S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 3 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 7 1 1 Mukund V. Bhole by body builders, dancers, actors, weight lifters, etc. In yogic language, indriya-prāna is used to get the knowledge. If desired and required, they can be photographed and video filmed for records, validation, verification and comparison. The performer can also subjectively feel these movements from inside the body without using the sense organs and get experiential knowledge which is totally different from the objective knowledge. Directly, these movements are not related with breathing. However, breathing can get influenced by them, if performed till exhaustion by working beyond capacity. Yoga competitions as a sport activity are based on the evaluation of these movements by the judges. Yoga demonstrations also utilize these body movements. However, working with breath during prānāyāma assumes different characteristics. It is held in high esteem in traditional yoga. Soon after birth, we start to breathe. Natural breathing is spontaneous and involuntary. It involves (1) expanding or opening type of body movements related with the phase of inhalation or breathing-in (svāsa), and (2) retracting or closing type of body movements related with exhalation (prasvāsa). The new born baby does not remain conscious of these body movements related with breathing nor other kinds of body movements nor the movement of air (breath) during its breathing. It can be easily ascertained by an intelligent baby sitter observing the baby. The medical world knows that the pressure changes taking place in the abdominal cavity due to the movement of the thoracic diaphragm are manifested as the movements of the abdominal wall observed during natural-spontaneous-involuntary breathing in resting condition. However, unlearned people are not aware of this fact. They feel and strongly believe that the air movement is responsible for the abdominal movements during breathing. This wrong belief/conviction requires to be corrected before proceeding on the path of prānāyāma. Crying of a new born baby involving breathing and most of its physical movements are involuntary and reflex in nature. We slowly learn to control, modify and use breath and breathing in different ways with or without awareness ("mindfulness"). We do not receive systematic training and education about the "mechanics of breathing" and how to work with it in an intelligent way, even though we do learn to speak, to sing and to modify and control spontaneous activities such as crying, laughing, shouting, screaming, sneezing, hiccup, coughing, etc. Commonly conducted training and educational programs involving breath and breathing by non-medical people give importance to "gaseous exchange" (O 2 –CO 2 exchange) along with various volumes, capacities, reserves, ventilation, breath-holding time and ability to inhale and exhale as completely and as quickly as possible in the shortest possible time. Modern yoga literature, teaching and research are no exception to this approach. Even the modern yoga teachers do not seem to be working with the "mechanics of breathing" in yoga classes while working with prānāyāma. 3 Working with Vāyus, Prāna and Prānāyāma in Yoga For practical training purposes vāyus could be understood as the neuro-muscular activities which are mostly involuntary in nature and/or psycho-neuro-muscular actions which are mostly voluntary in nature. Acquiring knowledge because of the sensory activity could be understood as prāna for training and education in yoga. The three types of body movements not related with breathing and the two related with breathing are looked upon as five major or primary vāyus (neuro-muscular movements) in yoga. They are employed in daily life to carry out different actions and activities to earn livelihood and sustain life. Other types of (gross or subtle) movements are reflex in nature and they become evident when the systems come into action to overcome disturbances in our state of being, such as sneezing, yawning, belching, hiccup, coughing, etc. They are called as five minor or subsidiary or secondary vāyus in yoga. The working of these vāyus (motor activities) giving rise to knowledge (jnāna) through the sensory activity could be understood as prāna in yoga training. The knowledge acquired through the functioning of the sensory organs (tele-receptors or exteroceptors) and/or by way of feed-back from the skeletal muscles, joints, ligaments (kinesthetic perception) is also termed as prāna in yoga. It can get related with objects, events, phenomenon, etc. in the external world outside the body (bāhya ākāksha). We also get knowledge from inside the body (internal world or antarākāsha) because of the functioning of the internal organs (visceral activity giving rise to visceral awareness) and the state of the skeletal muscles (proprioceptive awareness). In yoga, breathing is recognized as the only (?) vital activity which can be easily sensed, monitored and modified by a conscious person. In traditional yoga, the training and education in relation to prānāyāma involves working with the "mechanics of breathing" rather than "gaseous exchange". It is connected with the doctrine of prānic body (prānāyāma kośa)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=