Taming the Praana
Non-traditional techniques: Anulom, Pratilom, and Anulom Vilom
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
Over the past several weeks, we have been discussing the fourth limb of Yoga - Praanaayaam. There are several established techniques which have been created by Yogis over the ages who experimented on their own bodies, and passed the methods down to their students. Broadly, these are broken down into:
Shatkarmas: Six cleansing techniques, to clear blockages of various types.
Kumbhakas: Eight breathing techniques to make the practitioner more aware of the Praana, and help them more easily manipulate it.
These techniques, especially the Kumbhakas, are tremendously helpful for beginners and advanced students alike, and are a good way to learn how to manipulate the Praana at will. Once you get good at doing this, you can become focused when you want to be focused, become tired when you want to be tired, and become energised when you want to be energised. All within your limits, of course, which you will find through practice.
P: What if these techniques don’t suit me?
Every body is different, and not all techniques suit everyone. Given this, it is important to experiment with close attention to how these techniques affect you, no matter what may be said in the texts, or in this newsletter.
In fact, all of the eight Kumbhakas are based on the fundamentals of Praanaayaam. Specifically, these are six variables, which are broken into three vrittis, or movements, and three measures.
The three measures are:
Desh: Space
Kaal: Time
Sankhyaa: Count
The three vrittis are:
Antara: Internal (e.g. the inhale, inside the body)
Baahya: External (e.g. the exhale, the outer surface of the body)
Sthambha: The gap (ie. the breath hold, aka Kumbhaka)
The individual Yogi can play around with these six simple variables, and experiment with themselves to find what works best for them.
However, in doing so, make sure to be careful.
Last week, we started a discussion of these non-traditional techniques with vilom - a type of interrupted breathing nowadays known as the “psychological sigh.” In this article, we will go over some more such non-traditional Praanaayaam techniques that have been created by Yogis over the millennia.
Notice how the fundamentals remain the same, regardless of the technique.
Anulom: With the grain
The word “anulom” (अनुलोम, pronounced uh-nu-loam) means “with the grain”, and comes from the word “lom”, which means “hair” or “natural order”, and the prefix “anu” which means “along with.” The root noun1 is the same as in vilom (विलोम) and pratilom (प्रतिलोम), discussed below.
With this and the following technique, there are four prerequisites:
Knowledge of vilom, discussed last week.
Knowledge of ujjaayi, where the throat is partially closed and a sound like Darth Vader is made (like fogging up a mirror with your breath).
The ability to properly close one nostril at a time using your fingers, also known as naasikaagra mudra.
The ability to partially close of your nostrils in order to limit the flow of air. This last skill is new.
Preparation
Before beginning, place your right hand in naasikaagra mudra, closing your right nostril with your thumb, and your left nostril with the ring and pinky fingers. The index and middle fingers can rest in between the eyebrows.
Now release your thumb, but only slightly. Make sure that the wall of the nostril is parallel to the septum (the nostril-divider-thing), and that your other fingers aren’t pushing the septum towards the open nostril.
Practice breathing like this for a few breaths until you get the hang of it.
The goal of this technique is to slowly, but gently, elongate your exhalations. The inhale can be short, but the exhales should get longer and longer with practice.
Technique #1: Ujjaayi in + out through both nostrils
Sit in your Aasana, keeping your head, neck, and torso in alignment.
Exhale all the air in your lungs.
Inhale slowly and deeply, as in ujjaayi, until your lungs are completely filled with air (Deergha Shvaasam).
Hold the nostrils in naasikaagra mudra, and partially open the nostrils so the inner walls of the nostrils are parallel to the septum, and equidistant from it.
Keeping an even pressure, exhale slowly. Adjust the fingers slightly in order to keep an even pressure through both nostrils.
Once all the breath has left your lungs, lower your hands, and repeat step 3 onwards.
This is one cycle. Repeat for ten cycles.
This technique helps to clear the nostrils of any leftover mucous, but also brings the mind to a state of calm. Additionally, it helps to increase attention to the flow of Praana through the body, starting with the movement of the breath.
Technique #2: Ujjaayi in + out through one nostril at a time
Through practising this technique, you can start to closely notice the differences between each nostril, and help to increase your awareness of how you breathe throughout your day-to-day life.
Sit in your Aasana.
Inhale slowly and deeply, in an ujjaayi breath.
Bring your right hand into naasikaagra mudra, and block the left nostril with your ring and pink fingers, without moving the position of the septum.
Keep the right nostril partially opened using your thumb, making sure that the inner wall is parallel to the septum.
