What is Pranayama?
Pranayama is the ‘expansion of our vital energy.’ It is the controlling of the motion of our lungs associated with breathing. This brings a ‘lightness of breath’ both during your yoga practice and also throughout your day.
The breath is the foundation of all functions within the body – if we strengthen our breath, make it easier for our breath to flow, then our body and mind also become strong and full of clarity.
Pranayama has been part of the practice of yoga for at least 2500 years, documented in various ancient texts. Today, in the West, it is most commonly used in our physical practice of postures – asana – which we are most familiar with. However, unlike the numerous physical disciplines of yoga that have blossomed in the West, the practice of pranayama has remained mostly unchanged.