Pranayama is the fourth anga or organ (branch) of ashtanga yoga as prescribed by Patanjali, the chief guru of Ayurveda. Astanga means eight organ-ed or eight branched). Pranayama is the technique of collecting and storing more prana (life) from the air (oxygen) we breathe, or in simple words pranayama control (ayama) of prana (life force).

Yama, Niyama and Asana are the first three angas (organs or branches).

There are many types of pranayama, eight of them are generally considered to be important. Learning of some of the pranayamas is strictly restricted to learning directly from a teacher (the same way you canÂ’t take a postal course for swimming).

Mind and life is essential for the existence of man. If any one of the factors is lost, the person ceases to exist. Prana (life) enters our body while taking shape at womb and leaves us when we die. Prana is omnipresent. It is present in the air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat. You know, the most important of them is air; we canÂ’t sustain our prana for even two minutes if we are devoid of all important air.

Several researches suggest the power of pranayama in treating stress related disorders, asthma, and oxidative stress. Yoga practitioners who practice pranayama experience strong and controlled mind.

To take deep breathing, take any of the pose directed to prayer and meditation. Body is kept erect and without giving stress to any part of the body or without making any movements.

Your stomach is almost empty. Put your hands on knees.

Straighten up your head and close your eyes.

Take breath slowly through both the nostrils. Chest will push forward a little when the lungs are full.

Retain breath in the lungs for a little while. (In-breath)

Slowly exhale, slower than inhalation. Make sure no air is left in the lungs.

DonÂ’t inhale for a few moments (Out-breath).

On the first day practice this cycle for five times a day and gradually increase it to ten times a session. It is practiced after savasana or corpse-pose.

Pranayama can be done sitting, standing or lying position.

Never allow to break the rhythm of breathing in or breathing out. Each action must be continuous till complete.

Anyone can practice pranayama any time and anywhere. Whenever you feel under pressure, take six to eight deep breaths and you will experience better control of mind.

Though it is not necessary to keep the eyes shut, donÂ’t allow the sights to distract you.

Pranayama step 2 anuloma – viloma

It is also called nadisodhana pranayama or nervous cleansing pranayama.

Take a meditation or prayer pose.

Extend and keep your left hand palms down on right knee.

Raise right hand and put index and center finger between eyebrows. Keep thumb on right and ring finger on left of nose.

Close your eyes and calm your breathing (and mind) down. Relax all muscles.

Completely breathe out. Expel all the air.

Use your thumb to close right nostril. Fill your lungs by taking breath through your left nostril only.

After fully filling your lungs, close your left nostril with small and ring finger.

Open right nostril and fully expel the breath inside. Keep the breath out for two or three seconds.

Take breathe through your right nostril. Repeat the complete cycle three times as a beginning and increase it to up to ten cycles.

DonÂ’t break the breathing in or breathing out process any time while practicing pranayama. Never keep your mouth opened. Mind is calm and listens to the movement of breathing only.

This pacifies mind. It balances prana of different nerves. Cleans brain cells and opens previously unopened alveoli of the lungs. Practice this for a few days before attempting pranayama 3.

Bhastrika literally means bellows. This pranayama step got its name from the fact that the breathing resembles the action of bellows.

Sit in a meditation or prayer pose.

Put your left hand palm-down on your right knee.

Put your index and middle finger between the eyebrows, leaving thumb and ring finger free.

Close right nostril with the thumb. Briskly breathe in and out through left nostril for ten times.

Release the thumb and take in breath through both the nostrils, slowly and deeply. Close both the nostrils with thumb and ring finger to keep the breath inside.

Release both fingers before you feel breathless. Slowly, but steadily release the breathe completely.

Take two or three regular breathing.

Repeat the whole process by closing the left nostril and breathing through the right.

Beginners need to practice only one cycle only. You can gradually increase the number of cycles to 15-20 a day over time.

This is not indicated for persons with hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart diseases.

Benefits
Bhastrika, the third step of pranayama eliminates germs and accumulated wastes from lungs. It is beneficial for persons suffering from asthma and tuberculosis.

It is also to be noted that the persons practicing this step experience the release of mucus on larger quantities. Nothing to worry, it is the method of expelling wastes from the lungs.

Kapala bhati or frontal brain bellowing is the fourth step of pranayama.

Sit in a meditative pose and close your eyes.

Put both hands palm-down on knees. Put right hand on right knee.

Briskly breathe in and out. Expel air with some force. No need to inhale with pressure.

Begin with ten rounds of breathing in and out; you can increase it to 30-50.

