ISSUE #016

On Prāṇa & Prāṇāyāma

Table of Contents
1. Introduction to the Issue by Stephanie Corigliano 2
2. Prāṇāyama as an Introspective and Proprioceptive Eco-Discipline 4
by Ana Laura Funes Maderey
3. Prana by Srivatsa Ramaswami 9
4. The Use of Voluntary Breath Control in Asana by Srivatsa Ramaswami 12
5. A Glimpse of the Role of Energy in the Procxess of Self-Transformation 18
by Isa Gucciardi
6. Contraindications of Pranayama as it applies to Trauma Survivors 21
by Caitlin Lanier
7. The Prāṇa of Paramahansa Yogananda by Jensen Martin 26
8. A History of Prāṇa & Prāṇāyāma: excerpt from Embodied Breath 30
conference by Yoganand Michael Carroll
9. Pronunciation of Sanskrit and the Preservation of Prāṇa by Dr. Katy Jane 32
TARKA #016 – On Prāṇa & Prāṇāyāma (June, 2019) Introduction
by Stephanie Corigliano, TARKA Managing Editor

Prāṇa is “the breath of life,” according to the Sanskrit-English dictionary, Monier-Williams. It is

also defined as “spirit,” and “vitality.” Another common Sanskrit dictionary by Arthur A.
Macdonell defines prāṇa as “vital spirit,” and further suggests that the term goes back at least as
far as early Sāṃkhyan philosophy to mean, “vigor,” or “energy,” and is found in Vedānta as the
“sign of vitality.” In English, we don’t normally consider the terms energy, breath, and spirit to
be interchangeable. And, as both Ana Funes-Maderey and Isa Gucciardi note in their articles this
month, little attention is traditionally granted to the breath in western traditions. In fact, from a
linguistic standpoint, the move to accommodate energy, breath, and spirit with a single term
might affect a total paradigm shift.
To what extent is breath control possible? We can well imagine the Himalayan yogi
seated at the fore of a cave in front of a small fire deeply immersed in prāṇāyāma. Yet, is it
possible to tie it to everyday actions? In a host of modern day, mundane tasks, awareness of
how we breath provides feedback for how the mind and inner consciousness are functioning.
Further, modern science is increasingly beginning to reveal that the concerted effort to control
the breath in prāṇāyāma, even for a short period of time on a regular basis, can be transformative
and healing. Among other articles featured during Embodied Philosophy’s 2019 first quarter on
Yoga and Neuroscience that touch on prāṇāyāma, David Shannahoff-Khalsa’s, “My Kundalini
Yoga Research Contributions to the Basic Sciences and for Treating Psychiatric Disorders,”
introduces a broad spectrum of practices and the gradual effort to study and prove their
effectiveness. The articles in this month’s Tarka discuss the nature of prāṇa and methods for
teaching and practicing prāṇāyāma from a variety of perspectives.
Ana Funes-Maderey’s “Prāṇāyama as an Introspective and Proprioceptive Eco-
Discipline,” discusses the preeminence of prāṇa and prāṇāyāma for eastern traditions in general
and looks at some basic concepts found in early yogic texts. She then compares this to the
apparent lack of attention generally given to the breath in both spiritual and holistic traditions in
the west to construct an argument that critically engages both perspectives. Funes-Maderey
suggests that in giving appropriate attention to the breath yoga is an “eco-discipline,” that can
support activism and social change.
We have two pieces by Srivatsa Ramaswami in this issue that he wrote originally for his
own monthly newsletter. The first and most recent, “Prāṇa,” discusses the meaning of prāṇa as
life force and delves into some of the foundational, historical and textual, concepts of how prāṇa
functions and how it relates to spiritual practice and yoga. The second article by Ramaswami,
“Use of Voluntary Breath Control in Asanas,” delves into the specific teachings of Sri
Krishnamacharya, the Yoga Sūtras, and the Upaniṣads to detail how and why breath control is a
vital component of vinyasa practice.

2
 Next, Isa Gucciardi’s, “The Role of Breath in Energy Medicine,” connects breath awareness
to the awareness of physical and subtle life-energy. This energy is the basis for interpersonal
connection, romance, intuition, and healing. In this article Gucciardi discusses how the breath
relates to energy and how this informs ancient and modern practices of healing.
Following up on the topic of healing trauma featured in the recent Tracing Trauma
conference and certificate program, Caitlin Lanier’s, “Contraindications of Prāṇāyāma as it
applies to Trauma Survivors,” addresses the practice of prāṇāyāma in the context of trauma
sensitivity. Here breath work can be triggering and it can profoundly support healing. Lanier
incorporates guidelines and suggestions from several influential teachers. She concludes with a
list of key points that will be helpful for teachers/therapists and a script for guiding breath
awareness.
Jensen Martin then delves into a brief history of Paramahansa Yogananda and his unique
approach to teaching prāṇāyāma. In this context, individual prāṇa is understood as force or
energy and it connects to a universal current of prāṇa called Para-Prakṛti. Thus, the individual is
connected to the universal through the basic act of breathing.
Next, Yoganand Michael Carroll offers an excerpt from his upcoming conference talk on
the history of prāṇa and prāṇāyāma in the Indian traditions. The talk itself moves systematically
through the earliest Vedic texts, Yoga Sutras, and Hatha Yoga texts to look at various early
practices and concepts of breath and breath control practices. In this excerpt, Carroll briefly
discusses his own specific background of study with Swami Kripalu and argues that modern
practitioners can deeply benefit from taking the time to more broadly understand the textual
traditions and Yoga history.
Finally, Katy Jane’s, “Pronunciation of Sanskrit and the Preservation of Prāṇa,” relates
prāṇa to the study of Sanskrit. Drawing from her study of Sanskrit and Ayurveda, Jane argues
that correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words and in chanting has the power to create and move
energy. She also suggests that, “…speech in Sanskrit therefore, serves as a powerful form of
prāṇāyāma that preserves and enlivens your life force.”
Many of the writers in this month’s Tarka are also guest speakers in the upcoming
Embodied Breath conference. In addition, this content supports and relates to the upcoming
course, Advanced Kundalini Yoga Pranayams as taught by Yogi BhajanTM, taught by David
Shannahoff-Khalsa.

3
Prāṇāyama as an Introspective and Proprioceptive Eco-Discipline
by Ana Laura Funes Maderey
If you bring the back of the hand close to your nose and take a deep breath, you will feel the subtle
tingling sensations that your outbreath produces as it touches your hand. If your inhalation and
exhalation are deep enough, you might be able to feel those sensations in the hand even when it is not
that close to the nose. The point where you cannot feel the touch of your vital breath efflux anymore
might be as far down as the center of your chest, the yogis calculated it at a distance of about 12 fingers.
Now, if you take another deep breath and hold it in for as long as you comfortably can, you will notice
that the area where the inbreath seems to concentrate is precisely the center of the chest, the heart-
lotus area, as the yogis called it.

Traditional haṭhayoga texts call recaka the flux of internal vital air that arises at the center of the heart
and extends outwards on its own accord and without effort. Pūraka is the name that the yogis used to
refer to the flow of breath that emerges from the distance of twelve fingers below the nostrils and passes
in through the nostrils filling the inside of the chest down to the heart. When the upward motion of the
vital air or prāṇa and the inward and downward motion of the air, called āpana, are suspended and
caused to meet at the heart, is known as kumbhaka, because we become like a pot (kumbha) that retains
the air within.

One of the main characteristics of haṭhayoga practice as described in the early texts of that tradition is
the practice of observing and regulating the flow of our vital breath (prāṇāpanānusaraṇa or prāṇāyāma).
The haṭhayogis of medieval India thought that by meditating on the vital breath, knowing its natural
rhythms, as well as how to restrain and control them through kumbhaka, one would be freed from grief.
By this they meant that we would not be doomed to be born into this earth ever again.

We might not need to follow the particular view that the world is an irremediable place of suffering, but
there is indeed a deep truth to the cessation of grief by learning to observe and restrain our breathing.
There are, of course, effects of this practice that are beneficial for our nervous system—and our
physiology in general— which are becoming ever more evident with current research in neuroscience,
medicine and yoga. But noticing and regulating the breath teaches us in a very direct and embodied
way, through proprioceptive sensations, that the vital air that is held in the center of one’s heart,
precisely at the place where we gather our feelings, our emotionality and, one could say, one’s
individuality, is the same air as the cosmic impersonal air with which it merges at the analogous point 12
fingers down from the nose and outside one’s own chest. It is through the breath that we can directly
feel our own personal, individual life diffusing and merging into a universal, shareable, and complete
otherness in a continuum that is constantly circulating and moving in and out through our bodies,
becoming one with the other and re-emerging into one’s own difference, into one’s peculiar and
personal breath. I sustain that it is this dialectic embodied capacity to hold and honor one’s own affective
stance before the world while still remaining flexible to make contact, merge, and even vanish with that

4
which transcends us, that imbues the practice of prāṇāyama with the powerful potentiality to help us
solve the constant struggle between universality and individuality, and thus, free us from grief.

