Pranayama and Breath as Medicine with Akshay Bhat

0:00 Hey there, before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this free resource, this podcast is one of the ways that we can do that. And the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

0:16 So if you go to Apple Podcast or Spotify or whatever podcast platform. You use. Scroll down until you find that star review and then give us some love. Thank you so much, and let's get started with this week's episode. So the purpose of doing this is to basically understand this is how our mind functions. And people ask this question, why my mind is coming up with this, this kind of a problem, this kind of a thought. It's because your energy is in

0:48 this centers. So where the energy is there, the mind is just functioning mind. What is mind which is basically a movement which is functioning. So the whole purpose of doing this is to understand our own mind and to not get caught by any of the chakras or any of the churning that is happening or any bondages.

1:18 So to give freedom to the mind. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you. We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour yoga teacher training. Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way. Together with Paul Teodo and Byron de Marseille, we put together this podcast to.

1:48 Provide you with a free resource. To learn more about yoga, whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga related. And we're trying to talk from the teachers perspective and also the students perspective to make sure we get a full 360° angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world.

2:07 Welcome to our podcast. Hello, and welcome to the Going Pro Yoga podcast. Michael here, your host. And today we have a returning guest, Akshay Bhat back in the yoga studio. Hello Akshay. Namaste. Welcome back to the podcast.

2:24 So I'm excited to have Akshay here. He's been on a few times. If you haven't listened to Akshay before, a couple episodes to kind of tease you if you want to go back later on. But episode 138, we talked about healing through tradition, where Akshay tells a story and his relationship with mantras and yoga, which is really beautiful to get to know Akshay. And then two episodes after that one, 39140, we can't just start to talk about the Yoga Sutras,

2:53 Patanjali's wisdom. And then more recently, I believe, I don't remember the episodes exactly, but we started talking about Ayurveda as well. So this was episode 153 and 1:54. So you can go and check those out. I'll remind you to the end of the podcast. But otherwise, Akshaya is been on the podcast many times. And this time, we're going to actually continue to unfold a little bit more of the 8 limbs.

3:16 So we've had Vijeth Kumar come in and he's talked a little bit about the Yamas and the Nyamas, which is the 1st and 2nd limb of yoga, third limb of yoga being asana, which we kind of talk about that all the time. And also it's not really a podcast conversation, But then the 4th being Pranayam.

3:34 Yes. And this is what we're going to digest and talk about today with Akshay. So welcome Akshay, and I'm excited. Thank you. Yeah, I'm very happy to be back. And many people who are were listening to the podcast, they were sending messages to talk on Pranayam.

3:54 All they wanted. So is a request, yes. Perfect. So maybe we can start from there. Was there a specific request or should we just kind of dive into it? Yes, we can dive into pranayam. Sure, we can start by the prayer from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. So all types of practice, including power yoga in yoga, all type of practices basically coming from the Hatha yoga text. So this is a prayer for Adinata Shiva who has given this knowledge of yoga to all of us.

5:13 Shanti, shanti, shanti. Beautiful voice of an Angel. Thank you. So tell me about that. So this is a text called Hatayoga Pradipika where Swami Swatmarama is the author and he mentions that the 8 limbs of yoga is actually from Rajayoga. So Hatha yoga is there to support Rajayoga. So without hatha yoga, Rajayoga is very intense. It becomes difficult.

6:00 So that's why in Hatha yoga Pradeepika they mention different types of pranayams, different types of asanas, mudras, bandas and kriyas, the cleansing technique, basically all the technique which is connecting to body and how to purify this body. So we can begin our journey with Raja Yoga, the 8 limbs of yoga. So that's what he is saying that his Sri Adinatha and Amos Tutasmai that he is saluting to Adinata who given this yoga yen O padishta, hatha yoga vidya, he

6:48 given this hatha yoga vibhra jate prone Nataraja yogam. He is telling clearly that Hatha Yoga is there all of this practice of variations of practice that modern days that we are doing like maybe Pavar yoga, Yin yoga, Vinyasa, so many variety of yoga practice is actually there to begin the journey of Raja Yoga which is 8 limbs of yoga.

