Physiology

Extraordinary Health — Key # 2
The ancient teachings describe physiology as the vital energy body. Vital energy is understood as the metabolic functions which organize, activate and animate the physical body. Health depends upon a strong vital body that imparts energy and vigor to the physical body.

Achieving your full potential at the level of the physiology is defined as: lightness and luminosity of the body and skin, balanced vital energy, good digestion and strong immunity — as well as having self-expression, curiosity and enthusiasm for life.

In yoga, the tools for energizing the physiology come from the science of pranayama. The Sanskrit word, pranayama comes from the root prana, meaning “life,” and ayama, meaning “to extend.”

Pranayama is the art of extending your vital energy or life force by regulating the natural flow of your breath. 

According to the science of pranayama, prana has many levels of meaning — spanning the physical breath all the way to the energy of life itself. Prana is the basic life force or biological energy traveling throughout the entire nervous system, reaching every part, and is responsible for all physiological functions. By deliberately changing the pattern of your breathing, you can affect change on all levels — physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Simply put, pranayama is the conscious mastery of the various energies that give you life.

Directing your attention into the process of breathing becomes a powerful tool to optimize health, increase longevity, dissolve fear, open your heart, and develop higher states of consciousness.

The Basic Components of Breathing
The simplest definition of pranayama is “to be with the breath.” What makes the practices of conscious breathing unique is that your attention is fundamentally on the breath rather than on the body. This happens when you deliberately control your breathing cycle by regulating one or more of your breath’s four parts: 

1) Exhalation; 2) Hold or retention with empty lungs; 3) Inhalation; 4) Hold or retention with full lungs 

The pause — marking the point at which the collapse of the breath occurs — is called Kumbhaka or “pot,” in Sanskrit. The pause naturally comes after each incoming and each outgoing breath. All yogic breathing exercises are created from the modifications of one or more of these four phases of breath, and their combination in relation to one another. It’s that simple.

(Yet not always so easy.) The point is to learn how to use your breath intelligently and be conscious of how and why you breathe.

Introduction to Conscious Breathing If you train yourself in one area only, be awake to your breath! Practice NOW!

The Wave A basic breathing practice for healing and awareness. Practice NOW!