Pranayama




"When the Breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the Breath is still, so is the mind still."  Hatha Yoga Pradipika

No matter which yoga class you take (and fitness class for that matter!), the teacher will tell you to keep breathing. The importance of your breath - your prana, is unparalleled. Breathing is life. Not only is it important to learn how to execute the proper yoga moves, but also to learn proper breating. Breathing in and our through your nose is crucial. If you use your mouth to breathe, you are sending panic signals to your brain. You always want to calm your body by inhaling and exhaling through your nose. Why? Mouth breathing can adversely affect the development of the Thyroid Gland, and can retard the mental development of children. Just keep your mouth closed and you will automatically breathe through your nose. The nose has various defense mechanisms to prevent impurities and excessively cold air entering the body. At the entrance to the nose, a screen of hairs traps dust, tiny insects and other particles that may injure the lungs if you breathe through the mouth. After the entrance of the nose, there is a long winding passage lined with mucus membranes, where excessively cool air is warmed and very fine dust particles that escaped the hair screen are caught. In the inner nose are glands which fight off any bacilli which have slipped through the other defenses. The inner nose also contains the olfactory organ-our sense of smell. This detects any poisonous gases around that may injure our health. The Yogis believe that the olfactory organ has another function: the absorption of Prana from the air.  If you breathe through the mouth all the time, as many people do, you are cheating yourself of all this free energy (Prana).  The Yogis say this is a major factor in lowered resistance to disease and impairs the functioning of your vital glands and nervous system. The Ancient Yogis knew the importance of correct breathing and developed techniques not only to increase Health and life span, but also to attain super conscious states.