Breathing

I always assumed that during Yoga practice, my breath should be deep and controlled. However, a Yoga teacher recently informed me to breathe normally unless she states otherwise during the practice. Is this correct?

Hi Craig, great question. Imagine that the breath is a like musical instrument and sometimes we want to manipulate it to play certain notes and sometimes we want to simply listen to its song. How we play with it depends on the desired effect. So everyone is right here. xok

Kira, what a beautiful way to describe the breath! Thank you so much. Is it my choice when I decide to listen and when I decide to play certain notes or should I be guided by the teacher? And if the teacher doesn't state either way, should I presume I breathe normally? Thanks so much for your help. x