Pranayama Quotes

“Providence knows best.”
― Michael Beloved

“The mind & body are not separate entities. The gross form of the mind is the body & the subtle form of the body is the mind. The practice of asana integrates & harmonizes the two. Both the body & the mind harbor tensions or knots. Every mental knot has a corresponding physical, muscular knot & vice versa. The aim of asana is to release these knots. Asana release mental tensions by dealing with them on the physical level, acting somato-psychically, through the body to the mind.”
― Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha

“It is impossible to express the experiences you have below the surface with words, when water gently caresses your face and body, the pulse decreases and your brain relaxes. You are immediately cut off from the stress and hustle of everyday life when you are below the surface – there are no noisy telephones or SMS messages, no inboxes full of mail, no electrical bills, or other trivialities of everyday life taking up time and energy. There is nothing connecting you to the surface but the same withheld breath that connects you to life. There is only you and a growing pressure on your chest that feels like a loving hug and the vibrations from the deep quiet tone of the sea. It is quite possible that this deep quiet tone is none other than the mantra Om, the sound of the universe, trickling life into every cell of your body.”
― Stig Åvall Severinsen, Breatheology

“Yogasanas have often been thought of as a form of exercise. They are not exercises, but techniques which place the physical body in positions that cultivate awareness, relaxation, concentration and meditation. Part of this process is the development of good physical health by stretching, massaging and stimulating the pranic channels and internal organs.

When yogasanas are performed, respiration and metabolic rates slow down, the consumption of oxygen and the body temperature drop. During exercise,
however, the breath and metabolism speed up, oxygen consumption rises, and the body gets hot. In addition, asanas are designed to have specific effects on the glands and internal organs, and to alter electrochemical activity in the nervous system.”
― Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha

“Some offer their out-flowing breath into the breath that flows in; and the in-flowing breath into the breath that flows out; they aim at Pranayama, breath-harmony, and the flow of their breath is in peace.”
― Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita

“Sitting in meditation is the most boring thing if your energies are frozen and locked at different places in body. Get your energies flowing. Don't see Yoga as some good routine. It's all about exploring the body like you explore features of an electronic device.”
― Shunya

“If you meditate or exercise, with the inward attention, the subtle world of thoughts, imagination, breathe, sensation and spiritual energy will get clear to you.”
― Roshan Sharma

“Breathing is simple, gracious, soothing and always there for you”
― Karenina Ana Murillo

“Your relationship with your breath is your personal religion. This relationship ends only with your last exhale.”
― Anu Lall, Breath WorkOUT for Life: For a Fitter, Stronger and Happier YOU

“ASANA

Now I shall instruct you regarding the nature of asana or seat. Although by 'asana' is generally meant the erect posture assumed in meditation, this is not its central or essential meaning. When I use the word 'asana' I do not mean the various forms of asana’s such as Padmasana, Vajrasana, Svastikasana, or Bhadrasana. By 'asana' I mean something else, and this is what I want to explain to you.

First let me speak to you about breath; about the inhaling breath-apana, and the exhaling breath-prana. Breath is extremely important in meditation; particularly the central breath-madhyama-pranan, which is neither prana nor apana. It is the center of these two, the point existing between the inhaling and exhaling breaths. This center point cannot be held by any physical means, as a material object can be held by the hand. The center between the two breaths can be held only by knowledge-jnana – not discursive knowledge, but by knowledge which is awareness. When this central point is held by continuously refreshed awareness – which is knowledge and which is achieved through devotion to the Lord – that is, in the true sense settling into your asana.

On the pathway of your breath maintain continuously refreshed and full awareness on and in the center of breathing in and breathing out. This is internal asana. (Netra Tantra)

Asana, therefore, is the gradual dawning in the spiritual aspirant of the awareness which shines in the central point found between inhaling and exhaling.

This awareness is not gained by that person who is full of prejudice, avarice, or envy. Such a person, filled with all such negative qualities, cannot concentrate. The prerequisite of this glorious achievement is, therefore, the purification of your internal egoity. It must become pure, clean, and crystal clear. After you have purged your mind of all prejudice and have started settling with full awareness into that point between the two breaths, then you are settling into your asana.

When in breathing in and breathing out you continue to maintain your awareness in continuity on and in the center between the incoming and outgoing breath, your breath will spontaneously and progressively become more and more refined. At that point you are driven to another world. This is pranayama." (Netra Tantra)

After settling in the asana of meditation arises the refined practice of pranayama. ‘Pranayama’ does not mean inhaling and exhaling vigorously like a bellow. Like asana, pranayama is internal and very subtle. There is a break less continuity in the traveling of your awareness from the point of asana into the practice of pranayama. When through your awareness you have settled in your asana, you automatically enter into the practice of pranayama.

