1 THERAPEUTI C POTENTI AL OF PRANAYAMA Yogacharya Dr. ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI MBBS, ADY, DSM, DPC, PGDFH, PGDY, FIAY, CHAIRMAN: INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR YOGA EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (ICYER), Pondicherry, South India. www.icyer.com I NTRODUCTI ON Prana is the vital life force that acts as a catalyst in all our activities and Ayama the expansion or control of this force. Thus Pranayama can be defined as the science of controlled, conscious expansion of Prana in our energy body/sheath, the Pranamaya Kosha. Gurus of Vedic times placed great importance on Pranayama and advocated its practice in order to unleash the hidden potential energy known as the Kundalini Shakti. Indian culture has always laid great emphasis on Prana and Pranayama and ancient texts say, “God is breath” as well as “Breath is life and life is breath”. Atarva Veda even states, “Prana is the fundamental basis of whatever is, was and will be”. In the Prasnopanishad we can find the following statement. “All that exists in all the three worlds is under the governance of Prana”. It is said in the Shiva-Svarodaya, “The Prana (life force) verily is one’s greatest friend, companion and there is no greater kinsman than the life force”. In the Yoga-Vashistha, Sage Vashistha says that when the energy of the life force (Prana) is restricted, then the mind dissolves, like a shadow of a thing when the thing is absent. The systematic practice of Yoga as codified by Maharishi Patanjali places Pranayama as the fourth limb or Anga of Ashtanga Yoga. He puts it above the Yama-Niyama and Asana and says that one must practice the Yama-Niyama and try to master Asana in order to be able to practice Pranayama. He defines Pranayama as ‘The regulation of the movements of inhalation and exhalation’. He also states that by the practice of Pranayama, the darkness that hides the light of wisdom is destroyed. He goes on to advise us that our mind attains fitness for the Samyama practices (of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) through perfection in Pranayama. Patanjali has said that Pranayama is regulated by place, time and number meaning that at various times in our Yoga Sadhana,