Health and Wellness: Stay Fit with the Practice of Pranayama

Yoga has been practiced in India from ancient times, but the credit for organizing its diverse concepts and giving it a scientific base goes to sage Patanjali. His yoga focuses primarily on the mind, but no human personality dimension has remained untouched by him. Physical body and expansion of pranic energy find a suitable place in his yoga too. In fact, working upon these is the right preparation before starting work on the mind. Asanas for the body and purification and enhancement of prana using pranayama find a place to prepare an aspirant to a higher level of experiments in yoga.

In Ashtanga yoga of Patanjali, beyond yama, niyama, and asana, pranayama appears as the fourth step. Its purpose is establishing a stillness in prana to make it suitable for the higher practices of dharana-dhyana. This is because prana is directly connected with the mind. If the prana is fickle and unstill, then so is the behavior of the mind. If prana becomes sturdy, the mind becomes sturdy too. Impurity in prana is regarded as a great obstacle in spiritual progress. Pranayama helps in cleansing prana, which helps make the mind well suited for the practice of meditation.

Prana is a subtle element whose presence is experienced in inhalation and exhalation and is also called prana-vayu. Just like the earth, fire, water, air, and space are considered the physical elements, prana, thoughts, intellect, soul, and supreme soul are regarded as the subtle elements. Of these, prana is the closest to physical existence and plays a vital role in all living beings. The yogic method of pranayama focuses on purifying and strengthening prana.

Prana is what keeps a living being alive, and its dissociation with the body is death. All activities of the body are possible because of the flow of a definite amount of prana in it. Any distortion or disruption of its flow in the body causes different forms of diseases and imbalances. Prana flows through subtle channels in the body, and pranayama helps purify and expand the prana that flows through them. The rising sun is regarded as the source of pranic energy on the earth. Pranayama is a process of connecting with this great source, which makes a person healthy, energetic, and bright.

The Core Processes: Rechaka, Pooraka, and Kumbhaka

In Patanjali yoga sutras, after gaining expertise in asana, the stable rhythm of inhalation and exhalation that is attained is termed as pranayama. Its essential processes are called rechaka, pooraka, and kumbhaka:

Pooraka – filling the lungs with fresh air by inhalation.
Kumbhaka – holding the air in for some time.
Rechaka – exhaling fully and again stopping the flow in external kumbhaka.

Pranayama techniques are classified into different categories depending on the breathing sequences.

Benefits of Deep Breathing

Deep breathing methods help in exercising the lungs as well. Like a honeycomb, lungs have millions of microscopic air sacs known as alveoli. When the breathing is not proper and if not exercised well, these air sacs become weak. Their inactivity over long periods leads to microbial infections and make the lungs a house of diseases. A lack of proper breathing also causes weak lungs and diseases like tuberculosis. Deep breaths taken during pranayama activate and exercise these alveoli, infuse life into them, and strengthen the lungs. They massage not just all the organs in the abdomen but also the subtle solar plexus, which activates numerous endocrine glands in the body. As a result, overall health improves.

During pranayama, prana flows through subtle channels called Ida and Pingala, and this improved flow through them activates another subtle channel, Sushumna, which benefits a person both mentally and spiritually. According to Patanjali Yogasutra, pranayama's eventual outcome is lifting off the veil cast on our inner brilliance or true knowledge.

In the words of Acharyaji, as the daily practice of pranayama becomes deeper and gets perfected, the impression of different types of veils like accumulated karmas, intrinsic tendencies, and various distortions and distresses arising out of lack of true knowledge begin to weaken. Just as all the impurities of gold get cleansed when it is melted by heat, all the veils of impurities of a yogi get destroyed by the practice of pranayama.

Pranakarshana Pranayama

Acharyaji has prescribed an effortless yet powerful technique that can be universally adopted and is called Pranakarshana Pranayama. For this:

After daily ablutions in the morning, sit in sukhasana in a meditative state with closed eyes.
Vacate the mind of all thoughts and imagine a large ocean of prana sweeping and surging all around you, with you sitting in the middle of it.
With a normal pace, gently inhale, and visualize that the prana surrounding you is slowly entering into your body and is diffusing into every organ of your body.
Hold the breath in for a while as per capacity, and then gently breathe out again.
This can be repeated 5 to 7 times to start with so that there is no pressure or tiredness.

Over time, the duration of practice can be increased. The tremendous effect of this pranayama's regular practice would show up on our health, and new vigor, energy, and enthusiasm would be felt within.

Precautions

Any new practice must be adopted slowly.
The duration of each cycle and the number of cycles of pranayama should be increased gradually as per capacity.
The practice should not be hurried or done excessively.
Regularity, however, must be maintained to gain all its benefits.
The place of practice should be clean and airy. Never perform in a polluted environment.
Try to associate feelings and visualizations with the physical act of breathing, which is the real essence of this pranayama.

Yogasanas are not exercises but techniques that place the physical body in positions that cultivate awareness, relaxation, concentration and meditation. — Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Breathing in, I calm my body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment. — Thich Nhat Hanh

The practice of 'asanas' and 'pranayama' wards off diseases and helps to maintain alertness. — Swami Sivananda

Yoga breathing control or pranayama is a joyful song that soothes, purifies, energizes, and harmonizes our body, mind, and soul to create inner healing. So, practice singing the song of pranayama. — Debasish Mridha