See the ongoing Yogasangalu translation project for the translation so far.
Translation by Satya Murthy.
Follows on from the earlier post beginning the Second section of the book
Translation by Satya Murthy.
Follows on from the earlier post beginning the Second section of the book
Pranayama
There are many types of pranayama. The special pranavayu kriya sadhana that improves life expectany, brightens prana, corrects inhalation and exhalation from lungs is called “pranayama.”
The radiance that shines on the face and other organs is called prana shakti. Some people call it as atma shakti.
This radiance seems to disappear from the face and different organs in a person with disease.
We see that the radiance is totally lost in all parts of a dead body.
We need to try to improve this radiance day by day.
The only way to improve this is by the 4th step of yoganga called “pranayama.”
The basis of pranic energy is prana vayu(air). This is not like the air around us. It is very subtle, with amazing lighting speed like a warm flood of radiance.
This is hidden in the chest cavity. The cavity is between the two lungs.
The same place is the location of the atma and the antaryami (inner controller). The bright radiance exists because of them.
When its movement is normal, the pulse from the heart is regular and our life is full of hope and joy.
If this is poisoned, our movements become slow and ultimately becomes stop and go. Finally the heart and the organs stop working and the body’s radiant brightness disappears. This stage is called death in common language.
To summarize this,
“यावत्प्रानः स्थितो देहे तावज्जीवनमुच्यते”
“Yavatpranah sthito dehe tavajjivanamuchyate”
meaning, our bodies are only alive until the pranavayu and pranashakti takes residence and keep it radiant, once they are lost, there is no life according to people who have experience in yoga shastra.
In order to make this pranavayu and prana shakti always permeate our body, there are three important types of pranayama - 1. Suryabhedana 2. Ujjayi 3. Sheetali
Procedure -
Suryabhedana
Exhale slowly and deeply through the right nostril (keeping the left nostril closed with the right pinky and ring fingers). After a brief interval, inhale in the same way with the same nostril. After, hold your breath as per capacity (5 seconds initially) exhale through the left nostril the the same way as described before (close the right nostril tightly with the right thumb and loosen the two fingers on the left side). Inhalation and retention are same as before. During retention, both nostrils must be closed by the respective fingers.
Exhalation is “rechaka”, inhalation is “puraka” and retention is “kumbhaka” according to Yoga shastra. How many rechaka we perform, the same number of puraka and kumbhaka must be performed. This is Suryabhedana. Right side puraka, left side rechaka, and no puraka on left side according to some.
This improves pranavayu, pranashakti, knowledge and life expectancy.
Ujjayi
Sheetali
Folding the tip of the tongue like a boat and pushing it out about half and inch in front of the puckered lips, keeping it tight as per ability, perform puraka and kumbhaka through the boat shaped tounge. During kumbhaka, the tongue must be withdrwan inside the mouth. Rechaka procedure is similar to that of Ujjayi pranayama.
During exhalation (rechaka) phase of the second and third pranayama, hand and finger positions must be held as described in suryabhedana pranayama.
This reduces thirst, heat in the head, chest pain and vertigo.
Three Bandhas
1. Moolabandha 2. Uddiyanabandha and 3. Jaladarabandha. Bandha means - binding, tying or confining. When you are practicing the yoganga called pranayama, the central part of the body from the base of the reproductive parts to the neck region must be tied up on our own volition. Without these three bandhas, full benefits of pranayama can not be achieved for sure. Therefore, practitioners must do this carefully.
Moolabhanda characteristics (in Hatahyogapradipika)
Procedure for binding
पार्श्णिभागेन संपीड्य योनिमाकुंचयद्गुदं
अपानमूर्ध्वमत्क्रुश्य मूलबंधोऽ भिधीयते॥
Parshnibhagena sampidya yonimakunchayeddgudam|
Apanamoordhwamatkrushya moolabhandho bhidhiyate||
Summary: Sit while pressing the perineum with the heel, contract the rectum firmly, withdraw and hold the lower abdomen.
