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PRANAYAMA & THE BREATH
MODULE
1
TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS
BREATHING FUNDAMENTALS
PERSPECTIVES & CAUTIONS
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CONTENTS
2
PRANAYAMA TECHNIQUES
BASIC BREATH TRAINING & YOGIC
BREATHING
Pranayama & The Breath Module
PERSPECTIVES
TEACHING BEGINNERS
Chapter Highlights
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PERSPECTIVES & CAUTIONS
A long and subtle breath establishes a calm
mind. A calm mind is the foundation for
everything great.
— Yogini Kaliji
1
QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE
MORE CAUTIONS
CHRONIC CONDITIONS
Version 2.0
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE
• Describe multiple perspectives from which to examine the topic of
pranayama.
• How is teaching breath practices different from teaching formal
pranayama?
• Which practices are safe for beginners? Which are not?
• What aspect of the breath cycle requires particular experience and skill
to safely practice and teach?
• Describe cautions to be observed during a practice, such as the
environment, sequencing related to other class elements, advising
students, etc.
2
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PRANA
• Prana as life-force energy separate from
the breath, and the relationship between
Prana and breath
• Energy concepts and subtle anatomy
from yoga philosophy
BASIC BREATH TRAINING &
YOGIC BREATHING
• Basic breath training, such as awareness
of the breath
• Yogic Breathing to increase respiratory
efficiency
BREATH & BREATHING
FUNDAMENTALS
• Physical process of breathing
• Impact of breath on nervous system
• Fundamentals of natural breathing
PERSPECTIVES There are multiple angles from which to examine
the topic of pranayama and breathing.
While all are relevant and related, awareness of
the distinctions will assist you in organizing your
own study and in choosing teachings for
different situations.
We offer expert teachings in each of these areas.
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PRANAYAMA
• Pranayama as one of the 8 Limbs and a
yogic technique to access, stabilize,
refine and direct prana
• Cautions
• Techniques
This Course covers distinctions
between teaching beginners and
experienced students plus other
general teaching cautions.
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4
TEACHING BEGINNERS
Pranayama is attempted only when the body,
nervous system, and lungs have been
strengthened by asana practice. This usually
takes at least two years. As breath is subtle,
even more care has to be taken over it than
over the asanas.
— Silva Mehta, Yoga: The Iyengar Way
• Don't teach advanced
techniques to inexperienced
students
• Teach preparatory practices
to beginners
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Although many students may not yet be ready for most
pranayama, basic breath practices are excellent
preparation.
It is important to tell [new students] explicitly that in yoga
we are interested in how we go, not how far we go.
– Mark Stephens, Yoga Sequencing
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• Traditional wisdom teaches that pranayama requires a
still body and calm mind as developed through asana.
Some lineages adhere to this while other modern
styles teach pranayama alongside asana.
• In considering this point, bring to mind raw beginners
who exhibit bodily tension, habitual egoic aggression,
and an inability (yet) to listen to their body or observe
their mind. What tends to happen when they are asked
to sit still for an unknown period of time while
counting or extending their breath? Often we see
rounded shoulders and stiff torsos, strained faces and
tense bodies as these students heroically "fight" to
perform the task they have been given.
• For in-depth support on teaching safe breath-related
practices, see Breathing Fundamentals and Practices.
TEACHING BEGINNERS
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CHRONIC CONDITIONS
• The majority of breath
practices and pranayama
techniques are intended for
relatively healthy individuals.
• General yoga often helps
relieve temporary physical
and emotional states.
• Students with chronic
conditions, however, should
be referred to a yoga
therapist or other expert. Please note that I'm not recommending that you try to
breathe away chronic anxiety, fatigue, or depression.
None of these conditions is easily or safely self-treated.
In fact, tackling them by yourself, without professional
supervision, could make them worse. But your breath
can be a powerful ally in coping with temporary
physical and emotional states—whether you're
despondent about an argument with a close friend,
apprehensive about an upcoming job interview, or
exhausted after a tough day at work.
— Richard Rosen
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7
Only teach breath retention if you are
specifically qualified to do so.
Teach breath retention only to
experienced students.
• Spontaneous pauses may be part of an evolution of practice.
Pranayama practices incorporating kumbhaka, however, are known
to be powerful while also presenting serious risk.
