“Once upon a time, a man practised breathing exercises for many years, but without changing the way he lived – and without attaining any of the wonderful benefits he knew breathing exercises could bring about. Feeling disillusioned, he sought out a teacher, who gave his new student some different, easy breathing exercises. They were preliminary breathing exercises, much simpler than the ones he had been practising hitherto. The teacher also asked the man to eat healthily and live his life according to ethical principles. The student practised diligently, but nevertheless did not stop badgering his teacher to initiate him into more advanced techniques. For the first two years, the teacher met his student’s eager requests with the instruction that he must wait.
Gradually, the pupil became accustomed to the exercises and forgot to trouble his teacher for extra instruction. He practised regularly, and lived his life according to the principles set out by his teacher. After several years, the teacher called in his student and asked him to exhale fully and then inhale deeply. At the end of the inhalation, as he began to retain his breath, the student felt his world expand beyond all boundaries.
The teacher instructs the student to change his lifestyle, knowing that you must purify mind as well as body in order to receive optimum benefit from breathing exercises, and knowing that such a life-changing process takes time. The teacher also understands the profound benefits of that change if only you can wait for it – vyana energy promotes both physical and spiritual growth. Yoga philosophy teaches that breath is like a spark that has the power to ignite a field of grass. In a few minutes, the entire area can be aflame if the grass is properly prepared – fully-grown and sun-dried. If it is not prepared well or for long enough, the spark will only smoulder and the flame will not spread. Regularly practising breathing exercises – even the most simple ones – arouses the outward-expanding vyana energy that lies dormant within you, if you have prepared your whole self with a healthy lifestyle.
If you notice that part of your body seems to be lacking in energy or is prone to chronic pain, excessive coldness or tension headaches, use your vyana breath along with your powers of visualization to increase energy flow within that region, igniting any latent energy with its energetic spark. Start by lying down or sitting comfortably (see pages 35–7).
1 Gently seal your lips and breathe through your nose. Close your eyes and focus your attention on your breath. Let it become rhythmical and full. With each inhalation, visualize your breath expanding to reach the area of difficulty, re-establishing healthy circulation. Don’t hold your breath: exhale fully to enable your exhalation to break through unwanted blockages to your energetic flow.
2 If you have difficulty in directing your breath, take your attention to the top of your head and, as you inhale, imagine your vyana breath expanding outward. As you exhale, drop your awareness to your forehead. Inhale and imagine your breath here also expanding outward, then exhale and drop your focus to the back of your head. Repeat, dropping your attention with each exhalation in turn to the base of your brain, your neck and throat, your heart region, your solar plexus, the area around your navel, your kidney or sacral region and, finally, the base of your spine.
3 Now reverse the direction of this sequence, directing your energy up through the same parts of your body with each exhalation, and with each inhalation feeling your vyana energy expanding outward. Then relax.
4 Practise this exercise regularly until you feel able to consciously direct the energy of your breath at will.