Breathing techniques, or pranayama, have taken the market by storm, but they are by no means a new practice. Pranayama is one of the 8 limbs of yoga and has been around for thousands of years.
Pranayama is a powerful way to unlock your dormant potential but not all pranayamas are equal.
Those that have been given by spiritual masters and learned in the proper environment are much more effective at facilitating inner transformation than those you’ll find on YouTube.
Table of Contents
What are the Eight Limbs of Yoga?
yama niyama–asana pranayama pratyahara dharana dhyana samadhayo-‘stavangani
|2.29| Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Restraint, observance, postures, regulation of breath, substitute food for the mind, ability of the mind to focus, meditation and higher states of consciousness are eight limbs of yoga.
The limbs of yoga develop together; similar to how pulling one leg of a chair results in the entire chair coming toward you, when you practice one limb of yoga, the other limbs begin to develop as well.
The Goal of Yoga
Before we explore pranayama and its purpose, let’s understand yoga.
The word yoga comes from the root word yuj in Sanskrit. Yuj means union between the body, breath and mind. It is when we come into that union that we experience all the wonderful benefits of yoga.
Besides what is already commonly understood about yoga, here are some of the lesser-known facts about the practice:
- Yoga is a spiritual practice.
- Yoga brings your body, mind and soul into harmony.
- Yoga helps you find purpose, peace of mind and deeper meaning in life.
- Yoga helps you heal, burns your karmas and takes you toward moksha or spiritual enlightenment.
The goal of yoga is to eliminate pain and suffering from your life, empower you, and bring you home to your Self.
The Role of Pranayama in Yoga
Your existence consists of 5 layers or panchakosha. These layers go from gross to subtle, beginning with the body and moving to the breath, mind, wisdom and bliss layers.
Your breath is the bridge from your outer world to your inner world. Rather than just air, it’s a vehicle for your life force energy or prana.
To be in yoga is to bring the body, breath and mind into harmony. Using just the body or just the breath is challenging and attempting to control the mind with willpower alone is not possible.
Both the body and breath (the first two layers of your existence) must be consciously engaged to bring the mind into stillness. From there, you’ll be able to heal and access deeper parts of who you are.
What is Pranayama?
Prana is your life force energy.
There are 72 000 nadis or energy channels in the body. Prana flows through these channels to animate your physical body, enable bodily functions and allow you to use your body as you please.
When you experience stress, emotional pain and negative states of mind, this energy is stored in your body. If these emotions are not released properly, they remain in your system indefinitely. They block your nadis and show up as negative thoughts, physical pain and imbalances in the mind and body.
Ayama is to stretch, expand or control.
Your breath naturally changes based on your emotions. When you’re happy, content and peaceful, your inhalations become longer than your exhalations. When you’re sad, stressed or upset, you will tend to take long sighs – your exhalations become longer than your inhalations. When you’re angry, your breath becomes short and shallow.
If emotions can change the quality of your breath, can changing your breath affect your emotions?
Yes!
Pranayama is the conscious stretching, expanding and channeling of the prana to release stress, settle anxiety and stop overthinking so you can harmonize your body, breath and mind and reconnect with the core of your being.
Experience the Power of the Breath
In just 5 minutes, release stress and anxiety and reconnect with the peace at the core of your being.
Why Practice Pranayama
Gurudev shares that there are 3 great blessings in life:
- Attaining a human birth
- Having a strong interest in spirituality
- Having a spiritual master
Attaining a human birth comes after millions of births as plants, animals and other living species. The interest in spirituality and attaining a spiritual master come after even more births.
Throughout all these births, you have been collecting karma – which has been stored in your consciousness and is showing up in the state of your body, your mental tendencies, self-limiting beliefs, and the events you must move through in life.
The ultimate goal of undesirable events in life is to help you work through your karma and move toward moksha, enlightenment or ultimate freedom in life.
Clearing your nadis of stagnant prana is equivalent to burning through your karmas. The secret strength of pranayama is that it helps you do this faster and, in some cases, without having to experience the full brunt of the karma.
Paired with asana practice, pranayama will gently guide you forward on your path to reconnecting with your authentic Self by helping you uproot and release deep stresses and traumas.
Reconnect with your Authentic Self
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