Shift Your Inner State: Practicing Pranayama
By Andrea Jarrell
In advance of our upcoming Pranayama Immersion Workshop on Sunday, July 12, we interviewed workshop leader and visiting expert Marcia Hoffeins, ERYT - 500, YEACP. We are so excited she will be with us.
PFY: What can participants expect to take away from the workshop?
MH: Breath is one of the most immediate and accessible tools we have for shifting our physiology, our nervous system, and our inner state. Together, we will explore several core pranayama techniques. I'll give everyone a clear framework for when and why to use each one, so this becomes a living practice you can bring into your daily life, your yoga practice, and beyond! You'll leave with something real to take home, not just concepts, but experience.
PFY: Why do you love teaching pranayama?
MH: Pranayama is where the ancient wisdom of yoga meets modern neuroscience in the most beautiful way. I love teaching it because the results are immediate and undeniable. You learn how the breath and your energy can quite literally change your state. You will feel the shift happening in real time, sometimes within just a few breaths. There’s something deeply moving about watching someone discover that they’ve been carrying this extraordinary tool their whole life without knowing it. Breath is the one function of the body that operates both consciously and unconsciously, which makes it a unique bridge between what we can control and what we can't — and that intersection is where so much transformation lives.
PFY: How is the workshop structured?
MH: We’ll move through the session in layers. We will begin with a practice focusing less on asana execution and more on how your body is working with energetics (vayu's/kosha system) alongside of your physical anatomy (feet - pelvic floor & diaphragm). During the practice, we will use a few different pranayama techniques and really focus on the movement of energy in each shape.
From there, I'll introduce each pranayama technique with its traditional context and practical application. We'll practice each one together with time to feel and reflect. The workshop weaves education and experience together rather than keeping them separate — expect some philosophy, some anatomy, and a lot of actual breathing. We’ll close with an integration practice, so you leave feeling spacious rather than overstimulated.
PFY: We'd love to get to know you a little – can you share something about yourself you'd like Pure Fire folks to know?
MH: When I’m not in the studio, I’m probably outside in the foothills of West Virginia with my dogs, my husband and cats! I have two daughters who are grown and out of the house. Yoga found me as a young corporate executive, and it has carried me through deep grief, massive change and healing. I’ve been teaching for 25 years and training teachers for about a 17 years. What keeps me coming back to this work—and especially to pranayama—is that it is the path through every aspect of your life.
The breath is endlessly interesting. I am an executive coach, and I also lead international retreats, including an annual gathering in Tulum. I approach all of it through the same lens: the body knows things the mind hasn’t caught up to yet. I get to help you break through to that knowing! I’m so glad to be sharing space with the Pure Fire community.
Register for the Pranayama Immersion Workshop below!