. What we don't sew, we save for repairs and samples. Nothing goes to waste.

Three generations of women.

My grandmother Johanna sewed evening dresses by hand. Long, careful, beautiful work, a kind of patience that has all but disappeared.

My mother, Cornelia, learned from her. In 2009, she founded Breath of Fire. The very first piece she designed, the Sohang, was created on the floor of her living room in Switzerland, with a yoga teacher friend named Christina. It is still our flagship today, seventeen years later.

Today, I ( Pernelle) run the brand. I do not redesign what works. I extend it. The Essence Collection, launched in 2025, sits beside the Evergreen line. New silhouettes, same intention.

We do not design for trends. We design for the body in practice, for the moment when the breath deepens, when the posture lengthens, when you forget what you are wearing.

That is the test of a piece. Forgetting it on. Returning to it.

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Prāṇāyāma for Daily Practice — Six Breaths to Know

1. Breath of Fire — Agni Prāṇ

2. Alternate Nostril Breathing — Anuloma Viloma

3. Bhrāmarī — Humming bee breath

4. Ujjāyī — Ocean breath

5. Kapālabhātī — Skull shining breath

6. Bhastrikā — Bellows breath

What we have rediscovered

Wear your frequency.

Two villages in Portugal makes your clothes

The slow choices we keep making for sustainability

What materials we use?

Three generations of women to design