My Yoga Class at Biorhythm Health Club

___PRANAYAMA IN DETAIL___

The meaning of Pranayama and how it works

                Many people equate Prana with air or breath and therefore define Pranayama as the exercise of breathing. But this concept is wrong and misleading. Prana, in fact is the vital energy which pervades each and every element of the world, whether organic or inorganic. It is, no doubt, related to the air and breath. But Prana is not only the air; it is the vital energy in the air. While talking of Pranayama, we should always keep in mind the difference between the air and the vital energy within it. The word meaning of Pranayama is the ‘expansion of prana’. The aim of Pranayama is to inspire, infuse, control, regulate and balance the Prana Shakti (vital energy) in the body.

                Just as bathing is necessary for the purification of the body similarly Pranayama is essential for the purification of the mind. Pranayama helps to improve retention power and concentration power. This in turn leads to soundness of mind and body. The liver, the stomach, the kidneys, the intestines, the digestive organs, the veins and the entire nervous system get strengthened by the regular practice of Pranayama. It reduces excessive fat, and brings about equanimity. By its regular practice; one is able to control the sense organs and the mind.

                We breathe through both the right and the left nostrils. This activity is performed through two separate channels in the nose. The flow of Prana through the left nostril is done by, in yoga language, Ida or Chandra (Moon) Nadi. This Nadi is supposed to be cool in effect. It influences the left part of the body and controls human thought. The flow of Prana through the right nostril is done by the Pingala or Surya (Sun) Nadi. It provides heat and controls the right part of the body. It also regulates the Prana Shakti (vital energy) in the human body. Where the flow of Prana through these two Nadis meets in the body, Sushumna Nadi is supposed to exist there. This is the central canal. Neither hot nor cold, it controls and balances the other two Nadis. This subtle Nadi provides light and knowledge.

                One must understand that the objective of Pranayama is to affect the proper balance between Ida and Pingala and to gain spiritual inclination through the attainment of light and knowledge from the Sushumna. From physical point of view, a proper balance among the three Nadis provides health, strength, peace and longevity.

   

Puraka = Inhalation            Kumbhaka = Pause or breath holding          Rechaka = Exhalation

               

                Disturbance in the balanced state of the body can come due to many reasons e.g. faulty diet, overexertion, over laziness, overindulgence in sensual pleasures, faulty style of living, environmental conditions, over medication, and use of drugs etc.

                Similarly, on the other side any disturbance in the balanced state of mind creates imbalance in the flow of Prana which in turn affects the health of the body since Prana is connected to the body. Disturbance in the balanced state of mind can be caused by various negative emotions and vices in mind like hatred, jealousy, anger, greed, revenge, egoism, attachment to worldly things, selfishness etc.

                In medical terminology, the same thing is explained in the form of balance between two components of autonomous nervous systems; namely sympathetic nervous system SNS (it is action oriented and aggressive involving muscular exertion and large expenditure of energy) and parasympathetic nervous system PSNS (it is restoring and passive and makes body chemistry return to normal by balancing the sympathetic response). The balance between these two components get disturbed if there is an imbalance created either in the body or in the mind.

                Mind and breath have a very close interrelationship. When mind is disturbed, breath also becomes irregular,  jerky, noisy, shallow and limited to upper chest only. When mind is calm, breath is slow, deep, rhythmic and abdominal involving movement of diaphragm. This relationship of mind and breath is also seen vice versa, i.e. by changing our breathing so as to match it with a relaxed state of mind, we can calm our mind.

                By various Pranayama exercises and ‘kumbhaka’ (holding of breath) the vital energy Prana Shakti is tremendously increased which leads to tremendous control and strength of the mind. ‘Nadhi Shodhan’ (Alternate Nostril Breathing) is especially effective for the balance of mind and nervous system. Apart from Pranayama, perform Yoga asanas; by stretching the muscles, tensions deposited in them are released, leading to free flow of Prana which leads to quietness and control of mind. When muscles are tense and contracted, Prana is not able to move freely and this has a corresponding effect on the balance of mind.

1. KAPALABHATI PRANAYAMA

                In Sanskrit, “Kapala” means ‘skull’ and “Bhati” means ‘to shine’. Thus Kapalabhati is an exercise the practice of which imparts glow to the skull. It is one of the six purification exercises known to Hatha Yoga.

Technique:

1.       Sit in either the Padmasana/Siddhasana/Vajrasana/Sukhasana  position.

2.       Place hands on the knees. Shut the eyes.

3.       Inhale and exhale quickly and forcefully pushing the air out of the lungs.

This exercise should be done with full force so that the body perspires.In Kapalabhati, Kumbhaka (holding of breath) is not practiced. Rechaka (exhaling) plays a significant part in this exercise. This is a very potent exercise.

