pranayama

File:Nadishodhana Pranayama - International Day of Yoga Celebration - NCSM - Kolkata 2017-06-21 2455.JPG pranayama (alternate nostril breathing) on the International Day of Yoga in Kolkata, India, in 2017 ]]

Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with prana, thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the prana-shakti, or life energies. Pranayama is described in Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Later, in Hatha yoga texts, it meant the complete suspension of breathing. The pranayama practices in modern yoga as exercise differ from those of the Hatha yoga tradition, often using the breath in synchrony with movements.

Etymology

Prāṇāyāma (Devanagari: {{lang|sa|प्राणायाम}} {{IAST|prāṇāyāma}}) is a Sanskrit compound. It is defined variously by different authors.

Macdonell gives the etymology as prana ({{IAST|prāṇa}}), breath, + āyāma and defines it as the suspension of breath.{{sfn|Macdonell|1996|p=185, main entry {{IAST|prāṇāghāta}}}}

File:Kumbhaka terminology.svg defined Pranayama in terms of the elements of Kumbhaka, breath retention. ]]

Monier-Williams defines the compound {{IAST|prāṇāyāma}} as "of the three 'breath-exercises' performed during {{IAST|Saṃdhyā}} (See {{IAST|pūrak}}, {{IAST|rechak (English: retch or throw out)}}, {{IAST|kumbhak}}".Monier-Williams, p. [https://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0700/mw__0739.html 706, left column.] This technical definition refers to a particular system of breath control with three processes as explained by Bhattacharyya: {{IAST|pūrak}} (to take the breath inside), {{IAST|kumbhak}} (to retain it), and {{IAST|rechak}} (to discharge it). There are other processes of prāṇāyāma besides this three-step model.{{sfn|Bhattacharyya|1999|p=429}}

V. S. Apte's definition of {{IAST|āyāmaḥ}} derives it from {{IAST|ā}} + {{IAST|yām}} and provides several variant meanings for it when used in compounds. The first three meanings have to do with "length", "expansion, extension", and "stretching, extending", but in the specific case of use in the compound {{IAST|prāṇāyāma}} he defines {{IAST|āyāmaḥ}} as meaning "restrain, control, stopping".See main article {{lang|sa|आयामः}} ({{IAST|āyāmaḥ}}) in: Apte, p. 224. Passages cited by Apte for this usage are Bhagavatgita 4.29 and Manusmriti 2.83.

Ramamurti Mishra gives the definition:

{{blockquote|Expansion of individual energy into cosmic energy is called {{IAST|prāṇāyāma}} ({{IAST|prāṇa}}, energy + {{IAST|ayām}}, expansion).{{sfn|Mishra|p=216}}}}

Hinduism

= ''Bhagavad Gītā'' =

Pranayama is mentioned in verse 4.29 of the Bhagavad Gītā, which states "Still others, who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, practice by offering the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Others, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice."Gambhirananda, pp. 217–218.{{Cite web |date=13 Sep 2012 |title=Bhagwat Geeta 4.29 |url=https://www.bhagavad-gita.us/bhagavad-gita-4-29/ |access-date=10 May 2021 |website=Bhagwat Geeta with commentaries of Ramanuja, Madhva, Shankara and others.}}

= ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' =

Pranayama is the fourth "limb" of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in verse 2.29 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.{{sfn|Taimni|1993|p=205}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=97}} Patanjali, a Rishi, discusses his specific approach to pranayama in verses 2.49 through 2.51, and devotes verses 2.52 and 2.53 to explaining the benefits of the practice.{{sfn|Taimni|1993|pp=258–268}} Patanjali does not fully elucidate the nature of prana, and the theory and practice of pranayama seem to have undergone significant development after him.{{cite book |last=Pande |first=Govind Chandra |title=Foundations of Indian Culture: Spiritual Vision and Symbolic Forms in Ancient India |edition=Second |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1990 |page=97 |oclc=488464360}}

In verse 1.34, pranayama is introduced as a method aimed at stabilizing the mind. The practice involves two primary techniques: exhalation, known as pracchardana, which entails expelling air from the stomach through the nostrils, and retention, known as vidharana, which focuses on the controlled restraint of breath. Pranayama supports advanced practitioners in gaining control over the mind and complements meditation, aiding in achieving a light body and steady mind by regulating breath.{{Sfn|Bryant|2009|p=130-132}}

Yoga teachers including B. K. S. Iyengar have advised that pranayama should be part of an overall practice that includes the other limbs of Patanjali's Raja Yoga teachings, especially Yama, Niyama, and Asana.{{cite book |title=Light on prāṇāyāma: the yogic art of breathing |year=2011 |publisher=Crossroad |location=New York |last=Iyengar |first=B. K. S. |author-link=B. K. S. Iyengar |oclc=809217248 }}

