PRANAYAMA

                                 PRANAYAMA

Pranayama

Pranayama is a Sanskrit word alternatively translated as "extension of the prana (breath or life force)" or "breath control." The word is composed from two Sanskrit words: prana meaning life force (noted particularly as the breath), and either ayama (to restrain or control the prana, implying a set of breathing techniques where the breath is intentionally altered in order to produce specific results) or the negative form ayama, meaning to extend or draw out (as in extension of the life force). It is a yogic discipline with origins in ancient India.

Orthodox Hinduism

Bhagavad Gita

Pranayama is mentioned in verse 4.29 of the Bhagavad Gita.

According to Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, praṇayama is translated to "trance induced by stopping all breathing", also being made from the two separate Sanskrit words, prana and ayam.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Pada (Chapter)	English meaning	Sutras
Samadhi Pada	On being absorbed in spirit	51
Sadhana Pada	On being immersed in spirit	55
Vibhuti Pada	On supernatural abilities and gifts	56
Kaivalya Pada	On absolute freedom	34

Pranayama is the fourth "limb" of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga mentioned in verse 2.29 in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali, a Hindu Rishi, discusses his specific approach to pranayama in verses 2.49 through 2.51, and devotes verses 2.52 and 2.53 to explaining the benefits of the practice. Patanjali does not fully elucidate the nature of prana, and the theory and practice of pranayama seem to have undergone significant development after him. He presents pranayama as essentially an exercise that is preliminary to concentration, as do the earlier Buddhist texts.

Many yoga teachers advise that pranayama should be part of an overall practice that includes the other limbs of Patanjali's Raja Yoga teachings, especially Yama, Niyama, and Asana.

Hatha Yoga

The Indian tradition of Hatha Yoga makes use of various pranayama techniques. The 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a key text of this tradition and includes various forms of pranayama such as breath retention techniques termed Kumbhaka and various body locks (Bandha). Other forms of pranayama breathing include Ujjayi breath ("Victorious Breath"), Bhastrika ("bellows breath") and Kapalabhati ("skull shining breath").

Many of these practices have become popular in Western forms of Yoga.

Buddhism

According to the Pali Buddhist Canon, the Buddha prior to his enlightenment practiced a meditative technique which involved pressing the palate with the tongue and forcibly attempting to restrain the breath. This is described as both extremely painful and not conducive to enlightenment. According to the Buddhist scheme, breathing stops with the fourth jhana, though this is a side-effect of the technique and does not come about as the result of purposeful effort.

The Buddha did incorporate moderate modulation of the length of breath as part of the preliminary tetrad in the Anapanasati Sutta. Its use there is preparation for concentration. According to commentarial literature, this is appropriate for beginners.

Indo-Tibetan tradition

Later Indo-Tibetan developments in Buddhist pranayama which are similar to Hindu forms can be seen as early as the 11th century, in the Buddhist text titled the Amrtasiddhi, which teaches three bandhas for kumbakha.

These developments continued in Tibetan Buddhism which includes its own forms of pranayama exercises termed Tsa-lung (Skt: nadi-vayu) usually incorporated into a system of yogic practice such as Trul khor or into the full Tantric systems of various Buddhist Tantras such as the Six Yogas of Naropaof the Cakrasamvara tradition. Tibetan Buddhist breathing exercises such as the "nine breathings of purification" or the "Ninefold Expulsion of Stale Vital Energy" (rlung ro dgu shrugs), a form of alternate nostril breathing, commonly include visualizations.

In the Nyingma tradition of Dzogchen these practices are collected in the textual cycle known as "The Oral Transmission of Vairotsana" (Vai ro snyan brgyud).

Pranayama

The Power of Pranayama

The respiratory system is one of the few internal regulatory systems of the body that we can consciously control—and doing so can have tremendous impact on our health and well-being. While emotion almost always affects the breath—for example, it becomes shallow and rapid when we’re anxious, fearful, or excited—this can go the other way as well. Slowing the breath rate can catalyse calmness, relaxation, and greater mental clarity. Research around the effects of yogic breathing practices, or pranayama, explores the significant implications of this breath-body-mind relationship.

How It Works

How does breath affect the mind and body so profoundly? One key to this relationship is the autonomic nervous system, which governs the body’s sympathetic (stress or fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-relax) responses, and controls the actions and reactions of the body’s systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems. Breath rate directly affects the vagus nerve, which is central to the nervous system response.

During the stress response, the sympathetic nervous system is triggered and we are thrust into survival mode and all the physical and mental states that go with that: the heart rate increases to send more blood rushing to the muscles, the muscles tense in preparation, and stress hormone production increases. However, humans have the capability of initiating an opposite response with the use of behavioural strategies including meditation and slow breathing. When the relaxation response is activated, we see virtually the opposite physiological changes to those of the stress response.

