IMO, you can practice Nadi Shoddhana without bandhas safely, provided you don’t push your limits and end up choked each round. It’s up to you to gauge your capability. Trust your inner guidance.
Nadi Shoddhana cleans away your nadis, awakens your prana, and prepares your mind for meditation. I can’t imagine higher yogas without having practiced it for some years.
[QUOTE=trinley;44834]We also breath because oxygen is required to convert food into energy that our body can use.[/QUOTE]
Of course. It goes without saying. That what breathing is.
However, the important thing is prana-the life force. When you breathe, you draw in life force. This life force transforms the food into energy. You cannot give food to a dead man.
Breathing is the tie between the soul and the body.
[QUOTE=trinley;44934]So how do yogis convert food to energy without breathing?[/QUOTE]
They do not. In the breathless state, the yogi lives without food, just by drawing in the prana.
Actually, there are many people who do not eat at all, without being in the breathless state and without being yogis. Only Moscow has an association of 300 people who do not eat at all. They live only from energy only (sun light). If I remember correctly, they are called “aputrophens” or something like that.
I ordered that book [I]Prana & Pranayama[/I] by Swami Saraswati Satyananda who passed away about a year ago one week ago (5 Dec ,09) .Hope to receive it in the post soon.Maybe iron out soome long-standing kundalini issues.Been experimenting with a variety of pranayamas recently.
I think there’s another more advanced pranayama manual in the Bihar range but after ordering it twice it never came-could be out of print therefore.I have tried mixing some Iyengar pranayamas as taught in BKS. Iyengar’s [I]Light on Pranayama[/I] with spinal breathing with fair results recently.
It’s useful to undertstand the constituent parts of the breath.So if your inhale is slightly too long this will have a causal effect on the exhale and likewise if you add kumbhaka,i.e retention, to the mix too.Long slow deep breaths is what’s it’s about.If you’re somewhat out of breath then you stop and then you can begin another cycle when you’re ready.No harm done.Introduction of Kumbhaka is like stage 2 or 3 of any given pranayam and broadly speaking the exhale will at least become longer as well as the actual duration of the natural breath’s constituent parts.You learn to manipulate the breath but within your own natural and easy limit.Understand the parts and how how one affects the other and then proceed accordingly.Rough rules of thumb yes but certainly definite science and art than can be leaarned over time.
Sometimes you might find a natural retention occurs after the inhale; this is prob. the wiser approach so you are working within your easy comfortable limit & capacity.Nothing wrong with kumbhaka but ultimately you can only make that kiind if judgement call. The dangers with pranayamas is using too pweroful techniques too usddenly or not adequately pacing yourself as the nervous system opens up. As you obviously realise the breath is one of the biggest avenues into unlocking the nervous system and the mind/body matrix and any obstructions that may lie within.
Let’s say nadi shodhana–i would work with lengthening both the actual(1) and relative( say 2 moving from 1:1 —> towards 1:2, i.e 1:1 1/4 is quite fine) duration done over time and then you could addd if you felt inclined or it came naturally to you internal kumbhaka( acouple secs say up to 4 is quite fine enough),that is to say retention after inhalation. But like i say only you can judge what is or may be appropriate.Regular practice is key for best optimal results; you are culturing the nervous system.
Add a little meditation time say at the end or before and then you’ve got some presence of the witness state so you can better monitor effects of practice both during and after. This may be just observing consciousness etc eyes closed after pranayama or use of a deep mantra or whatever.Chidakasha dharana is another one although i’m not that up on that particular meditation technique ,if you want to call it that.
Hope that make some sense.
Incorporate a few practice elements within your easy natural limit and then observe the effects.Less is more, especially if you’re starting out.
If you’re gasping for breath in pranayama this should’nt really happen; in this case just stop and you may continue when your breath has returned to normal. So it’s quality over quantity.A few cyles with interspersion is better than many cycles that have no rhythm or good quality, say you’re panting for e.g.
Eyes closed,see what the third-eye for e.g does.
There is a yoga aasan called “pranayama” such as uttanpadasana, sarvangasana, paschimottanasana, halasana, and shavasana which will definitely beneficial in resolving your depression,stress and sleeping disorders.
Pranayama, means regulating prana. Prana is both an energy entangled with the physical body as well as a vayu (form of ‘air’ element). As the physical body breathes air, the counterpart astral body breathes prana from the cosmic energy abound in the environment. Oxygen is a gasuous substance contained in the air that is breathed and it directly participates in the blood purification system.
Prana however is a subtle energy that energizes the subtle, astral body. Until one can directly access prana and replenish it, it is easier to use breathing of air as a vehicle. Yoga practices are designed to purify prana to support the purification of the astral body. Some practitioners however mistake air-breating with prana-breathing and take the two as synonyms.
[QUOTE=indiandairy;45160]hello i’m new here …[/QUOTE]
Hello New Here.
My body is young but my mind is very old.
on the pranayama. It has many levels. Much there is to learn of it if one so chooses.
You’ve asanad Long enough. You should incorporate the pranayama practice like what, like a trainer training a tiger - slowly. (i’ve read this somewhere)
If you Don’t go full bore like a block head all will be fine.
Anytime “they” put out information on the Prana in books. They will always advise caution and the approach of a turtle. Not only does this cover thier six . . . it’s good advice because if you go tooting around you could cause troubles. Like Death. If you do something unsound and you don’t have access to a guru you could be up the creek.
For example: Because I was pushing with force i blew out a small hole in the roof of my mouth (along the gumline, not the palate but in the gums above between the teeth and side of the mouth.)
also I did something which I will not say and put an energy bubble of some sort underneath my heart. For about a week I yawned incessantly and could never get a full breath . . . it felt weird.
I let it go by itself. it was mildly annoying. If it didn’t go away on its own after a week or so I’d either have to figure it out myself or ask the boys up stairs or a combination of the two approaches.
Do you have access to the Boys upstairs?
For you I would most certainly incorporate the Pranayama as much as you enjoy into your overall practice.
Little asana.
Little “comming and going breath” for 10 mins . . . or so. This is great prep to calm the mind so you can concentrate it if you wish.
then enjoy some form of meditation for half hour or so.
Pranayama, sometimes called yogic breathing, is an ancient practice of breathing and stretching that originated in India. The word Pranayama literally means "extension of the life force" or "extension of consciousness."
Pranayama is practiced by yogis, who believe that by controlling the breath, you can extend your life, improve health, and relieve stress and anxiety. It is also widely practiced by people who have never studied yogic science.
Pranayama has been practiced by yogis for a long time. Yoga is an ancient practice that extends back at least 2,500 years in India. The Yoga Sutra, a collection of yogic texts that is 2,500 years old, describes the use of deep breathing to quiet the mind and relieve stress and anxiety.
The practice of Pranayama involves breathing exercises called pranayama, or "extension of the life force." Pranayama is the practice of controlling the breath.
Pranayama is practiced by yogis, who believe that by controlling the breath, you can extend your life, improve health, and relieve stress and anxiety. It is also widely practiced by people who have never studied yogic science.
The first thing you should know is that there are many techniques of pranayama but the main purpose of Pranayama is to be aware of our breath, the balance of energy within the body and it’s also a preparatory practice for the deeper stages of meditation. Pranayama begins the process of balancing the flow of energy through the Nadis (the three major channels of the subtle body). With this process the mind becomes still, the fluctuations of thought disappear, and consciousness expands.
