from the outside as well as from the inside and to use that energy
for your personal evolution. The practice of asana clears the inner chan
nels for prana to move freely and uninterruptedly. If the nerves are cor
roded and blocked with stress, how can prana circulate? Asana and
pranayama practice removes the partition that segregates body and
mind. Together they dispel darkness and ignorance. In a sense, it is
asana practice that opens the gateway to perfection. It breaks the
rigidity and hardness of the inner body. This allows the unrhythmic
breath to become rhythmic, deep, slow, and soothing. Then pranayama,
in its turn, clears and soothes the feverish brain, making way for reason
and clarity of thought and lifting the mind toward meditation.
The sustained practice of pranayama liberates one from fear, in
cluding even the fear of death. If there is anxiety in the body, the brain
contracts. When the brain relaxes and empties itself, it lets go of its
fears and desires. It dwells neither on the past, nor the future, but in
habits the present. Freedom is about dropping the shackles of fear and
desire. When freedom comes, there is no anxiety, no nervousness. That
means there is no load on the nerves or, through them, on the uncon
scious mind. By removing tension from the inner layers of the nervous
system, you convert them into a state of freedom. When we looked at
pratyahara, we saw that freedom offers us choice-either to go on as
before, driven by external forces and gratifications, or to turn inward
and use our gentle powers to seek out the Self.
When I was a young man in Pune, the Christian community used
to sing a hymn. It says, "As pants the hart for cooling streams, when
heated in the chase, so pants my soul, oh Lord, for Thee, and Thy re
freshing grace." This describes the motivation and inspiration for
pratyahara.
Many ask me whether pranayama, controlling the breath, post
pones old age. Why worry about it? Death is certain. Let it come when
it comes. Just keep working. The Soul has no age. It doesn't die. Only
the body decays. And yet, we must never forget the body, since it is the
II K \ IYI'. NI;AJ\
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