In Yogic teachings, breath is considered extremely important. The word Pranayama is a compound word. Prana means life force, and vital energy; it’s the breath of life. Ayama means to control, restrain or hold. Pranayama could be translated as simply breath control, but there are a lot of subtle nuances in the word that are lost with such a simplified definition.
The organs of respiration consist of two lungs, one on either side of the chest and the air passages that lead to them. The lungs are located in the upper thoracic cavity of the chest, one on each side of the median line, and are separated from each other by the heart, the greater blood vessels and the larger air tubes. The lungs are spongy, porous, and their tissues are very elastic, containing innumerable air-sacs or alveoli. Each lung consists of an apex and a base. The base is directed towards the diaphragm, the muscular septum, the dividing wall between chest and the abdomen.
Health Warnings: The fact is that most people spend their whole life not paying attention to their breathing. After a lifetime of shallow breathing, an intense breathing regimen may be contraindicated for some students, especially those who suffer from asthma. Those new to practicing Pranayama techniques may initially suffer from headaches, dizziness, lethargy, or nausea to name a few. Therefore, keep a close watch on students and look for signals of the occurrence of these maladies.
An easy way to include pranayama exercises into your Yoga classes it to begin or end each class with a brief period of meditation or contemplation and five minutes of simple breathing exercises. Even five minutes of deep breathing will help to calm, center and energize your students. Dirga Pranayama, or Three Part Breath, is an easy pranayama exercise that will center the mind and balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Yoga can be practised in various forms – asanas or postures, meditation, positive affirmations, and pranayama or breathing exercises. All forms of yoga have countless advantages and can benefit human beings to the fullest if they practise any of these forms sincerely and consistently. In this article, we will specifically learn more about the benefits of practising pranayama, the safest and relatively easier forms of yoga. We will specifically examine if pranayama can help ease anxiety in people, which is the root cause of many psychological illnesses, and some physical disorders too.
Even beginning students can understand that breathing is important in yoga. The knowledge of this complexity can sometimes present a barrier to learning. As students become fixated with the length and quality of each breath, their concentration on other equally important aspects of the lesson weakens. In order to prevent this, the yoga instructor must teach the importance of breathing in a relaxed and conscious way.
Patanjali discusses this theory in the “Yoga Sutra,” and Hatha Yoga takes the concept a step further by saying that our breathing affects the shape of our spines. Generally, exhalations evoke a state of relaxation while inhalations create feelings of tension.
Raja Yoga places a high value on what some people refer to as “breathing.” Yet, pranayama is actually the systematic cultivation of prana (energy). When one practices pranayama, the ratio of breath is important for controlling the amount of energy one draws in.
Pranayama is the breathing commonly practiced during Yoga classes. Each breath inhaled must be exhaled, and the position our body is in determines the duration that the breath is in our body. Controlling pranayama during Yoga training sessions provides oxygen to the body and also causes it to release toxins and waste products from our body.
Many standing Yoga poses and pranayama exercises help to strengthen and activate the Manipura Chakra. The Ha Kriya is a very powerful Kundalini Yoga breathing technique for activating and re-energizing the Third Chakra.