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The Science of Breath has its
foundations in the control of Prana or vital energy. The important
starting exercise for the student of Yoga is the alternate
breathing exercise, known as Anuloma Viloma Pranayama.
The reason for doing alternate
breathing is that the breath alternates between two nostrils. You
can easily find this out for yourself by placing your palm near
the nostrils. One of the nostrils will always be partially
blocked, and the flow of air in and out of the lungs will be
mainly through only one of the nostrils. If a person is in normal
health the breath will alternate approximately every hour and
fifty minutes. This normal period of breath alternation is
established only when one has perfected pranayama, starting with
alternate breathing.
In the vast majority of persons,
this change of the breath from one nostril to the other varies a
great deal, owing to such conditions as unnatural living habits,
wrong diet, diseases and the lack of proper exercise.
All these incorrect "habits of
living" have an effect on the breath; diverting it from its normal
flow. According to Yoga, the breath in the right nostril is said
to be hot; while the flow from the left is cool. Therefore
symbolically, the right channel is known as "sun breath", and the
left channel is referred to as "moon breath". The energy that
flows through the "sun breath" produces heat in the body; this is
catabolic, efferent and acceleratory, to the bodily organs.
Conversely, the energy that flows through the "moon breath"
produces coolness in the body; this is anabolic, afferent, and
inhibitory, to the organs.
When the breath continues to flow
in one nostril for more than two hours, it is a symptom of
derangement caused by excess heat or cold. In this way, if the sun
breath is more active, the heat of the body increases and there
can be mental and nervous disturbances. Conversely, when the moon
breath is more active, the metabolic activity of the body becomes
low, cold and lethargic, and mental activity is
suspended.
The alternate breathing exercise
is mainly for the purpose of maintaining an equilibrium in the
catabolic and anabolic processes in the body. According to Yoga,
when breath flows in one nostril without changing for hours, it is
a warning that some illness is at hand. The longer the flow of
breath in one nostril, the more serious the illness will be. This
is because the ganglia of some particular nerve centre are being
over-worked by the abnormal flow of the breath (or prana), which
moves in a particular centre for a longer than normal period of
time.
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