= Hatha yoga =

The Indian tradition of Hatha yoga makes use of various pranayama techniques. The 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a key text of this tradition and includes various forms of pranayama such as Kumbhaka breath retention and various body locks (Bandhas).Mallinson, James (2011). Knut A. Jacobsen; et al., eds. Haṭha Yoga in the Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3. Brill Academic. pp. 772-773. {{ISBN|978-90-04-27128-9}}. Other forms of pranayama breathing include:

Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing),{{cite web |title=Nadi Shodhana Pranayama: Channel-Cleaning Breath |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/energetics/pranayama/channel-cleaning-breath/ |publisher=Yoga Journal |access-date=22 May 2025 |date=20 January 2025}}Gheranda Samhita 5.38–54 also called Anuloma Viloma{{cite journal |last1=Malhotra |first1=V. |last2=Deep |first2=A. |last3=Javed |first3=D. |last4=Singh |first4=R. |last5=Wakode |first5=S. |last6=Bhagat |first6=O. L. |last7=Porter |first7=P. K. |title=Slow Frequency Anuloma Viloma Pranayama Modulates Cardiac and Neural Oscillations in Yoga Practitioners |journal=Mymensingh Medical Journal |volume=31 |issue=3 |date=2022 |issn=2408-8757 |pmid=35780374 |pages=851–860 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35780374}}
Ujjayi ("Victorious Breath"), a modern technique used in Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga{{cite book |last=Shearer |first=Alistair |title=The Story of Yoga: From Ancient India to the Modern West |title-link=The Story of Yoga |date=2020 |publisher=Hurst Publishers |location=London |isbn=978-1-78738-192-6 |chapter=Yoga goes West |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z97QDwAAQBAJ |page=156}}
Sitali (breathing through the rolled tongue),{{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |year=2012 |chapter=The Original Gorakṣaśataka |editor-last=White |editor-first=David Gordon |title=Yoga in Practice |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3491519 |pages=257–272}}
Bhastrika ("Bellows Breath"),{{cite book |author-link=B. K. S. Iyengar |last=Iyengar |first=B. K. S. |title=Light on Yoga |year=1995 |orig-year=1966 |pages=449–450 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=0-8052-1031-8}}{{cite book |title=Hatha Yoga Pradipika |last=Svātmārāma |at=verses 60–66}}
Kapalabhati ("Skull-shining Breath", a Shatkarma purification),Budilovsky, Joan; Adamson, Eve (2000). The complete idiot's guide to yoga (2 ed.). Penguin Books. Chapter 7. {{ISBN|978-0-02-863970-3}}.
Surya Bhedana ("Sun-piercing Breath"),{{cite web |title=Surya Bhedana Pranayama |url=https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/9502/surya-bhedana-pranayama |publisher=Yogapedia |access-date=3 June 2019 |quote=In its simplest form, surya bhedana pranayama is inhaling fully through the right nostril, holding the breath and then exhaling through the left nostril. ... The pingala nadi, which represents masculine sun energy, begins in the muladhara (root) chakra and ends at the right nostril, which serves as a sort of entrance to this sun energy. By practicing surya bhedana pranayama, the yogi taps into and activates the pingala nadi energy}}
Bhramari (buzzing like a bee), a soothing technique.{{cite web |last=Brahinsky |first=Rachel |title=Use "Bee Breath" to Get Anxiety to Buzz Off |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/buzz-away-the-buzzing-mind |publisher=Yoga Journal |access-date=3 June 2019 |date=12 April 2017}}

B. K. S. Iyengar cautions that pranayama should only be undertaken when one has a firmly established yoga practice and then only under the guidance of an experienced Guru.

According to Theos Bernard, the ultimate aim of pranayama is the suspension of breathing (kevala kumbhaka), "causing the mind to swoon".{{cite book |last=Bernard |first=Theos |author-link=Theos Casimir Bernard |title=Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience |publisher=Harmony |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9552412-2-2 |oclc=230987898 |page=57}} Paramahansa Yogananda concurs, writing, "The real meaning of Pranayama, according to Patanjali, the founder of Yoga philosophy, is the gradual cessation of breathing, the discontinuance of inhalation and exhalation".{{cite book |last1=Yogananda |first1=Paramahansa |author-link1=Paramahansa Yogananda |title=The Essence of Kriya Yoga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltl1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT10 |date=2005 |publisher=Alight Publications |isbn=978-1931833189 |edition=1st |page=part10}}