7:21 So is that what Raja Yoga means? Because to me Raja I thought was king. Yes. So Raja Yoga is king among the yoga because it's it's a yoga of willpower which develops strong willpower. That's why it's called as Raja Yoga.

7:39 And the text for Raja Yoga is of course Patanjali Yoga Sutras. And Patanjali's direct method of practicing Raja Yoga is 8 limbs of yoga. So this 8 limbs of yoga is Raja Yoga. So when it comes to prana yam, maybe let's just assume that people don't know anything about that, just to kind of give a foundation before we can kind of go more into it. So what is Prana Yam?

8:14 So it's coming from the two words prana and iyama. So prana is basically life force. Life force means that the energy that what we have life force and this prana is manifested in our body as breath. So this breath is there, there is life, there is no breath then we are dead. So the prana how to enhance this functionalities of prana. They mentioned different types of prana. We discussed that and Ayama means to stretch, I am a means to lengthen and deepen this

9:08 prana and our connection with pranic body. So that's what is Pranayama means to gain mastery over the mechanisms of prana, understanding how this subtle energies are functioning in the body. The pranic body, yes, is the body of.

9:31 Is that the body of receiving energy or energy in? Yes, pranic. So we have basically 3 body. Yogic text says we have the stoola sharira that's our physical body and we have energetical body that is pranic body. For example, just to understand the pranas, like we can open the arms in front of the chest like this and like bringing our soft attention between the palms and justice, observing the space between the palms.

10:15 And you can take in a deep breath and gently open the palms little bit wider, just a little bit, and exhale slowly, slowly. You can bring the palms closer, closer, closer, and sensing that energy between the palms, and as you inhale, just expand a little bit. Natural breath, exhaling, bringing the palms closer, closer and that sensation of breathing, let it expand the space between the palm.

10:57 Slowly, slowly bringing the palms closer, closer, closer, you will sense some kind of a subtle energy. May be heat, may be magnetic field it's pushing, or may be lightness or heaviness. Yes. It's weird. My hands were like, I don't know, it's. Becoming numb.

11:32 Well, yeah, it was weird sensations. Part of me was like I was playing with my brain being like, am I making this up or am I actually, you know, is this actually, you know, plus see, like, you know, how the mind works. But at certain points when I got a little bit closer, my hands almost they felt like they were, they were starting to cramp. Yeah.

11:49 Or like, yeah, it felt like a like a thickness almost. Yes. So this hand is actually the the space where we can give the prana to somebody. So in pranic healing or in Reiki, they use, you know, healing through the subtle energy.

12:13 So if somebody's having problems with the gut, so the cell feeling is just like using first activating this this center of the palm. So right in the middle of the palm. Yeah, this is actually the center where we energize the pranic body.

12:31 And then first we have to expand our prana like pranayama is to expand our energy, energy body expanding. So once once we do the pranayama, then naturally the hand can go this much wider and we can sense the energies like my aura is this much expanded and then then we can channel that energy to whichever part of the body which needs healing.

13:02 So that's how the pranayama is very functional. Also when we do the Pranic healing practice and do the the techniques of pranayama which helps everyone to understand what's healing is what's self healing. Interesting. So I mean, I'm sure other people can relate to this, but the association of rubbing their hands together and there's a lot of teachers that'll do this and they'll say building heat energy, not necessarily, I guess product energy, but I mean, it's kind of one and the same, I

13:36 suppose. And then placing it somewhere on your body, eyes or on your heart or something like this. So to me this concept is similar but different, yes. Yeah. OK. So the difference is this is not so much about building heat through friction, that type of energy.

13:53 This is more of spaciousness or expansiveness, energy of expansion through the breath. Like the magnetic energy, right. So the energy like we basically we want to see the energy like fire we can see, but magnetic energy can be only felt.

