Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice

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Pranayama—The Mastery of Energy
    The word
pranayama
is usually translated as breath control.
Prana
means “to breathe forth” and it also refers to life force or the energyof life.
Yama
means to restrain or control. The yamas are the restraints and controls in the first limb of Patanjali’s yoga and Yama, curiously, is also the name of the god of death. Pranayama is the study of our breath and life force. Yogis have pointed out that, although we feel like separate individuals, we are not as separate as we feel. Our continuous inhalations and exhalations remind us that we are interdependent on and interconnected with all things—with the matrix of life. The sound of the breath itself is considered a sacred mantra of power that is capable of revealing many secrets. Yogis have asserted a direct relationship between a person’s breathing potency and his or her life force and personal power.
    At the moment of birth the breath enters our lungs as we separate from our mothers, and the breath’s final departure marks our death. Our breathing animates and empowers all of our actions and movements, and reflects our every state of mind and every emotion, yet very few of us observe and study this foundation of life. Hatha yogis have pointed out the importance and value of working with and developing the bioenergetic system. They have shown that the breath not only reflects our mental and emotional states but also can affect them. We unconsciously use breathing in many ways. When we concentrate, we breathe very slowly and quietly, or we stop breathing completely to focus. When we listen to children, or an emotionally charged friend, we are on some level monitoring the quality of their breathing for feedback and information on their mental-emotional state. When we are tense or angry, our breathing pattern changes. If we cut or bruise ourselves, we often clasp the injured place and breathe attentively, making an ujjayi-type sound, to relieve the pain. If a loved one is in pain, we instinctively place our hands on the area and breathe consciously to direct healing energy to the place in need. Sometimes after a stressful situation, we need to “just breathe” to recharge or balance ourselves. These are a few examples of our use of prana and energy.
    Prana refers to both physical and nonphysical, even psychic, forms of energy. Although the existence of nonphysical energies cannot be conclusively proven, they seem to follow the same rules as physical energies. A mystic might say we are directing mysterious energy psychically when we practice, and a scientist might counter that it is faith or mental energy, but either way, something seems to be happening. Whether you believe in prana or not, pranayama works.
    Breathing is both conscious and unconscious. The breath floats on the threshold of the conscious and the unconscious mind. We cannot even think of the breath without influencing it and without it coming back under conscious control. You can easily try this. If you’re thinking of your breath now, you are controlling it. If you try to stop controlling it, you can’t—it has to just happen by itself. Any attempt to stop controlling it is still control. I once had the opportunity to do some meditation research with a polygraph lie detector. While being trained to use it, I was shown that the most sensitive graph being monitored was the breath. Our slightest emotional tension is immediately reflected in our breath. Yogis discovered that our mental-emotional state and breathing both reflect and affect each other. We can change mental, emotional, and energetic states with the breath. This is the basis of pranayama.
    All asana practice actually involves pranayama practice—whether breath work is done consciously or unconsciously. When the breath is left alone, the asana affects and creates the breathing pattern. It is best to learn about the effects of breathing in poses by experimenting and paying closer attention. Watch the difference in your postures when breathing softly or strongly, actively or passively, when breathing freely, or when using ujjayi breath.
    One of the best ways to access the power of breath is with a pranayama practice. I have found that if students will take enough time, usually a few months of regular practice, to develop mastery ofthe techniques, and to discover their connection with their breath, the benefits can be lifelong. Once you have accessed