PRANAYAMA – REFLECTION & JOURNALING PROMPT

Hello, hoping you’re well and safe. This past month (May) we focused on the fourth limb – pranayama.

Pranayama, the breath, controls the flow of energy. Prana is wind, vital air, it also means power, aim and ambition in life, it points to our willpower and it removes the defects as well as the obstructions of flow of prana. Ayama means to stretch, expansion and extension of energy or the life force.

Pranayama has four movements – there is the inhalation, the exhalation and retention. Retention has two parts. Pranayama is the regulation of the incoming and outgoing flow of the breath with retention. At the end of each breath we are followed by khumbhaka. The movements of our normal inhalations and exhalation take place only at the surface level. Sometimes the breath is felt in the nose, sometimes in the throat, in the chest or in the abdomen, touching a bit here and there. Science tells us the normal breath is dependent upon the movement of our diaphragm but the touch of the normal breath always changes. Though the process is continuous there are interruptions and unfilled areas and spaces that are felt throughout. 

Take note and realize how the breath moves within you, its place in the body by touching the nose or the throat at one time and the chest the diaphragm or the abdomen at other times. We have to learn to observe our inhales and exhales so that the breath moves evenly and spreads throughout the lungs. When we bring awareness to our respiration we can bring a certain discipline in it. A normal inhalation and a normal exhalation with attention to the absorption in various areas automatically leads us towards deep breathing filling up these unfilled spaces. 

The overall effect of pranayama is on all planes. It makes the body free of diseases and controls our fluids, stimulates our digestive systems and purifies our internal channels. Pranayama removes the veil covering the light of knowledge, it purifies and cleanses the mind making us fit for meditation. 

The mind becomes a vehicle. The doubts, confusion and conflicts within act as smokescreens covering the head and the heart. Pranayama clears the congestion and allows us to concentrate.

Journaling Prompt: Are you pushing through or softening into life?

Take good care,
Natasha

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