Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Day 7. Krishnamacharya Pranayama Practice #1

See the Guidelines for Practice page at the top of the blog.
Basically, the breathing is long and  slow, the eyes closed, bandhas engaged, Jalandhara bandha in particular. After each asana, mudra,and pranayama ( unless indicated otherwise, usually by "followed by") we are directed to lie down and rest for one to two minutes to notice the effect. See the guidelines post for more on this most important element of the practice.



Note: In his book 'Emergence of Yoga', T.K. Sribhashyam indicates five days of General practice sessions followed by a Mudra session on the sixth day and a Pranayama session on the seventh, before starting the following week with general practice sessions once again. 

Here is the first Pranayama session. 

Sribhashyam indicates that he is following a pedagogical approach so the pranayama sessions will be developed in future weeks.




 Points of concentration will be introduced for different asana, mudra and/or pranayama. I will be including the chart below with each post, the concentration post mentioned in the session highlighted in bold.

Points of concentration: 16 vital points. (No concentration points in todays practice)

sirsa - the fontanel
murdhna - middle of forehead
bhrumadhya - between eyebrows
nasagra - extremity of the nose
talu mula - back of the palate
lalata - root of the uvula
kantha - throat
kantha kupa - back of the throat
hrdaya - middle of the heart
nabhi - navel
sroni - centre of the pelvis
mula - perineum
jangha- point at top of thighs
janu - point at middle of knees 
gulpha - point at middle of ankles 
pada angusta - point of the big toes.

Also of note...

Murdhna: the point located in front of the nose
Divya Chakshush: Point behind the head (occipital)
Aditya (the sun) is the disk of the sun, black and shiny,
The star: lying on his back to look as far as possible on the sky 
Taraka: the horizon point,


Kumbhaka
A.K. = Antah Kumbhaka (holding of breath after inhalation ) 
B.K = Bhaya Kumbhaka (holding of breath after exhalation )



*


Note: 

Anata asana is the posture Sribhashyam suggests for practicing these pranayama. We lay down after each pranayama. 

"Lie flat on the back, legs together, feet together, arms along the body, palms of the hands on the floor, chin lowered, eyes closed. Breathe normally through the nose." p65 Emergence of Yoga.

He doesn't seem to mention this in the book, but when I was first introduced to this practice by my friend Andrea Panzer several years ago it was indicated that during the rest, we direct our gaze to the Occipital (from the latin meaning back of the head- the bowl like bone of the skull), this was in her notes from the teacher training course she did with Sribhashyam and in other notes I've seen from other students.

"Divya Chakshush. Point behind the head (occipital) Divya Chakshush means "divine vision": this is one of the most important concentrations to obtain the vision of the soul." 

from "The Pearl" or the influence of Mudra and Pranayama in the spiritual quest
A seminar of Sri TK Sribhashyam in Neuchatel, 29.7. to 01.08.2006



Pranayama notes.

Quotes from...

T. K. Sribhashyam -  P R A N A Y A M A - An Absolute Necessity in YOGA 

(I first posted this article on my old blog 11 December 2012, It was my first introduction to Sribhashyam's practice - Thank you to my friend Madhu for the heads up).

"UJJAYI ANULOMA: Inhalation (PURAKA) through both nostrils in UJJAYI, Exhalation (RECHAKA) through Left Nostril, without ujjayi, Inhalation through both nostrils in Ujjayi, and Exhalation through the Right Nostril, without Ujjayi. These two breaths making one Cycle of Ujjayi Anuloma."

"UJJAYI VILOMA: Inhale through the Left Nostril, without using Ujjayi, Exhale through Ujjayi, with both the nostrils open. Inhale, again through the Right Nostril, without using Ujjayi, and Exhale through Ujjayi, with both the nostrils open. This forms one Cycle."

"NADI SHODHANA: This is a Pranayama where no ujjayi should ever be used. Inhale by the Left Nostril, Exhale by the Right Nostril, Inhale by the Right Nostril, Exhale by the Left Nostril."



*



May be available on Amazon but check the language

Also available direct from T. K. Sribhashyam's school.
I heard the website says it doesn't ship to the US but if you contact them direct it might be able to be arranged for a little extra shipping cost.

No comments:

Post a Comment