We are born when we take our first breath. After the first breath, life is infused to us through the
inspiration and expiration of air. Inhalation and exhalation are the most direct link we have to
communicate with that force that sustains us, for it is through our ability to breathe freely that we
directly feel we are alive. We know, for example, that we would die if we were choked, strangled, or
gagged.

The immediate connection between breath, air, and life has been recognized across cultures. The terms
ruah, pneuma, prana, or ch’i were associated with the vital functions of the body as well as with a life
infusing universal force that was thought to be present in the power of the wind or the cosmic element
of air. Both Hippocratic and Ayurvedic medicine understand diseases as imbalances of the winds within
the body. Within philosophy, the convergence between the materiality of an element and the principle
of life gave to these terms (ruah, pneuma, prana, or ch’i) a mediating function for trying to understand
the relation between the living and the non-living beings.

Our breath has a primary epistemological status by means of which we can come to know ourselves as
both a physiological and affective organism, simultaneously. Breathing has, thus, a dual character of
embodiment, manifesting itself as a material, objective, external movement—what Luce Irigaray would
call the natural breath— and as subjective, internal, sentient, a more subtle breath, one that can be
cultivated and “spiritualized” (Irigaray 2013, 218).

The natural breath is the one that remains largely unconscious throughout our lives. It is the breath
perceptible through the bodily movements of the abdominal and thoracic area. It is the expelled air that
can be felt by others through tactual sensation, and by the interoceptive mechanism that detects the
CO2 rising in the blood, which signals the brain to send an impulse to the phrenic nerve to contract the
diaphragm, causing the thoracic and abdominal shape to change, which induces the adequate pressure
for the intake of more air.

There is also the breath by which we become aware not only of the fact that we are alive, but of the very
quality of our lives. We feel relief through a full, complete exhalation; anxiety or fear through an
agitated, spasmodic breathing rhythm; hope, through a deep inhalation accompanied by a soft sigh; or
frustrated, felt in the stoppage and forceful containment of the breath. Studies in embodied cognition
have recognized the ways in which emotions are “embodied” and the various neural loop feedbacks
involved in the realization of affective bodily states, many of which happen also below the threshold of
our awareness. Our interaction with the environment requires such an automatism, because in the
presence of an urgent situation, whether the emotion of fear is first and the bodily states that allow our
body to run away are second or vice versa, does not really matter. What is relevant about this
mechanism, however, is that both aspects of the experience are mediated by the breath. It is through

5
the quality of the breath that we become aware of our own emotional states. Moreover, it is through
the breath that both the bodily state and the emotion can be changed. Once one feels safe, one can
take deeper breaths and feel calmer.

Unfortunately, in many ways we not only remain largely unaware of the quality of our lives, but also of
the intimate connection between this and the quality of our breath. For many people, the activity of
breathing remains restricted to the level of the natural autonomic mechanism, the main purpose of
which is maintenance and survival. A practice of “cultivating” our breath as a way to forge self-
awareness and nurture a healthy and harmonious life has been almost non-existent in the West, except
for the Hesychast spiritual practices that included the “art of breathing” introduced in the 5th Century
by Diadochus of Photice (Zolla 1968). There has been knowledge of controlling the breath for practical
purposes: singing, playing an instrument, swimming, free diving, speaking, but not as a practice of self-
knowledge in and of itself. For the most part, when the mechanisms of the body are understood under
the framework of survival, bodily activities like breathing only tend to come to our awareness in
moments when our biological life is threatened. Awareness of the breath is reduced to moments when
there is lack of breath, or to feelings of discomfort in the chest, unnatural effort to breathe or air hunger
(the feeling of not enough oxygen). In other words, we live in a culture that does not recognize the value
of its breath and breathing until it is threatened and perhaps, until it is too late.

For philosopher Luce Irigaray, the forgetting of our own breath is equivalent to not taking charge of one’s
life and manifests in a lack of interiority and self-awareness. Not being aware of one’s own breath for
example, prevents us from recognizing the self-regulating power of our own body. Examples of this lack
of awareness can be found when we are overcome by anger, or stress. It may also manifest in the need
to talk a lot and not listen, or in us becoming dependent on others by “stealing their breath” to the point
of asphyxiation. In a sense, this is contrary to the way in which original yogis thought about the purpose
of prāṇāyama because I think, following Luce Irigaray, that becoming aware of one’s own breath
represents the possibility of being truly born rather than of being liberated from being born again, as
classical yoga philosophy states. Awareness of one’s breathing happens by oneself and mostly as an act
done in solitude (just as the first breath). Breathing by oneself, as Luce Irigaray would say, means
“cutting the umbilical cord” (Holmes 2013, 37), that is, symbolically, our emotional dependence upon
others. Self-aware breathing is respecting and cultivating life for oneself, and only when that happens
can we start taking care of others and sharing our breath, like the mother does to her own child. A
conscious breath is a “spiritualized” autonomous breath, the obverse of which is the autonomic
unconscious mechanism regulated by a chemical and neural system. We could say, like Elémire Zolla,
that “a feeling is a rhythm imparted to the lungs;” and like Whitehead, that feeling is the basis of
experience. Since we are always affectively dispositioned, learning to master the rhythm of our breath
is to master the basis of our experience.

The rhythmic spatiality of our breath is intimately connected with the sensory-motor and homeostatic
systems in a way that affects the body’s relation with the environment, sometimes even before the
3

6
motor systems of position, limbs, and extremities get involved in the action, especially when the body
turns to pay attention to its breathing state. One can, for example, contain one’s breath to prevent
oneself from saying (and even thinking) something harmful, or restrain it forcefully to stop a burst of
anger being expelled through the fists, or taking a deep breath to feel courageous and calm before
speaking in public. When attention to the breath is cultivated, the intimate, intentional breath of the
lived body emerges as that which can be transformed and voluntarily controlled.

“Mastery” over one’s experience and one’s body does not necessarily mean that we could deliberately
and magically exert desired changes over the world, or over our limbs and organs (even though there
are plenty of examples where the limits of the will over our own physiology are not clearly delineated,
like those imposed by extreme athletes or cases about yogis going under the earth for days). We can
understand mastery over our experience and body like the knowledge and emotional affectivity that an
inhabitant has over the place she occupies (even more than an owner), and it is in this sense that I
consider yoga an “eco-discipline.” “Self-mastery” could also be interpreted as the result of cultivating
introspective proprioception, whereby the habit of bringing awareness to one’s bodily functions and
movements builds up interiority and maturity of attention, which inevitably brings to one’s
consciousness the bodily sensations and behaviors that were previously covered, ignored, and thus, not
taken care of. The practice of kumbhaka as a proprioceptive moment of one’s own respiratory
movements can be, at the same time, an introspective moment to discover one’s own affective states.
Attentive holding of the breath represents the possibility to clear and open cluttered spaces in our body-
house, in our minds, in our behaviors, in our life, allowing with it the creation of new directionalities. The
space in-between breaths is thus, the contemplation of that very subtle, special quality of being
attentive, intelligent, and reflective beings.

Traditional haṭhayoga texts state that before practicing prāṇāyama, the yogi should find a proper place
to do it. According to the Hathayogapradipika (I.12) the yogi should live in a secluded hut, free of stones,
fire, and dampness, to a distance of four cubits, in a country that is properly governed, virtuous,
prosperous, and peaceful. If this is the case, where would the yogis in the contemporary world go?
Where could we find such a well governed country free from conflict? There are no more righteous
kingdoms, if there ever was one to begin with. And contrary to the traditional teaching, it seems that it
is in the cities, the dirty, polluted, and chaotic cities, where we need to practice prāṇāyama the most.
As Luce Irigaray says: “Awareness of the breath is essential for an embodied ethics of difference in our
globalized ecological age, for it is a cultivation of breath that can modulate passion more than the
intervention of discourse. “She notices that the significance of observing one’s breath is not limited to
guaranteeing good physical health and increasing out performance in work. It aims towards gaining an
“autonomous interiority,” what we often call in the West, a soul of our own (Irigaray 2013, 224).
Contemporary yogis cannot wait or look for the proper location, or the righteous kingdom, anymore. In
today’s world, they have to help create it. But before we go out into that world, with a task as enormous
as that of building a different non-greedy, non-asphyxiating world, we need to inhale deeply and learn
to hold the breath within in a conscious, eco-kumbhaka.
4

7

References:
2013. Holmes. Emily A. “The Gift of Breath: Towards a Maternal Pneumatology”, in Breathing
with Luce Irigaray (Skof and Holmes, eds.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing Co. pp. 37 - 49.
2013. Irigaray, Luce. “To Begin with Breathing Anew”, in Breathing with Luce Irigaray (Skof and
Holmes, eds.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing Co. pp. 217-226.
1968. Zolla, Elémire. “The Art of Breathing in the West”, in Studies in Comparative Religion. Vol.2,
No.3. (Summer), World Wisdom, Inc.

