 Re: Pranayama
There is actually only one sentence in Pantajali's sutras on breathing;
[breathing is the stuff that life is made of](can't remember the exact
words) "..therefore regulate your breath."
The key word there is of course "regulate". I have no idea what the original
Sanskrit is. But I do know Sanskrit words are extremely complex and
"regulate" probably does not convey even half of the original meaning. (For
this reason I really would like to learn some Sanskrit.) All pranayamas seem
to have been deviced by successive gurus, and the pranayamas have proven
themselves through actual practice.
What I am trying to say is that if you become very proficient in the
pranayamas, you can device your own.
The other thing is that Yoga literature has stated that the number of
breaths that a person has in a lifetime is fixed. It is the same for every
human. Therefore the slower you breathe, the longer you live. This, of
course, has not yet been proven, and to prove it scientifically would
involve at least 3 generations spanning, I would imagine, at least 200
years. So if we start it now, my great-great-grandson may know the
conclusion.
My personal experience is that my breathing slowed down considerably when I
practise Yoga regularly. I did Yoga when I was 8 to 24, and took it up again
at 45, which is about 7 years ago. In both cases, my breathing slowed a lot.
Even when I am jogging, my breathing is slow, and I tend to breathe deeper
rather than faster, if I need more oxygen. In fact, when I jog, I noticed
that if I go faster and thereby need more oxygen, I seem to be only capable
of breathing deeper but not faster. The lungs somehow refuse to go faster.
That's just sharing my own experience.
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07-18-06 07:27 AM
