The fourth limb of Patanjali’s eight-fold path is pranayama.
Prana is often more simple translated at breath or energy. Richard Freeman, is his book The Mirror
of Yoga, states that prana can be more thoroughly understood to be “the
substratum of all sensation, feeling, and thought, the medium through which all
experience within the body presents itself.” The word, ayama, means to not restrict or control – ‘a’
being a negation in the Sanskrit language and yama meaning restraint, as in the
first limb of yoga. Together these words have come to be known as the set of
breath extension techniques that affect the nervous system and subtle body in
various way in order to prepare the body and mind for the inner limbs of the yoga practice. Rather that
elaborate on these varied breath practices and their effects, I’d like to focus
on the breath as it relates to asana or posture practice.
There are many subdivisions of prana that describe the wide
range of its movements and patterns inside the body, but two are the most
important for our yoga practice, prana and apana. Prana is the physical pattern of rising up, blossoming and
spreading out. The prana pattern is associated with the inhalation and is said
to dwell at the core of the heart, or the anahata chakra. Note that the word
prana is used to describe both the pattern of the inhaling breath as well as
the general idea of the breath.
Prana’s direct opposite is apana, the pattern of downward, inward and
rooting movement in the body. The
apana pattern is said to live in the muladhara chakra, which is located in the
center of the pelvic floor. If you
imagine a tree you can envision the joining of an expansive pattern with a
grounding pattern. As with the
tree, these patterns are intimately linked – without the stability and
nourishment the roots provide the expansion at the top of the tree would not be
possible, and without this expansion there is not point in rooting. They are like two lovers – yin and yang
in the Chinese Taoist system – each in the heart of the other. We may separate them in our minds in
order to think about and experience them, but ultimately they can never truly
be separated.
These patterns initiate and inform the movement and
alignment of the body in asana in such subtle and obvious ways that the entire
practice can come to be seen as one continuous pranayama practice. The breath is constantly providing a
ripple of sensation for the mind to observe to the extent that it becomes the
internal organizing principal of asana, the foundational form of practice
within hatha yoga. For example,
the transition into the first position of the sun salutation when arms sweep
upward and outward mirrors the prana pattern while the second position
expresses the apana pattern by moving down and into a standing forward
fold. On a deeper and more complex
level, these patterns of breath inform the positioning of each and every one of
the body’s joints in each and every posture. Further, each joint continually
combines a different degree of prana and apana thereby balancing primary action
with counteraction and making it non-static, constantly changing and dynamic
experience. Freeman defines the underlying process of hatha yoga is to explore
the relationship of the inhale and the exhale; to discover the root of apana in
the prana, and the expansion of prana in the apana. We do this initially by
uniting the ends of the breath through observing and cultivating opposite
physiological patterns. When we
inhale and the blossoming pattern naturally dominates we allow the mind to drop
down to the roots of the body and the breath. To use the example above, when
inhaling into the first form of the sun salutation we concentrate on the
perineum and beyond into the legs and feet, which our extensions of the pelvic
floor. In this way we remain
connected to the earth rather than floating off into the mental projections
inherent to the stimulation at the top of the inhale. Then when we exhale into the second form of the sun salutation
and the rooting pattern is naturally dominant, we allow our mind to remain in
the center of the heart. In this way our heart stays open and we are not
overwhelmed by the seriousness of the exhalation that quite naturally brings
sensations of fear, anxiety, dissolution and death. The breaths relationship to the movement of the shoulder
join in reverse namaste (hands folded behind the heart in prayer position) is
such that we may use the primary action of internal rotation (apana patern) to
enter into the basic form of the upper arm bone but then the counteraction
(external rotation) is applied to keep the heart open as we fold into
parsvottanasna or pyramid pose. The learning curve is such that we may first
discover and cling to one extreme end of the prana-apana continuum, then, in
compensation we may grasp onto its opposite. In time, though this back and forth continues, it lessens
and brings about a sense of integration and balance. Through consistent practice we may eventually experience
physically how the intertwining of the two breathing patterns affect the entire
structure of the body and mind.