8
Praṇa
By Srivatsa Ramaswami

It is common knowledge that prana is life force. Prana is a samasa word, samasa means a
compound word. It is ana with a prefix pra. My Guru would unzip this word to "prakarshena
anati gacchati iti prAnah" which will be the vigraha vakya. That which, with wholesome labor,
moves forward is prana and it refers to life force which relentlessly works all through life. The
prana in every individual divides itself into five specific entities doing different functions to
maintain life. They are prana, apana, vyana, udana, and samana. This one life force also is
called mukhya prana or principal life force that divides itself to do varied functions to maintain
life.

For an individual to live, one has to take in material from the outside world and that force
which is responsible to take in matter from the outside world for survival is called prana. Pra
here means to take inward. We need food to eat, water to drink. A yogi eats once a day to
maintain life. A bhogi eats twice a day for pleasure and then a rogi or a person eats several
times a day and makes oneself sick. Then we also need to take water from outside. One drinks
water about six times a day. Then we need air which we breathe in. And this is done according
to some texts about 21,400 times a day. We breathe at the rate of about 15 times a minute. All
these functions may be considered to be the function of prana, but the breathing in is
considered the main function, the incessant function of prana. Ana svase says dhatupata, ana
means to breathe. So prana is associated with breathing in or inhalation.

9
The next prana is called apana, it is apa+ana. What is apa? It is to discard or keep away. Just as
we need to take air, water, and solid food we have to discard waste products from the system--
solid wastes, liquid wastes, and then gaseous waste. And this function is said to be done by
apana. We defecate once a day, urinate 6 times a day, and breathe out about 21,400 a day.
Prana and apana between them take in and discard material to survive.

Vyana is vi+ana. The prefix 'vi' would mean to spread out and permeate, vyapaka. It is
responsible to convey through the complex nadi system nutrients to every cell. It may be
associated with the circulatory system centered in the heart. Vyana is the prime force of rakta
sanchara or blood circulation and may be considered to be centered at the heart. Then we
have udana. Uda+ana is udana. Uda or ut means upward. So according to some experts udana
propels nutrients upward to the head and the sense organs in the head. However, there is
another view of the function of udana. Uda or ut here is used in the sense of something higher
or superintending. The prana and apana which are associated with inhalation and exhalation
have to operate in tandem and udana is said to control prana and apana to act in sequence.
We inhale for about 2 seconds and then there is the momentary pause and the exhalation is
there for another couple of seconds and this process continues autonomously. At the end of
life it is considered that udana is the one that stops or leaves the body. When that happens the
exhalation does not stop and next inhalation does not start resulting in the end of the life story.
Then we have samana which is sama+ana. Sama means to balance, harmonize or homogenize.
This samana is said to to kindle and keep the gastric fire glowing so that all the varieties of food
we dump into the stomach or annakosa is digested.

So, we have one life force doing a number of functions to maintain life and five of them are said
to be vital. It could be observed that all these functions are done involuntarily. Prana and apana
work all the time, whether one is awake, dreaming or sleeping. These go on whether one pays
attention or not. Vyana, which basically is the function of the heart, is an organ which functions
autonomically. It is not usually possible to control it voluntarily, by will. Similarly, udana is also
autonomic. Samana vayu associated with digestion also is involuntary. It attempts to digest all
the junk we dump into it.

So, what is the use of this information? The hatha yogi is concerned with it. The overall goal of
the hatha yogi is to integrate all the five pranas into one and at the time of leaving the body the
prana is said to move along a nadi called sushumna nadi and finally pierce through the skull, the
fontanel, and merge with the one universal prana. For the rest the prana leaves through the
other outlets like the eyes, ears or even anus and such individuals take another birth as the
prana moves out along the subtle body to take another birth due to accumulated karmas. Even
if one is not interested in this ultimate goal of a hatha yogi, hatha yoga is especially concerned
with the pranayama which slowly brings the autonomic prana to voluntary control. The whole
thing starts with controlling the prana vayu through pranayama. The prana and apana while

10
they are autonomic are also amenable to voluntary control and that procedure is pranayama.
By first bringing the prana and apana under voluntary control, the hatha yogi is able to employ
a number of internal practices of the body called mudras to slowly bring the other pranas like
vyana, udana, and samana under control. Having brought all of them under voluntary control
the hatha yogi guides the united prana for the ultimate journey described earlier.

What about ordinary people like us who are interested in hatha yoga but are not thinking about
the ultimate goal. Can hatha yoga, especially pranayama, help us in maintaining good physical
and mental health?

What are the procedures available? By pranayama and the mudras it is possible to regulate the
functioning of the five pranas so that they do their duty without let or hinderance. While
asanas help to exercise the skeletal muscles, pranayama and mudras help to harmonize the
functioning of the five pranas and thereby ensure the healthy functioning of the various
internal vital kosas like the hrudaya kosa (heart), the svasa kosa (lungs), garbha kosa (uterus),
mutra kosa (kidneys), anna kosa (stomach), and svasa kosa (lungs). In fact, Sri Krishnamacharya
in his book Nathamuni’s Yoga Rahasya states that the health of six kosas or vital organs inside
the body may be maintained by pranayama.

Pranayama and the mudras go hand in hand. Mudras cannot be effectively performed without
pranayama and pranayama becomes more effective with the bandhas and mudras. While
hatha yoga is full of several varieties of pranayama and hatha yoga texts describe them,
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra describes the parameters associated with pranayama.

These five pranas are not under voluntary control. Life goes on; prana and apana help to
breathe in and breathe out with udana superintending this life-giving activity. Samana is also
independent and not under voluntary control. Vyana also is autonomic. However, the yogi is
able to bring all the five pranas under control. There are references to the siddhis of mastering
these pranas like the mastery of samana and udana in the Yoga Sutras; by proper practice of
asana and then especially pranayama and the mudras the yogi brings all these automimic
pranas under his/her voluntary control thereby ensuring the optimal level of functioning of the
vital organs. And that is yoga, hatha yoga.

For more information about Srivatsa Ramaswami, please visit: www.vinyasakrama.com

You can also read prior articles and subscribe to his monthly newsletter found at:
http://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-krama-announce?hl=en

11
Use of Voluntary Breath Control In Asanas

by Srivatsa Ramaswami

The very first instruction I received from my Guru in Asana practice was “Inhale.” Sri
Krishnamacharya had started coming to our house in the mornings to teach my brother. A few
days into it, I came to the room to join my brother and father. All were standing in Tadasana or
Samasthiti, and Sri Krishnamacharya with his default head down position had given the first
instruction.

“Inhale slowly with a hissing sound and a rubbing sensation in the throat and raise your arms,”
he said, (in Tamil and a bit of English) and raised his arms slowly breathing in.

The inhalation started when he started the movement of the arms and the inhalation went all
along the movement continuously until he completed the upward movement, interlocked
his fingers, turned them outward and gave a good stretch to the body. We followed suit. After a
moment he instructed, “Exhale.” He said, “Exhale and slowly lower the arms.”

He started the exhalation with a hissing sound and synchronized the slow downward
movement of the arms with the breath. “Follow the breath closely,” he added, after a couple
of movements, and thus completed the basic instructions regarding breathing in asana
vinyasas. He taught like that for the nearly 3 decades I studied with him and, as far as I know,
he did not teach in any other way to others.

I was overawed by the smoothness, flow, and fullness of his breathing. His chest would expand
like a balloon, an expansion I had never seen. His face tucked against the breast bone would
look like it was getting smaller against the background of his expansive chest
movement. Likewise, his exhalation would be complete, the stomach muscles going deep into
the abdominal cavity and the diaphragm into the thoracic cavity. That was the first time I had
ever seen a yogi doing movements completely synchronized with the breath and with such
unimpeded fullness of the breath. I was reminded of an episode I used to read when I was
young. My mother had given me a tiny volume in Tamil of
Balaramayana (Ramayana for kids). In it there was reference to the episode in which Anjaneya
would prepare himself to leap over the Indian Ocean to reach the shores of Lanka in search of
Sita, Rama's
wife. To make that giant leap for the sake of Lord Rama, he would go up a hill and breathe in
deeply, expand his chest like an ocean and control the breath in his chest. I used to imagine
Anjaneya standing
on top of a hill with a huge hairy chest ballooning and that image came to my mind looking at
this extraordinary yogi.

