We have a very peculiar concept about pranayama being simply a

practice of breathing. There are also many other aspects of

pranayama, like the influences of the breath on body, mind and
psyche, and then there is the aspect of prana.

There are two different things - the breath is separate from prana,
and prana is separate from the air which we breathe. Prana has a
definite influence on the physical body, on the brain, consciousness
and energy, but before we go into this topic we first have to
understand exactly what prana is. I will give you one living example
to explain prana. It is absolutely true.

It concerns research done by the Meninger Foundation in the United

States, involving a Swami by the name of Nadabrahmananda who
was put in an airtight glass cage with a monkey and a burning
candle. The swami was asked to practise Kumbhaka (internal breath
retention) and at the same time to play the tabla. The researchers
plugged his nose, ears and mouth. There was not the remotest
possibility of him breathing through any of the holes in his body.
When they shut the cage, the candle-flame burnt out after about
three or four minutes while the monkey fell down unconscious after
fifteen minutes, but the swami continued to play the tabla in the
state of internal breath retention for forty-five minutes continuously.