Hints and Cautions

• As Adi seas, the lord of the serpents, is the supporters of yoga, so pranayama is the heart of yoga. Yoga is lifeless without pranayama.

• The normal rate of breathing is fifteen times a minute and 21,600 times in every twenty-four hours. However, the numbers varies according to one's way of life, health and emotional state, since pranayama lengthens the time taken by each in – and out-breath, thereby slowing down the process of ageing, its practise leads to a longer life.

• In old age, the respiratory function decreases, due to the contraction of the air cells of the lungs, which take in less oxygen. Pranayama will help to normalise their size and make the red corpuscles circulate in all parts of the body, infusing life and vigour throughout. By its practice even old people can delay the ageing process.

• The body is the field of righteousness and also of tribulation. It is the former when used for good and the later when for bad. It is the field and the self is the knower thereof. Pranayama is the bone between the two.

• Breathing in pranayama should always be through the nose, except where otherwise stated as in chapter 24.

QUALIFICATION FOR FITNESS

• Mastery of the alphabet leads to mastery of the language. Pranayama is the root of spiritual knowledge, knowledge of the self.

• Mastery in pranayama is the next step after asanas have been mastered. There is no short – cut.

• Asanas bring elasticity to the fibres of the lungs for better performance of pranayama.

• The overall length of the nerves in the body is about 6000 miles. Their functions being supermely delicate, extra care and attention are needed to keep them clean and clear. Repeated performance, with greater duration of each asana in my varieties, keep the nervous system clean and clear; thus aiding an uninterrupted flow of energy (prana) while doing pranayama.

• Bad and poorly performed postures lead to hallow breathing and low endurance.

• If the body is neglected or pampered, it becomes a treacherous ally. Discipline the body by asanas and the mind by pranayama. This is a sure step to self-realisation, which frees you from the dichotomy of pleasure and pain.

• As food is essential to sustain the body, the proper intake of air must be provided for the lungs to maintain the life force.

• Before attempting pranayama, learn how to move the intercostal muscles correctly, also the pelvic and thoracic diaphragm, by practising the relevent asanas.

• Empty the bladder and bowls before starting pranayama. Constipated persons can practise pranayama, as the bowls cannot be damaged in the same way as the blader.

• A trainer of tigers, lions or elephants studies their habits and moods and then puts them through their paces slowly and steadily. He treats them with kindness and consideration last they turn on him and maim him. It is the same with the sadhaka. A pneumatic tool can cut through the hardest rock. If not used properly, it may destroy both the tool and the user. Study your breathing carefully and proceed step by step, for if you practise pranayama hastily or too forcibly, you may well harm yourself.

• Pracise at a fixed time each day and in the same posture. Occasionally, the same set of pranayama creates uneasiness. Be quick to switch over to a breathing pattern more conductive to the body and mind, and soothing to the nerves and brain, so that they are rejuvenated and refreshed. Pranayama should not become a blind routine.

• Analyse and mould the breath with through understanding, clarity and wisdom.

PLACE

• Choose a secluded, clean, airy place, free insects, and practise during quiet hours.

• Noise creates restlessness, disturbance and anger. Avoid pranayama at such times.

CLEANLINESS

• One does not enter a temple with a dirty body or mind. Before entering the temple of his own body, the yogi observes the rules of cleanliness.

TIMES

• Yoga texts insist chat that one should complete eighty cycles of pranayama four time a day, in the early morning, noon, evening and at midnight, which not everyone can do. However, a minimum of fifteen minutes per day is essential, but this is not long enough for a devoted sadhaka. (one cycle of pranayama consists of inhalation, internal retention, exhalation and external retention)

• The best time of practice is the early morning, preferably before sunrise, when isdustrial pollution is at its lowest, and the body and brain are still fresh. If mornings are unsuitable, pranayama may be practised after sunset, when the air is cool and pleasant.

POSTURE

• Panayama is best practised while sitting on the floor on a folded blanket, study chapter 11 on the art of sitting. The posture suitable are siddhasana, swastikasana, bhadrasana, virasana, baddhakonasana and padmasana. However, any other posture will do provided the back is kept erect from the base of the spine to the neck and perpendicular to the floor.

BODY

• As an earthen pot must be baked in a furnance before it is used to store water, so should be body be baked by the fire of asanas to experience the true effulgence of pranayama.

• The body is tamasic, the mind rajasic and the self sattvic. Develop body intelligence to the level of the mind through asanas. Then raise both body and mind to the level of the self through pranayama for the prana to move throughout the body. This in turn keeps the body agile, the mind steady and the self atttentive.

• The body is like a pit in which breath snakes in and out of the body. The chitta is the snake – charmer who entices the breath and acquires control over it.

SPINE

• The spine in man can be compared to an Indian lute. The ground is the head from which sound is produced. The nose is the bridge which controls the sound vibrations caused by inhalation and exhalation. The resonance depends upon the tautnes of the strings. If they are loose no sound is produced; if they are too tight there is no vibration and they may even snap. String tension is adjusted to produce the required resonance, intensity and pitch. In the same way, the nadis and nerves in the spinal column have to be positioned so that the breath can move with rhythm and harmony.

