WORKSHOPS
HATHA YOGA
Physical, Material and Spiritual Wellness of Being Human!

CHAPTER 8, EXCERPT:
THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF YOGA BY SWAMI VISHNU-DEVANADA

PRANAYAMA OR YOGIC BREATHING

Yoga has been broadly divided into four forms: Karma Yoga (path of action), Bhakthi Yoga (path of devotion), Raja Yoga (the science of mental control,) and Gyana Yoga (the path of knowledge). The aim of these Yogas is realization of the brahman or the absolute even though they differ as to the means employed.

Karma Yoga (the path of action) removes mala or gross impurities of the mind, such as selfishness and egoism, and develops the giving hand of generosity. Bhakthi Yoga or path of devotion destroys vikshepa or tossing of the mind and develops the heart. Raja Yoga, steadies the mind and makes it one-pointed and Gyana Yoga removes the veil of ignorance (avarana), develops will and reason, and brings in knowledge of self. Though it appears that these various Yogas are separate form one another, in reality they are not antagonistic to each other. Just as one and the same suit will not suit Mr. Smith and Mr. Shyam, so also one path will not suit all people. But students are advised by such great teachers as Sri Swami Sivananda to take up one of the Yogas as the main path and the other Yogas as auxiliary to the main one in order to achieve quick progress.

Again, Raja Yoga has been divided into three more subdivisions known as Mantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. These are all various modes of practice whereby the chitha vrithi or mental modifications are brought into control and the absolute is in various ways realized. Each of these branches of Raja Yoga has the same eight limbs (ashtanga):

1. Yama (internal purification through moral training preparatory to Yoga)
2. Niyama (cleanliness, contentment, mortification, study, and worship of God)
3. Asanas (postures)
4. Pranayama (breath control)
5. Prathyahara (making the mind introspective)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (the highest superconscious state)

These eight accessories may be divided into five exterior methods chiefly concerned with the body and prana (vital air) and three inner methods affecting the development of the mind.

Hatha Yoga gives first attention to the physical body, which is the vehicle of the soul's existence and activity. Purity of the mind is not possible without purity of the body in which it functions and by which it is affected. Through the practice of asanas and pranayama, the mind becomes one-pointed and thus one can progress quickly in concentration and meditation.

For the mind is by nature unsteady and it is at every moment being affected by sight, sound, and other factors of external objects, which mind perceives through the agency of the senses. In order to get control over the mind, Hatha Yoga prescribes various pranayama or breathing exercises. Before we proceed into the details of pranayama, the reader may do this simple experiment. It will convince everybody why Hatha Yoga emphasizes pranayama or breath control.

Place an alarm clock approximately twelve to fifteen feet away from you. Now concentrate on the ticks, keeping all other thoughts from the mind. You may find it hard to keep all other thoughts from the mind but apply a little more effort and you will succeed, at least for a few seconds. Repeat this experiment until you are successful in keeping the mind for a few seconds completely without distraction. After doing this experiment read the following explanation.

Now let us see what happened while hearing the ticking sound of the clock. The majority must have completely suspended the breath; the others, who have less concentration, must have had very slow breathing. Thus it proves that where there is concentration of the mind, the breathing becomes very slow or even suspension may take place temporarily.

The Sage Patanjali in his Yoga Aphorisms, defines Yoga as the suspension of the modification of the thinking principle, which is not practicable without controlling the prana or breath, which is intimately connected with the mind.

This connection is proved by our daily experience of life. When we are absorbed in deep thinking or meditation, the process of breathing becomes slow. The suspension of mental activity increases in proportion to the slowness of breath. In cases of asphyxia, mental activity ceases altogether until respiration is revived. Again, when the mind is afflicted by sorrow or anger, the breath becomes irregular and broken, the opposite of the slow, smooth flow of the breath when the mind is calm.

These considerations prove that the mind and prana or vital breath are interdependent, each unable to act independently of the other.

