Pranayama

Pranayama removes the veil covering the light of knowledge and heralds the dawn of wisdom.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras II.52

The best way to begin a pranayama practice is to simply begin. Begin this evening or tomorrow morning. Don't think about it or try to figure out if you have the time; just begin. Start small, with low expectations. Put your props in the place you plan on practicing. Consider investing in an extra blanket or 2 so you can leave your props in that place so they are easily accessible to you. The best time to practice pranayama is early in the morning; the mind is still quiet from sleep. The thought waves (vrttis) have not built up speed yet. However, sometimes I oversleep and miss my morning pranayama practice. When this happens, I make a point to do a short practice later that evening, however short it may need to be.

Start small, make a realistic committment. 5 or 10 minutes is plenty to start off with. Begin with Ujjayi breaths: long, slow, smooth inhalation, long, slow, smooth exhalation. Try to remember pranayamas that you have practiced in class and start off with the ones that proved easiest for you. Chose to sit or take the supported supine pose, your choice. If you experience one good breath, it's worth it.

For those of you who have already established a pranayama practice, examine your pranayamas and see if you tend to always put the focus on the inhale or exhale. Do you always practice only one pranayama technique? See if you can introduce a new technique. This is kriyayoga: tapas, svadhyaya, Isvarapranidhana (sutra II.1). Perhaps it is time to practice more seated pranayama. Perhaps it is time to practice viloma on the exhalation, or simply ask yourself, "How can I improve the quality of my practice?"

Read sutras II.49 - II.53 on pranayama. What do these sutras mean to your practice or your commencement of a pranayama practice?

Remember, there is always a pranayama class every Wednesday evening 7:30pm at Stillwater Yoga Studio.

Hanuman, the Lord of Prana

00 Hanuman, originally uploaded by jainshashikant.

Every breath Hanuman takes is another breath devoted to God.

Many Ganeshas (Ganesh is the Overcomer of Obstacles)

CRIM0129, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

In the upcoming sutra class on Nov. 21, we will go through the remaining sutras in the Sadhana Pada. Then, we will go all the way back to the very beginning of the pada and go through the first half of the Sadhana Pada, sutras 2.1-2.27. Give those a read through before class.

Now here is a assignment that goes beyond reading. Chose a yama and committ to observing and practicing it for a few days. Work it as a process, one day, observe to see which yama you completely ignore, the next day begin thinking more about that yama, the next day go beyond thinking to actually being more pro-active, and practicing the yama, physically and mentally. If you chose to do this assignment, then write down your experiences, even if you do not plan on contributing to the discussion in class. If you are reading this and asking "what the heck is a yama?" You need to read the Sadhana Pada of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

Patanjali on Guru Poorinima

Patanjali on Guru Poorinima, originally uploaded by deweesescience.

Upcoming Sutra Classes

There will be a sutra class at Stillwater Yoga Studio on Saturday, November 21, at 2pm and again on Saturday, December 5, at 2pm. I will be posting some assignments here on the blog for these upcoming classes. These assignments are completely voluntary, and you are under no obligation to share them in the class if you decide to do them. Hopefully, some of you will chose to do the assignments and then chose to share them in our discussions during the class. I will be posting the assignments periodically, so try to check every few days. The first assignment is simple, read through the sutras and commentaries(the commentaries are the writings beneath the actual sutra that provide contemplation and explanation) for all the sutras we have covered so far in the sutra classes. That would be the 2nd chapter, Sadhana Pada, sutras 2.28 through 2.55. Stay tuned for more updates.