Well, firstly let’s discuss the words yoga and life.What is yoga? The Sanskrit word yoga translates to ‘union’ or ‘to yoke or harness’. Simply put, yoga is God-union. However, the word yoga also refers to the scientific spiritual method of physical and mental practices, originating in the land of Bharat (India) more than 3 000 years ago. The purpose of the system of yoga is to help you to achieve your highest potential and to experience good health and everlasting joy. The ultimate aim of yoga is to reach emancipation.
According to many great yogis, yoga was passed on from Lord Shiva to Parvathi. Parvathi then taught the technique to Muruga. Muruga imparted this knowledge to Agasthiar Muni and Boganathar Maharishi who then taught Babaji. Babaji is now passing this information on to all of humankind. Yoga is the scientific way, spiritually, for God and Self-Union. Yoga is made up of eight requirements or means to achieve this:
yama - universal moral commandments
niyama - self purification through discipline
asana - posture (exercises for the body)
pranayama - rhythmic control of the breath
pratyahara - withdrawal and a freeing of the mind from the senses and external world
dharana - concentration
dhyana - meditation
samadhi - ‘to bring together completely’ - a state of super-consciousness in which a person becomes one with God
Of all of the above eight stages, the yoga of life is pranayama.
What is pranayama? Pranayama is the scientific art of mastering breath control and is a very important part of yoga. Pranayama is also mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita and in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. We say that pranayama is breath control (‘prana’ means breath, life force, vitality or energy and ‘ayama’ means length, stretching or restraint). So pranayama entails a modification or regulation of the normal process of breathing.
Usually breathing is an automated act in which air is taken into the body, into the lungs, oxygen is absorbed from the air in the alveoli (the lungs’ microscopic air sacs) into the blood and carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the alveoli out to the atmosphere. This complete process or act of inhalation and exhalation repeats itself every four seconds. Each process takes about 500 ml of air into the lungs. So for every 60 seconds, 7 litres of air is taken into the lungs.
Prana has a double meaning, one is breath and the other is life. As long as breath is there, there is life. It is said that a yogi’s life is not measured by days but by the number of breaths. How you breathe determines how long you are going to live. For a yogi it is ideal to breathe about 15 times every minute. Here is a theory I put together: God gives you 788 400 000 breaths at the time of birth. How you use this breath determines how you will live. Breathing 15 times a minute or taking one breath every four seconds gives you a life span of 100 years. So, breathing 10 times a minute will give you a life span of approximately 150 years.
Prana is indispensible to life. Because of prana, every tissue, cell or atom has constant energy. Prana is the essence of all bio-chemical processes in the body. When a living being dies, he has no breath. The soul exits the body, but people don’t generally say the soul left at a certain time, they say “he took his last breath” … and call this the Time of Death. We breathe to live. Prana is thus the yoga of life.
Usually breathing is an automated act in which air is taken into the body, into the lungs, oxygen is absorbed from the air in the alveoli (the lungs’ microscopic air sacs) into the blood and carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the alveoli out to the atmosphere. This complete process or act of inhalation and exhalation repeats itself every four seconds. Each process takes about 500 ml of air into the lungs. So for every 60 seconds, 7 litres of air is taken into the lungs.
Prana has a double meaning, one is breath and the other is life. As long as breath is there, there is life. It is said that a yogi’s life is not measured by days but by the number of breaths. How you breathe determines how long you are going to live. For a yogi it is ideal to breathe about 15 times every minute. Here is a theory I put together: God gives you 788 400 000 breaths at the time of birth. How you use this breath determines how you will live. Breathing 15 times a minute or taking one breath every four seconds gives you a life span of 100 years. So, breathing 10 times a minute will give you a life span of approximately 150 years.
Prana is indispensible to life. Because of prana, every tissue, cell or atom has constant energy. Prana is the essence of all bio-chemical processes in the body. When a living being dies, he has no breath. The soul exits the body, but people don’t generally say the soul left at a certain time, they say “he took his last breath” … and call this the Time of Death. We breathe to live. Prana is thus the yoga of life.
(Excerpt from retreat discourse from 20th to 22st May 2011)