14:18 So we need a lot of sensitivity to grow in our systems to feel this energy and also bringing the mind below the head to heart. So when the mind is in the heart space, that's when we can sense the prana, but mind is here in the headspace, then it becomes logical, rational and all of that, creative everything. And then there is question and doubt coming in for that to bring the mind from headspace to the heart space. And then the energy expands.

15:00 That's where the energy is expanding. So the pranic healing and of course the Pranayam practice is basically doing the practice from the heart and the healing happens from the heart and energy is received from the heart and all of that later spreads some energy to the mind, some energy to the cut, some energy to Muladhara chakra, some energy to liver. Like that the energy is equally distributed. So heart is the center of the prana. That's what the the text says.

15:43 So my mind, my brain, my logic, which is funny because you said it's, you know, in order to kind of access this, to feel into the sensitivity, to be able to notice getting out of the mind and into the body, specifically the heart or your center is going to allow that awareness to become more accessible.

16:06 That being said, as we're talking about it, I think of just the lungs. And as you breathe in, the air comes into the lungs and then the lungs basically distribute the oxygen into the bloodstream. And then the heart pumps the oxygen or the prana or the energy to the rest of the body from just the basic structure of lung anatomy.

16:28 And then thinking of, you know, the other, let's say, ways of guiding the breath to an area of the body, you know, like breathing in and then filling your lungs up, letting it go. And then as you fill your body up with this pranic energy, this prana yama, and then you can start to breathe into an area of the body, like breathing into your hip, breathing into your knee, breathing into your feet, breathing into your hands.

16:59 And I've had students ask me from a logical perspective, oh, what's actually happening when we do this? You know, I hear teachers say this all the time, but what happens anatomically? And I'm like, well, you know, technically you're not breathing into your hip or your knee.

17:15 But then I started to bring into like, you know, the, the oxygen is flowing that way. But what do you think about that when someone asks that question? Yeah, if we see the the definition of asana from Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Prayatna Shahithiliya, Anantha Samabatibya.

17:35 So Patanjali is saying prayatna means the effort, Prayatna is effort, Shahithiliya means effort have to drop. So that means when there is a effort, there is twin force. So effort is like I want to go and have tea for that there is no effort needed. But if I am very lazy, I am attached to the chair, there is like maybe not now.

18:05 So this is creating the friction inside of Maine. So when the energy is in flow, there is no effort effortless like you pour oil from like this and then oil drops, there is no effort and just just like that's like a thread, oil just drops down South. Smooth and fluid.

18:31 Yeah, prayatna shaitiliya. The effort have to become effortless. Ananda Samapatiyam. Then the mind can expand from here to shoulder, to the knees, to the hip. It can go anywhere at once because our existence is not only in the brain.

18:53 Brain is is guiding us, but our existence can be in all, all parts of the body. Every cell of our system can be in the vital form and it generates so much energy. But we are stuck here. Then we cannot breathe into the knees or we cannot breathe into the hip.

19:16 We are stuck in the head space. Because I am doing this, I am breathing in because of that eye. The false ego, when that dissolves, the twin energy is not there. Energy becomes in direct flow. That is, there is no effort. Prayat na shaytiliya anantha Samapatibhyam And then the mind expands beyond body, first expands to all parts of the body and then mind can expand into subtle body. And through subtle body we can go beyond. We are sitting here.

19:55 If we are really connected to subtle body and we can visualize the mountain Everest and we are in the base camp of the Everest, we can go there just by sitting here. So that's the. The power of expansion Patanjali Singh Prayatna Shahethiliya Anantha Samapatibiya like I personally experienced this that I went to Rishikesh and I went to one of the Baba there he's living in the caves for.

20:29 Baba what is? Baba is like monk. Monk. And he's living inside this cave like small cave is there, it's called as Mauni Baba cave. And I just went to see this Baba because he doesn't talk much, only the right question he answers.

