Digital Pranayama and Art of placing Finger on Nose

THE NOSE

• The nose is a cone-shaped chamber, supported by bone and cartilage, lined on the outside by skin and on the inside by mucous membranes, while the nostrils are supported and partitioned by the septum. The inner sides of the nostrils are irregular and connected by small holes to the sinuses in the skull.

• Air entering the nostrils is filtered and passed down the wind pipe to the lungs. The flow is slowed down slightly when air enters the wider passages halfway up the nose. The sides of the nasal chamber in the skull are lined by three whorled and porous bones called conchae. Shaped like the wings of a bird, they cause the air currents to spiral so that they brush the mucous membrane lining in complex and variable patterns. Pressure from the thumb and two fingers on the nose wides or narrows the nasal passages. This helps to control the shape, direction and flow of these currents. The close attention required to monitor this flow develops inner awareness. This awareness is also enhanced by learning to hear the subtle vibrations set up by the air flow. Hence the important part played by the ears in pranayama.

• The air currents also influence the organs of smell through the ethmoid bone at the base of the skull. This bone is performed for the filaments of the olfactory nerve which stimulates the limbic system of the brain concerned with transforming perception into feeling.

• Inhaled air circulates over the areas of the mucous membranes. Unless these function efficiently, breathing is strained and irregular. They may be congested by changes of atmosphere, or their secretion affected by various factors such as tobacco, smoke, infections, emotional states and so on. The flow of air is diverted periodically from one nostril to the other due to changes in the blood circulation, as well as through injury, disease or a cold. Such changes alter the shape and size of the nose, the nostrils and the nasal passages.

• Muscles attached to the cartilages are accessories which dilate or compress the nostrils. Being part of the muscle system the face connected with the lips and eyebrows they can express emotional states like anger, disgust or danger and reveal inner personality.

• According to siva svarodaya, a yoga text, the five basic elements of earth, water, light, air and ether are located in the nose. In pranayama, the flow of vital energy in the breath contacts these elements, when it passes over or through their sites and influences the behavior of the practitioner. These sites or areas shift every few minutes or so. For instance when the current of air brushes the earth site in the right nostril, it brushes the water site in the left nostril. The pattens is:

RIGHT NOSTRIL LEFT NOSTRIL Earth water water Fire Fire Air Air Ether Ether Earth

The shift from one site to the other is gradual. Many years of practice are needed to locate and distinguish the sites or areas of the five elements or energies and when and where the air is in touch with each nostril. It may take less time to locate the above areas under an experienced teacher. Precise and sensitive adjustments with the thumb and the ring and little fingers of the right hand on the nose will make the breath flow simultaneously over the same location in both nostrils creating clarity in the brain and stability in mind. The text further explains that the best and ideal time for meditation is when the breath flows in the central part of both the nostrils- the ether element.

THE ART OF FINGERING

• The training required of a sadhaka for pranayama may be compared to that for becoming a master muscian. Krsna, the divine cowherd, charmed the gopis and conquered their hearts by planing his flute, manipulating it and creating a world of mystic sounds. In his practice of pranayama, the sadhaka, delicately fingering them to manipulate breath patterns as if playing the flute.

