Pranayama An Essential Daily Support System
“When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace” Unknown
Prana can be translated as energy, breath, and life force. Yama is control and Ayama is expansion. So, Pranayama is a practice of controlling breath and through that increasing and purifying our energy. It is part of the ancient wellness system of yoga, which in recent years has become very popular. It can also be practiced under the name of breathwork. This article explains the benefit of this practice and how important and transformative as well as supportive Pranayama can be.
There is much fluctuation in the world in recent years, fluctuation of systems such as the political and economic and often a lot of corresponding uncertainty in life which can lead to an environment where it is easier to feel anxious. One of the antidotes to feeling uncertain is to feel steady, to ground and gain support to allow some level of resilience in the face of uncertainty. Often people look at Pranayama as a practice of accessing the parasympathetic nervous system, the branch of our autonomic system that helps us rest, feel safe and digest. However, did you know that Pranayama is also a switch? A switch between intuitive and analytic modes of thinking, being energised and relaxed, as well as our receptiveness to solar and lunar energies?
The breath is a bridge between our mind and body and when we change and can control our breath, we can transform our thoughts, emotions and behavior through changing our physiology. This provides us with a free and readily available support system, especially when we are feeling triggered, automatic, disconnected, tired, scared and frantic. Our lizard or reptilian part of the brain oversees instinctive responses such as breathing but also our trauma responses. Threat and danger automatically shut down the part of the brain linked to thinking and instinctual survival responses kick in as thinking takes too long!
Therefore, being able to pause and control one’s breath is an important and essential skill in life. It helps us to get out of survival mode if we are not in actual danger and process information with more time, perspective and rationality. If we are tired, we can use Pranayama to energise, if we are frantic, we can use the breath to collect ourselves, if we are disconnected, we can give our life force energy the power to connect back to our centre. Pranayama as a system of support allows us to be responsive to what may come in life by helping the body and mind work towards homeostasis, a self-regulatory process by which we can maintain internal stability while adjusting to changing external conditions. This is precisely why this ancient life force energy control system is so much more then calming, but rather an essential physiological support system that can balance and give perspective to thoughts and feelings to ultimately respond to life events with an increased level of choice and intention.
Many of our classes incorporate Pranayama within them but for any teachers and practitioners who would like a deep dive into this powerful practice, below is the link to our comprehensive Pranayama Training course.