Advantages:

v  During the practice of Kapalabhati the cells, the nerves and the muscles get a violent tremor.

v  It clears the skull, the respiratory system and the nasal cavities.

v  It eliminates the cough accumulated in the wind pipe, asthma is cured.

v  It supplies plenty of oxygen to the aircases (alveoli) in the lungs preventing viruses like the tuberculosis bacilli from doing any damage to them.

v  It draws out a large quantity of carbon dioxide from the body and thus purifies blood.

v  It tones up the heart and activates the respiratory system, the circulatory system and the digestive system.

v  The power of Kumbhaka (holding of breath) increases through Kapalabhati. It makes the aspirant more skilful.

v  It supplies plenty of blood to the body.The process for curing blood clotting is best effected through Kapalabhati.

v  Bodily impurities are removed and the glow on the face is evident.

v  It keeps the muscles of the stomach healthy and efficient.

v  It improves appetite and cures constipation.

v  It is very helpful in maintaining the health of the nervous system.

v  For the stimulation of Kundalini leading to spiritual development, Kapalabhati is a useful technique.

2. ANULOMA VILOMA PRANAYAMA (ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING)

Anuloma Viloma is actually the practice with a counting rhythm and with holding your breath in between inhalation and exhalation.

Technique:

• 1.       You sit in a comfortable sitting position like Siddhasana , Vajrasana, Padmasana or Sukhasana with a straight spine. 

• 2.       Right hand in  Vishnu Mudra; close your right nostril with your thumb. Use your ring finger and little finger for closing and opening the left nostril. 

• 3.       Inhale through left nostril keeping the right nostril closed with a count of four. Close the left nostril. Hold your breath in while counting to sixteen and exhale through right nostril while counting to eight with your fingers closing the other nostril.

• 4.       Repeat the same process through right nostril till exhalation through left nostril which makes a round complete.

You can repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times. As usual, you can increase your counting to 8, 32, 16 or 16, 64, 32.

Benefits of Anuloma Viloma Pranayama

v  This Pranayama is good for staying mentally healthy, clearing the mind and your thoughts.

v  If you are suffering from insomnia, hysteria or mental and physical stress, this exercise is beneficial for you, as it is a very relaxing breathing exercise.

v  It helps in concentration and focusing and boosts your memory power. Additionally it helps you to control your temper and prevent outbursts of anger.

v  With its calming effect, this breathing exercise is perfect if done before meditation.

v  It also calms down your heartbeat which is why it is also helpful for high blood pressure.

v  As it increases the blood flow in the head, Anuloma Viloma is good for eyes, ears and nose.

v  This posture is even said to be beneficial against early greying hair.

v   Anuloma Viloma provides more oxygen to the brain through this increased blood flow. If you are suffering from shakiness or Parkinsons, this might be the right breathing technique to get some relief.

v  Even your respiratory system, heart, and lungs profit from this exercise as you deepen your breath and bring out the toxins from your body.

               

Focus Points

            No need for retention of breath in the initial stages.

Close your eyes while performing the pranayama and focus within your body (or Ajna Chakra).

Tips and Help

                People suffering from high blood pressure and heart problems should start their practice with low counting. Find an easy and comfortable position. Keep changing the sitting postures whenever you feel uncomfortable. You can also sit on a chair.

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.

-Toni  Morrison-

___CULTURAL ASANAS___

These are asanas (postures) to develop and maintain the muscles at their optimum level of strength and flexibility. Here we are mentioning just the names of some of the asanas which you can include in your daily routine and should be practiced. A detailed study or practice should be done only under the guidance of an experienced yoga master or a guru. The reason behind not detailing the asanas with pictures is because people tend to practice from the bookish knowledge and end up in agony.

We can divide the Asanas as follows:

1. Standing posture         2. Sitting posture                              3. Supine postures

4. Prone postures            5. Twists postures                            6.Balancing poses

7. Inverted poses

STANDING / BALANCING POSTURES	SITTING POSTURES	SUPINE POSTURES
Tadasna	Dhandasana	Yastikasna
Ardha Chandrasana	Shashankasana	Merudhandasana
Urdhva Baddha Hastasana	Vajrasana	Uddhithapadasana
Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana	Adho Mukha Virasana	Viparitakarani
Utkatasana	Malasana	Naukasana
Hasta Padasana	Ushtrasana	Ardha Sarvangasana
Eka padasana	Paschimottanasana	Pavana mukthasana
Vrikshasana	Purvothanasana	Halasana
Veerabhadrasana	Baddhakonasana	Matsyasana
Garudasana	Yoga mudra	Sethubandhasana
Anjaneyasana	Akarshan Dhanurasana	Anandasana
Kakasana	Gomukhasana
	Janu sirashasana

