Pranayama is the fourth branch of the Rajah Yoga, which is exposed in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali . Prana is the source from where any energy comes. It is the universal substance. Pranayama is the knowledge and the control of Prana.

The first description of the Prana is in the Upanishads. Prana is implied in any alive form but Atma or the individual heart is not itself. Energy " subtile" Prana is not distant in its design from IQ (spirituality), Ki or Chi CAT ïste, that the Acupuncture seeks to control. The Western Physiologie seeks to decipher the possible mechanisms of them but it is necessary to acknowledge that the convergence points between the Indian scientific discoveries and traditional designs are very weak, especially compared to the differences. It is possible to include/understand them in parallel, without trying to oppose them, the more so as the practical effects of yoga are exerted independently. For example, the concept even of energy does not recover the same thing at all, as one can see it below. The scientific experiments show very easily that the energy of which she speaks is contained in food and not in the air contrary with " the subtle energy of the prana" … These nuances are very important not to make a misconception.

Nadis

The Prana circulates in the organization in a subtle canal system, the Nadi S (enough similar once again to the Méridiens Chinese. The three nadis principal are: Ida, pingala, and sushumna. It is said that the Ida channels and pingala are correlated with breathing specific to the left or right nostril. One will include/understand easily that for sciences there is no really left or right breathing, the two nostrils being separate only by one thin partition which disappears with a few centimetres from the entry.

When the Prana relates to one intensified working life, the tradition of Yoga speaks about " Pranotthana".

The popular design of the Prana as identical to the air that we breathe, (the Souffle of the human body), rests on a misunderstanding, or rather a simplification of the concept. This simplistic idea according to which Prana is reduced to the concept of breath results from the popular observation of the practice of Pranayama, in which the control of Prana is carried out (at least in the beginnings) thanks to the control of breathing. According to the philosophy of Yoga the breath, or the air, is simply an investment of the prana in the body. One can notice that this proximity of the prana and the breath is present also in the Western languages with the term of Esprit, " spiritus" (= Breath, vital breath, heart).

In the Yoga, the techniques of pranayama are employed to order the movement of subtle energies in the body, which leads to an increase in vitality at the follower. However, the practice of these techniques is not unimportant, and it is known that in certain circumstances the techniques of pranayama can disturb the balance of the life of a person. The possibility of harmful effects resulting from these techniques should not thus be underestimated.

In practice, the prana can be explained in various ways. The feelings of hunger, thirst, heat, cold, etc in the body could be interpreted as pranic demonstrations. All these physical feelings or energies which emerge or seem to run out in the body could also be interpreted as showing that the prana is with work. The presence of the prana would be what distinguishes a body living from a dead-man (what one could bring closer to the abandoned Western concept of " force vitale" expensive with the Vitalisme).

Among the most current exercises of the pranayama, one can quote:

• the simple awakening of breathing,

• the complete breathing, which brings into play successively the bottom of the abdomen, the area of the stomach, the thorax and the clavicles this with the expiry as with the inspiration),

• alternate breathing, inspiration right nostril, left expiry nostril, then the reverse; one closes the nostril not used while supporting with a finger but one can learn how to do some with drive,

• glottic breathing, which one obtains while thinking to inspire and expire by means of an opening located at the level of the larynx; one must feel the flow of air on this level and hear a soft breath.

In any event, it is about a slow breathing (3 to 4 cycles per minute), very regular including during the postures. (That does not prevent the use of a fast breathing in certain exercises.)

The concentration of the attention on the respiratory mucous membranes involves a cardiac deceleration which, to trained yogins can go until a temporary cardiac arrest.

They are only once the asanas (postures) and the exercises on the prana realized that the meditation can be approached effectively.

References

• Pranayama and the " Pranayama accompagné"

• Dr. Bernard Auriol, Yoga and Psychothérapie , Privat editor, 1977 (available on line)
• Andre van Lysebeth, Pranayama, the dynamics of the breath , Flammarion, 1971

Related articles

• Yoga

Category: Yoga