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Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the Yoga practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with prana, thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the prana-shakti, or life energies. Pranayama is described in Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Later, in Hatha yoga texts, it meant the complete suspension of breathing. The pranayama practices in modern yoga as exercise differ from those of the Hatha yoga tradition, often using the breath in synchrony with movements.
Macdonell gives the etymology as prana ( ), breath, + āyāma and defines it as the suspension of breath.
Monier-Williams defines the compound as "of the three 'breath-exercises' performed during ( See , , ".Monier-Williams, p. 706, left column. This technical definition refers to a particular system of Kumbhaka as explained by Bhattacharyya: (to take the breath inside), (to retain it), and (to discharge it). There are other processes of prāṇāyāma besides this three-step model.
V. S. Apte's definition of derives it from + and provides several variant meanings for it when used in compounds. The first three meanings have to do with "length", "expansion, extension", and "stretching, extending", but in the specific case of use in the compound he defines as meaning "restrain, control, stopping".See main article आयामः () in: Apte, p. 224. Passages cited by Apte for this usage are Bhagavatgita 4.29 and Manusmriti 2.83.
Ramamurti Mishra gives the definition:
In verse 1.34, pranayama is introduced as a method aimed at stabilizing the mind. The practice involves two primary techniques: exhalation, known as pracchardana, which entails expelling air from the stomach through the nostrils, and retention, known as vidharana, which focuses on the controlled restraint of breath. Pranayama supports advanced practitioners in gaining control over the mind and complements meditation, aiding in achieving a light body and steady mind by regulating breath.
Yoga teachers including B. K. S. Iyengar have advised that pranayama should be part of an overall practice that includes the other limbs of Patanjali's Raja Yoga teachings, especially Yamas, Niyama, and Asana.
B. K. S. Iyengar cautions that pranayama should only be undertaken when one has a firmly established yoga practice and then only under the guidance of an experienced Guru.
According to Theos Bernard, the ultimate aim of pranayama is the suspension of breathing (kevala kumbhaka), "causing the mind to swoon". Paramahansa Yogananda concurs, writing, "The real meaning of Pranayama, according to Patanjali, the founder of Yoga philosophy, is the gradual cessation of breathing, the discontinuance of inhalation and exhalation".
The yoga guru Swami Kuvalayananda began the experimental study of pranayama in 1924. The anthropologist Joseph Alter describes the attempt to apply science to the practices of yoga as an "accidental confusion in meaning" of domains (yoga and medicine) that explore different "ways of knowing". Given Kuvalayananda's interest in prana, from 1929 he experimented on the effect of pranayama on the respiratory system. He sought to show that pranayama developed the nadi channels of the subtle body, rather than simply exchanging the gases oxygen and carbon dioxide, but the way he did this was to measure the rate of removal of carbon dioxide and later of oxygen consumption. Many further studies, by Kuvalayananda and many others, followed. Among the examples given by Alter was the 1979 study by Kesari, Vaishawanar, and Deshkar, which sought to discover the effect of asana and pranayama practice on the clearance of the waste products urea and creatinine from the body. Alter writes that the many experiments almost all studied "anatomical, physiological, or biochemical variables" and gathered empirical data. For instance, a 1956 study by Kuvalayananda and Karambelkar sought to find out what happened to the acidity of the urine following prolonged bhastrika pranayama. Alter adds that although the work had "empirical form", it was driven by "an Ontology question about the nature of nature", as Kuvalayananda and his colleagues at Kaivalyadhama saw the biological variables as Epiphenomenon to the "meta-material power inherent in Yoga."
Physiological studies of pranayama, mainly of poor quality, have continued into the 21st century. For example, a 2018 systematic review by Andrea Zaccaro and colleagues examined 2,461 research articles on the effects of pranayama and breath control more generally on the cardio-respiratory system and the central nervous system. They found only 15 articles of suitable quality for review.
The Buddha did incorporate moderate modulation of the length of breath as part of the preliminary tetrad in the Anapanasati Sutta. Its use there is preparation for concentration. According to commentarial literature, this is appropriate for beginners.Conze, Edward, Buddhist Meditation. Harper & Row, 1956, p. 66. Regarding the Buddha's incorporation of pranayama see also Buddhadasa, Mindfulness with Breathing. Revised edition, Wisdom Publications, 1997, p. 53.
Tibetan Buddhist breathing exercises such as the "nine breathings of purification" or the "Ninefold Expulsion of Stale Vital Energy" ( rlung ro dgu shrugs), a form of alternate nostril breathing, commonly include visualizations.Tenzin Wangyal. Awakening the Sacred Body, page 1 In the Nyingma tradition of Dzogchen these practices are collected in the textual cycle known as "The Oral Transmission of Vairotsana" ( Vai ro snyan brgyud).Norbu, Chogyal Namkhai, Trans. by Adriano Clemente. Yantra Yoga Snow Lion Publications, p. 1.
Yoga as exercise
The yoga scholar Andrea Jain states that pranayama was "marginal to the most widely cited sources" before the 20th century, and that the breathing practices were "dramatically" unlike the modern ones. She writes that while pranayama in modern yoga as exercise consists of synchronising the breath with movements (between ), in texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, pranayama meant "complete cessation of breathing", for which she cites Bronkhorst 2007.
Buddhism
According to the Pali Canon, the Buddha, prior to his enlightenment, practiced a meditative technique involving pressing the palate with the tongue and forcibly restraining the breath. This is described as both extremely painful and not conducive to enlightenment.Bronkhorst, Johannes, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Franz Steiner Verlag Weisbaden, pp. 1–5. In some Buddhist teachings or metaphors, breathing is said to stop with the fourth jhana, though this is a side effect of the technique and does not result from purposeful effort.Bronkhorst, Johannes, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Franz Steiner Verlag Weisbaden GmbH, p. 84.
Indo-Tibetan tradition
Later Indo-Tibetan developments in Buddhist pranayama which are similar to Hindu forms can be seen as early as the 11th century, in the Buddhist text titled the Amṛtasiddhi, which teaches three bandhas in connection with yogic breathing (kumbakha).
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