PRONE POSTURES	TWISTED POSTURES	INVERTED POSTURES
Makarasana	Ardha Matsyendrasana
Marjarasana	Vakrasana	Sarvangasana
Parvathasana		Shirsasana
Adho mukha svanasana
Bhujangasana
Tiriyaka Bhujangasana
Ardha salabhasana
Shalabhasana
Dhanurasana

___RELAXATION___

SHAVASANA

                Relaxation is a blessing. It brings peace to body and mind. The mind is introverted developing the faculty of self awareness.

                Shava means a ‘corpse ‘. In relaxation the body lies as still as a corpse and the mind is at peace. Once the posture is mastered quietness can be called upon at will.

INSTRUCTIONS

Lie down on the floor with face up. Legs two feet apart, hands one foot away from the body with the palms facing upward. Close the eyes. Keep the breath normal. Make it quieter. Give auto suggestions to the body to relax each part and organs. Do not let the mind wander, but keep the attention on body. Keep the eyes still and relax the face. Allow the body to sink into the ground. Stay quietly for 5 to 10 min or more. Then slowly open the eyes. Bend the legs, turn to one side, and stay for a moment; turn to the other side. Then get up from the side.

CAUTION: Do not do shavasana if suffering from mental illeness, depression or phobias. If panic occurs during Shavasana keep the eyes open but quiet.

BENEFITS: It is important to be warm during Shavasana as body metabolism slows down. Normally done after the asanas.  It releases the stress, makes mind calm and conscious. Eases muscular and nervous tension, abstracts the senses from their objects, calms passion, quieting the mind, makes silence and concentration easy, and thus contributes peace of mind.

SURYA NAMASKAR

Surya=Sun, Namaskar = greeting or salute.

                Surya Namaskar is widely known but practised differently in different traditions. The sun salutation is often used for the warming up of the body at the beginning of a yoga class. At the same time it is a complete yoga class in just one sequence, every important type of asana is included in the sun salutation.

INSTRUCTIONS

Synchronize all movements with the inhalations and exhalations.

1.       Stand in stitprarthasana (prayer) posture.

2.       Inhale; raise the arms above the head and lean backward with the feet together.

3.       Exhale; lean forward and touch the floor with the palms. Feet and palms should be in one line. Do not bend the knee.Try to bring the forehead close to the knee.

4.       Inhale; shift the right leg to the back with maximum stretch.

5.       Hold the breath and bring the left leg to the back. Keep the body straight in a line and do not bend.

6.       Exhale; knees, chest and chin/forehead on the floor.

7.       Inhale; arch your chest back and head up, assume cobra pose (bhujangasana).

8.       Exhale, assume mountain pose i.e. hip up, palms and feet flat on the floor.

9.        Inhale; bring the right leg to the front between your palms.

10.    Exhale; left leg to the front, keep the palms and feet in one line again. Head down to the knees as in step 3.

11.    Inhale; raise the arms above the head and lean the body   backward.

12.   Exhale; slowly bring the arms down.

Repeat the same steps for the left side of the body. Beginner can practice 3-6 rounds.

___ASANAS___

Asana is a Body posture, it is a Sanskrit word used to describe a position of the body. Patanjali, the founder of Ashtanga Yoga defines asana as "Steady and comfortable posture". Traditionally many asanas are practiced in Hatha Yoga tradition, primarily to achieve better physical and mental health. Asanas have deep impact on the entire body and mind complex, it affects different systems in the body like muscular, respiratory, circulation, digestive, excretory, reproductive, endocrine, nervous system.

Asanas can be mainly divided into two:  Meditative and Cultural

                                                   

MEDITATIVE ASANAS

                These are cross-legged sitting postures which allow you to sit upright and relaxed for a longer time. They provide a stable seat for meditation. The aim is to train your body so you can sit a long time without moving any part of your body. This is important if you are practicing meditation or pranayama and want to come to a deep concentration.

You should choose the posture that is most comfortable for you and start practicing it for 1-3 minutes. You can increase the length gradually.

OBJECTIVE OF MEDITATIVE POSTURES: Meditative postures are solely intended as aids in the processes of abstraction, concentration, meditation and trance. These Asanas neither meant for bodily ailments nor are expected to possess any therapeutic value, even though some of these have been found to be excellent physical exercises.