Our Masters have indicated that there are two principle forms of this practice of ‘asana-pranayama’, i.e. cakrodaya and ajapa-gayatri. In the practice of ajapa-gayatri you are to maintain continuously refreshed full awareness-(anusandhana) in the center of two breaths, while breathing in and out slowly and silently. Likewise in the practice of cakrodaya you must maintain awareness, which is continually fresh and new, filled with excitement and vigor, in the center of the two breaths – you are to breathe in and out slowly, but in this case with sound.
― Swami Lakshmanjoo”
― Swami Lakshmanjoo

“Breathing in, I invite peace; breathing out, I share a gentle divinity.”
― Amit Ray, Beautify your Breath - Beautify your Life

“The word ‘pranayama’, often referred to as alternate breathing, comes from the Sanskrit meaning ‘extension of life force’ or ‘extension of breath’. At times, we are going to have days where we are bombarded with one task after another.

This simple yet effective meditation only takes a couple of minutes and its calming qualities can be felt almost immediately. It is one of the easiest meditation techniques to apply. This practice is well worth applying at least three or four times a day (somewhere private) to develop emotional balance and evenness of mind, especially in the working environment.”
― Christopher Dines, Mindfulness Burnout Prevention: An 8-Week Course for Professionals

“Comecei um exercício de respiração prolongada em intervalos definidos. Iria diminuir o ritmo do meu batimento cardíaco, que, por sua vez, iria reduzir a velocidade de distribuição da adrenalina pelo meu corpo. Uma forma de controlar o medo. Respirar. Inspirar. Expirar.”
― Guilherme Trucco, Cavalos selvagens nao existem mais

“If you wish to develop courage, power; if you wish to become a success, less timid, more aggressive; if you wish to improve your life in general, including your health, prosperity and so forth, you must practice breathing through
the right nostril.”
― Hamid Bey

“If you wish to develop courage, power; if you wish to become a success, less timid, more aggressive; if you wish to improve your life in general, including your health, prosperity and so forth, you must practice breathing through the right nostril.”
― Hamid Bey

“The feeling is extremely refreshing as compared to being trapped in a concrete jungle all the time. You may be in the middle of a chaotic workplace and yet feel like you’re visiting somewhere pleasant.”
― Sundari Gibran, Pranayama: The Yoga Breath: How to Transform Your Life by Improving Your Breathing Technique

“Every inhale is a welcomed greeting and every exhale a farewell, a gentle inward hug for my organs”
― Leo Lourdes, A World of Yoga: 700 Asanas for Mindfulness and Well-Being

“When I am mindful of the pace and capacity of my breathing and how it affects my emotional state and focus, my productivity grows exponentially and compounds”
― Leo Lourdes, A World of Yoga: 700 Asanas for Mindfulness and Well-Being

“Smiling and breathing practices are synergetic and yield more than the sum for some”
― Offer Dan

“Luck is crucial from the first inhale we take as we emerge from our mother's womb to the last exhale we make at the end of 'tour-de-life.”
― Offer Dan

“Being at peace with my past is reflected in my present breathing.”
― Offer Dan

“Kissing with a mouth-breather can give the impression that one is about to make love with a vacuum cleaner”
― Offer Dan

“Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof's Holotropic Breathwork, born from 1970s psychedelic restrictions, uses rapid breathing, music, and bodywork for unconscious exploration and trauma healing, echoing ancient Yogic Pranayama (Rig Veda ~1700-1100 BCE, Upanishads ~800-500 BCE) and Sufi Dhikr ceremonies (from the 12th century).”
― Laurence Galian, Crossing the Forbidden Highway: The Untold Story of Orgone, Body Therapy, and Suppressed Emotion

“When your 114 chakras breathe in coherence, health becomes natural, and your leadership becomes effortless”
― Sri Amit Ray, The Secrets of 114 Chakras

“Yoga starts when you feel each of the 114 chakras awakening — not as points, but as living suns of healing consciousness.”
― Sri Amit Ray, The Secrets of 114 Chakras

“Without understanding the mysteries of the 114 chakras, doing yoga, pranayama, or mudra is like walking toward the sunrise with your eyes closed.”
― Sri Amit Ray, The Secrets of 114 Chakras