Sounds simple, but the trickle-down effect can have powerful repercussions over time—both positive and negative. The most obvious area of benefit from pranayama practices is the respiratory system: Breathing control techniques have been shown to improve lung function in both healthy people and patients with chronic bronchitis and asthma. But pranayama clearly has an effect on other systems as well, via the vagus nerve.

Pranayama for the Heart

One study showed that pranayama significantly reduces the risk of arrhythmia, an abnormal heart rhythm that may prevent the heart from pumping enough blood to the body, by changing underlying electrophysiological characteristics of heart activity in in patients with arrhythmia.

The work of pranayama researcher Luciano Bernardi in Italy has identified a strong capability for slow breathing practices to have profound effects on the autonomic nervous system, including the capability of reducing blood pressure, even in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), over the short term. In a subsequent study lending credence to the possibility of the efficacy of yoga for this condition, the effect of pranayama on hypertension blood pressure was documented. Patients who practiced three months of slow breathing showed significant reductions in blood pressure. The role of slow breathing in hypertension has become a research field into itself, with studies using device-guided slow breathing for hypertension, although results across research trials are mixed.

A Wide Range of Possibilities

A 2013 study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine looked at the effect of right unilateral nostril breathing (U N B) on various measures of attention, language, spatial abilities, depression, and anxiety in post-stroke individuals, with and without aphasia. Right U N B significantly decreased levels of anxiety for individuals in both groups. Performance on language measures increased for the individuals with aphasia. In the yogic physiology described for the so-called alternate nostril breathing technique, the belief is that respiration through a particular nostril has specific nostril-dependent effects on Psychophysiology, with left-nostril breathing leading to calming, restorative functioning, and right-nostril breathing leading to activating, stimulating functioning. Although the mechanism by which this could be mediated is unclear, this study is one of a number of such studies suggesting that there is some truth to this belief.

Like yoga, pranayama can serve as a complementary therapy for numerous chronic or acute conditions. In fact, because pranayama can be practiced much more easily than asanas, it has the potential to be a feasible intervention among individuals with a wide variety of disorders and physical limitations. For example, one study found that pranayama may improve sleep disturbance, anxiety, and quality of life for patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. A dose-response relationship was found between pranayama use and improvements in chemotherapy-associated symptoms and quality of life.

In one intriguing study, breath control exercises were posited as an inexpensive, accessible method for reducing cigarette cravings. Participants visited the laboratory twice and were asked to abstain from smoking 12 hours prior to the first visit until the end of the second visit. They were randomly allocated into two groups; one was assigned a 10-minute yogic breathing exercise to practice each time they experienced cravings, while another was shown a breathing exercise video and asked simply to concentrate on their breathing. Results showed that craving measures were reduced in the yogic breathing group, as compared with the video group. Although this study showed that pranayama can reduce cigarette craving over the short term in the laboratory, further research is needed to evaluate if this will hold true in a real-world setting for smoking cessation.

This research is but the tip of the iceberg. Because pranayama is easy to instruct, can be performed in virtually all circumstances without cost or equipment, has significant psychophysiological effects that may be specific to different types of pranayama (e.g., fast vs. slow, left vs. right nostril), is free of side effects, and is a simple behavioural strategy suitable for virtual any medical condition, it is likely that we will see a continued application of pranayama in clinical settings and an associated growing body of biomedical research to validate its effectiveness. It is conceivable that, in the future, health-care providers will confidently prescribe specific yogic breathing practices for specific conditions and individuals.

Pranayama

Know the ways and ways of Pranayama

Prabhat Gaur

After the rugs, every person should practice pranayama. Here are the five Pranayama given which should be practiced daily. The order in which Pranayama has been given here should be done in the same order. After Pranayama, it can be directly taken into meditation. Let us know here that Kapalbhati is not considered under pranayama.

1. Kapalbhati
 

1. Sit down in Sukasan and close your eyes. 2. Take deep breaths from both the knustle. Cena will bloom. 3. Now force out the breath completely. 4. Force the force to be extruded and take in with full rest. In this way, 20 breaths have to be taken and removed. It was a round of Kapalbhati. After every round, take a few long breaths and leave and then go to the second round. You can do such three rounds.

Benefits:

 1. Very helpful in removing cough-related disorders.  2. Corrects cold, colds, asthma, bronchitis.

Who should not - 

People who have heart disease, are dizzy, Vertigo, High BP, Epilepsy, Migraine, Hernia and Gastric ulcer, they do not do it.