20:53 So we went there with my friends and we meditated inside The Cave and then this was the time when in India you know they were establishing this mandir, the temple of Ram in Ayodhya and it was a big, big time happening and so many people are going to this temple because after so many years they are re establishing the Ram temple. And my friend asked this question to Baba that do you like want to go to this temple and Ganga is close by. Ganga is also like a like a 1

21:43 kilometer from The Cave. Do you like to go to Ganga Ganga? Is a town. Ganga is a river a. River, OK. River in Rishikesh and it's a holy river and Baba said that we will go everywhere in Pranamaykosh and I was thinking how he's going to go in different different place.

22:08 Then he explained about pranas that how one can travel just by sitting in one place, can go anywhere to any dimension by accessing the pranas and it is possible and this guy is sitting there since more than 17 years and how will he will sit in one place if not possible. He never went to Ganga, never went to temples, never went to see parents.

22:42 In his physical body, anyway. Yeah, interesting. And he says I have a inside The Cave, I have a channel. I go sit there, I'm connected and I can go anywhere I want to go. I love it. I love it just traveling through the mind.

23:03 Through the mind and for that. Through the body? Really. Is it through the mind or is it through the body? It's through the body, yeah. It's, it's not physical body, it's chronic body, right? And there are many examples. It's which is given in the in the text that how yogis travel in the pranic body and how the expansion happens. Even people who take psychedelics sometime they feel the pranic body expanding and that is also because they are connected to the pranic body.

23:42 But that is just a glimpse, but one who practices pranayam, who is always in psychedelic state. No need of any psychedelics. So that's one of the reasons why I hear sometimes they're like, oh, you know, these psychedelics and certain drugs that affect your overall state, you can access those similar states, what was told to me through yoga, but specifically prana.

24:15 Prana, Yeah. All the special experience happens to us by prana and our perception evolves through prana and the health. Basically people who are looking for health and there are lots of stories of pranic healers, you can we can just search about pranic healers, how they have healed like the disease which is intensely bothering them through pranic healing and it is possible.

24:55 And this prana is very powerful and yogis like practitioner of yoga. Basically only one focus we need to keep is that how do I maintain my prana in complete balance and if I just do that then everything is taken care. So that's why Prana is compared to the God.

25:28 It's so deep to think about this stuff and just to like think of the possibilities, the expansion, the power, the energy. But we're just talking about in a very, not to oversimplify, but we're talking about the breath. We're talking about breathing. It starts with the breath, yeah.

25:48 Like Patanjali is just giving like a simple practices. So what's breath we can divide into inhalation? Exhalation. So when we inhale, there is also this this pause, there is this Kumbaka happening like in the top of inhalation there is this small pause and exhalation, end of exhalation, there is this pause.

26:21 So he's Patanjali saying that Tasmin sathi, when a practitioner of yoga first gets established in asana, one has to 1st sit down at least 20 minutes in one pause. Without mobile phones, of course, without music, without any stimulation. Can I sit down for 20 minutes?

26:47 So once I practice that 20 minutes sitting, sitting, sitting then I can access my prana. The body becomes lighter. The the body which is heavy cannot access the prana because prana is light. Prana is actually in the different different forms.

27:10 So first we have to practice asanas, then enter into the pranayam state by sitting. Practice sitting, then elongate the acceleration. The simple formula for pranayam is elongating the acceleration. If I inhale for three second, acceleration is 6 second. So this cycle continues for like 20 minutes and then if we have some tension in the nervous system, we will fall asleep. If we have stimulation in the nervous system, then mind says hey, get up, get up, do this, do

28:01 that. So that's nervous system is stimulated. So we have to balance this, both yin and Yang just by accessing the breath. And then the later stage comes where we focus on the Kevala kumbaka where exhalation, like the inhalation is deeper, exhalation is like double and then end of exhalation, we have to hold the breath out. That's Kevala kumbaka and we can practice this. It's very simple like your 3 second inhaling, six second exhaling and hold the breath out

28:56 and wait for body's response to breathe. And when the body is responding, you first hold one second. One second longer you mean? Yes, one second longer and then two second longer, 3 second longer. When you have like about 10 minutes, you do that, you can stop your heartbeat. In a good way.