Exhale slowly and gently, slightly adjusting the thumb to ensure a smooth flow of breath, until the lungs are completely empty.
Repeat steps 2-5, with the opposite side.
This is one cycle. Repeat for ten cycles.
If at any point you start to feel tired or out of breath, stop, lie down, and breathe normally for two to three minutes until you start to feel better. Try again, but slightly increase the speed and amount of breath (ie. make your breath less subtle).
Making the breath more subtle takes time and practice. Feeling out of breath here is a sign that you went further than your current stage of practice. There is no rush - with time and patience, you will be able to make the breath longer and more subtle.
After you start to feel comfortable here, you can start to intensify these techniques by introducing breath holds, first without, and then with, bandhas.
Specifically, uddiyaana bandha on the baahya kumbhaka (ie. external retention), and moolabandha on the antara kumbhaka (ie. internal retention).
Technique #3: With vilom on the inhale
In this technique, interrupt your inhalations as in vilom, where you breathe in, pause without releasing the diaphragm, continue the inhalation, pause again, and so on, until your lungs are full.
For the exhalation, it can be done with both nostrils partially closed, or with each nostril partially closed one at a time.
Pratilom: Against the grain
Pratilom (प्रतिलोम, pronounced pruh-tih-loam) also comes from the word lom. The prefix prati (प्रति) means “against” or “opposite to”, and so the word pratilom means “opposite to the hair”, or “against the grain” to use the English colloquialism.
This technique is very similar to anulom above, except that the partially closed nostrils are used on the inhalation (instead of on the exhalation as above).
An additional difference is in the goal of this technique. As opposed to anulom, where the inhalations were to be elongated, here the Yogi must slowly, but gently, elongate their inhalations.
The exhale can be short, but the inhales should get longer and longer with practice.
Finally, when introducing interrupted breathing, or vilom, the exhalations are interrupted. This is unlike anulom where we interrupted the inhale.
However, introducing vilom with pratilom can result in strain on the nasal membranes, so be careful if you choose to try this variation.
Both anulom and pratilom are examples of vishamvritti praanaayaam, where the different lengths of inhalations and exhalations lead to different psychophysical effects. Try them for yourself and see how they affect you.
Anulom Vilom
Several weeks ago, we started our journey through the Yoga’s fourth limb with a preliminary technique known as naadi shodhana. Briefly, the most advanced version of this technique was to breathe in through the left, exhale through the right, then inhale through the right, and exhale through the left.
Anulom vilom (अनुलोम विलोम) is very similar to naadi shodhana, except that we introduce sankhya (counts), kumbhakas (holds), and bandhas (locks).
Technique #1: 4 + 8
Sit in your Aasana with your head, neck, and torso in alignment.
Exhale all the air from your lungs.
Place your right hand in naasikaagra mudra, and close your right nostril with your thumb.
Inhale for 4 maatraas (ie. consistent counts, of a length your choice), filling up your lungs within that time span.
Close your left nostril with your ring and pinky fingers, and open your right nostril.
Exhale for 8 maatraas, expelling all the air from your lungs within that timespan.
This is one round. Practice for fifteen rounds.
When practising this technique, the goal is to make the flow of air as smooth and steady as possible. There shouldn’t be a mad rush at the end to get all the air in and out, and neither should you be limiting air towards the end.
The flow should be steady from beginning to end.
This may not come quickly, but with practice, it becomes easier.
Once you are able to sustain a steady flow, move on to the next technique.
Technique #2: 4 + 16 + 8
Sit in your Aasana with your head, neck, and torso in alignment.
Exhale all the air in your lungs.
Place your right hand in naasikaagra mudra, and close your right nostril with your thumb.
Inhale for 4 maatraas, filling up your lungs within that time span.
Close your left nostril with your ring and pinky fingers.
Hold the breath (antara kumbhaka) for 16 maatraas.
Open your right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed.
Exhale for 8 maatraas, expelling all the air from your lungs within that timespan.
This is one round. Practice for fifteen rounds.
As with the first technique, make sure to keep the breath even throughout this practice. Once this has gotten comfortable, in order to intensify the effect, you can start to increase the number of maatraas, keeping the ratio the same.
If you want more intensity, you can also include the three bandhas on your antara kumbhaka.
As always, if you do not feel comfortable, stop, lie down, and try again in a few minutes. Notice what your body needs from you, and adjust accordingly.
Technique #3: 4 + 16 + 8 + 4
Sit in your Aasana with your head, neck, and torso in alignment.
