Pranayama - admi.lv

<h2>Pranayama</h2><a href="joga/stupeni-jogi/pranayama/statya-pranayama-iz-knigi-svami-vivekananda-radzha-joga/">The article "Pranayama" from Swami Vivekananda's book RAJA YOGA</a><a href="joga/stupeni-jogi/pranayama/tehnika-zaderzhki-dyhaniya/">The technique of breath retention</a><a href="joga/stupeni-jogi/pranayama/perechen-pranayam/">List of pranayamas</a>Pranayama is an ancient esoteric technique of the yogis which teaches a person to control prana (free cosmic energy) by regulating the breath himself.The term "pranayama" itself consists of two Sanskrit words - "prana" and "yama". The term prana denotes "breath, life, life energy". Prana is constantly present everywhere, and the human body, all its organs and tissues, are inseparably bound up with prana. The term "yama" translated from Sanskrit means "death, stopping, retention". Pranayama is therefore often defined as the technique of consciously governing the breath, which comprises a system of breathing exercises that help the body to store up the life energy it takes from the air. PRANAYAMA (Pranayama) The regulation of the breath; the governing of, and the right approach to, the processes of inhalation and exhalation. This means suspending the breath only to the degree in which its retention after a full inhalation and a full exhalation can be called a stopping; it is not, however, a complete stopping of the breath - otherwise there would be no sense in speaking of inhalation and exhalation at all. Exhalation, inhalation and the state of rest, of retention, are the three moments that require regulation in their character, their duration and their proportion. Proportion means the mutual relation of the duration of all three stages of the breath. The proportion most often met with is one unit of time for the inhalation (puraka), four units for the retention of the air (kumbhaka) and two units of time for the exhalation (rechaka); Patanjali, however, mentions neither the ratio 1:4:2 nor any other proportion, but invites practitioners to determine their own standard, the one that gives the greatest comfort and effectiveness. As to the length of this unit of time, its system of measurement must be considered. In former times - and sometimes today as well - the unit of time most commonly used (matra) for measuring the duration of the stages of the breath was the time needed to raise the hand over the knee three times and to snap the fingers unhurriedly. Converted into the units of time we are used to today, this comes to about 3 seconds. After a short period of practice the practitioner's sense of the length of the chosen unit of time becomes automatic.Sanskrit philosophical literature also mentions a smaller unit of time called a second, or instant (kshana), which is usually reckoned as a quarter of the interval needed for a blink of the eye; it is not, however, used directly in pranayama. Patanjali gives no prescriptions as to units of measurement or the duration of the stages of the breath. He only notes that the cycle of breathing should be long, that is, longer than usual; and - as regards the character of its flow - that it should be beautiful, that is, the one who breathes should not disturb the outer air around him, should have a healthy body and remain in a calm state, so as to lay bare his inner light as fully as possible and to attain a practice of mental concentration undistracted by anything.