12
Whenever I speak about breathing in asanas and vinyasas, I feel that generally people do not
pay much attention to the breathing aspect. There are a few who would say with tongue in
cheek, “we always breathe when we do asanas, don't we all do that?” There are others who
would say that their breath is slow and not hurried. Some practice asanas breathing heavily or
bordering on 'breathless' and a few long-standing practitioners appear to develop the “second
wind.” Of course, a number of people who practice asanas vigorously leave the breath to
take its own course.

The breath in asana practice I learnt from my Guru involved complete control of the breath
throughout the practice. The breath was always following the movement, there being a perfect
synch between movement and the breath. Breath under involuntary control or
autonomic control between the sympathetic and parasympathetic is known as 'swaabhaavika
prayatna” or natural breathing. In this the body, or more particularly the chitt's normal vritti
(samaanya or saamaanyakarana vritti) adjusts the breath rate depending on the needs of the
body.

According to some commentaries on Taittiriya Upanishad explaining the prana maya kosa, it is
said that the main forces prana and apana, believed to be associated with puraka and racaka,
are controlled by udana. But in vinyasakrama as taught by Sri Krishnamacharya, the breath is
brought under voluntary control and kept under this control throughout the asana practice.
One may say that the yogi maintains a good control over udaana. So, for about half an hour to
one hour of asana practice and then during pranayama the breath remains completely under
the yogabhyasi's control. The more the breath is brought under voluntary control, the more the
yogi can bring the citta under voluntary control.

Of all the involuntary functions, breathing lends itself to dual control. The yogis take this route
to slowly bring the mind and the heart under control. When cortical higher brain control is
achieved over one basic function (here the breathing), it is possible to achieve control over
other basic functions like the heart. Thus, a yogi who uses voluntarily controlled breathing in
asana practice, and follows it up with a good pranayama practice, has a much better
preparation for meditation than someone who practices asanas with involuntary breathing and
no pranayama.

There are other important advantages of use of breath in asanas performed with variety of
vinyasas. In vinyasakrama one can do about 5/6 vinyasa movements per minute and in a 30
minute stint one can do about 150 movements. Doing each vinyasa twice one can probably
do about 70 to 75 vinyasas, much less if one has to take frequent breaks to recover the breath.
There are many experienced practitioners who can do vinyasa practice for about a half hour
without having the need to take rest breaks in savasana due to shortness of breath resulting

13
in the inability to maintain an acceptable slow rate of breath of about minimum 5 seconds each
for inhalation and exhalation.

By carefully choosing appropriate vinyasas for one's practice, it would be possible to reach
almost every 'nook and cranny' (nook and corner) of the body. The slow movement and
stretch/contraction help to squeeze out used blood into the venous system enhancing the
muscle pump effect of the various muscles and tissues. Simultaneously the deep breathing
used helps to accentuate the respiratory pump effect and suck in more venous blood to the
heart. Thus, even as one practices asanas, both the vinyasas and synchronized breathing help to
improve the rakta sanchara, thereby considerably reducing the strain on the heart
and supplementing its work.

Sri Krishnamacharya used breath very judiciously, altering the kriya between brahman
(expansion) and langhana (reduction) kriyas and interspersed with occasional kumbhakas
(holds) after rechaka (exhalation) or puraka (inhalation). Generally forward bends, twists, side
bends, back rounding, knee bends, etc. will be done on exhalation or langhana kriya as it
facilitates contracting the abdomen and doing these movements more easily. Back bends,
expansive movements like raising/stretching the arms or the lower extremities, raising the head
and looking up will be done on synchronized slow inhalation or brahmana kriya. Brahmana
kriya on back bends and extensions also helps to increase the inter-vertebral space slightly of
the thoracic spine and is very beneficial to the spinal cord which contains an enormous nerve
bundle. But there are exceptions according to my Guru. People with elevated blood pressure or
those who are obese, tense, or generally older would be encouraged to do these movements
using langhana kriya.

Several years back, in the early 80s, I wrote a series of articles in an Indian magazine called
Indian Review. In one article. I think on shalabasana, I mentioned that the back bend in that
asana should be done on exhalation as I used to prefer that. When the article was read to my
guru, he asked me to change it to brahmana kriya as that was the correct breathing for that
movement and what I was doing was a permissible exception. He was very clear about the use
of controlled breath in asana practice. He also modified the breathing to suit individual
requirements when people came to him for therapeutic help. Breathing in asana movements
was an important tool he employed while treating patients.

Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra does not claim that his Yoga Sutra work was his brainchild but was
based on tradition and as per the Vedas (anusasana). Likewise, Sri T Krishnamacharya would
mention that the unique use of mindful breathing he advocated in asana practice was not his
innovation but was based on traditional and authoritative texts like Vriddha Satapata and Yoga

14
Sutras. Further texts that support this approach would be Navya Nyaya and also Vachaspati
Misra's, Yoga Sutra commentary, Tatva Vaicaradi.

In the Yoga Sutra, the phrase of two words, prayatna saithilya (YS II ) means a lot. Prayatna is a
word used to indicate effort, but the old texts like (navya) nyaya explain effort as beings of
three types, pravritti, nivritti and jivana prayatna. Pravritti and nivritti are activities that one
does to get, respectively, what one wants or to get rid of what one does not want or wants to
avoid. Patanjali uses the term citta-vritti and he groups them fivefold. But citta-vritti can also be
classified as above. But in addition to the citta-vrittis mentioned above (fivefold or twofold), the
citta incessantly is engaged in another vritti which the samkhyas call as samanya vritti
or samanya karana vritti, which is the lifelong effort of maintaining life. Hence the pranic
activity is called samanya vritii and in nyaya they call it jivana prayatna or effort of life. So, in
the above sutras, the word prayatna does not refer to pravritti or nivritti, nor the normal bodily
movement one does in asana practice, but samanya vritti or jivana prayatna or simply put
'breathing'.

Vachaspati Misra in his commentary on Yoga Sutra, Tatva Vaicaradi corroborates

this interpretation of prayatna as pranic activity. He says, “samsiddhika hi prayatnah sarira
dharakah.” Here he says that samsiddhika or the innate prayatna or effort (of the yoga
practitioner) is sarira dharakah or that of sustaining the body. What innate effort sustains the
body? It is the breath.

The root of the word dharaka, 'dhru' is used to refer to the prana's function in an important
major Upanishad called Prasnopanishad. In it there is an interesting episode. Once all the
organs of the body, eyes, ears, etc. started arguing which among them was the greatest. The
disagreement reached a crescendo when the innocuous and incessantly working Prana stepped
in to say that it, the prana, dividing itself into five different forces, holds up and sustains the
body and it was the greatest. It uses the term 'dharayishyami (I sustain)' the same root (dhru to
sustain or support) used by Vachaspatimishra in the YS commentary, sarira-dharaka. The sense
organs thought it was incredulous and said so to Prana. Then Prana to prove a point collected
its forces and started leaving the body. Suddenly all the senses started losing their bearings
and realized how dependent they were on the main prana. They all fell at the feet of Prana and
beseeched it not to leave the body. Hence, according to my Guru, the term prayatna
mentioned in the sutra is not the ordinary physical effort associated with the movements of
the limbs when one does asanas but the breath itself.

Having explained that prayatna in this context refers to Jivana prayatna or that of the
sariradharaka or prana/breath, Vachaspati Misra proceeds to explain another important
element of Patanjali's teaching viz., saithilya, which means to make it smooth. Here
the instruction is that the breathing should be smooth which can only be achieved by

15
controlling the breath. There are two types of breathing as we have two centers that can
control breathing. One is under the autonomic nervous system with only very limited voluntary
override, in which the sympathetic is involved the inhalation and the parasympathetic in the
exhalation through the respective breathing centers. But breathing can also be brought under
the cerebral cortex when we willfully take over the control of the breathing process. So here we
take control of breathing as we do the various movements or vinyasas. The main message is
that the breathing, if involuntary, will adjust to the metabolic requirements-- slow while resting
and hurried under physical stress like weight lifting or doing Yoga as if like a workout. But in
asana practice as per this sutra it would be under voluntary control, doing the movements with
the breath under control and voluntarily.

Vachapati Misra explains this beautifully. He says that the natural/ involuntary (swa-bhavika)
prayatna or breathing will not be helpful in attaining the posture, actually it would be a
hindrance. “upadeshta vyaasanasya ayam asaadhakah, virodhi cha
swaabhavika prayatnah) Hence one should voluntarily control it and make it
smoother (saithilya) which is what Sri Krishnamacharya did. Here is the quote from Vacaspati
Misra “tasmaat, upadhishta niyama asanam abhyasataya svaabhaavika
prayatna saithilyaatma asteyah, naanyata upadishta aasanam sidhyati iti| swaabhaavika
prayatna saithilyasya aasana siddhi hetuh.” Therefore, when the intended asana is attempted,
the breath should be made smooth/controlled, and in no other way can the intended asana
be perfected. Thus, the cause of asana siddhi (power) is indeed making the natural breath
smooth (by controlling it).