At the end of a session, take a deep breathe and exhale slowly.

Rest a while.

Benefits
Strengthens and calms down mind. It cleanses brain and flushes out worries and negative thoughts. It also reduces the production of mucus.

Shaucha pranayama or cleansing breathing is first step of pranayama. This cleanses lungs.

Take any comfortable yoga pose.

No need to shut eyes, keep hands on knees.

Slowly take a deep breath as if to fill your lungs.

Retain air inside as far as you donÂ’t feel uncomfortable.

Without taking in any air through nose or mouth, forcefully blow the air out through mouth. Slowly bend forward so that your forehead touches the ground. Completely breath out in ten to fifteen such blowing out. Adjust both the processes in such a way that breathing out will be complete while your forehead nears the ground.

Once you find there is no air left in the lungs rise and breathe as usually.

Repeat the steps five times.

Benefits
Both the lungs are cleansed and developed.

Pranayama (yogic breathing), the fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga, is a set of procedures to control vital life force called prana by efficiently controlling breathing. Pranayama is derived from two Sanskrit words – prana and ayama. Prana means life or vital life force, ayama is control. Pranayama therefore essentially is the control of life.

There are different types of pranayama. A few of them are Sukha Pranayama (easy breath), Kapalabhati (frontal brain bellowing), Bhastrika (bellow-like breath), Saucha pranayama (cleansing breath), Sheetali (cooling breath), Bhramari (bee breath) and Nadi Sodhan (anuloma-viloma or alternate nostril breath).

There are essentially three phases in breath control in pranayama.

Puraka or filling is the first step. This is the step in which the yogi inhales and fills his or her lungs with air. Kumbhaka or retention is the step in which you retain the breath inside. This stimulates better exchange of gases at the lungs and more oxygen is absorbed into the blood.

Thus yogic breathing is breathing to full capacity of lungs. Controlling more oxygen into our system is like creating a storehouse of life energy or prana.

The immediate benefits you get by practicing pranayama are

Better emotional control – lack of stress
Release of muscular tension
Relief from asthma and other respiratory conditions
Increased detoxification of respiratory wastes and
Enhanced immune system

While practicing pranayama, the lungs are pulled down by the diaphragm and forward by the rib cage. Thus fullness of breathing is experienced. In normal conditions we skip either thoracic or abdominal breathing. In pranayama, you use both type of breathing to the full capacity of lungs. The prana thus accumulated acts as a storehouse or reservoir of life energy that you can draw from when necessary.

No one need to practice all the different forms of pranayama. Some breathing exercises as described in Patanjali sutra are complex or are not easy to accomplish. Practicing a few techniques that you are comfortable with is enough to get the benefits. You can move to more complex techniques gradually over time.

This pranayama should produce the sound of ocean.

The procedure for Ujjayi Pranayama

· Sit erect – (any comfortable posture will do).

· Draw air to the throat with a ‘ha’ sound. Don’t allow abdomen to bulge out, but concentrate on thoracic breathing.

· Exhale with the same ‘ha’ sound.

· Both nostrils are used in inhalation and exhalation.

Mind and prana (the core life force that supports life, generally said life here) are closely related. Though we know the presence of both, we canÂ’t identify the exact state or shape of both. According to yoga concepts, respiration (breathing) is the visual indication of prana (life). Thus the relationship between mind and breathing is also the relationship between mind and life.

Yoga compares the relationship between mind and breathing like the relationship between a chariot and charioteer (Ratha-Sarathy). (Concept from the older time, we can conveniently change it to the relationship between a driver and its vehicle). The charioteer moves with the chariot and the charioteer controls the movement of the chariot.

In a similar fashion, mind vibrates when prana (here breathing) vibrates and vice versa. Whenever our mind is calm, our breathing will be steady and normal. Whenever our mind is troubled because of fear/anger or concerned because of sexual desires, it reflects in the breathing pattern. The reverse is also true.

Pattern of breathing will be according to the exact mental state of the person. This led to the development of the core concept of yoga – controlling mind by controlling respiration. Thus to control mind we should first control our respiration.

Pranayama, the fourth anga or organ of yoga deals with the techniques of effectively controlling our mind by controlling our breathing patterns.

Controlled breathing is about attracting and retaining more of the life force or vital force, which we call prana, which is present in the entire universe. When you control your breathing, all the sacs of lungs are fully filled and completely emptied, thereby giving you more room to retain the all important vital life force called prana in your body system.

Practicing respiration control techniques, or life-force controlling techniques or pranayama ensures health and longevity.