Pranayama: Bridging Body and Mind
What Is Pranayama Really About?
At first glance, pranayama is often taught as breath control techniques, ways to energize or calm the system using various methods of inhaling, exhaling, and holding the breath. But recently, my understanding of this limb has shifted dramatically, thanks to the work of Robin Rothenberg and her book Restoring Prana. It’s opened a door I didn’t even realize had been closed.
To understand pranayama, we first need to understand prana. In Sanskrit, prana is the vital life force, the animating energy that flows through all living things. It’s not the breath itself, but it rides on the breath. Like electricity flowing through wires, prana travels through the channels of the body, sustaining life, perception, and movement. And when we speak of pranayama, we’re not simply talking about techniques, we're talking about the intentional regulation of prana, often through the breath, to support health, balance, and deeper states of awareness.
A Practice Rooted in Restraint
Before we get to pranayama, though, it's worth remembering that it doesn’t stand alone. It is the fourth limb of yoga, but it builds directly on the first: Yama. Yama is the foundation. It teaches restraint, or more precisely, wise boundaries that help us live in right relationship with ourselves and others. In many ways, pranayama is an inner application of the Yamas. It requires a kind of internal discipline, self-restraint, and attentiveness that can’t be rushed. The breath reveals our patterns, our reactions, and our habits, and learning to regulate it requires deep listening and gentleness.
How Robin Rothenberg Shifted My Perspective
Reading Robin Rothenberg’s work changed everything for me. Her understanding of pranayama is deeply rooted in the Yoga Sutras, but also incredibly practical. She brings attention to how most modern breathing practices actually disrupt the natural rhythm of breath. In our effort to control or master it, we often override the body’s wisdom, creating stress rather than reducing it. Through her lens, pranayama becomes not a series of techniques, but a path of restoration, a way to return to the breath’s innate intelligence, and by extension, to our own.
This approach has transformed my own practice. Instead of trying to do more with the breath, I’m learning to do less. To notice. To trust. To return. And what’s amazed me most is how powerful that is. When prana moves freely and gently, the body begins to heal. The mind softens. Sleep improves. Digestion shifts. Emotions regulate. Presence returns.
Learning pranayama, truly learning it, has the potential to transform your health and your life. Not because it’s flashy or extreme, but because it invites you into a new relationship with your nervous system, your energy, and your Self. It’s subtle, but profound. Quiet, but revolutionary.
Join Me This Saturday
If you're curious, come explore this with me at Sutra School this Saturday, June 7th, from 12:30–2pm. We’ll dive into the fourth limb of yoga with both wisdom and practice. You’ll leave with tools that can truly shift the way you breathe, live, and connect.