Pranayama ::

     The Science of Breath has its foundations in the control of Prana or vital energy. The important starting exercise for the student of Yoga is the alternate breathing exercise, known as Anuloma Viloma Pranayama.

     The reason for doing alternate breathing is that the breath alternates between two nostrils. You can easily find this out for yourself by placing your palm near the nostrils. One of the nostrils will always be partially blocked, and the flow of air in and out of the lungs will be mainly through only one of the nostrils. If a person is in normal health the breath will alternate approximately every hour and fifty minutes. This normal period of breath alternation is established only when one has perfected pranayama, starting with alternate breathing.

     In the vast majority of persons, this change of the breath from one nostril to the other varies a great deal, owing to such conditions as unnatural living habits, wrong diet, diseases and the lack of proper exercise.

     All these incorrect "habits of living" have an effect on the breath; diverting it from its normal flow. According to Yoga, the breath in the right nostril is said to be hot; while the flow from the left is cool. Therefore symbolically, the right channel is known as "sun breath", and the left channel is referred to as "moon breath". The energy that flows through the "sun breath" produces heat in the body; this is catabolic, efferent and acceleratory, to the bodily organs. Conversely, the energy that flows through the "moon breath" produces coolness in the body; this is anabolic, afferent, and inhibitory, to the organs.

     When the breath continues to flow in one nostril for more than two hours, it is a symptom of derangement caused by excess heat or cold. In this way, if the sun breath is more active, the heat of the body increases and there can be mental and nervous disturbances. Conversely, when the moon breath is more active, the metabolic activity of the body becomes low, cold and lethargic, and mental activity is suspended.

     The alternate breathing exercise is mainly for the purpose of maintaining an equilibrium in the catabolic and anabolic processes in the body. According to Yoga, when breath flows in one nostril without changing for hours, it is a warning that some illness is at hand. The longer the flow of breath in one nostril, the more serious the illness will be. This is because the ganglia of some particular nerve centre are being over-worked by the abnormal flow of the breath (or prana), which moves in a particular centre for a longer than normal period of time.

 

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