Rediscovering the true meaning of pranayama

Like for many of us, when I first came to yoga, pranayama was of secondary importance to asana. We were taught breathing techniques like the ‘complete yogic breath’ with reference to anatomy, which did not fascinate me very much, but it was only much later when I worked with the original Hatha verses, studied Sanskrit and delved deeper into pranayama practice, that I realized its fundamental role in Yoga and how mistaking it for ‘breath’ belittles its true purpose: to clear the obstacles in the pranic body to allow Prana (life force) to expand (ayama). My study and practice of Pranayama changed my teaching. I started to introduce my changed approach of Pranayama on CPD days for the British Wheel of Yoga and organized pranayama workshop in my Yoga School.  On those events I gave/give evidence from the Sanskrit texts and instruct the original teachings. Students were fascinated and I always finished a session with the question whether students think there might be truth in my approach. They confirmed that I had shown them my take in theory and practice and they saw its value. Thanks to those confirmations I wrote the book: “Pranayama Lost in Translation” which was straight away accepted by Singing Dragons Publishers and will appear in July 2025.

In the West we have been misled into believing that pranayama is respiration. Googling pranayama brings up ‘breathing exercises’ with multiple sites referring to  ‘respiratory health’ or ‘increased lung capacity’. But, that is not pranayama. Pranayama is the expansion of Prana (life force), which travels from the navel centre – the place pranic force resides – outward and returns back, a movement called vayu (wind). The vayu movement is linked to the breath as it shares the same rhythm as the respiratory process, but it is substantially different.

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Svadhyaya Breath Journal: Download an extract from the companion workbook to Restoring Prana by Robin Rothenberg

Singing Dragon was proud to publish Restoring Prana: A Therapeutic Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath for Yoga Therapists, Yoga Teachers, and Healthcare Practitioners by Robin Rothenberg in December 2019, to critical acclaim. We are therefore delighted to announce that Svadhyaya Breath Journal: A Companion Workbook to Restoring Prana by Robin will be published in August 2020, and is now available to pre-order!

This companion workbook provides a pre-formulated breath journal, which follows the chapter chronology of the parent book, Restoring Prana, a training manual on transformative breathing presenting a new way of understanding and applying breath to a wide range of ailments. Each chapter in Restoring Prana ends with specific practices that the reader is asked to track in a breath journal – and this workbook provides a pre-formulated journal for this purpose, with the key concepts highlighted and with space for breath charts, logs and reflection.

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Robin Rothenberg: Pranayama and Chronic Conditions

 

Robin Rothenberg is an author and internationally respected yoga therapist with a full time practice serving people living with chronic pain and illness. She is director of Essential Yoga Therapy with an IAYT Accredited Therapist Training Program and has been involved in yoga research since 2000.

Her Summit offering is based on her soon to be published text, Restoring Prana: A therapeutic Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath (Singing Dragon, 2019). Robin will share the knowledge she’s accrued from intensive study in respiratory science, and the original Vedic teachings on pranayama.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN ROBIN’S LIVE WEBINAR NOW


Restoring Prana
A Therapeutic Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath for Yoga Therapists, Yoga Teachers and Healthcare Practitioners
Robin Rothenberg

Grounded in the yogic teachings, this text introduces the Buteyko breathing method as a more contemporary way of understanding the original intention of pranayama. Through extensive research, Robin Rothenberg establishes that as with Dr. Buteyko’s breath retraining technique, the ancient yogis prescribed breathing less not more. Read more