29:29 In a good way. OK, so I've experienced this in, you know, breath work or pranayama practices where I've and I just kind of calculated in my brain to I don't, you know, I'm filling my body up with so much oxygen. I'm breathing, I'm not physically moving.

29:48 Maybe I'm lying in shavasana or something like this or just in a seated comfortable position. My body doesn't need to actually use that oxygen or energy to metabolize to create whatever posture muscles to support me. And then at the bottom of that exhale, I noticed sometimes I just don't even feel like I need to breathe. Yes.

30:07 And sometimes, depending on what I'm doing, sometimes if I go to a workshop or I'm in some sort of guided experience, sometimes I'll be laying there and I'll think to myself, I'm like, shit, I don't even remember the last time I took a breath.

30:19 Yeah. And I might have been on the bottom of my exhale for maybe a minute or so. Yeah. That being said, sometimes when I actively try to do this, in fact, we talked about this yesterday in the training that we're currently in, we talked about the bottom of the exhale and holding it for a few seconds and what that does. And sometimes it's actually hard to do it just in the moment. Like I when we tried it yesterday, I was like, I couldn't even hold it for more

30:43 than three seconds. My body was just like no, and it wanted to initiate the next breath. Yes, it's because of the stimulations. Mental stimulation. Also coffee, tea and any of the stimulation we take from outside, then this oxygen advantage comes down South. When there is oxygen advantage, like now we are at the maybe 300m above the sea level, we actually have less oxygen advantage.

31:15 But we go to Nepal, sit in the Himalayas and practice pranayam. That's even more effective because their carbon dioxide is more than you can. The Kumbaka becomes even more difficult there. But if we practice Pranayam there for like a month and we come back here, we feel easy to do practice here. So it depending on the place and the stimulation that we are in according to that it's varies, but it's like a check for us to at least have nine second like

31:56 end of exhalation, let's stop breathing and then the body says OK, breathe, breathe, breathe. And then the contraction starts. How many second I can hold that contraction 9 second minimum we should have so nine second. If we hold all the stress response in, the system actually gets corrected by Pranam moving in. So when you said before about like 10 minutes of this, it was more so that doing like repetitions of it, like you do the breath and then as you

32:35 exhale and you relax. Yes, for that we have the Pranayamas. Right, OK. Like so this is actually the the technique we do at the end of Pranayam. So beginning we have to practice. Of course we have, you know, basic pranayamas like Brahmari, like taking in a deep breath and we are humming like now if we see maybe it is around 14 second, but we have to aim for one minute, one minute, Brahmari. Before we're ready for the next stage kind of thing. Yeah, so practice browser every

33:28 day. OK, so now my brain is going back to the the process of this whole thing. So you talked about sitting for 20 minutes in an asana. So I'm thinking to my psych if I were to sit for 20 minutes in an asana, I'd probably be focusing on my breath.

33:44 Would there be a specific pranayama practice that that 1st 20 minutes would help benefit me to move into the next stage? Yes. So the if if the mind is going falling asleep then we stimulate the mind by doing breath work like Kapalbati and Basrika like kapalbati is very simple like flapping the belly. Yeah, focusing on the exhale.

34:16 Exhale. And then the natural responses the body will inhale as a recoil or a rebound. Yes, yes. And when we do this, Kapalbati also like we people have to be aware that if they have hypertension or lower back pain or glaucoma, they cannot do this. This increases the BP.

34:42 So they have to do extra, extra slow, just like one and take a pause, let the oxygen move in. And then again, if somebody is having the heart condition, high BP, etc. So others we can do one second, one stroke for two-minute, 3 minute and justice. Relax, relax the nervous system.

35:09 Do not forget, it's not about doing pranayam. The basically it's about sitting. So, so we have to put the right intention that 20 minutes I will sit, but Pranayam is supporting for sitting. OK, so that 20 minutes. So I'm just trying to be real practical here. Yeah, especially if I'm a listener and I'm like OK, like I want to try this.

