Many modern Gurus interpret the word Pranayama to mean controlling of the life force or Prana. They are right if they are talking about the air we breathe in and out. That is definitely something that keeps us alive.
But no matter how this word came into existence, Yoga proper uses it to refer to a method to improve our mental focus. This is the fourth step of Yoga.
Imagine what you would do when someone forcibly keeps your nose as well as mouth firmly shut. You will be struggling for breath within a few seconds. When you are in such a condition, can you think of anything other than freeing from this difficult situation you are put in?
Your mind will be completely focused on your suffocation at that moment. Nothing else draws your attention. You are on a single point agenda – how to free from the situation 😉
Yoga uses this natural mechanism of our body, to train our attention system. Instead of someone doing it – which could be dangerous – you subject yourselves to brief periods of suffocation.
Regular practice of willingly controlling your breath can improve your concentration since at least during that period your mind will be one pointed. And our brain is capable of picking up any habit when repeatedly exposed to it 😉
Patanjali identifies different ways you can control your breath.
You can momentarily stop the breathing in or doing Pooraka, with no air inside your lungs. That is called Shoonyaka. You can remain in that state for some time depending on your capacity to hold it comfortably.
Or you can breathe in and stop breathing out or doing Recaka, for some time, with the air still inside your lungs. Basically, you are holding the air inside. That is called Kumbhaka. Once again, you can remain in that state for some time depending on your capacity to hold it comfortably.
You can do a series of Pooraka, Kumbhaka, Recaka and Shoonyaka one after the other. You can change their durations to make them more challenging to you but without making it uncomfortable.
You can observe that while you do this exercise, your mind would be totally engrossed in the entire process. You cannot afford to divert your attention elsewhere since you cannot afford to stop your breath for long.
With practice, you develop your mental concentration by just doing this breathing exercise namely Pranayama.
But our modern Gurus talk about an altogether different way of doing Pranayama. Not just their methods, but also their goals are different. They don’t talk about the mind but only the body which they want to control.
Basically, they are talking about Hatayoga style of Pranayama. The name Hatayoga itself means “Yoga of force” or “Yoga of the body”. So, the focus is mainly on the body.
Hatayoga’s idea of ultimate realization is arousing the mystic force Kundalini from its dormant position in the perineum and forcing it to its final destination in the head through the spine.
Hatayoga views Pranayama as a way of cleansing the spinal pathway, as well as forcing the Kundalini upwards along with the air that is trapped inside because of the forcible holding of breath or Pranayama.
They have dozens of various types of Pranayama, most of which are meant for that purpose. Some Hatayoga texts even suggest holding the breath indefinitely! I wonder how such a thing is ever possible!
Our modern Gurus, while quoting Patanjali, push these Hatayoga breathing techniques or Pranayama which probably Patanjali never knew of. They project them as a panacea for all our worldly problems, be it health, stress and what not.
But their claims are neither supported by the Hatayoga texts from which they have taken these techniques, nor their working are logically explained, nor there is any scientific evidence about their claimed benefits. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that these techniques can be harmful in many cases.I have discussed many of these “Pranayama” techniques and the claims made by modern Yoga teachers in my book “Hatayoga Myths Shattered”. I have used references from Hatayoga books, medical evidence, and reasoning to show how hollow these claims are.
I would not like to go more into these methods both because they don’t form part of Yoga that we are talking about, and also because they don’t have much to do with the focusing of the mind that interests us.
In subsequent episodes, I plan to go into other non-Yoga techniques that may be useful in training our attention system. Please join me in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019-2020
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