Some time ago you addressed the psycho-spiritual significance of the four stages of the breath: the inhale, the retained inhale, the exhale, and the retained exhale. Can you please reiterate these points, as I misplaced that information, and am so interested in reflecting upon them now. Also do you have any knowledge about meruasana (from Mt. Meru)? Is it an older name for adho muck svanasana (downward facing dog), and/or come from another tradition?
Om Shanti, D
D - During the inhalation Adya Prana (or Prana Vayu) moves downward into the chest, the pause following this circulates Samana Prana in the abdomen promoting digestion; the exhalation has two portions the first moves Udana Prana (and potentially Kundalini) upward the later portion moves Apana Prana down and outward from the pelvis and legs; then there is a pause following exhalation in which Vyana Prana generates an aura and circulation increases. This insight about the motions of the five pranas came from my Ayurvedic studies with David Frawley.
Meru is the name for the spinal column, the central bead of a mala, and the mythological mountain upon which the Hindu deities live. I do not know of a Meruasana. It does not appear in any classical Hatha text in my library.