The Eight Limbs: Pranayama

Pranayama. Another one of those well known aspects of yoga.

Pranayama means breath control, it's the "measuring, control and directing of breath."

The main time you hear about it is probably in a yoga class, the teacher will tell you when to inhale, when to exhale. That is really the most basic form of Pranayama. Pranayama and Asana go hand in hand and the combination of both makes for an incredibly beneficial practice.

I can pretty much guarantee, even if you've never done a yoga class, you've done some sort of Pranayama before. Ever held your breath? Ever tried to slow your breathing or take a deep breath to calm down? That's Pranayama. It's pretty magical.

In yoga philosophy, we say that our breath is our life energy. We control our life energy through our breath. The best example of this is how we slow and deepen our breaths when we want to calm down, when we want to calm our misplaced energy or anxiety. By controlling the pace and depth of our breath, we control our mood and our energy levels.

A lot of people find Pranayama difficult to do because it means focusing on your breath for extended periods of time. However, Pranayama is actually preparation for meditation. By learning to focus on one thing, we are preparing for being able to focus on nothing. It is also because breathing deeply calms the nervous system and reduces cravings and other monkey mind activity, meaning the mind is set free and is ready to concentrate.

In a yoga class, we may use Pranayama in a few different ways. We use it during our Asana practice to obtain more benefits both physically and mentally, we use it before and after our practice to help centre ourselves and we use it as an anchor for when the mind wanders.

I myself started practising Pranayama before I started a physical yoga practice when I was 12. I began using an app called Smiling Mind, a mindfulness guide for people or any age. I have used this resource for many years both for myself and for teaching others, especially children. Mindfulness and Pranayama are tools I use daily to find concentration and to calm myself, and I have found over the years that it becomes much easier and even quicker to receive the benefits after lots of practice. Even the slightest acknowledgement of the breath can help to improve your mood and calm your mind.

Like I said, it's magic.

I will leave you today with a link to one of my favourite Smiling Mind mindfulness practices, great for kids and oldies, the Bubble Journey.