Pranayama 101
Written by: Michele Lyman, RYT 500
“The highest form of spiritual practice is self-observation without judgment.”
Although I had been practicing yoga for a long time, my first formal introduction to Pranayama was during my 300-hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training in October 2017. I had practiced many of the techniques before 2017, but I never really understood the true impact of pranayama until my amazing teacher, Larissa Hall Carlson, opened my eyes to its incredible power. With each practice, I felt grounded and light, clear and open, joyful, happy and satisfied. I absolutely fell in love.
In today’s crazy, chaotic world, my pranayama practice still supports me, even if I can only practice for 5 minutes a day. It’s amazing how just a little bit of breath work can impact my energy and change my mood almost instantly. Each time I practice, I feel more alive. And I want the same for you! Today I’m sharing the foundations of a pranayama practice so you can begin to explore these practices in order to improve your overall well-being and feel more alive.
What Is Pranayama?
“Those who are expert in Yoga methods perform various Pranayamas to accomplish the jewel mind state. By the practice of different Pranayamas wonderful success is attained.”
The word “Pranayama” combines the Sanskrit word, “prana”, which means air or breath and aliveness, with “ayama” or “yama”. “Ayama” means enhancing or expanding, while “yama” means to restrain or hold back. Think of prana as the energy needed to be alive - to move, think and feel. Prana is everything that is an expression of aliveness.
Prana, or energy, rides on the breath. In his blog, “Breathing 101”, Steve shared how yoga can help you breathe well. When you use these concepts, along with the idea that energy rides on the breath, you can influence your energy level based on the way you breathe.
So, if you put these words together, the classical translation of pranayama is “restrain or master the life force.” Or you can also translate it as “restrain or increase the flow of air” or “restrain or increase the flow of aliveness.”
But what does it mean to be more “alive”?
Your physical body is tangible - you can see it, feel it, and therefore rationalize it. But, you are more than just your physical body. Your subtle body is made up of channels called nadis. Just like your physical veins and arteries are channels for your blood, the nadis transport the flow of energy, or prana, in your body. They also carry nerve impulses, thoughts and feelings. When these channels are blocked, the energy doesn’t flow and you end up losing the ability to feel and to connect with others. You can also experience pain physically, emotionally and mentally when Prana is stuck.
Pranayama practices work to remove these blockages and open the nadis, allowing you to feel more alive. You might notice this “aliveness” as an increase in your physical energy, a greater sense of emotional balance, and clearer thoughts.
Where Awareness Goes, Energy Flows
So we just learned that you are a being of energy. And you are also a being of awareness, which is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events - awareness is the state of being conscious of something. And the connection between energy and awareness is that wherever you focus, your energy flows!
Imagine the relationship between two siblings. In most cases, the younger kid always wants to be where the older kid is! If the older one goes into the kitchen, the younger one follows. Energy is a lot like that younger sibling. Wherever the older kid (awareness) goes, the younger kid (energy) will follow.
Most of the time our energy is moving up and out because our awareness is focused on people, objects and situations. We expend our energy on indulgence and stress, and over time our energy empties and we feel depleted. Ideally, we want our energy to flow into the central nadi channel, or sushumna, in order to live with more aliveness.
Here’s a simple example. As you may know, I absolutely LOVE ice cream. I mean, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now, the second I have the thought, “I should have some ice cream” that’s all I can think about. I think about when I can get home to eat it. Or if I have enough in the freezer. Or maybe I shouldn’t even have it at all because I’m trying to lose weight. So forth, and so on. My awareness is solely focused on the ice cream which means my energy binds to the obsession of wanting the ice cream!
I usually end up succumbing to this desire and eat the ice cream. And maybe the act of eating it refills my energy a bit. But it probably doesn’t refill all the energy I spent thinking about, wanting and obsessing over the ice cream.
Since it’s hard to live a simple life where distractions like ice cream don’t exist, a pranayama practice can gradually and safely raise and invite the energy back toward the central nadi channel so that you can be a more alive human being!
Awareness of Prana
Before you can begin a pranayama practice, you need to be aware of your current energy level in order to know which breath work practices will help you balance your energy. Simply take a moment to notice how you feel.
If prana is low, you will feel sluggish, lethargic, and generally blah. Think of it as sloth and torpor. If prana is high, you might feel hyper, indecisive, agitated, spazy, speedy, and distractible. The energy is sloppy and scattered. If prana is balanced, you will feel grounded but alert - it’s a steady energy that feels very even.
In order to balance prana, you want to practice the opposite qualities in your breathwork. If prana is low, you want to practice techniques that will raise your energy up to a balanced state. If prana is high, you want to practice techniques that will lower your energy until you feel balanced.
Types Of Pranayama Practices
So now you know that pranayama practices are used to purify the nadis and raise and move the energy toward the central nadi channel. Below is a list of pranayama practices, both in Sanskrit and translated to English, to help warm up the body and mind, purify the nadis, raise energy and channel the energy.
Warming up:
Dirgha - Full Yogic Breath or Three part breath
Ujjayi - Ocean sounding breath
Purifying the Nadis:
3. Anuloma Viloma - Alternate nostril breathing
Raising Energy:
4. Kapalabhati - Skull cleansing breath
5. Bhastrika - Bellows breathing
Channeling energy:
6. Sitkari / Sheetali - Cooling breath
7. Bhramari - Bumblebee breath
Each of these techniques could be a separate article on their own, so I won’t go into all the details here. However, below I share how to practice Dirgha, since it is an important warm-up technique to prepare the body and mind to receive the energy before raising it.
Dirgha Pranayama - The Full Yogic Breath or Three Part Breath
The primary purpose of Dirgha is to prepare the body and mind for more vigorous pranayama practices. It is also usually done as a warm-up for any physical movements as well. This breath is breathing as slowly and as deeply as you can, filling and emptying your lungs completely with each breath. (See Steve’s article “Breathing 101” for specifics on how to breathe deeply). You want to think about stretching all the muscles of the rib cage in the front, sides and back.
As you breathe slowly in and out, you may notice your mind relax and your energy soften or feel more steady.
Sit up with a tall spine or take a supine position laying on your back. Bring your hands to your belly and soften or close your eyes. As you inhale, let the belly move into your palms so that your diaphragm can drop down and you can breathe into the lowest lobes of your lungs. As you continue to inhale, let the ribs expand and then fill the upper lungs into the chest. As you exhale, release the chest first and then the ribs, and then gently pull the belly back into the lower back to draw the diaphragm up toward the lungs, expelling as much of the exhale as possible. Repeat 5-10 times and notice the effects in your body and mind.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the practice of pranayama. Stay tuned for more helpful conversations as we dive deeper into the yoga practices so that we can become more alive human beings together!