• Holding the breath is only recommended for experienced students
with qualified teachers.
• Most recommend kumbhaka only with awareness of bandhas.
BREATH RETENTION
One should be very careful about retention… It
should be practiced properly under personal
guidance, without going beyond what a teacher
tells us. The prana is very powerful energy. We
shouldn’t play with cobras without a proper
cobra trainer nearby.
– Sri Swami Satchidananda
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Simple breathing exercises such as diaphragmatic
breathing can be healthy and helpful. But in order
to really practice pranayama the knowledge and
application of the bandhas is important. Without
the application of the bandhas, pranayama
practices can be injurious to one's health. A
comprehensive knowledge of both the theory and
practice of the bandhas is essential.
– Swami Rama, Path of Fire and Light, Vol. 1
PRANAYAMA & BANDHAS
While many breathing exercises
are safe for all healthy
students, formal pranayama
requires knowledge of
bandhas.
Serious pranayama should not be practiced
without prior knowledge of the bandhas... The
Yoga Rahasya states that pranayama without
application of the three bandhas does not confer
benefits and that without the bandhas, pranayama
is useless and may give rise to disease. Contrarily,
if done with all three bandhas, pranayama will
destroy the causes of all diseases.
– Gregor Maehle, Pranayama The Breath of Yoga
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NOT EVERYONE EXPERIENCES PRACTICES THE SAME WAY
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“My beloved long-time teacher Donald Moyer... was personally trained by B.K.S. Iyengar. He told
me that the type of classic pranayama that Iyengar taught made him… nervous or anxious or
something like that. That’s why Donald came up with his own way of practicing and teaching
pranayama that involved bringing awareness to certain parts of your body and focusing on
breathing into those areas. And many of his students loved the way he taught pranayama.
But I didn’t—and trust me I gave his type of pranayama many tries over the years. While his
style of breath work didn’t make me anxious, it made me feel “bad,” not calm and relaxed. How
to describe it? Sort of heavy and mildly depressed. So I talked with him about it. He told me
about his experiences… and I told him about both my positive and negative experiences…
And Donald’s advice to me was that I should either do a different breath practice (such as
extending my exhalation—which works well for me) or none at all… I should just go ahead and
do whatever worked for me… So really the bottom line for pranayama is if it’s not working for
you, it’s not working for you. And that means no matter what the official story is about a
practice—especially if something makes you anxious—you shouldn’t do it.”
— Nina Zolotow, Yoga for Healthy Aging, Breath Practices
• Although breath practices
and pranayama may provide
a generally common set of
results, not everyone
experiences them the same
way.
• Warn students to report
experiences of anxiety or
other indications a practice
may not be working for
them.
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NEVER FORCE OR OVERDUE ANY
EXERCISE
PRACTICE CAUTIONS
AVOID STRENUOUS ASANA JUST
BEFORE OR AFTERENSURE THE SPINE IS ALIGNED IN
SEATED OR SUPINE POSTURE
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The most widespread caution is that
one must never force or "overdo"
any breathing exercise. Creating
discomfort of any sort is an immediate
cue to release the effort, return to
natural breathing and only begin
again if it can be done with ease.
— Richard Rosen, The Yoga of Breath
It is not advisable to do pranayama
immediately before or after strenuous
asanas, as these disturb the breath
and the lungs. It may be practiced
after a quieting asana session
consisting of supported inverted
poses.
— Silva Mehta, Yoga: The Iyengar Way
The deep roots of wisdom that
brought pranayama to the world are
clear about the crucial role of the
spine in practice. Preparing with asana
for some months or years is
particularly important in Westernized
locales, where poor posture and
muscle tone inhibits the ability to sit
with alignment and comfort. In the
Iyengar tradition, breathing practices
are first practiced in Savasana with the
back supported in order to train the
lungs without causing strain.
MORE PRACTICE CAUTIONS
DO NOT FORCEBE MINDFUL OF
POSTURE
AVOID PRACTICING
BEFORE OR AFTER
STRENUOUS ASANA
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ENSURE THAT FRESH AIR
IS CIRCULATING
AVOID PRACTICING
RIGHT AFTER EATING
BE AWARE OF PARTICULAR
PRACTICE CAUTIONS
END PERSPECTIVES & CAUTIONS