WORKSHOPS

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

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

IMPORTANCE OF PRANAYAMA AND RULES

Pranayama is one of the most important in all forms of Yoga. By practicing pranayama, the Yogi is able to control the nervous system and thereby obtains gradual control over prana or vital energy and the mind.

To breathe means to live and to live means to breathe. Every living thing depends upon breathing and cessation of breathing is cessation of life itself. From the first cry of the infant to the last gasp of a dying man there is nothing but a series of breaths. Yogis count life not by number of years but number of breaths. We constantly drain our life force or pranic energy by our thinking, willing, acting, etc. Every thought, every act of will, or motion of muscles uses up this life forc and in consequence constant replenishing is necessary, which is possible mainly through breathing alone.

Just as oxygen is carried through the blood stream to all parts of the body, building upon and replenishing, so is the prana carried to all parts of the nervous system. If we know that Yogis get most of their energy from the air, then the importance of proper breathing is readily understood. Whoever practices breathing regularly and systematically can feel in his own body this great effect of absorption of prana.

When one inhales, he is taking in prana and storing it in various nerve centers, especially in the solar plexus. The more prana one can take in, the more vitality he will possess. In the practice of pranayama, mind plays a great part and it is important to observe consciously everything that takes place in the phenomenon of breathing.

In the West there are numerous schools where correct breathing is taught for the sake of physical health. Even pregnant women are taught certain types of breathing exercises that resemble Yogic breathing for natural painless childbirth. During the birth of the child, with each contraction the expectant mother breathes rapidly in quick succession and holds the breath. This act of breathing relieves the pain and the child is born in a natural way while the mother is conscious of every process of nature's act of bringing her child into the world.

Yogis declare that the correct habit of breathing, with natural diet, would regenerate the race and the modern diseases of civilized man, such as blood pressure, heart diseases, asthma, tuberclosis, etc., would be only medical names in the dictionary. In addition to the physical benefits derived through breathing. Yogic teachings further show that through pranayama man's will power, self-control, concentration power, moral qualifications, and even his spirtual evolution can be increased.


EFFECT OF PRANA ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEMS

There are two nerve currents on either side of the spinal column and there is a hollow canal named sushumna running through the spinal cord. At the base of this hollow canal is the seat of the kundalini or the serpent power.

When the coiled power of kundalini awakes through various pranayama and concentration, it tries to force a passage through this hollow canal and as it rises from lower nerver plexuses to the higher ones, layer after layer of mind opens and many powers and visions come to the Yogi. And when the kundalini reaches the last and highest center, sahasrara chakra (thousand-petaled lotus) in the brain, he becomes perfectly detached from his body and mind and his soul is freed from all limitations caused by time and space. Here the Yogi realizes his eternal existence and enjoys the bliss of the superconscious state.

Yogis, through the pranayama, open the canal of sushumna in the spinal column, which is closed at the lower end, situated near what is called the sacral plexus. The six plexuses that have their centers in the spinal cord can very well stand for the six chakras in the sushumna.

We shall have to remember here from physiology that there are two kinds of action of the nerve currents–one afferent or sensory, which carries the sensations inward to the brain, and the other efferent or motor, from the brain outward to the body. Another point to be remembered here is that the center that regulates the respiratory system has a sort of controlling action over the nerve currents.

There are ten nadis (subtle nerve tubes) through which the nerve currents or prana moves. Out of these ten nadis, the principal nadis are three: ida, pingala, and sushumna. Again, among these three nadis the sushumna located in the spinal column is the most important for Yogis. Sushumna plays a great part in pranayama. Through certain pranayama and concentration, Yogis withdraw prana from the ida and pingala consciously and take it to sushumna, which will become active. When the ida and pingala nadis are devitalized by the operation of sushumna nadi, there is no night or day for the Yogi. When the sushumna is in operation, the Yogi can transcend the limitation of time and space.

