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Author : Mr.R.Venkatachalam
Date : 09/10/2005
Email your comments to : kathinayogi@hotmail.com

When someone utters the word Pranayama, immediately the picture of a yogi doing breathing exercise will pop up in the minds of people. But Pranayama is NOT breathing exercise but something else. Let me quote the words of swami Vivekananda – the great Hindu sage of modern era.

"Pranayama is not, as many think, something about breath; breath indeed has very little to do with it, if anything, breathing is only one of the many exercises through which we get to the real Pranayama. Pranayama means the control of Prana."

Again, let me quote the words of the yoga guru B.K.S.Iyengar.

"It is difficult to explain Prana as it is to explain God. Prana is the energy permeating the universe at all levels, it is physical, mental, intellectual, sexual, spiritual and cosmic energy. All vibrating energies are Prana. It is the hidden or potential energy in all beings released to the fullest extent in times of danger. It is the prime mover of all activities. it is the energy which creates, protects and destroys. Vigor, power, vitality, life and spirit are all forms of Prana."

The Hindu philosophy says that the entire universe is composed of two materials, one called as Akasha and the other called as the Prana. Akasha is the omnipresent, all penetrating existence and everything that has form and everything that arises out of any combination is evolved out of this Akasha.

Akasha became air, fire, water and earth. The sun, moon, the planets and the stars - in short all the known and unknown originated from Akasha. It is so subtle that it is beyond ordinary perceptions, and can be seen only when it changes from subtle to gross. Before creation there was only this Akasha and nothing else. Everything came out of Akasha and at the time of Pralaya or when the final destruction of universe takes place, all gases, solids and liquids i.e., everything that we can perceive changes back into Akasha and this cycle of creation and destruction takes place again and again. Akasha and the air, fire, water and earth together is known as the Five Elements. The Five Elements by combining in different permutations and combinations change into all living and non living matter.
      Ok. I can hear you people asking how the subtle Akasha became gross. What power changes Akasha into five elements and matter? The answer is Prana. Akasha is the infinite, omnipresent material of the universe and Prana is the infinite, omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. At the time of creation, Prana acts upon Akasha and the subtle Akasha changes to gross. Out of Prana evolve all that we call energy or force. At the end of the cycle all the mater change back of Akasha and all the forces or energies change back to Prana. Prana can be called the sum total of all the energies of the universe. The kinetic energy of moving bodies, the potential energy of matter, the chemical energy, electrical and light energies, gravitational and magnetic forces , the bio electricity or the nerve currents – all these are nothing but the manifestation of Prana. When a cycle of creation ends, all the energies being displayed in the universe will change back to Prana and will remain as potential energy till the next creation starts. At the time of the next creation this Prana becomes active and interact with Akasha to manifest again as the different forms of energies.
"So what is Pranayama? Pranayama is the knowledge and control of the Prana. Yogis who have reached the final stage of yoga are said to be able to destroy the universe. Create a new universe. Move stars and planets. Control the entire universe. How? Because by becoming perfect in understanding and able to control Prana or the universal force the yogi gets the power to control everything in the universe. Common people like you and me think that the yogi has some mysterious power. But the power is for you and me to grab. Only if we know how to do that.

When raw rice is boiled in a pot clever cooks will test one grain of rice to see whether it has been cooked or not. If that one grain is well cooked then it can be safely inferred that all the grains in the pot are ready to eat. If you want to test each and every grain then the task becomes unmanageable and you will not have anything left to eat. Likewise if you want to study the properties of every single grain of sand then you will never finish studying. So you go after some generalizations. Behind every idea regarding a particular subject you can see some core general principle. Understand that and you understand every thing about all the ideas. If you learn to control the Prana you learn to control the universe. The Akasha that is nearest to you, that is most accessible to you is your physical body. The Prana that is nearest to you is the life force within your body and the manifestation of this life force is breathing. It is the grain of rice in the pot of the universal cosmic Prana. If you can control this bit of Prana then you will be able to control every manifestations of Prana. That is why breathing exercises are used in Pranayama. When you see hypnotists, psychic healers, practitioners of reiki, faith healers- the list may go on a bit longer, you can safely assume that here are someone who can control the Prana a little.

Breathing, the manifestation of the Prana in the human body, is an involuntary action. But you can learn to control the muscles and nerves responsible for the process of breathing. By diligently practicing certain exercises you will become an expert in muscle control. In due course each and every muscle can be controlled at will and this form of exercise was popularized in the west by people like Maxick. Likewise with proper training the nerves and the muscles that control the process of breathing can be controlled at will. It is the movement of lungs that produce the breath and it is the Prana that moves the lungs. So Pranayama means not control of breath but the control of the energy or force that controls the breath. Please move on to the sections physiology of Pranayama and techniques of Pranayama.



