Pranayama Balloon Example 

As per classic definition of Yoga, they say that it's the union of Body and Mind. But this union can only be possible if there is an agent(not a Copilot agent 🙂) sitting between who is responsible for communicating the right information back and forth. 

Let's take the example of a car. Its a complicated setup with body parts such as tyres, its exterior, windows , side mirrors to name a few. Everything can be operated by a central engine which has capability to control movement of the body parts. In its inert state, the engine doesn't have a role at all. The role kicks in only when an agent i.e Fuel is used to kickstart its functioning. Just as the fuel, be it petrol or Electricity acts as a connector between the body and the engine of the car, the breath too acts as a conduit between the Body and the mind. 

But breathing comes naturally to us i.e nobody teaches us to breath. We start breathing when the baby comes out of the mother's womb.  

If breathing comes naturally to us, then union should happen naturally to us? 

No, the difference is how effectively you are using this tool to manage it is what Yoga is talking about. You need special tools along with breathing to make that union happen. That special tool/program is called Prana. 

Prana is : Word “Pra” means special ”Na” means energy. “ayama” is an expansion of this special energy. 

Lets take the case of a normal Balloon(not the Helium one). The key property of the Balloon is to float in the air. Unless you pump in the air it just lays flat on the ground without any action/movement. This is because there is no energy in it. When you start pumping in the air, you can see its body expanding. It's the same body structure, nothing has been added, not even the wings 🙂. With extra air, you are giving an extra energy for it to do something special which is to float in the air. Expansion of energy is happening within the Balloon. This expansion of energy is called Pranayama in the body. The ability to add extra dimension to a finite context is called PraNayama.

But is filling it with any other PraNayama?No, there is another dimension to this. For argument lets assume that a balloon is big enough to fill something else i.e water or food. When we start filling it with something other than air, then it starts getting heavier and loses its property to float. It comes crashing down on the ground. There is no special energy. This happened because we tried to infuse something that wasn’t suitable for its body. There was no awareness of what needs to be filled into the body 

Similarly, expansion of energy in your body happens with breathing and is performed with awareness. Your body starts getting signals from your mind instead of random instructions that it often gets. 

Hence, PraNayama is just not breathing. It's the awareness with which you use breathing technique to expand energy within the body.