Benefits Of Pranayama - Breathing Exercises

Prana, as explained earlier is the vital life force. This in the ancient texts is believed to be symbolic of a guest whose arrival in the body points towards all indications of life like movement, breathing and other activities and basic functions. Without this prana no matter how many machines are used the body can still not show any signs of life. The sages and yogis advice that this guest should be well looked after. Once prana leave the body nothing can help the body. It dies and decays. Pranayama is believed to be the only thing that can keep this prana in good shape. Pranayama is not simply a group of exercises, it is a medium to keep life in the body vitalized so that the soul can achieve the final release or complete freedom. This is because in order to do any kind of practice that can facilitate the journey towards salvation, the body is used as a medium and so it should be able to take the rigors of the practice.

The practice of pranayama is the best thing to do to improve physical and mental health. Pranayama relieves all the three causes of disease in the human system namely wind, biliousness and phlegm. Practice of pranayama since a young age helps the body to be disease free. All the parts of the body develop proportionately if pranayama is done regularly. The chest becomes strong. The abdomen cannot get disproportionate as compared to the rest of the body. The face develops radiance. The shoulders become strong. The muscles of limbs become more supple and strong. The sense organs develop new receptivity and depth. The back, neck and rest of the spine become strong and stable. Circulation of blood improves. The brain new vitality and is animated. In short all the systems of the body develop and become radiant and perform to their optimum capacity.

Air is the primary requirement of any living creature. Pranayama teaches us to control the movement of air inside the system. The exact purpose of pranayama is to transmit energy to the body. This charge of high energy induces perspiration. When the body perspires it excretes the toxins and other impurities from the body. Perspiration in the human body is induced by various physical activities. These invigorate the system. People indulge in many such physical activities like various sporting activities and forms of exercises. Pranayama also produces the same results of heavy sweating and fast breathing but there are no expenses involved by way of getting heavy sporting equipments. Also the risk of injury that every sporting event carries with it is completely avoided here. The economic status of the person does not make any difference while practicing pranayama. It can be practiced by anyone who breathes and that covers the entire living population of the whole wide world. Pranayama can be practiced by a person single handedly as well as collectively in a group. So if practiced with the entire family or a group of friends this can become a very refreshing social exercise.

The body warmth of practitioners of pranayama increases and this stabilizes all the systems. The blood is able to get rid of impurities faster and more effectively when the system as a whole is warm. This is true for all the digestive functions. They also happen to the optimum best if the system is sufficiently warm. Even in cold weathers the practitioners of pranayama do not feel the impact of cold, neither does their digestion becomes impaired in any way. Pangs of hunger can be effectively controlled with the practice of kumbhaks . This decreases the urge to eat at wrong times or unnecessarily, thus controlling dietary disorders to creep up. This is a very natural way of controlling the dietary disorders, which is a reason of almost all kinds of diseases.

The sages believed that the air that is inhaled during pranayama comes after touching various fruits, food grains and other things of nourishment. While brushing past them they tend to capture almost all of the good characteristics of these nourishing substances. These get absorbed in the human system during pranayama. Thus the sages that sat in tapasor meditation for years never had the need to eat or drink anything and yet they managed to survive perfectly well.

When the retained air reaches the other parts of the system it helps in curing all kinds of disease. Yogis vouch for the near miraculous power of pranayama to cure all kinds of diseases. These diseases include some very dreaded and supposedly incurable ones like asthma, piles, diabetes, kidney disorders, hernia and many other disorders.

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