It has been said in the Siva Gita that the vehicle of the mind is prana and therefore mind functions where prana moves.

The great Sage Vasishta, in his Yoga Vasishta, has thus described the relation between the mind and the prana:

O Rama! For the motion of the chariot, which is the physical body, the God has created the mind, and prana (vital breath), without which the body cannot function. When the prana departs, the mechanism of the body ceases and when the mind works prana or vital breath moves. The relation between the mind and prana is like that between the driver and the chariot. Both exert motion one upon the other. Therefore, the wise should study regulation of prana or vital breath if they desire to suspend the restless activity of the mind and concentrate. The regulation of breath brings all happiness, material and spiritual, from the acquisition of Kingdoms to Supreme Bliss. Therefore, O Rama! Study the Science of Breath.

The word hatha is composed of the syllables ha and tha, which mean sun and moon: that is, prana vayu (the positive vital air) and apana vayu (the negative vital air). Prana (vital air) in the body of the individual is a part of the universal breath. Yogi to the regulation and steadiness of mind. Similarly, by controlling the mind prana is also controlled. Prana is not something related to breath alone. Breathing is only one of the many exercises through which we get to the real pranayama. The breathing is a manifestation of the vitalizing force called prana. By regulating the physical breathing, the prana is controlled and this process of controlling the subtle prana is called pranayama.

This vital energy is found in all forms of life from mineral to man. Prana is found in all things having life. This prana is not the consciousness or spirit but is merely a form of energy used by the soul in its material and astral manifestations. The whole body is controlled and regulated by the force of prana. Every cell in the body is controlled by it. Prana is in all forms of matter and yet it is not matter. It is the energy or force that animates matter.

Prana is in the air, but is not the oxygen, nor any of its chemical constituents. It is in food, water, and in the sunlight, yet it is not vitamin, heat, or light-rays. Food, water, air, etc., are only the media through which the prana is carried. We absorb this prana through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Animal and plant life breathed this energy with the air and it also penetrates where the air cannot reach.

Prana is also known as universal energy. It is the prana that is manifesting itself as gravitation, electricity, as the actions of the body, and as the nerve currents and thought force. From thought down to the lowest physical force, everything is thus the manifestation of prana.

Knowledge and control of prana manifested in individuals is called pranayama, which opens to us the door to almost unlimited power. The control of prana being the one idea of pranayama, all the training and Yogic exercises advocated in Hatha Yoga are for that one end. This little wave of prana, which represents all mental and physical energies, is the easiest to control through the regulation of physical breathing.

There are people in every country who consciously or unconsciously have control over the prana. In the West there are spiritualists, mind healers, faith healers, the Christian Scientists, and the hypnotists who have some control over prana whether they know it or not. These healers of various sects have stumbled on the discovery of prana energy and of manipulating within knowing its nature. Yogis use this prana consciously for awakening the dormant spiritual force in man.

The finest and highest manifestation of all prana's action in the human being is thought. By the trained manipulation of this subtle force of prana, the Yogi is able to give a push to the mind to go higher up into the superconscious plane and to act from that plane.

The grossest manifestation of prana in the human body is in the motion of the lungs. If the motion of the lungs is stopped, all other manifestation of energy and movements of the body will stop automatically. In order to reach and control the subtle prana, the Yogi uses various breathing exercises. The motion of the lungs acts like the flywheel that sets the other forces of the body in motion. So pranayama means the controlling of this motion of the lungs, by which the subtle prana is controlled. When the subtle prana is controlled, then all other gross manifestations of prana is the body will slowly come under control. Every part of the body can be filled up with prana and when we are able to do this, the whole body will be under our control. All diseases of the body can be destroyed from the root by controlling and regulation the prana and it brings the secret knowledge of healing. If our body is strong and healthy with much pranic energy, we will have the natural tendency to produce health and vitality in those who live near us because the pranic energy of our body will be, as it were, conveyed to other bodies just as the water flows from the higher level to the lower.