Exhale all the air in your lungs.
Place your right hand in naasikaagra mudra, and close your right nostril with your thumb.
Inhale for 4 maatraas, filling up your lungs within that time span.
Close your left nostril with your ring and pinky fingers.
Hold the breath (antara kumbhaka) for 16 maatraas.
Open your right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed.
Exhale for 8 maatraas, expelling all the air from your lungs within that timespan.
Close both nostrils, and hold the breath (baahya kumbhaka) for 4 maatraas.
Optional: Lower your head in jaalandhar bandha, and perform an uddiyana bandha (as if you are drawing your intestines up into your ribcage). Release both bandhas after the baahya kumhaka is over.
This is one round. Practice for fifteen rounds.
In the beginning, the kumbhakas (holding the breath) can feel somewhat challenging. After some practice, it will start to feel easier.
Once it starts to feel comfortable, increase the length of each vritti. For example, instead of 4:16:8:4, you can do 8:32:16:8, then 16:64:32:16, and so on.
If you feel particularly experimental, you can even try to vary the lengths of the inhalations, exhalations and holds to see how they affect your mind.
Through this practice, the Yogi builds up an awareness of their Praana, and how the movement of the Praana in the body affects the mind. This allows for fine-grained control over your mental states, enabling you to feel calm, energised, tired, awake, or balanced, whenever you want to.
Be careful.
यथा सिंहो गजो व्याघ्रो भवेद्वश्यः शनैः शनैः। तथैव सेवितो वायुरन्यथा हन्ति साधकम्॥प्राणायामेन युक्तेन सर्वरोगक्षयो भवेत्। अयुक्ताभ्यासयोगेन सर्वरोगसमुद्भवेत्॥Yathaa simho gajo vyaaghro bhavedVashyah shanaih shanaihTathaEva sevito vayurAnyathaa hanti saadhakamPraanaayaamEna yuktena sarvaRogaKshayo bhavetAyuktaAbhyaasaYogena sarvaRogaSamudbhavetJust like lions, elephants, and tigers are brought under control slowly slowly, so the Praana is controlled with great attentiveness. Otherwise, it leads to the destruction of the practitioner.
By the proper practice of Praanaayaam, all diseases are eradicated. By the improper practice of Praanaayaam [on the other hand], all diseases arise.
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 2.15-16
It is difficult to train any wild animal, but training animals that are both wild and powerful - like lions, elephants, and tigers - is even more so. Improper training can lead to a violent death for the trainer.
However, if they are trained slowly and continuously for many years, eventually, even the wildest and most powerful animals can be completely controlled.
In this way, the Praana is like a powerful, wild animal.
It takes a long time, with consistent effort, internal honesty, and great attention, in order to bring the Praana under control. If it is not done in this way, it can lead to a lot of problems in both the body and the mind.
For example, we learned about the energising techniques of Suryabheda and Vishamvritti Praanaayaam. For a person that has mastered this technique, one may think that they need not rest. Any time they feel tired, they can simply use the technique to energize the mind and body, and go about their work. After all, resting can seem like a waste of precious time.
However, using a technique like this indiscriminately can lead the body to feel burned out. If one is not very attentive to the needs of the body, it can lead to exhaustion, and even death.
Practice the techniques you have learned over the past several weeks, and use them to adjust your own mental and physical state.
However, be vigilant. Watch the effects on your body and mind carefully, as a trainer watches an untamed animal. Use the four Yogic keys to practice:
Deergh Kaal: Don’t expect quick results - it takes time to perfect even one technique.
Nairantarya: Practice regularly. Don’t take extended breaks where days turn into weeks or months.
Satkaar: Be honest with yourself. If a technique doesn’t feel right for you, or if you are pushing yourself beyond your limit - notice it, and respect your own limitations. Start from where you are capable, and gently push your own boundaries.
Aasevitah: Pay close attention to yourself. How does each technique affect the body and mind? What happens when you make a small adjustment?
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by responding to this email, commenting down below, or posting on r/EmptyYourCup.
Until next time:
Systematically practice the techniques of anulom, pratilom, and anulom vilom shared here.
Take careful notes on how each technique made you feel, and repeat the experiment on yourself to verify the results. Don’t take anything for granted without trying it for yourself.
Next time: Beyond the breath: The results of Praanaayaam
All Sanskrit words are derived from a set of 2012 verbal roots, called dhatus. The word “root” here does not refer to the underlying dhatu, but the noun one level below the compound word.