Praan is Life Force Energy.
If someone were to ask you if you know how to breathe you probably would laugh. We all know that breathing is necessary for life; however, the way you breath has an effect on your overall health and state of well-being. Praanaayaam, or breath control, is an ancient yogic system that increases energy and creates balance and overall health. Therefore, by controlling the breath one can regulate the emotions and create a sense of calmness. This can be very helpful for those restless nights when you are trying to fall asleep and your mind keeps racing with all kinds of thoughts.
1. Exhale all the breath while gently pulling in the abdomen.
2. Begin inhaling while puffing out the abdomen.
3. Gently bring the breath upwards, allowing the rib cage to move to the side, then continue
bringing the breath up, thus expanding the chest.
4. Slowly begin to exhale the breath reversing this process, exhaling from the chest, allowing
the rib cage and then the abdomen to gently go down.
Benefits:
Deep abdominal breathing reverses the stress reaction by providing more oxygenation of the blood resulting in greater relaxation, better emotional balance and control, greater mental clarity and acuity, and greatly improved general health. It switches on the parasympathetic part of the involuntary nervous system which allows the system to rest, relax and repair. Your lung capacity will gradually increase so you will become less winded by exertion.
1. Making a gentle fist with the right hand, extend the thumb and the last two fingers, leaving a space for the nose.
2. With the thumb, close off the right nostril and exhale through the left.
3. Using the deep abdominal breathing, inhale through the left nostril then close it off with the last two fingers and exhale through the right nostril. Continue by inhaling through the right nostril, closing it off and exhaling through the left.
Benefits: Alternate-nostril breathing can help soothe, purify and strengthen the nervous system. It can help you to develop control of your body, mind and emotions. It also helps to increase mental alertness, cleanse and open the nasal passages, normalize the metabolic process and combat the overall detrimental effects of stress.
