Blissful Breath

Practicing pranayama is essential if you hope to experience samadhi, yoga's true purpose.

By Leslie Peters

You've probably heard that the word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means to yoke or unite. And that the ultimate goal of yoga is liberation, also known as samadhi,through the union of the individual self with the universal soul. But just how do we unite what we perceive as a small individual self with something as vast, invisible, and ineffable as the universal soul?

An ancient yoga textbook, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, offers this simple answer: "Breath is the key to ultimate emancipation." The Upanishads, the Hindu sacred scriptures, likewise equate prana, in the form of breath, with the universal soul. When it is done properly and when a yoga practitioner is ready, pranayama, the yogic practice of regulating and channeling one's breath, can provide a bridge between the individual self and the universal soul.

B.K.S. Iyengar explains how the three stages of the breath in pranayama—inhalation (puraka), retention (antara kumbhaka), and exhalation (rechaka)—can connect us to the universal soul. During our inhalation, we are inviting prana to come in. According to Iyengar, the individual self must then move out of the way in order to make room for the soul. Iyengar believes that through this process, we are able to generate energy, expansion, and awareness within.

Iyengar tells us to think of the contact of the breath against the inner lung as the connection between universal soul and individual self. When we consciously stop the flow of breath (retention), we organize the mind's thoughts and the body's experience. The length of the retention varies. It should last just until the content (prana) begins to move away from the container (the lung). We must keep the mind connected to the experience of the body to know when it's time to exhale.

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