= Yoga as exercise =

The yoga scholar Andrea Jain states that pranayama was "marginal to the most widely cited sources" before the 20th century, and that the breathing practices were "dramatically" unlike the modern ones. She writes that while pranayama in modern yoga as exercise consists of synchronising the breath with movements (between asanas), in texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, pranayama meant "complete cessation of breathing", for which she cites Bronkhorst 2007.{{cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |title=Greater Maghada: Studies in the Culture of Early India |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |pages=26–27}}{{cite book |last=Jain |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Jain |title=Selling Yoga: from Counterculture to Pop culture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-939024-3 |oclc=878953765 |page=3}}

The yoga guru Swami Kuvalayananda began the experimental study of pranayama in 1924.{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=34–35}} The anthropologist Joseph Alter describes the attempt to apply science to the practices of yoga as an "accidental confusion in meaning" of domains (yoga and medicine) that explore different "ways of knowing".{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=34–35}} Given Kuvalayananda's interest in prana, from 1929 he experimented on the effect of pranayama on the respiratory system. He sought to show that pranayama developed the nadi channels of the subtle body, rather than simply exchanging the gases oxygen and carbon dioxide, but the way he did this was to measure the rate of removal of carbon dioxide and later of oxygen consumption. Many further studies, by Kuvalayananda and many others, followed. Among the examples given by Alter was the 1979 study by Kesari, Vaishawanar, and Deshkar, which sought to discover the effect of asana and pranayama practice on the clearance of the waste products urea and creatinine from the body.{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=93–95}} Alter writes that the many experiments almost all studied "anatomical, physiological, or biochemical variables" and gathered empirical data.{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=93–95}} For instance, a 1956 study by Kuvalayananda and Karambelkar sought to find out what happened to the acidity of the urine following prolonged bhastrika pranayama.{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=93–95}} Alter adds that although the work had "empirical form", it was driven by "an ontological question about the nature of nature", as Kuvalayananda and his colleagues at Kaivalyadhama saw the biological variables as epiphenomena to the "meta-material power inherent in Yoga."{{sfn|Alter|2004|pp=93–95}}

Physiological studies of pranayama, mainly of poor quality, have continued into the 21st century. For example, a 2018 systematic review by Andrea Zaccaro and colleagues examined 2,461 research articles on the effects of pranayama and breath control more generally on the cardio-respiratory system and the central nervous system. They found only 15 articles of suitable quality for review.{{sfn|Zaccaro|Piarulli|Laurino|Garbella|2018}}

Buddhism

According to the Pali Buddhist Canon, the Buddha, prior to his enlightenment, practiced a meditative technique involving pressing the palate with the tongue and forcibly restraining the breath. This is described as both extremely painful and not conducive to enlightenment.Bronkhorst, Johannes, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Franz Steiner Verlag Weisbaden, pp. 1–5. In some Buddhist teachings or metaphors, breathing is said to stop with the fourth jhana, though this is a side effect of the technique and does not result from purposeful effort.Bronkhorst, Johannes, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Franz Steiner Verlag Weisbaden GmbH, p. 84.

The Buddha did incorporate moderate modulation of the length of breath as part of the preliminary tetrad in the Anapanasati Sutta. Its use there is preparation for concentration. According to commentarial literature, this is appropriate for beginners.Conze, Edward, Buddhist Meditation. Harper & Row, 1956, p. 66. Regarding the Buddha's incorporation of pranayama see also Buddhadasa, Mindfulness with Breathing. Revised edition, Wisdom Publications, 1997, p. 53.

= Indo-Tibetan tradition =

Later Indo-Tibetan developments in Buddhist pranayama which are similar to Hindu forms can be seen as early as the 11th century, in the Buddhist text titled the Amṛtasiddhi, which teaches three bandhas in connection with yogic breathing (kumbakha).{{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |chapter=The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭhayoga's Tantric Buddhist Source Text |editor1=Dominic Goodall |editor2=Shaman Hatley |editor2-link=Shaman Hatley |editor3=Harunaga Isaacson |title=Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: A Festschrift for Alexis Sanderson |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |url=https://www.academia.edu/26700528 |pages=1–3 with footnotes}}

Tibetan Buddhist breathing exercises such as the "nine breathings of purification" or the "Ninefold Expulsion of Stale Vital Energy" (rlung ro dgu shrugs), a form of alternate nostril breathing, commonly include visualizations.Tenzin Wangyal. Awakening the Sacred Body, page 1{{cite AV media |people=B. Alan Wallace |title=Tsalung Practice-Ninefold Expulsion of Stale Vital Energy |medium=video |language=en |url=https://meridian-trust.org/video/tsalung-practice-ninefold-expulsion-of-stale-vital-energy/ |access-date=2017-08-16 |publisher=Meridian Trust}} In the Nyingma tradition of Dzogchen these practices are collected in the textual cycle known as "The Oral Transmission of Vairotsana" (Vai ro snyan brgyud).Norbu, Chogyal Namkhai, Trans. by Adriano Clemente. Yantra Yoga Snow Lion Publications, p. 1.

References

Sources

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