35:36 Like what do I do? So I'm going to like set a timer 20 minutes. I'm going to try to sit for 20 minutes. I'm going to sit in Sukasana or something, cross legged or yes maybe not basharasa, not my feet would fall asleep, but basically sit in a comfortable position, focus on my breath, maybe do some some.

35:53 Kapalabati. Kapalabati or you said Bastraka as well. Breath of fire, Yeah. To help reduce the stimulation of the mind, Yes. Which is basically gonna raise the heat in the body. Yeah. But the goal, even though that's a nice tool to help, the goal is not necessarily to do those breaths. The goal is to just sit.

36:12 Sit into B. Yes, sometime like when I do the practice, I just do like one minute Kapalbhati and then I'm sitting for 15 minutes, OK, And I'm not putting any effort. So it becomes effortless meditation. So but opposite side like people who are already mentally stimulated, they cannot do the again stimulation.

36:41 They have to do relax relaxation pranayam like Brahmari. So this humming bee pranayam like taking in a deep breath and with exhalation humming about 9 rounds of humming bee pranayam. And then even though after that also they feel like they're they're still their body is moving and their mind is still moving. They can do humming be pranayam with movement also like simple hand stretch, inhale, open the arms and exhale bring. The hands closer together.

37:22 Yes, like body is synchronizing the breath. So what's the problem? Why body is not We are not able to sit because breath is somewhere, body is somewhere, mind is somewhere. When breath comes synchronized with the body like here, no escape.

37:45 Mind is here with me. So just doing this, raise the hands up and then take a deep breath. Or tension in the neck, do the neck movement all body parts with doing this with Brahmari that will immediately they will sit down. You bring that person who cannot sit will make him sit for 20 minutes.

38:19 Might help some people fall asleep. Yes. OK, cool. So I think I understand and I'm sure some people understand. OK. This 1st 20 minutes of ways you can kind of approach it, playing with these pranayama practices to either what I'm hearing down, regulate your nervous system, reduce the stimulation or possibly kind of increase a little bit of stimulation to help find balance.

38:44 And then ultimately meditating once we're finding that space for approximately 20 minutes or so. Yeah, 20 minutes. Like that. Cool. So let's just assume that that went well. That's where we are. And I know that I'm using my logical brain, but I just think this is really helpful for people typically.

39:00 So then now, OK, my timer went off and now I'm gonna set another timer for 20 minutes. And now I'm gonna focus on the Praniam, Actually the Praniam practice now, Yes. Yeah, yeah. So the actual Pranayam practice is basically activating kundalini and this is through the mantras and very simply to if we are doing evening practice. So this is a technique for a common man for everyone. OK, how do I slow down at 7:00, seven PM? My mind is still fast.

39:43 So then start by doing this the one of the Tibetan Branic healing technique. So you have to focus on all the chakra points starting from the Adhana chakra because here is lots of tension is stored. So just simple taps here.

40:05 So the third eye between the eyebrows, slightly above, Yes. Just in case you're not watching the video, Yes. Yeah. Third eyes that this center gentle tapping and then take in a deep breath and take an extra breath. 2 inhale and hold the breath.

40:23 Bring the mind to this point between the eyebrow center. Call it as Trikuti where breath is meeting this point and justice Observe, just observe what's happening there. We don't need to do anything or mentally chanting the mantra OM.

40:47 So this is the point. The mantra is om, yeah. So then we are exhaling like that just three times. So inhaling one more inhale. How much ever if you want to chant fast mentally om om om om om om om om om or you want to slow down but mental chanting. Yeah, not verbal.

41:18 Not verbal. OK, so from starting from adhana chakra and coming down to the throat and like again doing the same, taking in a deep breath and then again inhale. With the hand on the throat or around the neck somewhere. Yes, this helps keeping the hands there and tapping.

41:40 OK, that also brings the energy down to the throat chakra and mantra. We can chant hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, and then to. The in the mind, though not. No, not verbally, not verbally, not first. We can learn verbal chanting.

42:03 Also those who don't know them, the mantras of the chakras. They have to learn that first lover. Yeah, hum. Very simply to remember. Lover Yahum. Lover, Yahum, everybody knows Lover and Yah is the heart, hum and Om everybody knows this is Om. So OM for the third eye.

