Pranayamas

Pranayamas

Yogi Ashwini

Modern science believes oxygen is life and is an indispensable energy. Our Rishis have proved that it is not the breath but prana that is responsible for life in the body. Our health and vitality, emotional and financial states, joys and maladies, diseases and glowing health are all dependent on the frequency of prana that vibrates in and around us. The complete system of our pranic body of the chakras, nadis and koshas is dependent on the prana that we are receiving from the environment around us. Pranayama is a salutation to this prana. It is said by the great rishis that the human body can survive without food for months, without water for weeks, without air for hours, but not even for a nanosecond without the vital prana. But to be able to retain the prana, the nadis and chakra in the pranamaya kosha should be clean and pure without blockages and the prana should move freely. Only then can the vital prana be held. Disease manifests in the human body as soon as there is congestion or depletion of prana in the pranamaya kosha. Physical body (annmaya kosh) is a reflection of the pranamaya kosha. Therefore, to ensure health in the physical body, balance needs to be achieved in pranamaya first. Pranayamas are techniques to effect changes in the pranamaya kosha so that their outcome translates to the annamaya or physical body. There are various pranayamas given which deal with imbalances and they clean the aura before they set in the physical body. Pranayama is just one the eight limbs of Sanatan Kriya (Ashtang Yog). It is important to do the Ashtang Yog (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyan and samadhi) in its totality under the guidance of your Guru. Doing pranayama in an unsupervised manner either by copying from TV or reading from somewhere can cause long-term irreparable damages in the body. Therefore, the importance of learning from an accomplished yoga teacher cannot be undermined. Pranayama should not be viewed as a process to increase the intake of oxygen, as more of it does not necessarily result in good health. Pranayamas optimally improve the efficiency of the body and the ageing process is slowed down as a result there of. Yogi Ashwini is the author of Sanatan Kriya — The Ageless Dimension. He can be reached on dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com