Thus in the case of one man trying to heal another, a sick person, it can be done by transferring his own prana to the sick person. This can be successful only when one is able to recharge his body consciously with pranic energy through pranayama. This healing process can also be carried on at a distance, though such genuine healers are rare. Prana can be stored up in the body, especially in the solar plexus, as in a storage battery. This prana we constantly inhale through the air we breathed. Though prana is found in all elements, most of the prana we extract for our body is found in its freest state in the atmosphere.

In ordinary breathing we extract this prana only very little, but when we concentrate and consciously regulate our breathing, we are able to store up in our various nerve centers and brain a greater amount of prana.

Various powers of the advanced Yogis are due to the control of this stored-up prana. The main storage battery of the prana is the solar plexus, in the navel, and even the brain receives its energy for its function from this source.

He who has abundant pranic energy radiates vitality and strength, which can be felt by those coming in contract with him. Many psychic powers come to a Yogi through the practice of pranayama, though a real Yogi never demonstrates those powers. By demonstrating such powers, one not only loses the powers, but also one gets terrible reactions.

The pure man who has controlled the pranic energy has the power of bringing it into a certain state of vibration that can be conveyed to others, bringing in them a similar vibration. These kinds of powers are used purely for good purpose by the real Yogis. Magnetic healing, faith healing, are performed in this way without any selfish motive. Such great people will not even accept thanks in return for their service.

We knowingly or unknowinly use th power of prana in our various daily activities. When you visit a sick friend who is having pain all over his body and head, you often unconsciously put the palm of your hand on his forehead or stroke gently over his body. You are at this moment unconsciously trying to transfer your pranic energy through your palm to your sick friend. Just see what happens to you when you fall down and knock your knee accidentally. The first thing you do is to hold the breath and then you hold the knee tightly with your palms. This is an instinctive act. But the real fact behind this is that by holding the breath you are able to get an extra supply of pranic energy, which you unconsciously transmit to that knee through your hands. When you want to lift a heavy object you again hold the breath automatically, because lifting needs more energy, which you get by holding the breath. Thus it proves that breathing plays a great part in controlling and regulating the pranic movements in the body.

All of us know the fact that the speech of some persons penetrates to the heart of the hearers while the speech of another will bring no effect on the mind, though he speaks beautifully. In the former, the speech is charged with prana and in the latter it is merely intellectual. The great prophets and saints had the most wonderful control of prana, which gave them that sort of tremendous will power that brought thousands toward them and made them think as the prophets. They could produce a tremendous amount of prana and their thought vibrations were charged with the pranic energy that gave them the power to sway the world. All will power arises from the control of prana.

All the functions of prana will have to be learned and mastered slowly and gradually under the guidance of a truly unselfish teacher. By proper training one can find out the fact that there is more or less supply of prana in one part of the body than in another part. The feeling will become so subtle that mind can feel where there is less supply of prana and also possess the power to supply it. This is one among the various functions of pranayama or Yogic breathing.

Sometimes the supply of prana in our body moves to one part, leaving the other parts partially empty. This brings various mental and physical illnesses. Through regulated breathing, the superfluous prana that is accumulated in one part is transferred toward other parts as well and thus brings energy and strength.

If we look at the vast ocean, we see big and small waves arise and dissolve with innumerable small bubbles. But the background of all these waves and bubbles is the same vast ocean. Everything from the smallest bubble to the biggest waves is connected with the ocean though in appearance they differ. Similarly every human being or animal or plant is connected with the infinite ocean of energy or prana. In reality, wherever there is motion and life, behind there is the storehouse of pranic energy.

The Yogi, using the method of pranayama, is able to absorb the energy from the infinite mass that exists behind, uses this energy for his quick spiritual growth, and within a short time is able to reach the highest perfection.