CULTURAL ASANAS

                There are three important phases in the practice of cultural asanas — each of them equally important and should be paid equal attention:

·         Coming into the position

·         Holding the position

·         Getting out of the position

                This group contains by far the largest amount of asanas. It is said that there are 84 lakhs (8.4 million) yoga asanas. Of these, 84 are more important and 12 of them constitute the structure of the Rishikesh sequence sometimes called Sivananda series or Yoga Vidya series.

The cultural asanas can be divided in seven groups:

·         Dynamic sequences - such as the sun salutation(surya namaskar)

·         Inverted postures - such as the headstand(shirshasana), shoulderstand(sarvangasana)

·         Forward bending postures - such as the sitting forward bend (paschimottanasana)

·         Backward bending postures - such as the cobra(bhujangasana) , locust(shalabasana) ,  bow (dhanurasana)

·         Twisting postures - such as the half spinal twist(ardha matsyendrasana)

·         Side ward bending postures - such as the triangle(trikonasana) pose

·         Standing postures including balancing poses - such as the tree(vrikshasana) pose.

Every yoga sequence should at least contain one out of every of the groups listed above. If you take one asana of every group, you will move your spine in every direction and use all the muscles of your body. Depending on the order in which you practice they influence the flow of the prana in your body.

___YOGIC APPROACH TO DIET___

Whatever we eat can generally be considered as diet. It consists of concrete things such as solid food, fluids, air. Although people sometimes don’t realize it, proper diet is an integral part of yoga. Food is your sustenance, the source of the thousands of ingredients your body needs to keep you alive and healthy, but it can also be the source of substances that may be harming you. Diet can play a huge role both in causing and perpetuating disease, as well as in helping to remedy the situation if you are already sick. Using your diet as a tool for health and healing is so consistent with the philosophy of yoga as medicine, precisely because it’s safe and effective and is something you can do for yourself.

Some of the yogic thinking on diet is based on philosophical ideas about nonviolence and compassion and, as a result, most yogis – though not all – are vegetarians. Whatever the motivation, the health advantages of a vegetarian diet include a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, colon cancer etc. Vegetarians generally have lower blood pressure and cholesterol readings as well. From a yogic perspective, food is meant to be balanced and a ‘sattvic’ or clear state of mind.

According to Ayurvedic and yogic teaching, the three GUNAS or qualities are said to infuse everything.

      1) SATTVA  (sattvic)  - The quality of calm/clarity/balance. Fruits, vegetables, cereals, milk, curd, buttermilk, butter, ghee etc.

      2)  RAJAS  (rajasic)  -  The quality of activity/restlessness/passion.  Excessively bitter, sour, salts, pungent, Liquor, intoxicating things, meat, fish, garlic, onion, egg.

     3) TAMAS  (tamasic)  -  The quality of inertia/dullness. Tasteless, packed, rotten or stinking food items.

From a Yogic and Ayuredic perspective, fresh food is best, because food loses prana (life energy), when it is canned or processed (even when it is just refrigerated and reheated). Fresh food is not only is the vitamin content higher, but the food tastes better. Most processed food has large amount of salt, sugar and unhealthy fats, preservatives added to it, while much of the fibre and many of the vitamins and healthy plant chemicals have been lost in manufacturing and storage.

Furthermore fruits and vegetables contain fibres which prevent or cure constipation. It is a common experience that one who suffers from constipation cannot practice asanas (postures) well. Cereals provide mostly carbohydrates. These constituents give heat to the body. Butter and ghee provide fat to the body and also provide heat. Besides, it oils the joints. Proteins are available from milk, curd and buttermilk. This is necessary for the constitution of the body and the reconstruction of the cells. Hathayoga Pradeepika says, one’s diet should be nutritious, sweet, and oily and it should be nourishing. Moreover, it should please and satisfy the mind and should be pleasant in taste. This kind of food is called SATTVIC FOOD.

The yoga shastra (yoga scripture) describes ‘how much to eat’ together with ‘what to eat’. It lays emphasis on ‘mit-ahar’ (temperance in eating).  Several yoga shastras have suggested that while eating, one should fill half the stomach with food, a quarter with water and the remaining quarter for free movement of air. From a yogic perspective you are not just what you eat, but also how you eat. Yoga encourages you to be aware of every bite you put in your mouth, noticing its taste, texture and temperature. Yogis suggest you think about where your food came from and feel gratitude toward those who grew it and prepared it. To facilitate awareness and better digestion, yoga says; eat slowly in an undistracted fashion. It is best not to read or watch television while you chew, but instead to attend to the meal in front of you. The more you can make eating a form of meditation, the healthier it is likely to be. Such awareness tends to prevent overeating and can make a big difference in your weight.