There are several openings in wind instruments, but only two in the nose, so that the sadhaka requires greater dexterity than the flautist to control the infinitely fine and subtle tones and shades of his breath. A good musician studies the construction, shape, stops, and other characteristics of his intrument, as well as the atmospheric changes that affects it. By constantly practising with his fingertips, he trains their virtuosity for delicate adjustments, and his ears to listen for the minutest variation in sound and learns to co-ordinate the skill of his fingers with his ears. Only then can he begin to capture the strains the tone, the pitch, the resonance and the cadence – of the music. The sadhaka also studies the shape and construction of his nostrils, the texture of their outer skin, the peculiar characteristics of his own nose, such as the width of the nasal passages, deviation of his own nose, such as the width of the nasal passages, deviation of the septum and the like, as well as the atmospheric changes affecting changes affecting the texture of the skin and dryness of otherwise in the passages. He regularly practises the movements of his wrist and fingers till he becomes dexterous and is able to refine them. He adjusts the fingertips over the outer nasal skin surface covering the sites of the five elements in the nostrils. These five sites act as stops. He adjusts the flow, rhythm and resonance of breath by narrowing of widening the nasal passages at these locations by delicate fingering and by attentively listening to the sound of the breath which he modulates and corrects. The door-keepers of a temple sanctum regulate the stream of devotees, the fingers regulate the volume and flow of breath, and by narrowing the passages filter out impurities during respiration. Due to controlled inhalation through the narrowed nasal passages, the lungs have more time to absorb oxygen, whilst in controlled exhalation unused oxygen is re-absorbed and waste matter is rejected. By narrowing the nasal passages through digital control the sadhaka develops greater sensitivity and awareness. By practising ujjayi and viloma pranayamas, the sadhaka's knowledge of pranayama deepens while his body derives practical knowledge through what it has experienced. In the practice of pranayama by digital control the sadhaka unites his theoretical with practical knowledge. This co-ordination kindles his knowledge until it bursts into the flame of intelligence, which is full of resolution and energy.

• Pranayama may be broadly divided into two categories:

(a) when there is no digital control over the nostrils. (b) When the thumb and two fingers of the right hand are used to regulate and control the flow of breath through the nose. This is called digitally controlled pranayama. Moreover, this pranayama is of two types: (i) Inhalation and exhalation are practised on both sides of the nostrils, partially closing them to learn to use pressure and balance on the thumb and fingers for an even flow of breath from both nostrils. (ii) Wherein one nostril is kept blocked with the fingertips, while the breath is made to flow from the thumb side and vice versa. For example, if the breath is drawn from the right side, the ring and little fingers should be made to close the left nostril without disturbing the position of the septum and vice versa. Care is taken that the breath should not flow in the blocked nostril.

In the first category (a) only the physical body is involved. The second (b) is a more advanced pranayama is which the passage of air is regulated manually with skill and subtlety and delicate control of the fingers.

• In ancient India, as in most of the older civilisations, the auspicious and ritual ceremonial were performed with the right hand. All left – handed actions and ceremonials were regarded as being sinister. Hence the left hand may only be used in pranayama if the right hand or arm is out of action.

• Yoga texts like gheranda samhita recommend the use of the thumb, ring and little fingers of the right hand on the nose without defining their correct placement. They stress that the fore and middle fingers are not to be used. If the force and middle fingers were used, the forearm and wrist would tilt and become heavy. Moreover, correct and accurate pressure could not be applied to the nostrils since the nose would pull the fingers down and accuracy in the performance of pranayama would be lost. Similarly keeping the force and middle fingers on the centre of the forehead or extended outwards would create varying pressures on the thumb, ring and little fingers, which in turn would create uneven curvature of the digits and irregular flow of breath.

• If the force and middle fingers are folded into the hollow of the palm, the thumb rests on the right side of the nose and the ring and title fingers on the left, while the wrist is placed centrally. This enables the thumb, ring and title fingers to move on either side smoothly and freely, while the palm is balanced evenly there as well. The nerves and muscles of the middle portion of the right forearm make it the crucial place for the digital control of the breath through the nostrils. From here the middle portion are regulated.

• When seated to practise digital or manual pranayama, see that the shoulders are level and parallel to the floor and that the chin rests in the notch between the collar-bones.

• Resting the left hand on the left knee, bend the right arm at the elbow without tightening the biceps, forearm or wrist and stability, skill and sensitivity are required for controlling the width of the nasal passages, but not strength or tension.

• Do not allow the fixed right hand to touch the chest. Do not close the armpits. Do not allow the arms to press upon the chest. Keep the shoulders down and the arms passive and light, except for the tips of the thumb, ring and little fingers.

• Flex and fold the tips of the fore and middle fingers into the hollow of the palm. This brings about the proper adjustment of the tips of the ring and little fingers against the tip of the thumb, creating space between the fingers and the thumb. This makes the palm soft.

References

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