Reason for the name
अधोगतिमपानं वै ऊर्ध्वगं कुरुते बलात्।
आकुंचेन तं प्राहुर्मूलभंदं हि योगिनः॥
Adhogatimapanam vai oordhwagam kurute balat|
Aakunchena tam prahurmoolabhandam hi yoginah||
Summary: This forces the apanavayu to flow upwards rather than down the rectum which can cause weakness. Therefore, this is called Moolabhanda. According to yogi’s common usage, moola means, the bad vayu (prana) that can cause the musculature of the lower abdomen to become weak.
Special procedure
गुदं पार्श्ण्या तु संपीड्य पायुमाकुंचयेत् बलात्।
वारं वारं यथा चोर्ध्वं समायति स्मीरणः॥
Gudam parshrnya tu sampeedya paayumakuchayetat balat|
varam varam yatha chordhwam samayati sameeranah||
Summary: Firmly press the perineum from the heels of both feet, contract the inner rectum tightly, move the lower abdomen back and forth.
Benefits of moolabhanda
प्रानापानौ नादबिंदू मूलभंदेन चैकताम्।
गत्वा योगस्य संसिद्धिं यच्चतो नात्र संशयः॥
praanapanou nadabindu moolabhandena chaikatam|
gatva yogasya samsiddhim yachhato natra samshayah||
Summary: By practicing moolabhanda, pranavayu, apanavayu, hrudayadhwani and veeryabindu are united resulting in yogic benefits.
Special benefits
अपानप्राणयोरैक्यं क्शयो मूत्रपुरीषयोः।
युवा भवति व्रुद्धोऽपि सततं मूलभंधनात्॥
Apanapranayoraikyam kshayo mootrapurishayoh|
yuva bhavati vruddhopi statam moolabandhanat||
Summary: The union of pranavayu and apanavayu reduces the frequency of urination and defecation. Those who practice regularly feel youthfulness even in old age.
To be contiued.......
Notes
See previous post for notes on Surya bheda HERE
How long to practice pranayama?
In the previous section Krishnamacharya suggests a minimum of fifteen minutes of pranayama.
"After practicing this (asana) , practice 15 minutes of one of the pranayama routines followed by 5 minutes of shavasana, without failure".
Sitali in Ramaswami Yoga for the Three stages of Life
Ramaswami gooes inot a little ore detail about what's going on inside the mouth in sitali
1. Sit in a comfortable asana.
2. Curl the tongue into a roll, protrude it and inhale through the wet tongue.
3. At the end of the inhalation, release the curl, fold the tongue, and touch the top of the upper palate, even the uvula if possible, This is called jivha bandha.
4. Then stretch the back of the neck, drop the chin to around three inches below the neck pit, forming kantha bandha.
5. After Kumbhaka (retention) exhale through alternate nostrils (or both and visualise alternating).
6. Repeat wetting the tongue (before inhalation) -the air conditioning pranayama
Srivatsa Ramaswami : Yoga for the Three Stages of Life p209
More notes to come over the next couple of days.....
3 comments:
Thank you for this!
I have always been intimidated by the variety of pranayamas out there and the connotation of danger indicated by many teachers. I feel at ease knowing that and an authority figure like K has listed the three important ones for beginners to practice.
And K. is very textual too, mentioning and quoting the ancient texts yet still feels the pranayama he mentions here is suitable for beginners, "fifteen minutes (minimum) without failure" even if that means you only have time for the key asanas.
Shame that was lost and that we end up with the curious' no pranayama 'till 3rd series' doctrine. That doesn't strike me as 'the lineage' or the tradition, K couldn't be clearer here.
That was one of the best things I took away from Ramaswami's course Satya, that pranayama was encouraged from the start and that it didn't need to be a big drama, you just sit and breath. We started off simply just the inhalation and exhalation then added a short five second retention and then over the next two weeks built that up as well as the amount of time we practiced. By the end of the course we were practicing 80 rounds of pranayama that included twenty seconds retentions of the exhalation with the mantra.
Now i'd rather sacrifice half my asana practice in the morning than my pranayama.
Thinking of doing a post on this with videos on Tuesday, keeping it simple and illustrating the pranayamas Krishnamacharya mentions here,perhaps including some different ratios.
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