To reinforce this concept, Patanjali adds that the mind should be focused on the breath
indicating that the breathing should be mindful or in the voluntary mode and not allow the auto
mode. Here he uses the word ananta to indicate the breath. The word ananta can be split
as most people do as an+anta. The prefix 'an' meaning 'not' rhymes with the English un used as
'not' in English. Anta means end or limit so
ananta would mean endless or limitless and hence ananta is usually translated as infinity and
many commentators recommend focusing the mind on infinity.

However, the word ananta, here more appropriately should be broken as a word derived from
the root 'ana' to breathe (ana, svase) like prana (pra+ana, vyana, vi+ana, etc). The word
ending 'ta' would indicate containing so ananta is containing or controlling the breath.
“prayatna saithilya ananta samapattibhyam” is the sutra about how to use the breath in asana
practice. The instruction loud and clear is that one should bring the breath under voluntary
control while doing asanas and not allow it to be under autonomic control. And Patanjali is the
incarnation of Nagaraja or the cobra king also known as ananta. And cobras are said to live on
breath, of course a mythological belief. So, some say one could have the image of ananta
or Patanjali in mind while practicing asanas-- a symbolic way of saying 'focus on the breath.'

16
Whenever one says that one practices hatha yoga, I have an urge to ask if one does any yoga
breath work like pranayama, because hatha yoga is pranayama as per Brahmananda, the
Hathayoga Pradeepika commentator. So if one would have controlled breathing in asana
practice as discussed
above and also does pranayama, it would mean that the yoga bhyasi would be in total control
of her/his breathing during the entire period of hatha yoga practice. After all, hatha yoga
means activity under complete control of the breath, as can be seen from the Yoga Sutras and
the definition of hatha yoga of Brahmananda. Sometimes, when the breath would get out of
control, Sri Krishnamacharya would ask the student to lie down in savasana and regain the
breath before continuing with the asana practice. Some need more rest pauses and some less
and some hardly any. It was how Sri Krishnamacharya taught me Yogasanas for decades--, to
have complete control over the breath while practicing asanas and apply the breath
thoughtfully and well to different individuals and different conditions and in
different movements/
vinyasas.

For more information about Srivatsa Ramaswami, please visit: www.vinyasakrama.com

You can also read prior articles and subscribe to his monthly newsletter found at:
http://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-krama-announce?hl=en

17
The Role of Breath in Energy Medicine
by Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

The Hawaiians called the Europeans who landed on their shores in the late 1700s “haole.” This
means breathless, or without breath. The Hawaiians noted the various ways that Europeans did
not work with the breath in the same way they did. The traditional greeting throughout the
Pacific was to touch nose to nose, essentially sharing breath as each inhaled the other’s breath.
The understanding here is that in sharing breath, people share one another’s spirit or life force.
This form of greeting plunges people into the most intimate experience of the other – each
touches the other’s essence.

Another way the Europeans demonstrated their ignorance of the role and power of the breath
was the fact that they did not take the three deep breaths that Polynesians took at the conclusion
of their prayers. These breaths were designed to enliven and feed the prayers with life force so
that they would have a stronger effect. This is because it was understood that the breath is filled
with life force. From the Hawaiians’ perspective, the prayers of the Europeans were lifeless and
drained of energy and likely to be ineffective.

This way of working with the breath is very similar to practices of working with the breath in
energy medicine. The use of breath to focus life energy is an important element in the practice
of energy medicine. Energy medicine is a broad area of inquiry that works with subtle energies.
All models of energy medicine posit subtle bodies of energy that are correlated to the physical
body. You may have heard the terms “aura”, “astral body” or “etheric body.” These are all
descriptions of the subtle body that permeates the physical body and can be experienced around
it. These subtle bodies can be contacted with the breath. Breath can focus light and sound, the
medicines of the spirit, so they can be channeled into the subtle bodies with breath to provide
healing and balance.

In the west, we have lost track of these subtle processes in healing. But there are many schools
of medicine which work directly with subtle energies to heal physical problems. The best known
of these modalities is acupuncture where needles are used to direct subtle life energy, called qi,
to heal problems such as muscle sprains, flu, and insomnia in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
It is not uncommon for TCM practitioners to ask their patients to breathe in just before the
insertion of a needle, and then to focus the exhale of the breath into the meridians the needles
are applied to. This increases the flow of qi, and helps open blockages within the meridians. By
changing how subtle energy flows into these nonphysical channels, the physical body can be
brought into balance.

18
There is also the Vedic medicine model, a system that is over 2000 years old, which describes
subtle energy structure interactions with the physical body in great detail. This paradigm includes
the description of a central channel of energy moving parallel to the spine through the center of
the body. It also describes chakras, or wheels of geometric prisms, that mediate subtle energies
moving in and out of the physical body and correlate directly with the body’s endocrine glands.
Again, the breath can be brought through the chakras and the channels to help open and balance
them. Further healing effect can be found by using the breath to bring light and sound through
these energy structures to provide healing at the most subtle levels.

It is important to note that everyone perceives and responds to subtle energies even though they
may not realize it. For instance, you may have noticed that you avoid certain people and that you
are attracted to others for reasons you don’t fully understand. You are picking up subtle,
energetic, non-verbal cues that guide your behavior. When people are sexually attracted to each
other, they follow emotional and energetic cues that are often never talked about, but which are
recognized.

Most people perceive subtle energies when they are young, but when they ask about their
perceptions they are often dismissed. This leads them to discount the importance of this way of
knowing and they lose their capacity to perceive subtle energy. There is nothing in our education
system that helps people cultivate this capacity. Although some people are able to hold onto this
capacity as they age, and although some people have a stronger native capacity to perceive
subtle energies, everyone can be educated to perceive subtle phenomena more clearly.

When you can perceive phenomena occurring on these subtle levels, you can provide antidotes
to energetic imbalances by focusing light, sound and other subtle energies into these imbalances.
Here is a description of how we work with Integrated Energy Medicine in the spiritual counseling
model of Depth Hypnosis.

I had a man come into my office who felt disconnected, disheartened and lonely. He said he
wanted to be in relationship but could not bring himself to actively connect with other people.
When he sat down across from me in the first session, I could perceive that his energy system
was out of balance. There was a lot of energy in the upper part of his body, but the lower part of
his body had very little energy running through it. His lower two chakras were quite dark. When
I perceived this darkness, I began to channel rays of light into his lower chakras by drawing and
focusing light with my breath.

I had already asked about his experiences with relationships as he was growing up. He had not
had much to say. As I started bringing light in, he circled back around and revealed a traumatic
first sexual encounter. He had been passed out when it happened and had mostly forgotten
about it. However, the trauma was deeply registered in his energy system. He said he was not
aware of it having affected his sexual expression later in his life. But as we continued to work

19
with insight inquiry to understand his sexual history it became clear that it had completely
affected the way he connected with people and was the basis for his loneliness and
disconnection.

He began to feel physical discomfort in his lower abdomen as his chakras began to open because
of the light moving through them. I asked him to take long slow deep breaths into his first and
second chakras as I continued to channel light. I helped him pull light, using the breath, through
the first and second chakras because these were the energy centers that had registered the effect
of the sexual abuse. The discomfort subsided as the obstacles and constrictions in his energy
system began to clear with the help of the breath and the light. We did many sessions focused
primarily on integrated energy medicine. In these sessions, It took him some time to digest these
changes, but at the end of this process, he was able to consider exploring relationship again.

This is just a very short example of how you can work with breath to create change in the most
subtle levels of experience. Breath can be a carrier of energy and when it is focused properly, it
can move energy from one place to another, clear energetic blocks and provide a vehicle for the
effective direction and application of the medicines of the spirit, light and sound.

20
Contraindications of Pranayama as it applies to Trauma Survivors

by Caitlyn Lanier

“Many of our patients are barely aware of their breath, so learning to focus on the in and out
breath, to notice whether the breath was fast or slow, and to count breaths in some poses can
be a significant accomplishment.” - Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain,
Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

In the context of trauma, breath work can be a double-edged sword; an incredibly powerful
tool that can be both beneficial and harmful. In my opinion, it’s naïve at best and harmful or
dangerous at worst to assume that any and all yoga practices, including breath work, are
inherently healing and helpful for trauma survivors.

Some of the core features of experiencing trauma are lack of bodily autonomy, lack of choice,
and disrespect for boundaries. In Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, Stephen Cope describes
some of what happens physiologically when the body’s needs have been suppressed in the
aftermath of trauma: suppression of breath, abdominal inhibition and core strength
diminished, and locked jaw—all of these are physiological indicators which end up inhibiting
breathing (p. 225-226).

