Sharath mentioned how Pattabhi Jois used to have his students wait, rightfully so as the Yoga Sutras state, until they were very well established in asana, or poses before teaching them pranayama, which in layman terms means 3rd series or being able to turn yourself into a pretzel many times over.
Iyengar tells the story of how Krishnamacharya would just NOT teach him, and he had to spy on him to try to learn on his own, good thing he did.
Then again, some say that in the early days pranayama was taught in Mysore. I guess we will never know for sure, and maybe we do not even need to, maybe, just like OvO dares imagine, the good old days are these days. Maybe we are living the golden days and do not even notice it.
Reasons why pranayama is harder to stick to:
- It is boring
- It is lonely
- There is no obvious show-off progress to demonstrate to our peers
- It is time consuming
- We might not be sure about the credentials of the teachers around us
- There is few "regular" places where to practice as a group
As Iyengar says, when we inhale and retain the breath we are full of life, but when we exhale and retain there, in the emptiness, that is pretty similar to death. Of course I am paraphrasing, but the image formed is accurate: on the next breath after retaining on exhalataion, we are "greedy for life", scared, and grasping for air.
In this wonderful video by Richard Freeman I found a possible answer to the fear factor, whereby Richard directs us to keep our attention in life as we go to the death energy and to keep the energy in death as we go to the energy of life, he calls it prana and apana or the upward and downward energies. He is definitelly onto something.
I found this gem of a video via John Fossella's blog
i really learn each time i do pranayama and i like it even if it is boring
ReplyDeleteRamaswami recommends/encourages Pranayama pretty much from the beginning as did, according to him, Krishnamacharya (perhaps he softened on this in his later period). For him Asana is just prep for the pranayama, there to burn off the rajas. Do we really read those three sutras in Patanjali as intending everyone to be advanced hatha yogis before they sit and do some Pranyama. Ramaswami also suggested that the scare stories mostly derive from one particular source ( the pranayama as the taming of wild elephants or tigers one, forget which one that is). We're not talking about holding your breath for extreme periods of time here just some basic, simple, common sense pranayama.
ReplyDeleteI don't find it boring, lots going on, the bandhas, the mantra during the retention, the counting and most of all the steadying. it's become the most important part of practice for me, wish I had more time for it i managed twenty to forty minutes in the morning but only ten minutes in the evening before meditation.
Oh on the feeling of progress, I disagree, being able to slow down the mantra and making that long exhale ever steadier feels like progress, get this rhythm going like a nice primary series, everything flowing nicely, quite beautiful actually.
Lilasvb, good to know... :-)
ReplyDeleteGrimmly, thanks for your thoughtful comment, I did not even think about the long steady excel as a proof of progress, or at least an indication (proof might be too strong a word). The boredom part, I confess comes mostly from my later readings of Iyengar and not personal experience as perhaps this story relates about someone in particular, me... Maybe it is because meditation has given me prompt fruits I suppose pranayama tends to take the back seat... but you leave me thinking.
As per Ramaswami, the more I learn from him the more I realize what a different teacher Krishnamacharya was in his later years... I should explore more of his direction...
Waiting to start pranayama after becoming well established in asanas is not something that I would like to do as I have seen many students of mine who are very dedicated practitioners of asanas for many years but still cant sit and do 10-15 mts of even basic pranayama .
ReplyDeleteI feel along with asanas people must have a daily program of few minutes of basic pranayama's like nadi shuddi's ( purification of nadis ) or any simple ones and slowly build it up to 30/45 mts of pranayama in due course .Of course for advanced pranayama ( as given in Hatha Yoga Pradipika ) one needs to have a life style conducive for the same and I was fortunate enough to have been part of the "Sadhana Intensive Program" of the Sivananda Ashram , a 2 week intensive program of Pranayama in a controlled environment of diet and seclusion and where it is based on the practice as mentioned in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika .I did it twice ( in 2009 , 2010 ) and the whole program was amazing and I got to see what it means to do "Sadhana" in the strict sense .Of course this program is only open to those who have completed the Sivananda TTC .
But the advice we are given is that never do these advanced pranayama when u are back to home but rather stick to basic ones and do the advanced practices in ashram like environment where there is seclusion , cool climate and food is very pure .Diet forms a very important part in advanced pranayama practice .
Krishna that is very interesting, you are fortunate to have done that program. I remember visiting the Sivanada Ashram in, Quebeq? or was it Toronto? dont quite remember maybe it was Quebeq and they had an advanced program going on. I was just there on a "yoga vacation" and over lunch I remember the students talking about how they were shaking because of the intense practice. I suppose it makes sense they would suggest that unless you are fortunate enough to dedicate your full life to yoga not to do them back home... at least not the very advanced poses...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, pranayma needs some demystifying and early entry, I am slapping myself in the wrist for not sticking with it as much, but, after all, I am doing the practice, so... all is coming :-)
Claudia ,
ReplyDeleteyou must have visited the Sivananda Ashram in Val Morin , Quebec .It is a beautiful place and I have been there twice once during 2006/2007 and there is an early morning intense pranayama practice during the advanced teachers training also and each person does feel the impact of an intensive pranayama and you can know for urself the difference in theory and practice when u are involved in an intensive practice of pranayama .
But as I said they do insist that u do only the basic pranayamas when u get back home and reserve the advanced ones to be practiced during retreats where the conditions are ideal and there is lot of merit in that advice .As regards postures they say u can do how much ever you want without injuring but when it comes to pranayama it needs caution as pranayama practice impacts your mind and u become very introverted and hence best not to do when u are in a City managing a household /work/family etc .
Krishna, yes! that is the one, and it was very beautiful indeed...
ReplyDeleteI think the warnings are warranted, yes, of course, it makes sense you would only do advance practices under proper, controlled, and safe conditions, it makes total sense...
Cities are intense, I remember when I was living in NYC right across the street from the stock exchange you could feel the vibration, even within the apartment, even when you thought you were shielded... it is important to have right conditions, I could not agree more with you...