Yoga Bali Pranayama & Meditation Immersion II - moving beyond the ordinary - Online with Beate

Pranayama Immersion

June 6th-10th, 2022

6.00 am - 6:45am Vienna Time 3 hours 45 minutes over 5 classes

€ 65, members € 30

Welcome to our 2nd Pranayama Immersion of the year!

This immersion is suitable for students with previous experience in Pranayama.

Props will be used - 4-5 yoga blankets - 1-2 bolsters, 3-4 yoga blocks, yoga belt, head wrap.

If sitting on the floor is difficult, then a yoga chair can be used.

The practice of Prāṇāyāma develops a steady mind, strong will-power and sound judgement.

What is Prāṇāyāma?

The two words broken down 'Prāṇā' and 'Ayāma' mean the following; 'Prāṇā' is the subtle life force. It also means breath, respiration, vitality and energy. 'Ayāma' is control. Or restraint. Extension. To stretch, regulate, expand or prolong.

The word 'Prāṇāyama' itself simply means the expansion of this subtle life force. It means prolongation of breath and its restraint.

Prāṇā is not like a gross physical energy - it is a subtle energy. Prāṇā or prāṇā-sakti is a life principle or life force. This life force expresses itself in the breath. B.K.S Iyengar (2005) says; 'Prāṇā is usually translated as breath, yet breath is just one of the many manifestations of Prāṇā within the human body'. Iyengar adds that it is as difficult to explain Prāṇā as it is to explain God. According to Jaideva Singh (1979); 'Prāṇā is subtle biological energy which catches the breath and transmits this to the physical body'. So Prāṇā is the transportation system that carries oxygen into your body. Both are intwined. Swami Vivekananda (1947) says; 'Prāṇā is the driving power of the world, and can be seen in every manifestation of life.'

Other commentators have referred to Prāṇā as the breath, rather than the energy that carries the breath. As always there are different interpretations. Rajneesh (2012) says; 'Breathing is the mechanism of life, and life is deeply related with breathing. That is why in India we call it Prāṇā . We have given one word for both – Prāṇā means the vitality, the aliveness. Your life is your breath.' The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (the birth of Yoga) says it takes mastery of breathing to experience Prāṇā. It takes years to become so sensitive to the subtle sensations of breathing, you must experience the breath in like 'a touch', this is the moment the breath is known. Then, says Tantra, you will have known Prāṇā – the vitality. Prāṇā is experienced upon mastery of the breath.

B.K.S Iyengar in Light on Life (2006) says the following on Prāṇā - 'All vibrating energies are Prāṇā. We give many names to God, even though He is One. The same is true of energy. There is nuclear energy, electrical energy, muscular energy, and mental energy. All of these are vital energy or life energy, called in Sanskrit, pranic energy or simply Prāṇā. Prāṇā is called Chi in China and Ki in Japan. Some suggest that the nearest traditional concept of Prāṇā in the West is the Holy Spirit of Christianity, a sacred power that is both immanent and transcendent. Prāṇā is also often called wind, vital air. The Bible begins its description of Creation with the sentence, “God’s breath moved upon the waters.” Prāṇā is God’s breath. Prāṇā is the energy permeating the universe at all levels. It is physical, mental, intellectual, sexual, spiritual, and cosmic energy.'

B.K.S Iyengar on Light on Pranayama (2005) - Prāṇāyāma is a conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention and exhalation. Inhalation os the act of receiving the primeval energy in the form of the breath, retention is when the breath is held in order to savour that energy. In exhalation all thoughts and emotions are emptied with breath: then, while the lungs are empty, one surrenders the individual energy, 'I', to the primeval energy, the Ātma (soul). The practice of Prāṇāyāma develops a steady mind, strong will-power and sound judgement.

Many ask me whether pranayama ... postpones old age. Why worry about it? Death is certain. Let it come when it comes. Just keep working. The soul has no age. It doesn't die. Only the body decays. And yet, we must never forget the body, since it is the garden we must cherish and cultivate.

B.K.S. Iyengar

Yet Prana is not merely the ordinary breath, it is the energy behind the breath. Pranayama practice is not simply breath work but moving to a deeper level of energy and awareness, accessing Prana at a level through, behind and beyond the breath.