I distinctly remember an experience I had during a guided dirgha pranayama practice in a yoga
class years ago when I suddenly felt intense rage and anger surge up within me seemingly from
nowhere and I remember thinking thoughts directed at the teacher like, “For the love of God,
fu*k off and stop telling me how to breathe!” I chose to stop breathing in the
commanded/controlled way and felt an immediate sense of relief as well as a slight sense of
satisfaction in rebelling and not doing exactly as I was told.

As it turns out, that’s a pretty normal reaction and what can happen when yoga teachers are
bossing around their students and telling them how to breathe. I’ve lost count of the numbers
of times I’ve attended yoga classes and teachers have started out their classes with some sort
of pranayama practice with no preamble giving students permission to stop or take a break
from the practice for any reason.

When we think of trauma on a very simple level, it involves loss of control and lack of choice.
Zabie Yamasaki, founder of Transcending Trauma Through Yoga, says “for people who’ve
experienced trauma, the breath can be linked to triggers associated with the trauma including:
holding the breath, accelerated heart rate, constricted breathing, inability to breathe, shortness

21
of breath, and suffocation.” Despite the challenges of breath work, Yamasaki also points to
some potential benefits of breath work for people who’ve experienced trauma such as
increased awareness of breath patterns, decreased anxiety, making contact with self, self-
regulation, feeling energized and/or calm, and a way to feel better in the body.

Additionally, when we think of specific traumas that can occur in the context of breath, like
attempted strangulation, someone is literally controlling and affecting the ability or lack thereof
for someone else to breathe and therefore live. And we as yoga teachers in using breath work
with our students can unintentionally recreate power conditions similar to an abusive individual
controlling their partner’s ability to breathe/not breathe. We can talk about how the breath is
an effective means to regulate the nervous system and point to “how to” articles about
techniques to manage anxiety, but we must first consider the breath’s connection to life. The
word pranayama is a Sanskrit compound and has been defined by various authors. V.S. Apte
defines “prana” as life force or energy and “ayamah” meaning restrain, control, or stop. If we
cannot breathe, we cannot live. In some ways, our controlling of the breath through pranayama
brings us face-to-face with our own mortality. By choosing to breathe, we are also affirming life.
In Yoga & Mindfulness Therapy, Workbook for Clinicians & Clients, C. Alexander Simpkins writes,
“Each breath you take links your inner experiencing with the outer world. Breathing is also the
gateway to emotions and influences thinking, and so learning to work with the breath can have
a strong influence on your psychological adjustment.”

In David Emerson’s book, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, he writes about the different
ways trauma affects our breathing and how our breath can be adaptive post-trauma. Emerson
writes, “When the survival response is activated, breathing often becomes more rapid and
shallow, increasing oxygen throughout the body. Survivors of chronic trauma often develop
shallow breathing patterns, consistent with anxiety, hyperarousal, and panic states. When they
are triggered or overwhelmed, many trauma survivors also tend to hold their breath, often
unconsciously. Holding the breath is defensive and can be a protection against overwhelming
emotion. However, these breathing patterns leave our bodies in a state of tension and
dysregulation and may add to the overall sense of unease in the body that many survivors
experience. Breathing can be a way of making contact with the self ” (p. 108).

In Zabie Yamasaki’s training, she offers these guidelines for yoga teachers using breath work in
yoga classes:
• Most importantly: remind survivors to listen to their bodies and stop breath
work if they feel uncomfortable for any reason.
• Invite students to breathe in ways that feel natural and comfortable potentially
using this verbiage:

22
 o “Notice the connection of the breath to the movement in your body.”
o “I invite you to breathe in and out in ways that feel comfortable for you.”
o “Maybe explore getting reacquainted with your own breath.”
• The goal of breath work should be to: focus on grounding and present moment
experience.

Molly Boeder Harris, founder of The Breathe Network, suggests a way to create the initial
conditions in yoga classes by inviting students to attend to the breath in a way that doesn’t
require modifying the breath and to invite students to gradually explore lengthening the breath
as the class progresses.

David Treleaven, in Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, offers multiple ways for students to stay
within their window of tolerance (feeling stable, present, regulated) and use resources to
maintain regulation. These resources could be helpful in breath work practices as well.
• Invite student to develop mindful gauges/somatic markers- a way to evaluate
one’s response to different stimuli in the present moment (body sensations, moods, or
feelings).
• Invite students to apply the brakes- purposefully slow the pace of yoga practices
in order to feel safe/stable (open eyes, take breaks, take a few slow, deep breaths,
soothing self-touch, focus on resourceful, external object in environment, shorter
practice period).
• Offer psychoeducation for students to use arousal scales.
• Invite students to use stabilizing anchors of attention- finding point a focus that
supports one’s window of tolerance– creating stability in the nervous system, a neutral
reference point that helps support mental stability. (An anchor could be the sensation of
out breath coming in and out of the nostrils or the rising and falling of our abdomen or
physical sensations like hands resting on thighs or feet, buttocks, back, hands on the
ground or using the senses of hearing, smelling, or sight. This could also be a soft
blanket, a candle, or walking meditation).
• Invite students to reorient/shift attention to something different if feeling
dysregulated (i.e., maintain stability in the body).
• Invite students to attend to the environment (open eyes, look around).
• Invite students to focus in, then widen out (observing environment without
trying to focus our attention).
• Invite students to focus on resilience (purposefully turning our attention toward
what brings us energy and joy, taking in the good).
• Leave people with choice.
• Incorporate movement into practice.

23
 • Utilize exteroceptive sensations for grounding (senses).
o Touch: bring in a grounding/stabilizing object.
o Taste: carry small food item with pleasant, intense taste.
o Smell: equip selves with essential oil or hand lotion.
o Hearing: use sounds around them to ground in present moment.
o Seeing: notice/name objects in surrounding environment.
• Be flexible with posture– it’s okay to move between postures.
• Respect physical boundaries- don’t walk up or linger behind people, stay within
view of people and let them continually assess for safety.
• Shift attention to support stability: shift focus away from traumatic stimuli
during yoga/mindfulness practice (open eyes/pay attention to surrounding environment
or stabilizing anchors).

In summary, I hope to leave you with a few main takeaways and a script that can be used to
introduce basic breath awareness. The breath is a powerful tool for transformation. As yoga
teachers, we have been trained with a unique skillset of powerful pranayama practices. Please
continue to share these powerful practices with your students with these considerations in
mind:
• Informed Consent—let students know that breath work is a powerful tool that
can affect the nervous system.
• As a basic tenet of trauma-informed care, offer your students options and choice
in the practice of breath work.
• Don’t underestimate the power of basic breath awareness, not changing/altering
the breath, but simply of receiving the experience of breath.
• If students opt not to partake in the breath work practice you’re offering or they
try it and stop-- Affirm their right to take that exit—these students just made an
autonomous choice in congruence with the wisdom from their bodies and we as
teachers should be celebrating this and respecting our student’s individual practice
of yoga and innate capacity for healing.

Basic Breath Awareness Script:
I invite you to first notice where you are and where you feel supported. One option is to
directly bring your hands to the body starting with the belly. Another option is to bring your
awareness to the body starting first at the belly. You might gently inquire to yourself—“Is it
easy to breathe in my belly?” As your attention is here in the belly, you might invite a gentle
exploration of the breath filling the belly. You may or may not feel something here and there’s
no right or wrong way. PAUSE.

24
When it feels complete, I invite you to either move your hands up and separate them to the
mid-section of your thorax or bring your awareness to the mid-section of the thorax. Invite mid-
section breathing and inquire, “Is it easier or harder than belly?” PAUSE.

When it feels complete, I invite you to move your hands or your awareness to the upper chest
and see if you can detect how much the body expands when taking an in-breath. PAUSE.

Next, I invite you to bring one hand to the belly while the other stays on the chest. Notice which
part of your body rises first on your inhale. PAUSE. Then, I invite you to shift attention to the
exhale and notice which section of the body descends first. PAUSE.

When that feels complete, I invite you to place your hands or your attention wherever you like
and just enjoy the restorative quality of easy breathing.

References:
Cope, S. (2001). Yoga and the quest for the true self. New York: Random House International.
Dillion, Jeanne (2014, June). Basic Breath Awareness Script from Viniyoga Teacher Training at
Yoga for Wellness, Boise, Idaho.
Emerson, D. and Hopper , E, (2011). Overcoming trauma through yoga: reclaiming your body.
California: North Atlantic Books.
Harris, M. B (2016, April). Somatic experiencing and trauma-informed yoga. Presentation at The
Breathe Network Training, Boulder, Colorado.
Simpkins, C. A., & Simpkins, A. M. (2014). Yoga and mindfulness therapy workbook for Clinicians
& Clients. Eau Claire, WI: Pesi Publishing & Media.
Treleaven, D. (2018). Trauma-sensitive mindfulness: practices for safe and transformative
healing. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of
trauma. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Yamasaki, Z. Transcending sexual trauma through trauma-informed yoga teacher training
manual.