42:25 OM for the third eye. Hum for the throat. Yes, Yum. Yum for the heart. For the heart. Feeding the heart. Yum Yum. Yum and lover rum for the navel. Rum, rum, rum, rum. For the not the rum, drink the mantra rum. But that's a good way to remember it. Yes, the rum drink for the the sacral or the the stomach area. Yes, which is where?

42:56 The rum would go, yes, build a fire in your belly. Rum, rum, rum. That's how we can remember that. OK. And then the root. Worm worm and which is the the sacral chakra? Sorry, solar. Did we skip the solar? The solar plexus RAM. Is it RAM?

43:17 OK, sorry, I misspoke there. So RAM is the solar plexus, Yes, which is actually closer to the stomach. Yeah, OK. And then the sacral. So the sacral chakra, which is basically pleasure, the chakra of pleasure, like we were just reading that I am sexy.

43:38 All of this commands right? So that is WAM. WAM. WAM. How do you spell that? So lover. Wam wam W AM wam. Yes, WAM and the last one Lum. Lum is the support. The root, yes. OK Lum wam rum Yum. There we go. Nice. Well, I mean, I remembered, I don't know if everyone else did, but that was really helpful.

44:14 Yes. Cool. So then start at the third eye. Starting from the crown and then. From the Crown. Yes, I mean the crown. We can just skip it starting from here. Third eye. The crown is always there. When all of this chakras are balanced, then we can access the crown energy.

44:35 Understood. Yep. OK. So light tapping stimulation to the area physically double inhale. Yes, double inhale, hold the breath. And then as you're holding the breath, we're mentally basically making the sound without actually making the sound.

44:51 Yes. And then we exhale. Exhale out and relax the chakra. Relax and just observe what thoughts can pop up like sometime, you know lots of mental tension in the adhya chakra, mental tension will come up in the throat chakra. Things that I want to say but I didn't say in the situation that will come out in the heart, all the emotion that is stored, which is not churned or over churned, that will come out. And then in the navel like I have to do this, I have to do that.

45:35 I have all the action oriented right and the pleasure and at the bottom of the spine there is this beautiful energy can come up. OK, so just to complete the process in my mind is you're an observer, you're witnessing after you go through this, this process, this practice and you sit and you relax, you observe with no intention of doing anything, just just noticing. Yes, yes.

46:08 Then you go through all the way down and then. So the purpose of doing this is to basically understand this is how our mind functions. And people ask this question why my mind is coming up with this, this kind of a problem, this kind of a thought. It's because your energy is in this centers. So where the energy is there, the mind is just functioning mind.

46:38 What is mind, which is basically a movement which is functioning. So the whole purpose of doing this is to understand our own mind and to not get caught by any of the chakras or any of the churning that is happening or any bondages.

47:00 So to give freedom to the mind like Hatha yoga says Chale Vaate, chale chale chale Chatham, like the wind is moving, the mind is moving. Nischale Nischalambaved sometime, sometime. Nischale means there is a mental stability. Like you said, you are not aware your breath stopped, your mind stopped, everything was stopped.

47:33 Yeah, this is Nischala. There is no movement. The mind also becomes when the breath becomes absolutely still, the mind also becomes still. And Yogi's Thanatvamapnoti, Then the Yogi gets established in himself. Then he can go deeper into himself.

47:57 Where all that pleasure is there, all that expansion is there, all of that is there. That is the purpose of doing this pranayam. I'm definitely going to try this. Yes. And if you're listening, try it out. Let me know how it goes. OK.

48:20 So getting close to the end thinking about Pranayam and where is there anything more that we should discuss, talk about related to this before? So the Pranayam, basically, Pranayam is not like a session that we have to do.

48:43 Like Asana class. You can basically do pranayam everywhere like you're driving. You can do brahmari, but don't close your eyes. Yeah. Good advice. Yeah, so OK, you're driving, car is going 80 kilometers, you also do brahmari and mind comes to cheerful mode then there is no need of pranayam.