• Adjust the spine from the base, vertebra by vertebra, as if you were building a brick wall. Keep the right and left sides of the spinal column parallel by moving them independently and rhythmically in line with the central pine. In pranayama the front of the spine is more dynamic than the back.

RIBS

• Move simultaniously the back ribs in, the side ones forward and the front ones upwards together.

LEGS AND SHOULDERS

• Keep the arms passive. Do not tighten or lift them up or back wards. If they are tight, pins and needles and numbness result. This also happens at the start in any unaccustomed posture and disappears when you get established in it.

NAILS

• Pare the nails so that they do not hurt the delicate nasal skin while doing digital pranayma.

SALIVA

• Saliva flows at the beginning of pranayama. Swallow it after breathing out, but before breathing in, and never while holding the breath. Do not stiffen or press the tongue against the teeth and plate, but keep it and the throat passive.

EYES AND EARS

• Pranayama should be practised with closed eyes and asanas with open eyes.

• Close the eyes gently and look down within at the heart without hardening the eyeballs. This inner observation or feeling is most revealing.

• If the eyes are kept open, a burning sensation results, you feel irritable and restless and the mind is distracted.

• Open your eyes for a split second once in a while to check your posture and correct and unevenness.

• Keep the inner ears alert but passive. They are the windows of the mind. Tune them to the vibrations of inhalation and exhalation and to the soundless state of retention.

SKIN

• The skin performs two important functions, absorption and elimination. It absorbs and gives out heat, acting as a thermostat to keep the body temperature even. It also helps to eliminate organic and inorganic salts.

• Skin is a source of perception. Maintain a constant and coherent communication between its movement with the inner awareness throughout your practices.

• Keep the skin of the trunk active and dynamic and that of the skull, face, legs and arms soft and passive.

• Perspiration appears at the start but disappears in t=due to course.

BRAIN

• Keep the brain receptive and observant. Use it to induce the lungs to act without becoming involved in the action; for if it does it cannot at the same time watch the process of breathing.

• Pranayaama is tamasic wahen the trunk and spine are dull and rajasic when the brain is involved. Only when the torso is firm, the brain receptive and the self attentive, is pranayama sattvic.

• Memory is a friend if you use it for progress and refinement in tour practice. It is a hindrance when you brood over and repeat past experiences. See new light each time in your practice.

• Practice and surrender of desire are the wings of pranayama which take the sadhaka to higher spheres of knowledge and to the realisation of the self.

• Master samavrtti pranayama(equal duration of inhalation, exhalation and retention) before attempting visama vrtti (breathing with different ratios and duration of the three types).

• Never do asanas immediately after pranayama. There is no harm in practising pranayama after asanas. Pranayama, however, cannot be performed well after strenuous asanas. It is advisable to practise both at different times. Morning for the former and evening for the latter are ideal.

• Do not practise when the mind or body are dull or depressed. For mental distress or disturbances performs asanas described in light on pranayama.

• Do not perform internal retention when the brain is highly sensitised, as it may suffer injury from sudden disturbances, nor before you go to sleep, as it keeps you awake. Instead, perform pranayama without retention of breath or pensive external retention, for both induce sleep, that latter being a cure for insomnia.

• Do not perform pranayama in haste nor when the lungs are congested.

• Do not talk or walk immediately after pranayama, but relax in savasana for a time before attending to other activities.
• Do not practise just after meals or when hungry, in which case a cup of tea or milk will do. An interval of four to six hours is necessary between meals and peanayama, but you can eat half an hour after practice.

• Do not allow mistakes to take deep root, but watch for and eradicate them by training and experience.

• Do not attempt retention at a tender age, but start at sixteen or eighteen years, otherwise your face will become prematurely old.

• Stop pranayama for the day the moment heaviness and tightnes are felt in the lungs or when the sound pf your breathing becomes harsh or rough.

• Faulty practice tenses the facial muscles, shakes the mind and invites disease. Irritability, heaviness and restlessness are the symptoms.

• Pranayama helps to regulate one' s conduct and energy perfectly.

• When pranayama is performed properly diseases disappear and a radiant state of well-being, enlightenment and serenity is experienced.

• Correct practice reduces the craving for worldly pleasures and leads towards th erealisation of the self, freeing the sadhaka from domination by the senses.

PRANAYAMA FOR WOMEN

• Doring pregnancy, women can do all pranayama except kapalabhati, bhastrika, visamavrti pranayama, antara kumbhala with long duration, and bahya kumbhaka with uddiyana. The following pranayamas are, however, very beneficial: ujjayi, viloma, surya bhedana, chandra bhedana and nadi sodhana.

• One month after delivery start both asanas and pranayama as for a beginner and gradually increases the timing and variations.

• The practice of pranayama is safe during the menstrual period. But uddiyana must be avoided.

NOTE

• When heat generated in the body due to practising asanas and pranayaam. Stop for the day. Apply oil to the body, head, heels and soles and rub it in. After a while, take a bath and then do savasana for about fifteen minutes. The body will then be cool and fit for practice the next day.

References

The above mentioned information is added from the book called LIGHT ON PRANAYAMA by B.K.S. IYENGAR.