We shall see now why pranayama has been taught in order to make the sushumna nadi function. The brain receives all sensations through nerve fibers; similarly all the messages are telegraphed from the brain through the nervous system only. The ida and pingala nadis of the Yogins correspond to the column of sensory and motor fibers in the spinal cord through which the afferent and efferent currents are traveling. Now according to the Yogic system, the mind can send nerve currents without the use of ida and pingala. If we take the analogy of the telegraph system and wireless system, we can easily understand how the mind can send and receive nerve currents without the help of ida and pingala, For the telegraphic system the message is sent through the wires but in the wireless system there is no need of any wires. Yogis use the wireless method to send the nerve currents. Now the question arises, what is this use of it and how is it done? The answer is that, by doing so, we will be able to get rid of the bondage of matter.

When the sushumna nadi in the spinal column is made active by pranayama and by certain other processes prescribed in Hatha Yoga, then alone can we get rid of the bondage of matter. By such practices, a Yogi makes his sushumna nadi active. By this the knowledge of his relations with the objective world is held in abeyance and he sees his self prevading the whole universe and becoming one with it.

In ordinary persons, the sushumna is closed up at the lower extremity and no nerve current passes through it. This canal of sushumna can be opened through pranayama. When the sushumna canal is open and active, the prana acts upon the coiled power kundalini at the muladhara and then the kundalini is consciously made to travel up the sushumna nadi. When the entire coiled power travels from center to center, layer after layer of the mind, as it were, will be perceived by the Yogi in its fine or coarse form. And when this tremendous mass of energy is made to move along this sushumna by the power of intense meditation and pranayama and strike on the last center sahasrara chakra in the brain, the knowledge and sensation are superior to the knowledge that comes through the ordinary senses. This direct perception of the self without the help of ordinary senses is called illumination or superconscious perception wherein there is no limitation of self caused by mind or matter.

Thus the rousing of the kundalini through pranayama and other Hatha Yoga methods is one of the ways to the realization of the self or pure consciousness. This kundalini shakthi can be aroused through other methods also, such as through devotion and love for God, through intense meditation on the kundalini shakthi, through the power of the analytic will of the Gyana Yogis or Vedanta philosophers, etc.

Wherever there is supernatural power of wisdom or knowledge, there must have been at least a partial manifestation of kundalini. All kinds of worship, from the primitive man to the civilized man, lead to this one end of rousing this power and many of such worshipers had ignorantly stumbled onto some practice that set in motion a portion of this kundalini shakthi for a very short time.

Thus that supreme, universal mother nature whom men worship under various names and faiths, through fear and tribulations, the Yogi declares unto the world to be the living power that is lying coiled up in every being as kundalini shakthi, the giver of immortality and eternal happiness.


FIVE PRINCIPAL PRANAS OF FIVE TYPES OF VITAL FORCE

Before the student takes up pranayama for awakening kundalini, he should have a proper understanding of the five major pranas or five types of vital forces and their functions. Though prana is one, it assumes five forms: (1) prana, (2) apana, (3) samana, (4) udana, and (5) vyana, according to the different functions it performs.

The seat of prana is the heart; of apana, the anus; of samana, the region of the navel; of udana, the throat; while vyana is all-pervading and moves all over the body.

The function of prana is respiration and its color is that of a red gem; apana does excretion and its color is a mixture of white and red; samana performs digestion and its color is between that of pure milk and crystal; udana does deglutation (swallowing of the food) and is plain white color. Udana prana also assumes the function that takes the individual to sleep. Vyana performs circulation of blood and it resembles the color of archil (or that of a ray of light).

Thus, according to the Yoga philosophy, all visible and invisible happenings in the universe and in the body are the functions of one prana, which manifests in various forms. The activities of the human body automatically come under the control of prana and this cosmic prana as it functions in the body is named pancha pranas or five vital forces, according to the nature and function it performs.

These five pranas function through the five subsidiary nerve centers in the brain and spinal cord.

Prana through the cervical portion of the autonomic nervous system governs the verbal mechanism and the vocal apparatus, the respiratory muscles, and the movements of the gullet.

Apana Prana controls mostly the autonomic action of the excretory apparatus of the body such as kidney, bladder, genitals, colon, and rectum through the lumbar portion of the autonomic system.

Samana Prana controls such secretions of the digestive system as that of the stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestine through the sympathetic portion of the autonomic system in the thoracic region.

Udana Prana functions above the larynx and controls all the automatic functions that come under the cephalic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. It also functions as a psychic force that separates the astral body from the physical body at the time of death.