With the opening of the “yogic body” in asana practice we
learn to consciously join the prana and apana patterns. We are able to draw the essence of the
apana pattern up through the central axis of the body while simultaneously
pressing down on the prana pattern causing them to ignite in the roots of the
navel. The movement of breath can be imagined as bright tubes opening up from
one central channel into many branches that then return into a single tube
within the core of the body. In
hatha yoga these tubes are referred to as nadis. Nadi means “little
river.” For most of us, our small
rivers of breath and energy are all out of balnace. Some flow a little, some
not at all and still others are flooding the system all the time. Different
classical yogic texts refer to different numbers of nadis but all give special
attention to the ida, pingala and sushusmna nadis. The ida nadi is considered to be the moon channel, which is
said to be cooling and calming and is accessible through the left nostril. The pingala nadi is considered to be
the sun channel, which is heating and energizing and is accessible through the
right nostril. These two “side channels” are also associated with different
states of mind and it is said that when you stimulate one of these two primary
channels you experience characteristic moods or modes of thinking associated
with the temperament of that side.
The sushumna nadi is the empty channel right in the center of the core
of the body and can be accessed through the root of the palate. Anatomically,
the root of the palate begins in the soft palate in the back of the roof of the
mouth where the uvula hangs down.
He root is like a cup immediately underneath the pituitary gland. Yogic texts describe a nendlessly
extending flower called the sahasrara chakra, or the thousand-petaled lotus,
originating at the root of the palate and opening through the crown of the
head. From the base of the
sahasrara is the gateway to the central channel. Here the three nadis, the central staff of the sushumna, the
ida and the pingala from a caduceus.
Just like the wand of Hermes in Greek mythology, the two side channels
wrap around the central staff so the two opposing qualities of the breath find
their resolution and balance in the central axis.
The practice of yoga asana and pranayama prepare the body
and mind for this resolution. If
you even have a glimpse of the uniting of the complementary principles of sun
and moon, prana and apana, inhale and exhale, something begins to occur in the
pelvic floor. According to yoga
theory, the two streams of breath are allowed to unite when the blockage, or
kundalini, between them is removed.
The root of the word kunda is “coil” thus leading to the image of a
coiled serpent lying asleep at the base of the spine where prana and apana are
attempting to unite. To again
quote Richard Freeman, “pranayama could be explained as various techniques for
breathing that consciously join prana and apana as a means for freeing the
inner breath so that it can unfold into its true liberated state.” When the goddess of prana is freed the
inner breath, the kundalini, uncoils and stands up straight along the central
channel. In other words, the
breath becomes still and is concentrated in the central channel, allowing the
normal world-constructing and world-interpreting activities of the mind to
temporarily suspended and the mind enters a state of pure awareness. Recall
Yoga Sutra I.3 – yoga is the suspension of the fluctuations of consciousness
(yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah). In
the context of asana practice we skillfully extend the length and smoothness of
the inhale and exhale as we churn and wring out the body in order to allow the
prana and apana to unite, flow easily into an unobstructed central channel so
that deep levels of meditation or samadhi can arise. Because the image of the
goddess standing upright in the base of the pelvis is so vivid and colorful it
is important to remember that the process of yoga is really about the
observation of what is and not the
reduction of it to our theories or images of what we’d like it to be. Internal imagery may help us to observe
and experience the subtle and blatant effects of the breath but if we hold onto
them too tightly we may miss the experience we are seeking all together. So as a final metaphor for the breath,
through our practice we must cultivate the razor’s edge of intelligence that
occurs in the balance of discriminative awareness (inhalation) and complete
non-attachment (exhalation) in order to see everything, just as it is, without
the mind’s overlay of theories, preconceptions and expectations. This is the yoga of action – on and off
the mat.
This brief, and albeit superficial, description of pranayama
is based primarily on my experience at Richard Freeman’s 2012 Teacher’s
Intensive and my own personal experiences with asana and pranyama over the last
ten years. Richard’s book “The
Mirror of Yoga” is highly recommended to anyone seeking a deeper understanding
of the concepts presented above.