25
The Prāṇa of Paramahansa Yogananda
by Jensen Martin

For most of the yogis of the present era, the name of Paramahansa Yogananda will be very
familiar. A key icon of the first wave of early 20th century Guru’s from India, Yogananda
presented an American audience with scientific meditation techniques that he promised would
lead to a tangible experience with the Divine if practiced correctly. Since yoga’s explosive
popularity in the past couple decades, Yogananda’s name has become even more relevant,
largely through his spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, which has now been translated into
more than 50 languages. Like many others, my first reading of this book was a gateway into a
magical world of yogis with supernatural powers and an example of a life that was directed by a
Divine hand which, for Yogananda, often showed itself in the form of miraculous visions or
experiences.

As influential as Yogananda has been, the finer points of his teachings are often unexamined in
the still developing world of western yoga. While many know Yogananda as a teacher of the
prāṇāyāma technique of Kriya Yoga, it is a far smaller number of people that have investigated
the other prāṇāyāmas taught by him and the more subtle aspects of Kriya yoga. Even though the
outer appearance of Self-Realization Fellowship, the international organization founded by
Yogananda, can feel very traditional with its Sunday lecture services, the writings of Yogananda
reveal an extraordinarily broad understanding of the human mind and the subtle body which are
still relevant today and should be thoroughly examined by the serious yoga practitioner.

For the purposes of this article, I will give a summary of the science of prāṇāyāma according to
Yogananda. I will attempt to present here a small history of the evolution of Yogananda’s
methods through his studies with his Guru in India and then I will discuss his definition of prāṇa.

The Early Life of Yogananda

Yogananda was born in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, India, a region historically famous for
producing great spiritual renaissance through the life and teachings of great saints such as
Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Ram Prasad Sen, or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Yogananda expressed
from an early age many signs that foretold his later spiritual career; Guru Lahiri Mahasaya had
blessed the infant Yogananda and proclaimed that he would “be a great spiritual engine,” and
the scenes of his adolescence show displays of religious and yogic zeal. Yogananda’s most
formative years were those spent with his own Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, who was an advanced
disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and who had perfected the Kriya technique. With Sri Yukteswar’s

26
training, Yogananda mastered the various prāstered taught in the line of Lahiri Mahasaya and as
a result, attained the highest levels of samādhi, bliss consciousness, while he was still a young
man.

Sri Yukteswar’s training was quite severe. He expressed no leniency for those who had come to
him for training. Yogananda was regularly pushed past his comfortable limits in order to please
his Guru. In order to achieve the success he envisioned, Yogananda had to master the techniques
of yoga that originated from Mahavatar Babaji. The techniques, which were handed down from
the great Mahavatar to Lahiri Mahasaya, were said to be the most effective form of meditation
available in this present age. Working with the nadis, subtle energy channels, the prāṇāyāma
technique would quicken the practitioner’s spiritual evolution at an accelerated rate. According
to the great Master, this method of Kriya yoga techniques was the same or similar to the methods
of meditation in the higher ages of ancient times, and the same method known to other great
Masters such as Shankara, Patañjali, Kabir, and even Christ and the other Hebrew prophets.

Yogananda received initiation and instruction from his Guru and later, permission from the
founder of the lineage to teach these techniques to others. Yogananda made it his life mission to
come to America and teach these methods of meditation in a simple yet powerful way that could
more quickly expand the consciousness of Western minds who were as yet unaccustomed to a
yogic lifestyle. In order to present these techniques in a way that would appeal to the current
trends, Yogananda modified the original techniques taught by Lahiri Mahasaya and used his own
knowledge of prāṇa and the subtle energies of the body to teach four different techniques to his
students.

Each one of these techniques is highly specialized; designed uniquely to affect the body’s prāṇa
to stimulate different kinds of awakening experiences. When practiced together, the methods
are supposed to lead an intensely meditating practitioner into the same samādhi experiences of
bliss that Yogananda received from Sri Yukteswar.

The Science of Prāṇa

Before we can get into the breakdown of the techniques themselves, we should examine
the way that Yogananda talked about prāṇa and its potentialities. Today, many yogis translate
‘prāṇa’ to mean ‘breath’. Therefore, ‘prāṇāyāma’ which is a combination of ‘prāṇa’ and ‘ayama’,
control, would mean ‘breath-control’. However, Yogananda takes a different approach and
translates ‘prāṇa’ to mean ‘life-force’, making ‘prāṇāyāma’ to mean ‘life-force control’.
Yogananda chose the definition of life-force over breath because he understood that the breath

27
is just one of the many functions regulated by prāṇa. The exercises of yoga harmonize not only
the breath, but all of the various energies that enliven the body.

Essentially, Yogananda says that prāṇa is broadly defined as ‘force’ or ‘energy,’ the same force
which actively drives and sustains the universe. The prāṇa of the universe he calls “Para-Prakṛti”
which is the natural driving force which forms the underpinnings of creation. A stricter definition
of the word would be used to refer to the vital power of a living creature; like the functions of
the organs and systems of the body of a man or an animal. The individual prāṇa is the subtle
intelligence which keeps the body in harmonious operation and is called by Yogananda the “soul”
of the cells, for the health of the prāṇa system decides the health of the body’s cell growth and
function.

After the prāṇa forms the baby in the womb of the mother according to the karmic blueprint, the
individual prāṇa can be broken down into five different categories. These five categories are:
prāṇa - the power that brings the other forces into manifestation, apāna - the power of excretion
or removal, vyāna - the power of circulation, samāna - assimilation and digestion, and udāna -
the power which differentiates cells in their various functions. These forces of prāṇa are partly
sustained by food and exercise, but primarily they are sustained astrally by the universal cosmic
prāṇa, the Para-Prakṛti, which enters into the body in the medulla in the back of the head. Since
the prāṇa is primarily sustained by the universal prāṇa, it is therefore extremely wise to have a
habit of prāṇāyāma practice, which enlarges the receiving and storage capacity of the medulla
and cerebrum to embody the universal prāṇa and convert it into the healthy function of the
individual’s specific prāṇa. This individual prāṇa is mostly based in the sympathetic nervous
system and the cells in the spine, but prāṇa is present in literally every cell in the body, for without
the prāṇa to energize the cells, they would fall apart.

Final Remarks

The prāṇāyāma techniques taught by Yogananda and the detailed, scientific explanations he
gives regarding each method, are one of his great contributions to mankind. Even for a meditator
who does not practice Yogananda’s methods, reading the details of the science behind his
techniques can be extremely helpful for self-reflection. In Yogananda’s writings, he makes many
statements about the yogic body or the nature of the subtle mind which can be further unpacked
to find incredible implications about the personal prāṇa life-force or the expansive Para-Prakṛti.
For all of us, it leaves a message that the goal of unity with the expanse of Divine Consciousness
is right within our grasp. Even if someone does not have the time to meditate deeply, just the

28
thought of universal connectivity will bring peace of mind and sow the seeds for future
transformation.

Sources used for this Article:
Yogananda, Paramahansa. God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita. Los Angeles, CA. Self-
Realization Fellowship, 1995.

Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles, CA. Self-Realization Fellowship,
1946.

Recommended for Further Reading:

Bryant, Edwin. The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary. North
Point Press; 2009.
Muktibodhananda, Swami. Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Bihar, India: Yoga Publications Trust, 1985.

Mallinson, James and Singleton, Mark. Roots of Yoga. Great Britain: Penguin Classics, 2017.

Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within
You. Los Angeles, CA. Self-Realization Fellowship, 2004.

29
A History of Prāṇā & Prāṇāyāma: excerpt from the conference talk
by Yoganand Michael Carroll

Note: The following article is an excerpt from the concluding comments to the video lecture that will be
featured in the on-line conference: Embodied Breath. The full talk provides an in-depth look at the history
and evolution of prāṇā and prāṇāyāma in Indian textual traditions.

Swami Kripalu was once asked how many prāṇāyāmas there were. His answer was: 400-600, most were
variations of the small original group. When Europeans came to and dominated India, there was a decline
in Haṭha Yoga. By the late 1800’s Haṭha Yoga had almost ceased to exist there. With the Indian
independence movement there was a revival of the old culture, and with that a revival of Haṭha Yoga. It
was considered patriotic to practice Haṭha Yoga and the best way to introduce it into the society was
thought to be in the schools. Prāṇāyāma techniques that activated yoga fire were not considered
appropriate for this audience so they were mostly left out. A yoga culture emerged focused very much on
the physical with prāṇāyāma limited to techniques that calm the mind, very much as the Yoga Sūtra
recommended over a millennium before.