49:13 So the whole purpose is to get freedom from the mind and then there is Nadi Shodhana which is alternate nostril breathing which increases the concentration. So before you read a book do 5 rounds of Nadi Shodhana and then you are going into ocean and then you are taking a swim.

49:36 Before you do that do some kabalbati. Activate your body's energy so the body absorbs the prana and later the meditation becomes easier. By doing all of this, meditation becomes easier. One can definitely sit 20 minutes, thirty minutes.

49:58 So we have to adopt this in everyday lifestyle. Before eating food apranayam, before reading apranayam wake up, do some brahmari. Before sleep, do some Brahmari om chant. So like this, when it's in our lifestyle, we become very relaxed.

50:22 OK, I like that. So instead of actually just doing a session, just incorporate it where you can. Yes, short session. This is like 5 minutes. Pranayam. Everybody have 5 minutes. Everybody is driving. Everybody's going for the activity, reading books, eating, scrolling.

50:45 Put down your scroll to a prania. Yes, also like one of the technique they were mentioning, like when we are scrolling, people are scrolling a lot and take a deep breath and just take a small pause. Because when you take pause, your breath then mind can pause, then you take the mobile little bit away from you, then you can stop scrolling right? So there are many ways to use the breath to even de addict, even to even to connect.

51:25 Right. To remove the addiction or yeah, OK. And to connect. Yes. So I guess the breath is pretty powerful. That's what I'm hearing. Absolutely. I think without breathing, without pranayam, the meditation becomes very shallow.

51:47 The meditation experience is not unravelled because there is not enough of prana. The body cannot handle that energy. Then the energy is not flowing. The simple principle of energy, energy is flowing where if I empty my lungs, then only the breath can enter.

52:10 That's a breathing mechanism. But if I am keeping here full, the mind is full, the pranay is not moving, then the fresh energy is not entering. So for fresh energy to enter, we need to keep on cleansing. That's why they say Nadi Shodhana keep cleansing. So when we cleanse the breath, the mind is also cleansed. Then the fresh thoughts can enter, fresh mood can enter, and all of this freshness can blossom. That's why Pranayam.

52:50 OK, so breathe intentionally. Yes, absolutely. Often, or in a very simple way, just notice the breath and then maybe adding in a little bromery or something like that. At least I'm talking to myself, maybe someone else, but that's what I'm thinking to myself is. And then that's what I often do is just kind of try to notice my breath anytime I'm doing something, especially if I'm noticing stress or I'm noticing a lot of things going on or potentially overwhelm.

53:22 Just checking in. I mean, we often talk about like coming back to your center, coming back to your heart space, coming back to your body. But I just simplify that as how's my breath? Where is my breath? When's the last time I noticed my breath?

53:37 And then how can I contribute to it? Maybe I have a moment to do some Brahmer here, some altered nostril breathing or something. Yes, if somebody wants to go deeper than this, they can understand Reiki or chronic healing. And this is like energy frequency that we can always stay connected and always be in the path of healing. And if somebody do the course Reiki level 1 or Pranic healing level 1, they will understand even more deeper. They will experience all of the

54:15 things that we are talking today. Amazing. Thank you, Akshay. Danyvad Namaste. Danyvad, which I learned means thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you for coming in and obviously sharing your knowledge. As always, if anyone has questions they wanna reach out, you can reach out to Akshay.

54:39 We'll put his Instagram on the show notes. And of course, you can reach out to me or the podcast at Goingpro Yoga and we'd love to hear from you. Feedback, positive, negative, neutral. Otherwise, thank you so much for tuning in this week and we will speak to you next week. Namaste.

54:56 Namaste. All right, before you go, let me just tell you about the goingproyoga.com platform. So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days, where you can actually learn more about yoga in the ways of alignment, queuing, sequencing, yoga anatomy. So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, practice and grow, this platform is definitely for you.

55:19 So I definitely suggest checking it outgoingproyoga.com right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.