The practice of Pranayam involves minimizing the movement of the body and focusing on the movement of breath. Moving the body is discouraged in Pranayam as it can disturb our control over the flow of our breath therefore the focus in Pranayam is on achieving physiological and psychological well-being which is a key link between body and mind and therefore Pranayam is ideally suited to achieve this goals the physical goals of Pranayam can be either to recover from sickness or to maintain the health. At the level of mind Pranayam acts in achieving a base level of mental balance that will allow us to effectively practice of meditation.
[...] This versatility is absent in passive observation of course such active regulation ultimately must be used to bring about long (Dirgha) smooth (Sukshma) breathing, it also results in focused Mann. The important principles for practicing the Pranayam 1. Components of breathing There are four components of breathing which are: inhalation, holding after inhalation, exhalation and suspension after exhalation. Inhalation and exhalation involves movement while the other two components are static extensions in inhalation or exhalation the movement has two characteristics that we can alter and it is the route of entry and exit of the air and the length of the breath Nose or mouth breathing There are only two entry and exit points for breath and they are the nose and the mouth. [...]
[...] The length and smoothness of breathing reflects the degree of absorption of the mind. The converse is also true consciously increasing the length and smoothness of our breath calms our mind. In Pranayam we deliberately use this connection that breathing has with the mind and body we are consciously change our breathing to reduce bodily imbalance and mental disturbances. A change in our pattern can be brought about by either passive observation of the breath or active regulation of components of breathing cycle. [...]
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