Name- Animesh Kumar

Roll No.- H00MAENG20220574

Dept- MA Cafeteria

Pranayama is a Sanskrit word that comes from the root word Pran meaning life force or vital
energy and Ayama meaning control or expansion. It is part of the Ashtanga Yoga, laid down
by Patanjali in his seminal text on the Yoga Philosophy school of Hinduism called The Yoga
Sūtras, which contain detailed descriptions of the eight limbs of Yoga, their order of
occurrences and their broader importance within the context of the achievement of Moksha.

After the limbs of yama (abstinence), niyama (observances), and asana (yoga postures), have
been mastered, the aspiring yogi has to gain mastery over the control of their breathing. Only
after they have achieved total control over their breathing can they move on to pratyahara, or
the withdrawal of senses, in their aspiration to achieve Kaivalya, or isolation and singularity
and the realization of the distinction between purusha and prakriti.

Concerning the practice of Yoga, Patanjali writes that penance, study, and full aspiration after
Ishvara form, the foundations of Kriya yoga. He writes that yoga does not stay with him, he
whose body is not given to penance. He further mentions that penance should be practiced
with complete mental composure and patience. The penance of the mind and the body should
be in complete harmony and should not be practiced by people of weak mental or physical
constitutions. The harmony and the subtility of staying still for long hours of meditation he
writes, or the harmonizing influence is brought about through the mastery of breathing.
Patanjali talks about how the pranayama helps prepare the body for long hours of penance in
the sutra 49-51. He writes, once the body has attained a sense of familiarity with penance and
mastered asana (*one should not practice pranayama without mastering the posturing first
because if not done right it can lead to all sorts of diseases), the next step for the yogi is
breath-control and the deliberate control of inspiration (breathing in) and expiration.
Inspiration constitutes breathing in the external air, and expiration is the expulsion of air in
the lungs or ridding the lungs of all traces of the air that was inside them. Since the process of
breathing in and out is a conscious action, there appears a brief moment in between the action
of taking in and throwing out of the air, a moment of complete cessation of breathing, and
that cessation is an important element of pranayama. The pranayama thus practiced
repeatedly and regulated by the space (desh), time(kaal), and number (samkhya) becomes
long and subtle (Dirgha-sukshma), which is significant for the initiating the pratyahara phase
of Ashtanga yoga.