Pranayama

Human body is physical manifestation of ones consciousness and in that, primarily, Central Nervous
System (brain and spinal cord) is densely concentrated with abundant consciousness. So, all the yoga
practices always revolve around CNS with an intention being to grow ones awareness towards
consciousness. hese practices focus on getting the vivid awareness of main three Nadis (!da, "ingala #
Sushumna) and seven Cha$ras (%ooladhara, Swadhistana, %anipura, &nahata, 'ishudhi, &(na #
Sahasrara) and opening them for the free flow of "rana. )rom practioner to practioner one can find some
variations in the techni*ues. +ut, all have the same goal ,to get the reali-ation of the self,.
here are many techni*ues to the yoga sadhana and .riya /oga practice is a small subset of it. 0ne has
to practice few techni*ues at a time for sometime and get mastery in it before moving onto ne1t
techni*ues. 2o not attempt to master everything in one day, remember, 3ome was not built in a day.
Preparation
Sit in a comfortable position, without having e1ternal support for bac$. 4et the spine stay in natural S
curve. a$e a few slow and deep breaths and rela1.
2uring the entire course of "ranayama, let your breath follow natural rhythm. 2o not force to hold the
breath or struggle to $eep the breath slow.
2uring the entire course of "ranayama, if for any reason you lost control of your awareness then do not
worry or struggle to forcibly bring the awareness bac$ to from where it left from the practice. !nstead, let
go of the situation, and easily start all over again without worrying that something happened.
&lways do abdominal breathing (breath using diaphragm). &bdominal breathing rela1es and calms the
mind. his is the natural way of breathing. 0bserve how baby breaths5 Contrary to that, breathing using
upper chest will create an1iety and high blood pressure.
Curl up your tongue to form .echari %udra (.hechari %udra). &fter few thousand hours of practice,
tongue will naturally enter the nasal pharyn1 and into the nasal septum. his is $ing of mudras. .echari
%udra will bring mental stillness, mind will naturally calm down. 0ne should be in .echari %udra
throughout the practice.

1. Mental Pranayama
%entally move your awareness from %ooladhara Cha$ra to Sahasrara slowly, mentally touching each
cha$ra in the upward path. Stay a while for a comfortable duration at Sahasrara and then slowly move
your awareness from Sahasrara to %ooladhara Cha$ra while mentally touching each cha$ra in the
downward path.
his completes one mental "ranayama.
3epeat this "ranayama few times daily for some days till you are comfortable in tracing and visuali-ing
the paths up and down. &fter getting complete mastery over this, move onto the .riya "ranayama.
Variations to Mental Pranayama
1.1
'isuali-e a narrow hollow white tube running from %ooladhara to Sahasrara. 'isuali-e all the seven
Cha$ras on it (%ooladhara 6 3ed four petal lotus, Swadhistana 6 0range si1 petal lotus, %anipura 6
/ellow ten petal lotus, &nahata 6 7reen twelve petal lotus, 'ishudhi 6 +lue si1teen petal lotus, &(na 6
!ndigo two petal lotus and Sahasrara 6 'iolet # 8hite thousand petal lotus). 2o the mental "ranayama
along with these visuali-ations tracing the path up and down the white tube while mentally touching all the
Cha$ras in the path.
1.2
8hile doing "ranayama, mentally chant 0% (&9%) at each Cha$ra in the path. /ou can as well use the
+i(a mantras of the cha$ras or mantras of deities.
1.3
'isuali-e the smooth candle flame (about an inch in length) going up and down the white tube while
mentally tracing the path.
1.4
'isuali-e the smooth # bright Sun (soothing white Sun) going up and down the white tube while mentally
tracing the path.


2. Kriya Pranayama
!nhale, and while inhaling move your awareness from %ooladhara Cha$ra to Sahasrara, mentally
touching each cha$ra with mantra in the upward path. Stay a while for a comfortable duration at
Sahasrara while chanting the mantra and then e1hale slowly. 8hile e1haling, move your awareness from
Sahasrara to %ooladhara Cha$ra mentally touching each cha$ra with mantra in the downward path.
%antra can be 0% (&9%), +i(a mantra or name of your beloved 2eity.
8hile e1haling, contract the lower throat:glottis so as to create the resistance to the outgoing breath. his
will ma$e the duration of e1hale lengthier compared to inhale and help in opening the spiritual (third) eye.
his completes one "ranayama.
2o this "ranayama regularly.
Variations to Kriya Pranayama
2.1
'isuali-e Sushumna nadi as narrow hollow white tube running from %ooladhara to Sahasrara. 'isuali-e
all the seven Cha$ras in Sushumna nadi (%ooladhara 6 3ed four petal lotus, Swadhistana 6 0range si1
petal lotus, %anipura 6 /ellow ten petal lotus, &nahata 6 7reen twelve petal lotus, 'ishudhi 6 +lue
si1teen petal lotus, &(na 6 !ndigo two petal lotus and Sahasrara 6 'iolet # 8hite thousand petal lotus). 2o
the .riya "ranayama along with these visuali-ations.
2.2
'isuali-e the smooth candle flame (about an inch in length) going up and down the Sushumna nadi while
doing .riya "ranayama.
2.3
'isuali-e the smooth white ball (about an inch in diameter). 8hile inhaling and going up the Sushumna,
white ball increases its si-e gradually. 8hile e1haling and coming down the Sushumna, white ball
decreases its si-e gradually.
2.4
8hile inhaling and going up, trace the dorsal side of the Sushumna nadi. 8hile e1haling and coming
down, trace the ventral side of the Sushumna nadi. (2orsal side is towards the bac$ side of the body and
ventral side is towards front).
2.5
'isuali-e two narrow hollow white tubes running on left and right of the Sushumna nadi. 0ne on the left is
!da nadi and the one on the right is "ingala nadi. !nhale and move awareness from %ooladhara to
Sahasrara thru !da nadi. &fter reaching Sahasrara, $eep awareness there as long as possible to $eep
comfortably. ;1hale and move awareness from Sahasrara to %ooladhara thru "ingala nadi.
2.6
8hile inhaling, imagine cool air is entering your body, gradually filling your body from %ooladhara to
Sahasrara. 8hile e1haling, imagine hot air is going out gradually from Sahasrara to %ooladhara.
2.7
8ith repeated practice, one will gain mastery over breath and mind. ;1hale will ta$e more time than
inhale and, each breath will span over a minute. %ind will rest in peace. his is the time to move on to
ne1t step.