Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom

Watching the flow of the breath also teaches stability of con­
sciousness, which leads to concentration. There is no finer method. The
power of concentration allows you to invest your new energy judi­
ciously. In the yogic scheme of things, the highest application of that
concentration and power of vision is in meditation. By learning to ap­
preciate breath, we learn to appreciate life itself. The gift of breath is
the gift of life. When we receive a gift, we feel gratitude. Through
pranayama we learn gratitude for life and gratitude toward the un­
known divine source of life. Let us look now more closely at the move­
ments of breath, their implications and effects.
Yogic breathing techniques are meditative in their origin and in
their effect. They basically consist of four parts. They are inhalation
(puraka), retention of the breath after inhalation (antara kumbhaka),
exhalation (recaka), and retention after exhalation (bahya kumbhaka).
The in-breath should be long, subtle, deep, rhythmic, and even. The
energizing ingredients of the atmosphere percolate into the cells of the
lungs and rejuvenate life. By retaining one's in-drawn breath, the en­
ergy is fully absorbed and distributed to the entire system through the
circulation of blood. The slow discharge of air in exhalation carries out
accumulated toxins. By pausing after the out-breath according to one's
capacity, all stresses are purged and drained away. The mind remains
silent and tranquil. If you over-prolong the pause, you will feel a
sudden lurch of panic and suck in more air greedily. This is our in­
stinctive attachment to life reasserting itself. Inhalation is the extension
and expansion of the Self (Purusa). With the help of the in-breath, the
Self embraces its sheaths up to the skin of the body, like a lover em­
bracing his beloved. Retention after inhalation is the union of the lover
with his beloved. In exhalation, the Self, via the out-breath, takes the
beloved to his home where, in her turn, the beloved embraces her lover,
the Self. Retention after exhalation is the beloved uniting with the lover
in total surrender to the supreme. Hence, pranayama is more than a
physiological breathing exercise. Because breath is life, the art of judi-