This document provides an overview of pranayama, the yoga practice of controlling the life force energy known as prana through breath control. It explains that prana is a subtle energy that sustains all life beyond just the physical breath. Pranayama was discovered to have powerful effects on the mind and is practiced in hatha yoga to internalize consciousness and cure illnesses. It became a chief practice for calming the ever-fickle mind. The document outlines the different phases of inhalation, exhalation, and retention of breath and notes that greatest focus of the mind is achieved in suspended breathing.

1. Beginner’s Guide to Pranayama: The control of the life-force

2. Beginner’s Guide to Pranayama: The control of the life-force
The asana, when practiced successfully, affects a marked internalization of
consciousness. Therefore it is said to make the yogi insensitive to the impact of the
‘pairs of opposites’ (dvandva) such as heat and cold, light and darkness, quiet or
noise, etc. The next step consists in the ‘energizing through the practice of
pranayama or the ‘control of the life force’. Prana should not be identified with mere
breath. It is the all – penetrating energy which sustains all organic life, breathing
being merely its external aspect. That rhythmic inhalation and exhalation as well as
aspect. That rhythmic inhalation and exhalation as well as prolonged retention of
the breath have a powerful effect on the mind must have been discovered early in
the history of Yoga, presumably in connection with ritual chanting.

3. Beginner’s Guide to Pranayama: The control of the life-force
This is the moment between inhalation (puraka)
and exhalation (recaka). Patañjali speaks
furthermore of a ‘fourth’ rhythm of breathing
which probably refers to the involuntary
respiratory activity during deep absorption and
ecstasy.
In Hatha yoga pranayama plays a dominant role,
where it is employed both a means of
internalizing consciousness and as a medical tool
to cure illnesses according to the tantric maxim
that and bhakti or spiritual life and worldly

4. Beginner’s Guide to Pranayama: The control of the life-force
In the Atharvaveda already the various ‘functions’ of Prana are distinguished. In
subsequence times pranayama became one of the chief means of checking the ever-
fickle mind. As the Yogasiksha – Upanisad declares.
Consciousness (citta) is connected with the life force indwelling in dwelling in all
beings. Like a bird tied to a sting so is this mind. The mind is not brought under
control by many considerations. The (only means for its control is nothing else but
the life force.
In addition to its ‘energizing’ function, pranayama is also meant to cure the
normal irregularities of breathing which disturb the yogi concentration. Greatest
focalization of consciousness is achieved in the state of suspended breathing
(kumbhaka).