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An Introduction to: Pranayama Lost in Translation

Angela Ashwin



Introduction to my book, to be published by Singing Dragons in 2025

Like for many of us, when I first came to yoga, pranayama was of secondary importance to asana. We were taught breathing techniques like the ‘complete yogic breath’ with reference to anatomy, which did not fascinate me very much, but it was only much later when I worked with the original Hatha verses, studied Sanskrit and delved deeper into pranayama practice, that I realized its fundamental role in Yoga and how mistaking it for ‘breath’ belittles its true purpose: to clear the obstacles in the pranic body to allow prana (life force) to expand (ayama). My study and practice of Pranayama changed my teaching. I started to introduce my changed approach of Pranayama on CPD days for the British Wheel of Yoga and organized pranayama workshop in my Yoga School.  On those events I gave/give evidence from the Sanskrit texts and instruct the original teachings. Students were fascinated and I always finished a session with the question whether students think there might be truth in my approach. They confirmed that I had shown them my take in theory and instructed the practice and they experienced my take to be right. Thanks to those confirmations I wrote the book: “Pranayama Lost in Translation” which was straight away accepted by Singing Dragons Publishers and will appear in 2025.

 

In the West, we have been misled into believing that pranayama is synonymous with respiration. Googling pranayama brings up ‘breathing exercises’ with multiple sites referring to  ‘respiratory health’ or ‘increased lung capacity’. But, that is not pranayama. It is the expansion of prana (life force), which travels from the navel centre – the store room of pranic force – outward and returns back through the movement of the vayu (wind). The vayu movement is linked to the breath as it shares the same rhythm as the respiratory process, but it is substantially different.

 

I liken it to an orchestra: the waving of the conductors’ arms sets the rhythm (breath); the violins then play (respiration), so do by the wind instruments (vayu). While they play different tunes and are substantially different, they are held together in harmony by the conductor’s waving arms. Other aspects of pranic movement are independent of breath: Vyana vayu and Kundalini. These aspects of prana are pivotal to our understanding of what pranayama and Yoga really is.

 

What is Prana and why has it been misinterpreted?

Pranayama is instructed in detail in the verses of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika from the 13th/14th century and other Hatha compositions. The aim of pranayama is not the increase of lung capacity, but the cessation of the breath which then stills the mind:

“tato vayum nirodhayet”, therefore cease the vayu,(that movement we call breath) HYP Ch 2, v. 3

 

The Yogis studied human nature by sitting and using an inner sense to perceive (interoception). With this inner sense not the physical body is perceived -we can’t feel the physical body directly, we only perceive it via touch and sight- but the subtle pranic body or pranamaya kosha – the sheath or body made up of prana – which is not accessible to the five outer senses. Through meditative interoception, Yogis felt the movements of prana like wind (vayu) through a fine network of 72,000 subtle conductors  (nadi), most of which are active (ida and pingala) and one dormant (sushumna). The dormant prana conductor is awakened by the practice of pranayama to allow a special pranic force (kundalini) to rise. The nadis are full of obstacles that affect the flow of prana, smaller ones (mala) sitting in the active nadis and major knots (granthi) sitting in sushumna.

 

In the West, we look at human nature very differently: through the lens of science. The West perceives only through the outer senses and pranayama, which can only be perceived by interoception, is subsequently mistaken as an anatomical process. “Pranayama” is therefore described with terms like:  nostrils, air tubes, lungs, breathing muscles and gaseous exchange, terms which are not found in any traditional yoga verse.  Looking at only the gross physical layer (Anamaya kosha), the West can only see the respiratory system. Anamaya kosha, the anatomical body is the aspect of human nature Yogis were least interested in.

 

This is perhaps why the word prana is mistranslated as ‘breath’ or respiration. This misinterpretation of pranayama has also been propelled through one of the first textbooks of Yoga in the West. In his book “Yoga” Andre van Lysebeth introduces the ‘complete yoga breath’ in his first chapter. While this is an acceptable breathing technique, I would argue that it is not yoga,  none of the Indian verses describe it or refer to it.

The gaol of pranayama is the cessation of breath, whereby the complete yoga breath is aiming for maximum air intake:

“Nun ist Ihre Lunge maximal mit Luft angefullt” (now your lungs are filled with the maximum amount of air, Lysebeth, Yoga, page 47)

 

Prana is life, it is an invisible force that lives within us, that force that keeps us alive. We receive life or prana in the navel centre the moment the umbilical cord forms in the womb. Prana is not taken in with the air we breathe, it is within us all from the beginning to the end of life. Subsequently, pranayama is about how we expand the life-force within us and not increase the amount of prana.

