Fitness with Yoga Exercises - Energy Meditation Zeal Rigour Excercise

PRANAYAMA : When the Asana becomes habitual and is no longer source of distraction to the mind, Pranayama, the fourth step, can be practiced with ease. The word Pranayama, is practically never used nor ever thought of seriously and its full significance is hardly ever appreciated. The real object of Pranayama is to control the nerves or nerve centres which cause the muscle of respiration alternately to relax and contract automatically. The breath has very little to do with it, though the art of breathing is one of the means of bringing under control of the Vagus nerve, which has two sets of fibers afferent and efferent; stimulation of the first stops expiration and produces inspiration; and stimulation of the second does the reverse. These fibers are excited to action by the alternate collapse and distension of the air vesicles of the lungs where the Vagus terminations are situated. Pranayama, then is in effect a process of bringing under control the Vagus nerve, over which, normally, we have no control. One can understand the importance of this control when one knows that all the vital forces are more or less under the control of the Vagus nerve and its centre : and when this is achieved by Yoga, there is said t be nothing in nature that cannot be brought under the control of the performer and all the forces of nature will obey him as his slaves. When the ignorant see these powers of the Yogi, they call these as miracles.
Pranayama, then, really signifies the controlling of energy, i.e., the impulses of the autonomic nervous system and the numerous activities of the body caused by them. It prevents the dissipation of energy and directs it along a particular channel at will, as was done by Deshbandhu in stopping the pulse of a particular arm. In its fullest significance, it means the controlling of cosmic energy, that is, life itself.
Popularly, Pranayama is generally taken to mean the regulation of breath. Dissipated breathing brings early death, while its regulation prolongs life. A Yogi measures the span of his life not by the number of years but by the number of breaths. These statements will bring to the reader’s mind the importance of the regulation of breath in the process of Pranayama.
I must enter into the details of this fourth step, viz., Pranayama, because it is considered to be the first stumbling block in the attainment of Yoga. Subsequent steps are easy to attain, if one can achieve mastery over the process of Pranayama. Besides that, breathing is the chief method of absorbing energy from the atmosphere; or it may be put that the lungs are the storehouse of an absorbed atmospheric energy and that they impart it to the rest of the organs. In fact, what the fly-wheel is to machinery, the lungs are to the body. With each breath we inhale a certain amount of electricity of energy is absorbed by the blood and transferred to the nerves of involuntary. Ordinarily, respiration is an involuntary act, though it can be made voluntary, when we desire to speak, laugh or cry. To gain control, one has to begin by correcting the normal breathing. To do this, one should first of all be conscious of one’s breathing. Consciousness of one’s breathing forces one to take deeper breaths and makes one absorb larger quantities of atmospheric energy, which is employed to energise the nervous system; to do this, breathing must be of the Yogic character.
We may classify respiration into four types viz., High breathing, Mid-breathing, Low-breathing and Yogic-breathing. High-breathing is what we know as clavicular or collar-bone breathing. In this breathing only the upper part of the chest and lungs, the narrower part, is moved; simultaneously the diaphragm, the partition separating the thoracic from the abdominal cavity, is raised, compressing the lowermost portion of the lungs thus preventing their expansion downwards. In this breathing a minimum amount of air enters the lungs. There is a maximum amount of effort made to obtain a minimum amount of benefit.
Mid-breathing, to which we are normally accustomed is what we call intercostal or thoracic breathing. It is superior to high-breathing, but inferior to low-breathing.
Low-breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, is far better than the two previously mentioned. Western writers have now come to recognize the importance of this breathing and have largely extolled its merits in their Health magazines. In this breathing the movement of the diaphragm plays a very important part. The diaphragm when at rest presents a concave surface to the abdominal cavity and protrudes in the chest like a cone. When it is brought into use, the conical appearance disappears and the diaphragm presses on the abdominal contents and forces the abdomen out. This breathing mainly fills the lower and middle parts of lungs. In Yogic practice, this breathing even has no place.
In the science of Yoga, breathing includes all the three modes. The process for this breathing is as follows : - The upper part of the lungs is first filled with air; further by movement of the ribs upwards and outwards air is inhaled to fill up the middle portion of the lungs; and lastly by the protruding of the abdomen and by allowing the diaphragm to lie flat, an additional volume of air is drawn in to fill the lowest part of the lungs. Thus, in Yogic breathing, both the lungs, from the apex to the base, are entirely filled with air at each inspiration so as to absorb the maximum quantity of oxygen and store up the maximum amount of energy – Prana.
After one has learnt to expand the lungs to their fullest capacity after the manner stated above, the next step is to bring a rhythm into respiration. In Yogic practice the three parts of a respiratory action – inhaling, retention and exhaling – are of equal importance. They always bear a fixed ratio to one another. The maintenance of this ratio is what is to be understood by rhythm. When a complete mastery over this rhythm and full expansion of the lungs is obtained, Prana or energy may be willed into any particular part of the body. The training of the will by Pranayama gives exercise to the mind, so that, in course of time, it acquires a capacity to respond to the higher vibrations, and becomes what may be called super-conscious; such is the object of Pranayama in the science and philosophy of Yoga.
The introduction of rhythm into our respiration brings us to the technique of Pranayama, which is summed up in three Sanskrit words : Puraka, Kumbhaka and Rechaka.
These three combined, form a breath-unit. With one nostril open and other closed, the atmospheric energy is breathed in; this is called Puraka. This energy is then retained in the body by holding of the breath. This is called Kumbhaka. After this, the closed nostril is opened and the opened nostril closed and breath is let out. This is Rechaka. The second breath-unit is commenced with the nostril which remains opened at the end of the first unit without allowing any interval.
The same order is followed in successive breath-units. The ratio, of the time spent in inhaling to the time during which the breath is held, is generally 1:4, and, that in inhaling to exhaling is 1 : 2. The longer the breath is retained, the energy absorbed is more and the power of resistance obtained is greater. Some youths perform the daring feat of allowing a loaded cart to pass over their chests without their suffering any injury or having their ribs broken. The secret of this feat lie in the power of retention of energy in the fully expanded chest till the wheel has passed over the chest. In fact, many feats of physical strength depend on the process of Pranayama.
A particular Asana or pose is advised for the easy achievement of Pranayama. This pose is called Siddhasana or the pose of accomplishment. In this, Asana, the sitting posture is taken with the head and neck in a line with the straightened spinal column. Further, the sitting posture is to be taken in such a way that the heel of one leg presses firmly on the perineum and the heel of the other leg on the pubis. The gaze in this posture is directed towards the root of the nose between the eye-brows or at the top of it. A suitable posture and Pranayama are the two stage necessary to will a thing or a desired object by concentrating the attention with all energy on the object desired. This is what the ‘New Thought’ literature, which is flooding the market, is trying to teach and this is what Emile Coue of France tells us to do to keep diseases away by concentrating our thoughts on his favourite formulas : “ Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” These thoughts may be new to the western world but to us they are as old as the hills. Here again, a warning is given not to use the power gained by Pranayama for the attainment of unholy objects, or psychic powers, because then follows an entanglement in the surrounding objects due to keeping the self under bondage to the flesh and the after-effects of these are to found in the wearing away of these powers and in loss of mental balance. But, when these powers are used for the liberation of the Self from the bondage of the flesh, by curbing evil emotions and unholy passions, the mind overthrows the dominion of matter, and the thralldom of sensual pleasures.