Pranayama teaches men how to intensify the power of assimilation of this great energy and thereby reach perfection quickly instead of progressing slowly with the retarded of the human race.

All the great saints, prophets, and Yogis, in one life span of time, lived the entire life of race, bridging the great length of time that it takes for a whole race to reach perfection. Through the power of concentration they are able to absorb and assimilate a tremendous amount of energy from the infinite storehouse, by which they are able to intensify the process of evolution in a short time. For ordinary people such power of concentration is not possible and therefore the science of Yoga teaches the science of pranayama in order to gain the power of concentration and energy.

Yogic breathing is that part of pranayama which attempts to control the physical manifestation of prana in the physical body. As the student progresses in the spiritual side, he is taught to control the prana manifested as mental power, which can be controlled only by mental means. This process of controlling the prana through mental concentration is called Raja Yoga. Therefore, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga are like the obverse and reverse of the same coin.

For the vast majority of the people to attain perfection through Raja Yoga alone is very difficult. For such people the Hatha Yogic breathing brings quick results and they are able to understand the law of prana upon the mind and establish themselves quickly in the path of prana upon the mind and establish themselves quickly in the path of Raja Yoga or the process of controlling the mind.

Many people think Hatha Yoga is merely physical exercises. But in reality there is no difference between Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. In the Hatha Yoga Predeepika, the well-know, authoritative treatise on Yoga, the great author Swatma Rama emphasizes the necessity of Hatha Yoga "to those who wander in the darkness of the conflicting sects unable to obtain Raja Yoga, the most merciful Swatma Rama Yogin offers the light of Hatha Yoga" (Chap. I, Stanza 3). Here the author says that it is impossible to obtain Raja Yoga by any other means than the hatha vidya.

The way to higher paths is now smoothe and easy after mastering body and mind through asana and pranayama prescribed in Hatha Yoga. But the ground is hard to tread and very few have the patience to persevere after repeated failures. They read of the mangnificent and stupendous results laid down as following the easiest physical processes alone for a short time and take to it with avidity for some months. But finding they do not see even a shadow of the glorious powers prophesied, they give up Yogic practices in disgust and perhaps become the bitterest enemies of Yoga. They do not realize the important fact (nor do their selfish pseudo-teachers who come to the public platforms showing some magic stunts, such as eating glass and lying on a bed of nails) that these tremendous powers are promised as a result of a course of pranayama only when it is practiced by one who has perfected himself in the moral and spiritual qualities prescribed in the Yogic lessons. In the following story from the Yoga Vasishta this point is brought out very beautifully.

A Yogi retired into the jungle and practiced pranayama (Yogic breathing) for many years but without realizing any of the powers foretold. He then went to a teacher and asked him to teach him the Yoga. The sage told him to remain with him. For the first two years the sage met all his pupil's eager solicitation for instructions with "Wait." Gradually the Yogi pupil got accustomed to the situation and forgot to trouble his master anymore for instructions. At the end of twelve years the sage called his pupil and asked him to repeat mentally the sacred syllable Aum (Om). When the pupil came to the first syllable A, the process by which the air in the lungs is pumped out set in naturally. When he finished the second syllable, U (oo) the process of inhalation set in naturally. At the end of the third syllable (M) the process of retention set in.

As a spark of fire ignites a whole field of sun-dried grass and the whole is in flame in a few minutes, so the pronunciation of the sacred world OM roused into activity the spiritual faculties that lay dormant hitherto in the pupil and in a short time he had passed the initial stages of pranayama, concentration and meditation and settled into the superconscious state.

This story illustrates the fact that the sage patiently waited for the natural unfoldment of the pupil's spiritual tendencies and the purifying of his nature through his association and surroundings. He chose the right time to intiate him only after many years, when the pupil was purified through preliminary exercises, pranayama, prayer, and the long association with the sage.

If purification of the mind as an essential part in the process of Yoga is understood and tried, through the prescribed method, then there would be fewer victims of failure.