Feb 14 2008
What is Pranayama?
Many times I hear students asking questions, such as, what is pranayama? How is pranayama distinguished from our regular breathing patterns? What is the best way to breathe? In this blog entry I will address these questions.
Prana - refers to a life force energy. Yama - is the active process of observation. Pranayama is the active process of observing and controlling the breath to create a desired response in the body. Prana - refers to life force energy that exists in all living matter. Have you ever noticed when you are standing next to the ocean sea how the air feels alive? It is actually the ions - the energy particles - that a causing the elating feeling in the body and mind. When we breathe in and out we are also actively taking in and releasing energy.
Pranayama has four parts to it: 1. Inhale 2. Exhale 3. Space at the top of the inhale 4. Space at the bottom of the exhale. Actively controlling these four parts of the breath are what we call a pranayama practice. In regular daily breathing patterns we, typically, do not focus on the space between the inhale and exhale, which are the key parts which distinguisha pranayama practice from regular daily breathing.
One of the best ways to breathe, to cause long term health, is to breathe from the bottom of the belly. Many times, due to habit, we breathe from our chest and miss the opportunity to deliver the most amount of oxygen to our system as possible. Try this now. Place your hands on your belly. As you inhale let your belly expand like a balloon. At the top of your inhale and the beginning of your exhale let the belly begin to deflate. As the belly deflates actively pull the navel towards the a back side of the spine. Do this ten times with the hands on the belly. After you have completed your tenth time remove your hands and now focus on steadying the breath so the length of the inhale matches the exhale. It has been said that the mind follows on the coat tails of the breath. Steady breathe equals a steady mind. Practice is the true teacher. Let your own experience guide you. I recommend starting a breathing practice with the initial aim to breathe from the belly and then focus on aligning the breathe to an even pace. Start this exercise, practicing 5 minutes a day- working up to 15 minutes a day.