Note: The following work attempts to present a basic and non scientific explanation of the phyisiological aspects of Pranayama. This article does not attempt to uncover any of the mysteries of Pranayama.

Total lung capacity.

Maximum air which can at any time be held in the two lungs = 6000ml

Residual air.

Some air is always left in the lungs even after forcible breathing out. This is the left-over (residual) air = 1500ml

Tidal volume.

Air breathed in and out in a normal quiet breathing = 500ml

Dead air space.

Some tidal air is left in respiratory passages such as tracheas and bronchi where no diffusion of gases can occur. = 150ml

Alveolar air.

Remaining tidal air in air sacs = 350 ml

Inspiratory reserve volume.

Air that can be drawn in forcibly over and above the tidal air (also called complemntal air) = 3000ml

Expiratory reserve volume.

Air that can be expelled forcibly after an ordinary expiration (also called supplemental air) =1000ml

Vital capacity.

The volume of air that can be taken in and expelled by maximum inspiration and expiration = 4500ml

From the above you can note that the total lung capacity is about 6000ml and out of which only 500ml is filled or emptied while normal breathing takes place. In other words only 1/12 th of the capacity of the lungs is normally utilized to provide the much needed oxygen to the human organism. While intense physical activity takes place, the increased demand for oxygen is met by increasing the rate of breathing. But beyond a certain limit the increase in the rate of inspirations and expirations means that there is less time for the gaseous exchange that takes place within the lungs. Here comes the great wisdom of the ancient yogis of India. The demand for oxygen made by the cells is linked to the quantity of carbon dioxide in the cells. Higher levels of CO2 mean greater demand for oxygen. With this in mind let us analyze the yogic Pranayama.

The yogi empties his lungs with a long expiration or Rechaka. He then fills his lungs with a long slow inspiration and the breath is held or retained. The period of retention or Kumbhaka = 4 x the time taken for inspiration or Pooraka. The retained breath is then slowly exhaled. The time taken to exhale = 2 x the time taken for inspiration or Pooraka.

A certain quantity of Oxygen molecules will enter the lungs and dissolve in the blood. Since the breath is held for a long time, more and more CO2 will build up in the cells. This means that there will be a high demand for the Oxygen. When the breathing rate (number of inspirations and expirations per minute)
is increased, after a while less and less Oxygen molecule will find time to diffuse in to blood and less and less CO2 molecules will get out of the blood. It just like increasing the RPM of an internal combustion engine to produce more power or speed. After a certain RPM the power and speed will not increase and may decrease. Or take the case of a crowded bus. The bus has only a certain fixed time to halt for the passengers to get out and others to get in. If everyone from inside the bus rushes to go out and those who have to get in rush at the same time, only a handfull of them will realize their goals and the bus will move on.

By doing a long and slow expiration the yogi empties his lungs to the maximum practical limit. Thus the residual air volume is reduced from the normal 1500ml to as low as possible. By doing a long and slow inspiration he fills his lungs beyond the tidal volume of 500ml and reaches the inspiratory reserve volume and in some cases beyond. Then the yogi gives the Oxygen molecules the maximum time inside the lungs so that almost all of them can diffuse into the blood stream. Meanwhile the CO2 levels inside the cells rise dramatically and each and every cell in the body sends signals to the brain for elimination of CO2 and replenishment of Oxygen. To prevent the chaos as mentioned in the case of a crowded bus, the yogi slowly expel the air from his lungs. Each passenger inside th bus goes out calmly and in line and when all of the passengers have gone out; those waiting at the stop get in one by one. Thus the maximum quantity of CO2 is expelled and the maximum quantity of Oxygen is allowed to enter the system.

By retaining the air inside the lungs the yogi forces the body to use every bit of oxygen available from the residual air and the alveolar air. He, by doing the long slow inspiration and expiration makes use of the inspiratory reserve volume and expiratory reserve volume. In short he increases the vital lung capacity without doing any intense physical activity. Since there is no increase in the rate of respiration, there is very little or no increase in the heart rate or pulse. The heart gets more time to rest. This can be seen in the case of those who have practiced the yogic Pranayama for a few months. Even while rushing up a flight of stairs they don’t experience any marked increase in the heart rate.

Since the cells make a great demand for the expulsion of CO2 and the replenishment of Oxygen, the circulatory system becomes efficient and new arteries, veins and capillaries form within the organism. The quantity of the red blood corpuscles increase. The effect of physical training in high altitudes, where the Oxygen contend in the atmosphere is very low, has been acknowledged by the sports coaches and athletes. By doing the breath retention, a yogi can achieve the same results at any altitude.