Pranayama in Asana : The Breath in

Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda.

Today's my day off.

Last week I ended up having an epic ten hour practice on my day off, pretty much
non-stop from 6:30-16:30. I'd started with pranayama, before practice for a
change moved on to Ramaswami's ten minute tadasana sequence with the hand
and arm variations that I use for warm up. Tadasana was followed by Sury's and my
now regular slow Primary ( long 8 second inhalations and exhalations with mental
mantra on each) which takes about two hours. Nicely warmed up I started working
through AG Mohan's recent release of Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (part
II). When I looked up it was gone three and just the shoulderstands to go so I stuck
with it for another hour and a half.

Afterwards I had the best mushrooms on toast ever.

This week I thought I'd do something similar but less long and go through the
original Yoga Makaranda. I'm much more familiar with this one. With part two I had
to keep stopping as I wanted to read and follow every instruction just as it was
given. Much of YM1 is close to Primary so I'll pretty much jump straight in, do some
sury's and get on with it.

What I did want to look at more closely though was the Puraka and Recaka
Kumbhaka, the breath retentions after the inhalation and exhalation. These have
pretty much been left by the wayside in current Ashtanga but Krishnamacharya
made a point of focusing on them in his 1934 text ( the same period he was
teaching Pattabhi Jois). I've been exploring these longer stays and kumbhakas a
little recently but have wanted to make a more formal study in my practice.

Recaka kumbhaka =  Bhaya Kumbakam = holding the breath out after exhaling

Puraka Kumbhaka = Anthar Kumbhakam = holding the breath in after inhaling

A little while ago I brought together all the pictures of Krishnamacharya practicing,
I've turned those from YM1 into a poster to practice with more easily this afternoon,
the kumbhaka's are underneath the postures. Yoga Makaranda has some other
postures but these were photos of K's students so I didn't have them to hand, later
I'll make up a list of all the Kumbhaka's in the book. The extra pictures/descriptions
contain a lot of the leg behind postures and these tend to be equal breathing, no
kumbhaka anyway.
 One point to make, this isn't necessarily an order of practice ( although why not, it
could work) and what looks like the stages of Suryanamaskara on the second line
are actually those stages presented as stand alone postures. No sun salutations in
Krishnamacharya folks (except a mantra version).

The kumbhaka mentioned is at the stage of the vinyasa shown in the picture (tends
to be full vinyasa I.E. transitioning to and from standing, in the original Yoga
Makaranda) . In YM1 Krishnamacharya often seems to indicate that one folds into
forward bends on the long slow exhalation, retains the breath and then raises up
slightly or fully for an inhalation before folding back into the posture on the next
exhalation and retention (fascinated by this idea, means you can get a fuller
breath). Six times/breaths seems the average in YM2 (In YM1the stay is less
de ned)  but I'll need to double check that.
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There's a pattern, in postures, where you're sitting or standing up there's often
puraka kumbhaka after the inhalation, when folded over it tends to be deep
uddiyana (sounds like virtually uddiyana kriya) and recaka kumbhaka.
 Mostly I'll practice a regular Primary and 2nd this afternoon with the poster to
glance over at as a guide and to give me something to think about in the postures
not mentioned in the text.

Yogasanagalu 1941 has the same asana descriptions as Yoga makaranda (original/
part I)

YogaMakaranda (part II) is less clear, it mentions retentions occasionally but it has
the feeling of being closer to a teaching manual than the original which seems to
present more the ideal form of an asana and it's vinyasa.

This might explain too why Pattabhi Jois left it out of Yoga Mala. I tend to feel this
approach makes an interesting alternative to ever more postures and series, a
turning back to Primary, a shortened Primary even allowing us to explore ever more
the breath.  I know, I know I can't talk/preach, I've had my fair share of asana
madness. 

Yoga Makaranda (part II) does have this to say.

"When a position intermediate or final, has been reached deep breathing or

the prescribed form of pranayama is done. This observation generally applies
to all asana" P.66

"6. Do not less than six rounds of pranayama. the pranayama should be done
with Anthar and Bhya kumbhaka of two to five seconds duration each, the
period of Antha kumbhakam being kept equal to Bahya kumbhakam". p68
(Supta padangusthasana description)

A reminder

Recaka kumbhaka =  Bhaya Kumbakam = holding the breath out after exhaling

Puraka Kumbhaka = Anthar Kumbhakam = holding the breath in after inhaling

Yoga Makaranda (part II) gives a more cautious approach to kumbhaka by

introducing it slowly. It starts with the regular automatic mini kumbhaka at the end of
the inhalation and exhalation and increases it to two seconds working up to ve.

One gets the feeling that the kumbhakas are held longer in the original Yoga
Makaranda, however this is still asana and I doubt it's intended to retain the breath
in the same way that one would in formal pranayama.

Breath retention in asana continues to be mentioned in the work of Desikachar,

Mohan and my own teacher Ramaswami, exploring how they compare will make an
interesting follow up post.
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Preparation complete time for a warm bath and practice.

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Below is a nice page from yogavidya.com bringing together relevant quotes from
the different yoga texts, there are other pages on all elements of practice.

Puraka, Rechaka, Kumbhaka from http://www.yogavidya.com/yoga-82.html

In-breathing (Puraka): "Even as a man sucks in water through the stem of a lotus
even so should breath be drawn in. Such are the characteristics of in-breathing
(puraka)." (Amrita Nada Up. 12.)

Out-breathing (Rechaka): consists in giving out, through the nostrils, the impure air
from the lungs.

"Blowing out the air which is not part of one's body into the outside space and
keeping to a state of emptiness, such are the characteristics of out-breathing
(Rechaka)." (Amrita Nada Up. 11.)

Holding the Breath (Kumbhaka): "To keep still without breathing in, nor breathing
out, nor move any limb, such are the characteristics of the Chalice
(Kumbhaka)." (Amrita Nada Up. 15.)

Holding the breath (Kumbhaka) or "Chalice" is of two kinds: (a) The outward
Chalice (bahya kumbhaka) consists in breathing out and then stopping the breath.
The method usually adopted is to breathe in for the time it takes to repeat four
times the sacred Syllable of Obeisance AUM, breathe out for the time it takes to
repeat the syllable eight times, and stop breathing for the time it takes to repeat
AUM sixteen times.

(b) The inward Chalice (abhyantara kumbhaka) consists in breathing in, then
holding the breath before breathing out. The method usually adopted is to breathe
in for four AUMS, hold for sixteen AUMS, and breathe out for eight AUMS.

The Absolute Chalice (kevala kumbhaka), or Stupe ed Breathing (stambhavritti

pranayama) consists in stopping the breath without effort at any point of in- or out-
breathing. To do this, breathe regularly for some time, in-breathing for four AUMS,
and breathing out for eight AUMS; then stop wherever convenient, and hold the
breath for sixteen AUMS.

"That breath control in which the breath is held without effort and without breathing
in or out, everyone calls the Absolute Chalice, kevala kumbhaka."
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"He who is successful in the absolute chalice, without breathing in or out, nds
nothing in the three worlds beyond his reach." (Vasishtha Samhita.)

"When, following the above method, the breath can be stopped for three ghatikas
(one hour and a quarter), the yogi can realize all the attainments he wishes for
without doubt." (Shiva Samhita 3, 62.)

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