Pranayama: The Ancient Science of Breath and Life Force Control
You are doing it right now. You have been doing it since the moment you were born, and you will not stop until you die. It requires no effort, no attention, no decision. And yet, when you bring conscious attention to it — when you learn to shape and direct it with skill and intention — it becomes perhaps the most powerful tool available for transforming your state of consciousness, your physical health, and your relationship with the deepest dimensions of your own being. Breath. The ancient Indian science of pranayama ( prana = life force, ayama = extension, expansion, or control) is the systematic practice of working with the breath to cultivate, direct, and refine prana — the fundamental life-energy that animates all living beings and, according to Yogic philosophy, underlies all physical, mental, and spiritual processes. Pranayama is one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga as described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (c. 400 CE), positioned after the physical postures ( asa...