Vyana Prana pervades all the body. This prana controls the voluntary and involuntary movements of the muscles of the whole body and the movements of the joints and structures around them. It also helps to keep the whole body in erect position by generating unconscious reflexes along the spinal cord.

In addition to the five principal pranas, there are five more upa pranas of five minor vital forces: naga, kurma, krikkara, devadatha, and dhananjaya. The naga vayu performs the function of belching and gives rise to consciousness; kurma opens the eyelids (drooping of eyelids before sleep) and causes vision; the krikkara causes sneezing and causes hunger and thirst; the devadatha produces yawning, and dhananjaya pervades the whole gross body and does not leave the physical body even after death.

Every one of these five pranas is governed by five vayus or nerve impulses. These five vayus are also named in the same way as the five pranas: (1) prana vayu, (2) apana vayu, (3) udana vayu, (4) vyana vayu, (5) samana vayu.

The word vayu in the Yogic literature is used to describe a particular nerve current or impulse, which is one of the properties of a nerve. These vayus or nerve currents are either received or generated by pranas located in different plexuses of the sympathetic portion of the autonomic system. Each plexus is an independent nerve center, which can recieve and generate a nerve impulse.

During pranayama exercises, prana vayu is generated by the intaking of breath and apana vayu is generated by the exhaling process. The prana vayu is an afferent impulse going to the brain or nerve centers and apana vayu is an efferent impuse that moves away from the brain and nerve centers. During retention time in pranayama, the Yogi unites these prana vayu and apana vayu (afferent and efferent nerve impulses) at the muladhara chakra (pelvic plexus), then this center will act like a dynamo, sending tremendous amounts of pranic energy to stimulate the coiled power kundalini lying dormant at this center.

When the kundalini becomes active it will try to move upward through the canal in the sushumna. This is the first awakening of the kundalini shakthi. When kundalini is awakened, various reactions can take place in the body. At first the canal of the sushumna in the spinal column is not well opened and there will be a great struggle to raise the kundalini upward.

Here I would like to add some of the initial reactions I had during my pranayama exercise, which will be helpful for advanced students in breathing exercises.

The first reaction, especially during the bhastrika pranayama, is a feeling of a pleasant warmth at the pelvic plexus (muladhara). This is due to the initial vibration caused by the partially united prana and apana nerve impulses. This feeling of heat is felt for several days during the pranayama exercise. The one day the heat at the lower spine became very intense but very pleasant throughout the period of retention: This experience continued for some days. As the heat increased at the lower spine, a peculiar sensation is felt like a whirlpool in a river. This churning sensation is due to the reaction of the kundalini shakthi. Slowly and gradually this sensation of the coiled power of kundalini moving upward became intense. At first when the power started rising upward through the sushumna in the spinal column, it became active as though it were a high tension wire sending pranic current to every cell of the body throughout the nervous system. At first the body started trembling and quivering when the sushumna was active. At times the reaction was so intense that the body was thrown out of its seat. But all the time during the period of retention there was a peculiar joy that cannot be expressed in words.

As the pranayama exercises continued with proper diet for some months the prana started moving steadily in the sushumna, which can be felt with various kinds of sensations and joy while the trembling and quivering sensation of the body became less and less and finally stopped. The trembling of the body was due to the sudden striking of prana on the sushumna nadi and to forcing a way through it while still not completely purified. It took long practice of purificatory breathing exercises before the sushumna became fully opened and active. At first the control of the body when it started trembling was not possible consciously. This was due partially to impurities in the sushumna and partially to not using the locks or bandhas properly (moola bandha or the anus contraction and the jalanhara bandha or the chin lock) which will be described at the end of this chapter.

When these locks are done properly during the retention time and when the sushumna is free of impurities, then at will the prana could be taken to sushumna, which was not possible previously. It took several months before this control was possible. Purification of the nadis (physical and astral nerve tubes) is essential to get psychic experience, which may take several years of practice. This purification exercise for nadis is known as anuloma viloma pranayama or alternate nostril breathing.

These experiences are convincing and can be achieved by anyone who sincerely practices pranayama with proper diet and under direction of a teacher. Pranayama is important in the control of the body and mind.