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300Hrs Yoga Teacher Training

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Pranayama Practice Routine

TASMIN SATI SHVASA PRASHVASAYORGATI VICHCHEDAH PRANAYAMAH
Patanjali Yoga Sutras 2.49

Pranayama is the fourth limb of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga mentioned in verse 2.29 in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. He presents pranayama as essentially an exercise that is preliminary to concentration, as do the earlier Buddhist texts.

It is advised that pranayama should be part of an overall practice including Yama, Niyama, and Asana.

Prana means Life force or Livingness and Ayama means Expansion.

PRANA + AYAMA = Expansion of one’s Lifeforce.

Some authors describe it as PRANA + YAMA where Yama means Control. So breath control is their definition of Pranayama which is significantly lesser in scope than the PRANA + AYAMA understanding of this amazing science and practice.

It is not the oxygen that you breathe in that is the main aspect but the subtle Prana that is breathed in with the air that is important. 

There are 4 phases for breathing:

Puraka: Inhalation
Rechaka: Exhalation
Bahir Kumbhaka: External retention of breath
Antar Kumbhaka: Internal retention of breath (Kumbhaka means to retain)

Pranayama is of 3 kinds:

Energizing, Balancing, and Cooling.

We will be practising Pranayama daily for 30 mins. We have retained the same practice daily so that you can develop a good Pranayama routine, rather than shift daily for variety.

All the various Pranayam practices are however taught in the Yoga Index section.


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