Holiday Tips at Stillwater Yoga: The Power of Pranayama

Thanksgiving conjures up either anxiety or anticipation in most people.  One friend admitted she scheduled a therapy session first thing Monday morning following the holiday, because she knew she’d have family issues to process. 

Luckily, for the many of us who attended Kathleen Pringle’s Introduction to Pranayama workshop, any post-Thanksgiving anxiety was quickly exhaled. Kathleen, owner of Stillwater Yoga in Midtown Atlanta is dedicated to training anyone in the art of yoga through the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar. Her post-holiday Intro to Pranayama was a wonderful introduction to her gentle and knowledgeable teaching style.

As some of you may know, there are eight limbs of yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharna, Dhyana, and Samadhi. It is said we should master the first three limbs of yoga before embarking on the fourth limb: pranayama.  However, those of us who found yoga later in life would have to wait another lifetime or 100 lifetimes to venture into this area. 

Fortunately, Kathleen’s introductory class is designed for anyone interested in learning the benefits of the practice (Sadhana) . In Light On Pranayama by BKS Iyengar, prana is described as, “the breath of life.”  It is not breath as we know it.  In fact, Kathleen teaches: “Prana is food for the breath.” We begin by learning to observe and for lack of a better word, control the breath, which helps us get more in touch with our prana:  loosely described as our "life force".

The most important first step to begin to understand the concepts behind pranayama is learning to go within. Kathleen began class with a simple sitting position that most anyone can do. She talked about how to adjust our position with blankets to align the body in such as way as to be able to withstand longer periods of stillness.

It is in stillness that we are able to follow the breath within ourselves. When properly aligned, we are better able to create space within the body both vertically and horizontally. Vertical expansion is known to bring more intellect.  Horizontal expansion is known to bring more wisdom. 

Kathleen discussed the five known elements: Earth, water, fire, air, and ether. She explains that according to yogic texts there are also five sheaths or koshas of the body each associated with one of the five elements: The physical body, Annamaya kosha (earth), the energy body or pranayamah (water), emotional body manomaya (fire), the intellectual body vijnamaya (air), and the bliss body, anandamaya (ether). She explains how we use our five senses of perception:  ears, nose, tongue, eyes, and skin to discern our external world. In the study of pranayama, we need to draw our five senses of perception inward.

Interestingly, there are five vayus or airs of the body: Prana, apana, samana, udana, and vyana. Kathleen demonstrated the location of the five vayus as we sustained the proper alignment in the sitting pose and experienced the idea of what might be expected of us in a sitting pranayama practice. After her short lecture on the basics of pranayama and her demonstration of a proper sitting position, we began a short asana practice.

Asana as the third limb of yoga is designed to bring awareness, alignment, and strength to every part of the body.  Through a regular practice of asana, we are able to connect the dots of our mind, our body, and our breath. Every asana or yoga pose is designed to create more awareness and space in some area of the body.  So, by the time you begin pranayama there is more awareness and space to witness the breath. 

One of the initial exercises in the introduction to pranayama is simply observing the breath. This is known as Ujjayi breathing. Ujjayi is known as the "breath of the warrior" and comes from the prefix ud meaning upwards and expanding and jaya, which is victorious conquest. There are four stages of Ujjayi. It begins with simple inhalations and exhalations, which slow and expand over time. There are three basic qualities of the breath that we seek to attain in this process of observation: Soft, smooth, and deep.  First we soften the breath. We may notice the idea of observing the breath has caused a little anxiety in us. That bit of anxiety has affected the quality of the breath making it harder than it needs to be. Immediately, we’ve been able to observe a distinction in our own breath: hardness. From that distinction we are better able to understand the process of softening the breath.

We continue to observe the breath through the other qualities: smoothness and depth. By the end, our mind is able to follow our inhalations and exhalations completely.  We are witnessing each breath getting longer.  We are noticing the path the breath chooses to take on it’s way into the body and on it’s way out of it.  We are noticing a natural pause after the inhalation and after the exhalation. A whole new world is being observed - one most of us haven't ever taken the time to experience before. Soon each breath is slower, smoother, deeper and we are becoming so comfortable in the pauses that we find ourselves wanting to linger there longer. By connecting the mind to the breath we are able to create an amazing sense of calm.  We are at peace.  Stress?  Anxiety?  What's that?

Pranayama can be done in a seated position or supine position.  A preparatory exercise in learning seated pranayama is sitting in a chair (backwards - facing the back of the chair and using it to support the lift of the chest). For all pranayama exercises (and there are many) the chest needs to be lifted and open. This eventually opens the heart area, which is said to be the "seat of the divine". Kathleen makes a point early on to share that the simple act of lifting the chest can put us in a better mood and actually helps with depression.  She discusses the connection to yoga practice and health - explaining how scientists have discovered that this attention to parts of the body through yoga promotes a remarkable resistance to disease. It is some of the basis of a new field of study known as psychoneuroimmunology .

In Light on Pranayama, Iyengar talks about how pranayama stimulates the peristaltic and segmenting movements of the intestines.  Stimulating this area of the body aids in absorbing food and disposing of solid wastes.  Anyone who has read anything about the origins of disease learns that it can usually be attributed to the digestive tract.  Pranayama also helps maintain the flow of pure blood to tone the nerves, brain, spinal cord, and cardiac muscles while increasing their efficiency.

While there are many things that can get in the way of our yoga practice:  from intellectual obstacles like false knowledge, mental or emotional obstacles where our ego gets in the way, and environmental obstacles like disease, it is important to experience how yoga with a regular asana and pranayama practice can help you breakthrough any obstacle.

  

But as B.K.S. Iyengar says in the preface of Light On Pranayama:

“Words can hypnotise and attract a reader to a religious practice (Sadhana) and make him think he understands a spiritual experience.  Reading, however, only makes him more learned, while practice (Sadhana) in what he has read brings him nearer to truth and clarity.”

Pranayama goes far deeper than I could ever begin to explain here. However, it is something that once you try it, you will want to practice again and again. So, take the first step. Before your next holiday, make a point to begin a practice of yoga with pranayama, so you can begin to discover the world inside you and experience the power of breath work for yourself. Who knows you may just tap into your own abilities to resist anxiety and stress throughout the New Year and beyond.

Namaste.

For more information about Iyengar Yoga, Pranayama, or Kathleen Pringle and Stillwater Yoga please visit http://www.stillyoga.com/