In the tradition that I practiced, most of our understanding of Prāṇāyāma came from Swami Kripalu who
was a traditional Haṭha Yogi. His teaching and practice were not filtered through the Indian School system
and contained a level of yoga fire activation and consciousness expansion that would not be considered
appropriate or understood by most practitioners today. When teaching prāṇāyāma to teachers today I
tell them that a little practice of most prāṇāyāmas have a calming effect on the mind and this is useful.

However, if the prāṇāyāmas were practiced in the sequence and amount recommended in the Haṭha
Yoga Pradipika they would observe:

If they were happy the prāṇāyāma would make them happier

If they were sad it would make them more sad

If Angry, more angry.

A prominent effect of a classical prāṇāyāma practice was to magnify emotions. This can only be positive
is someone is prepared for it and willing to accept it. This would lead to the experience that we are not
the rational creatures we try to be. Seeing what we really are feeling and accepting it can lead to an
expansion of our identity. We see that we are not what we thought we are and have the opportunity to
accept the fullness of our experience. A process of preparation was considered necessary for the student
to have the effects of Haṭha Yoga prāṇāyāma be digestible.

There has never been a yoga Pope. Yoga evolved as independent schools, little silos where students
studied with a teacher and learned that particular teacher’s approach to the philosophy and the
techniques. Different schools would be influenced by a different combination of texts. One school may
use the Yoga Sūtra, but not the Bhagavad-Gītā. One may use the Haṭha Yoga Pradipika and one or more
Upaniṣads. In studying the cryptic descriptions of asanas and prāṇāyāmas, teachers might interpret them

30
drawing upon one of these philosophies informed by their personal experience and make assumptions
about how the practices should be done. These assumptions were practiced and passed on to students
through the generations.

Throughout the history there has been a teaching in yoga that the guru’s word is gospel. Students did not
challenge it and sometimes prided themselves on their ability to embrace their school’s approach
wholeheartedly. It was probably very easy to be a practitioner when information was fed to the students
from one source and accepted and practiced with faith.

In modern times many schools and teachers have gone public, presenting their teachings and the practices
on the internet and through books. These teachers may speak with confidence and faith in their approach.
And students may accept a teacher and an approach, and then be surprised when they encounter other
teachers with very different approaches. When working with asanas, a teacher might say that a particular
alignment is the correct way. This alignment approach may be validated by a modern anatomical
understanding of how the joints and muscles work. It is much harder to validate a way of practicing
prāṇāyāma without an understanding of its intended results, and a knowledge of how those results fit
into a philosophy.

This has led to many students focusing on the basics, those practices and understandings, which they
experience to be experientially positive and not in conflict with whatever worldview they hold. It has led
to folks shying away from the deeper practices where there might be conflicting messages from the
teachers. When one teacher says to do bhastrika one way, for example, and another teacher describes
bhastrika completely differently, it is easy for the student the step away, avoiding the practice and the
conflict. When one teacher says that tantra yoga is a non-dual system, which it was in the ninth and 10th
century. And another teacher says that tantra is strongly dualistic seeing the god and goddess everywhere,
which it was in the sixth and seventh century, it’s very easy for student to feel confused and avoid the
whole issue.

I believe that for yoga teachers, those practitioners who are carrying yoga into the future by passing it on
to others, an understanding of the philosophy beyond sectarianism is essential. Then we can understand
that bhastrika prāṇāyāma could be practiced several different ways leading to the same result, and that
Tantra evolved from dualism to non-dual and a student could practice under either philosophy, then we
have the power to both adapt techniques and philosophy to best serve individual students, and to pass
on the whole topic to the generations that will follow.

31
Pronunciation of Sanskrit and the Preservation of Prāṇa
by Dr. Katy Jane

“Prāṇa is the vibratory nature of Being...When prāṇa manifests, Being vibrates and in
vibrating assumes the role of a particular pattern of breathing to produce a specific pattern
of individual life.” ~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

One thing I noticed about my Sanskrit teacher (and almost all brahmins I’ve encountered) was
his inexhaustible energy. It was once Navarātri, and my teacher celebrated these “Nine Nights
of the Goddess” by conducting a series of Vedic fire ceremonies together with a team of
fellow priests. All was going fine until one of the priests made a mistake. It was a tiny mistake,
but nevertheless a mistake and the entire ceremony needed to be redone. The priests who’d
been chanting for hours now would have to stay up all night and repeat the entire procedure.

I’d have been exhausted at the prospect, but instead after more than 8 hours of continuous
chanting in Sanskrit they glowed with a kind of effervescent energy. None of them seemed
tired in the least. In fact, it appeared to me as the hours passed their voices became even
more vigorous. And no one felt like sleeping when the dawn approached.

There’s a noticeable difference between spending an hour speaking in English and an hour
chanting in Sanskrit. In the former case, you find your energy depleted. That’s because we
have no mechanism in our modern languages to recapture the life force that gets expelled
with our exhalation as we speak. In the latter case of Sanskrit, however, the rules of
pronunciation (varṇa) are designed to redirect the prāṇa back into the physical and subtle
body—and that’s why it’s called the language of yoga.

Each sound made in Sanskrit stimulates one of five regions of speech in the vocal cavity—
guttural, palatal, retroflex, dental and labial. These are each marma points—or meridians—
that open prāṇic pathways, or nadis, that sends energy (that would otherwise be exhaled)
back into the subtle body. Your speech in Sanskrit, therefore, serves as a powerful form of
prāṇāyāma that preserves and enlivens your life force.

The Sanskrit vowels and consonants are found to be especially soothing to the mind and
nervous system. They are most often “natural” sounds we make as we inhale and exhale, such
as so (inhale) and ham (exhale). As the breath travels out of the body, we make the 50
“perfected” sounds of saṁskṛta when the five organs of our speech—the larynx, the base of
the tongue, the tip of the tongue, the teeth, and lips—touch these five regions that connect
mind with body. When the syllables are precisely pronounced, the vibrations enervate these
nerve centers like an acupuncture needle, directing prāṇa to their corresponding body parts
and nerve centers.

32
Ayurveda ascribes a Sanskrit syllable to 108 points on your physical body called marmāni.
These points are gateways to the subtle body, connecting to the deep energetic centers
(cakras) via a matrix of 72,000 nerve channels (nadis). If you’ve ever had an acupuncture
treatment, you’ll understand what a marma is. An acupuncturist determines where the
energetic block is located in the internal structure of the body that’s causing the symptom.
She then inserts a needle into one or more points on the body’s surface that sends a current
of energy to that area of stagnancy through subtle channels. The pressure on those points
sends an energetic flow from the surface to the inner and subtle structures of the body,
enlivening a connection that promotes health and wholeness.

Similarly, when a Sanskrit syllable is pronounced perfectly it sends an energetic current

through its corresponding marma points, enlivening a pathway to invigorate your central
nervous system. Along with it, the syllable carries healing prāṇa (within your breath itself)
back to the body-mind.

Hence when you chant in Sanskrit—or even pronounce the name of a yoga āsana while
forming its shape—you initiate a re-circulation of lifeforce that flows according to a pattern
of points in the body. When you say the name for a yoga posture in Sanskrit, for example, you
emit a pulse of prāṇa along a series of marma points associated with those sounds. The
physical alignment of a posture, therefore, has a “sonic shape” that correlates with it and
replicates the energetic core of the thing in nature that your body is forming.

For example, the name for “cobra pose” in Sanskrit is bhujāṅga consisting of the syllables
bhaṁ, uṁ, jaṁ, gaṁ, naṁ and aṁ. Bhujāṅga is the physical and sonic form of a specific type
of cobra with its body coiled and its hood extended. The syllables that make up the name for
such a creature are identical to its physical form, traced along the marma points associated
with those syllables.

Envision yourself making the shape of a cobra. As you pronounce the Sanskrit syllables—bhu,
jāṅ, ga—you’ll re-direct your prāṇa to the corresponding marma points in the naval center,
the back of the ears, the center of the forearms and the palms of the hands and feet.

Every Sanskrit name for the yoga postures creates a similar kind of “sonic shape” traced along
its marma points, which match the energetic flow of all forms in nature that you can replicate
with your body and breath in yoga. And interestingly, the cues that yoga teachers provide to
properly align you in the posture follow the sequence of syllables exactly.

When learning the yoga postures and how to teach them properly, it’s indispensable,
therefore, to master the Sanskrit names and their associated marma points as a preparation
for formal prāṇāyāma—and as a bridge between the physical and subtle limbs of yoga.

33