2. Analogous irradiation (pulse purification pranayama)

1. First of all sit in Sukhsanan. Close the eyes and keep the head and spinal cord straight. 2. Put the left hand palm on the left knee in the knowledge mudra (see picture). 3. Mix the ring finger and the smallest finger on the left knistle and apply the thumb to the right knistle. Turn the index finger and the middle finger together. 4. Now relax with the left nostril and close it with the ring finger and the smallest finger. Immediately remove the thumb from the right nostril and remove the breath. Now breadth right from the nostril and close it with thumb. Remove this breath from the left nostril. It's a round. Make such 5 rounds.

Benefits: 

5. Reduces stress and enzymes and enhances life force. 6. Removes cuff related pertussis. 7. Calms the mind and enhances concentration. 8. Keeps the heart healthy, improves blood circulation, keeps lungs fit and improves digestive tract.

Who does not -

 It can be done by all people.

3. Ujjayi Pranayama
 

1. Sit in any comfortable easy. It is okay to sit in Sukhsanan. 2. Close the eyes and lighten the lighter and light breath from both the nostrils. Keep in mind that while filling breath and getting rid of the neck muscles in the shrinking condition, the air passage will be reduced, which will reduce the air passage. In this situation, breath will be long and deep. There will be the voice of breath and exit due to the obstruction being caused by the throat. 

Benefits: 

3. The sound produced in this process solves the mind. Helps control blood pressure and reduce heart rate. It is beneficial to not sleep and also in migraine. 4. It is helpful to cure asthma and TB.

Who do  not

1. Those who have heart disease.

4. Bhramri Pranayama

1. Sit in a dry house and close your eyes. 2. Bring both hands on the face. Both thumbs go in both ears, place the forefinger finger on the eyes, middle finger near the nose, ring finger on the lips and the smallest finger will remain under the lips. This is called the Shanmukhi currency. 3. Take a deep breath and breathe deeper. 4. Take out the breath filled by sounding the sound of the buzzing noise. This is 1 round. Make 5 rounds in this manner. You can also increase later.

Benefits:
 

1. Reduces anger and restlessness and relieves stress. The mind becomes calm.

Who do not
 

1. People who have nose or ear infections.

5. Bhastrika Pranayama
 

1. Sit in any comfortable seat. 2. Breathe in with full speed from both the nostrils. It feels as if the breath is full in the lungs. Shortly after this, remove the breath with full force. It is necessary to take full strength while breathing in the bhastrika pranayama and taking out. Must have breadth forcing. 3. Once inhaling and removing, keep such 20 rounds consistently and then rest for a while and then set another set of 20 rounds. You can set such three sets.

Benefits:

1. It is helpful to take out toxins from the body and heals respiratory diseases. 2. Improve oxygen supply in the body and purify blood. 

Who do  not

3. People who have heart  diseases, have hernia and are high blood pressure. 4. Do not do it in summer.

6. Shital Pranayama

1. Sit in any comfortable seat. Place the tip of the tongue on the lower lip and roll it. 2. Breathe from the mouth and keep the breath in check. 3. Now close the mouth and remove the breath from the nose. 4. It's a round. In the beginning, you can do two to three rounds. Later it can be increased to 15.

Benefits:

1. It is helpful to keep the body cool. 2. Correct acidity and hypertension.

Who do not

1. People suffering from cold should not. This pranayama should not be done in the winter season.

All these pranayama can do in 10 minutes. Here you will get 1 minute deep breathing, 3-minute kapalbhati, 3 minutes anglo-villa-3 times, and 3 times (ohm).

Pranayama

Pranayam: Safety

Authoritative texts on Yoga state that, in order to avoid injuries and unwanted side effects, pranayama should only be undertaken when one has a firmly established yoga practice and then only under the guidance of an experienced Guru. Although relatively safe, Hatha Yoga is not risk free. Sensible precautions can usefully be taken such as beginners should avoid advanced moves if they have any physical health related issue. It can get dangerous if someone is trying to pose tough exercise which requires extreme flexibility and good shapes of bones. Hatha Yoga should not be combined with psychoactive drug use, and competitive Hatha Yoga should be avoided. Person should inform the teacher or trainer of their physical limitations and concerns before getting involved themselves for extreme pose positions. Functional limitations should be taken into consideration. Modifications can then be made using props, altering the duration or poses.

According to at least one study, pranayama was the yoga practice leading to most injuries, with four injuries in a study of 76 practitioners. There have been limited reports of adverse effects including haematoma and pneumothorax, though the connections are not always well established.


Health and Nutrition

Fitness Gymnasium, also known as a Fitness Gym

STRENGTH TRAINING, A TYPE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE

I hope that all of you will gain  brief knowledge and benefits about Pranayama and keep these health benefits and saftey in mind when deciding whether or not to start Pranayama.