“As long as there is vayu in the body for so long there is life. Death is the departure of that (vayu) therefore cease the vayu.” (HYP Ch 2,v. 3, own translation)

 

The role of the Vayus

Pranayama is not a technique to supply more life force, but a process to remove obstacles in the nadis so that prana can freely expand on its own. Like a river where the currents affect its direction, the vayus direct prana around the body. The vayus expand during the inhalation, then reverse to come back to the navel centre during the exhalation. This reverse clears the system from obstacles, like a river flowing towards the ocean takes debris along, helping rid unwanted sediment from the body.

Vayu is a Sanskrit word for ‘wind’.  We have five winds, four of which move in the rhythm of the breath, the final wind is independent from breath. Apana moves from the navel centre downwards and back, prana moves upwards and back, samana sidewards and back and udana into the extremities, limbs and head and back. For that reason, we can feel the breath in all bodily areas. Like light, these four vayus expand out only as far as they can reach and if there are any obstacles or restrictions in their path, the light won’t shine beyond them:

“malakulasu nadisu maruto naiva madhyagah”. When mala kulasa (clinging obstacles) are in the nadis, then the marut (synonym to vayu)is not in the middle (middle nadi = Sushumna) HYP Ch 2,v. 4 (own translation)

The word “mala” is a synonym of “klesha”, a term used in Patanjali (Ch 2, v. 1-9) to describe attachments. An activity in the mental layer, manomaya kosha, which effect the pranic body by forming knots and blocks in the nadis. It is the attachments blocking the flow of life force and cause the body to feel dull and dense. We can feel how a prolonged and complete exhalation releases this sense of inner clinging. However, it isn’t the expulsion of air which releases them, but the reversing vayu which works to loosen them. The more complete the reverse of the vayu, the higher the purification of the pranic body.

In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika - as well as in Patanjali (Ch, v. 2,50) - pranayama is described as consisting of three elements:

“Rechaka (expand out) puraka (fill in) and kumbhaka (literally: pot, here referring to the pause after the exhalation)” (HYP Ch 2, v. 71 own translation)

 

There are two common misconceptions that have filtered into Western teachings. Firstly, we assumed that expanding out (rechaka) means expelling air from the lungs and filling in (puraka) is taking air into the lungs. This is incorrect as the opposite is true: the rechaka is the expansion of the vayu from the navel centre outwards, so it is happening on the inhalation, while the puraka is the drawing back of the vayu into the navel centre, which happens on an exhalation.

 

Secondly, contrary to popular belief, there is only one kumbhaka. Kumbhaka is the active stillness after the vayu reverses (exhalation) when Sushumna – the central nadi opens. This only happens after exhalation. Many of us are taught that there are two kumbhakas:  a pause after the inhalation – antara, and a pause after the exhalation – bahir. However, there is no mention of antar or bahir linked to kumbhaka in any yoga traditions that I have explored.

Kumbhaka is nevertheless described as twofold in the second half of verse 71 in HYP:

 

“Kumbhaka has two ways, sahitah and kevala” (HYP Ch 2, v. 71 own translation)

 

Sahitah means ‘coming together’ and it occurs when the pause after the reverse of the vayu (exhalation) is followed again by the expansion (inhalation). Kevala means ‘alone’ and occurs when the breath ceases, with no expansion (inhalation) following. Both kumbhakas are after the “exhalation”,  practicing sahitah eventually leads to kevala, as Swatmarama, the compiler of the HYP explains:

 

“the practice of sahita is done until kevala occurs” (HYP Ch 2, v. 72 own translation)

 

The fifth vayu – vyana –moves independently from the breath. When the reversing vayu has started to purify the pranic body, vyana moves into the freed space, like light shining into areas freed from shadow. This is the well-known sensation of lightness and space spreading through the inner system as we practice yoga.

 

Kundalini, which is a dormant pranic force, is the final part of the pranayama process. This force is situated in the lowest chakra, mooladhara, at the opening of sushumna. The vayus move in the rhythm of the breath through all the outer nadis and when reaching kumbhaka, kundalini starts to awaken and moves up the central channel. In the state of kevala kumbhaka there aren’t any obstacles left in the pranic body, the force is able to rise fully helping the practitioner reach enlightenment.

Awakening this Kundalini force is not just reserved for the great yoga masters, but everyone can experience this with practice and guidance.

“awaken kundalini by kumbhaka and sushumna becomes free from impurities.” (HYP Ch 2,v. 75)

There simply isn’t yoga without a true understanding of pranayama. It isn’t about healing the respiratory system, but helping us transform the quality of human experience to reach samadhi (complete stillness), kaivalya (Inner freedom) or moksha (self-realisation). Without pranayama there is no kumbhaka. Without kumbhaka there is no stillness.  Without stillness there is no Self-realization. And Yoga is the method to Self-realization.

“Tat param purusha khyater… the realization of the supreme Purusha” (Patanjali 1,16 own translation)

 

Angela is teaching Yoga since 30 years, and been a Diploma Course Tutor for the British Wheel of Yoga for 20 years, she is giving workshops on pranayama and other topics in person and zoom. You can join a workshop if you want to be instructed into this experience of pranayama.

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